Gangsta Gator-ade

This is an image from my fave movie as a child (I mean, other than Toby Tyler): The Happiest Millionaire. This is Jon Lawless dancing as he walks George the alligator back to his bath tub home in the conservatory of the Happiest Millionaire's home. 11 other gators live in bath tubs in this conservatory, and one of the pinnacles of the movie is when they escape, freeze to death, then come back alive. Once, this boy came to see me and I convinced him to watch this movie with me. About 5 minutes into the film, he realized it was a musical and he told me: "a man doesn't watch musicals." I said not only was there boxing in the movie, but there were also gators in this movie, and that seemed to appease him for a bit longer. However, he did fail this test of true love as he decided he couldn't watch much more. BUT, if you haven't seen this movie, you really should as it is quite darling and actually revolves around some historical events.

Thanks to this movie, my whole life, I've had a secret affinity for gators, as evidenced below with me holding this baby years ago in the Everglades. This little guy was presh and when I held him, I knew what the Happiest Millionaire must have felt every time he held one of his beloved gators. No wonder he was so happy! Look how happy I am! Like a millionaire!

When I announced I was moving to Florida, several people told me to get prepared for football season, that Gator fans were of a different cloth. I sort of brushed this off. I mean, I had seen UF's synchronized swim team and they were awesome, so what was there to be worried about? Ha, is all I have to say to that!

The first weekend I moved to Florida, I attended a Halloween party hosted by some friends of friends. This guy walked in wearing jorts, a wife beater, a fanny pack and a mullet wig. One of the hostesses ran over and said "hey! You're a GATOR fan!" she really put an emphasis on the word Gator. He just looked at her and said "no, I'm Andre Agassi." Needless to say, this was my first impression of a Gator fan (not to mention this was also the wkend of Florida/Georgia which I still need to experience!).

A few weekends later was the SEC Championship game, which of course the Gators were playing in. I was invited to watch the game with some friends but told I had to wear a Gators shirt. Little did they know that I am a TRUE fan. When I get invited to something, I dress the part! And, because I'm such a gangster, I usually add a bit of edge to my dress up game. While driving down the road to the viewing party, and wearing my newly purchased Gators gear, I came to a stop light next to the most gigantic truck with big wheels I have EVER seen. Now, I'm from Nascar country, and I've seen a lot of trucks, but this guy was seriously compensating for something! He leaned out his window and yelled "hey!" to me. I looked over to find two huge, bulging (no stop it) arms clapping at me. I cannot even describe what was going on here. All I know is that I was stopped at a red light, wearing a Gators shirt, having a man lean out his gigantic truck with his bulging biceps clapping at me. I have no idea what happened next, but I am pretty sure I ran the rest of that red light. I can honestly say I'm not sure I've ever been so scared in my entire life. Even now, almost a year later, when I am stopped at that red light, I cautiously look to my right, expecting to see big man in his big truck clapping his big biceps at me. like a giant alligator!

That's fine. Because I am gangsta Gator. So I'll show him. giant alligator man arms. gator arms wanna go? i think gator arms wanna go.