I’ve often joked that the Florida Gators and their fans were the nouveau riche of college football, having a long history of being the distant 3rd in Florida’s “Big 3″ until only recently coming into success and fame. And the joke grew funnier to me when Urban Meyer arrived and so many Gators fans acted like Steve Spurrier – the reason that they had any national pride at all – never existed. But I’m not putting all Gators fans under that giant umbrella, especially when a true fan like Jen Wiley exists.
Both huge Gators fans, Jen and her husband were married in 1996 and they had their first child, a bouncing baby boy, back in 2006. Because those years are so important to the University of Florida football program and its fans, they decided to honor their favorite team by naming their child Spurrier Urban Wiley. Call me a dick, but I kind of hope he goes to FSU.
“My husband and I got married in 1996, when Spurrier won the championships,” she said, “and then we conceived in 2006 when Urban Meyer won the championship.”
It was a seemingly perfect fit for these Florida fanatics, until now. So mom’s ready for a change.
“I want to change his middle name,” she said.
(Via Bay News 9)
And what does she want to change his middle name to? Tim. As in Tim Tebow, our holy reptilian quarterback. It’s worth pointing out that this woman is from Florida but the child was born in Ohio. That’s like the ultimate double whammy.
What I really enjoy about the article, though, is that the husband’s name is never mentioned, almost as if he didn’t want this story about his child’s ridiculous name being told in the first place. But the real victim in this is poor Billy Donovan. Won’t some insane, overzealous fan name her child after the Gators’ national champion basketball coach? Maybe one day, Billy. Maybe one day.
(Hat tip to Kegs and Eggs.)
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Let me get this straight. Urban Meyer one 2 titles, Spurrier 1. And she wants to change the middle name? Not too mention that Urban is an actual first name (8 Popes shared the name), and Spurrier is a last name and not one of those last names that can double as a first name..
I forgot, they call the kid Spur.
I hope this kid grows up rooting for Florida St or whoever Florida’s biggest rival.
This is why you can’t get sports tattoos… because you never know what’s going to happen. Your team could move, or your favorite player could murder his wife, or any number of insane things.
@UU FSU, Georgia or Tenn would be great choices for the lad.
There is no way this is real. I refuse to believe it. REFUSE.
Steve Spurrier didn’t win a championship in 1996. No one did. The BCS started in 1998.
Spurrier and the Gators won the SEC and National Championships (Nokia Sugar Bowl) in 1996-97. I didn’t say he won a BCS Championship.
I’ll give you the SEC Championship, but there wasn’t a NCAA football championship until the BCS.
Urban Meyer put a dent in my car.
ahh yes, those noveau riche gators who only started becoming sec champions in 1991, waaaaay after FSU became nationally relevant a whole whopping 4 years earlier. Frankly, the Canes national relevance beginning in 1983 wasn’t exactly a lifetime either (oh and, guess who beat UM that year?)
Also, i’m not sure there are five gator fans in existence that don’t hold spurrier in the high regard that he deserves.
@Doctor Worm, so you’re in charge of determining who is or isn’t a National Champion now? Because I’m pretty sure everyone in the college football world considers the Florida Gators the 1996-97 National Champion and the Nokia Sugar Bowl the championship game of that season.
@perryair, I’m trying to find the part where I said that FSU and UM fans were the beacons of time-honored tradition. I have, however, lived in Florida my entire life and in the 1980s and even most of the 90s, the Gators were still second page news. Maybe if there had been an internet and blogs it would have been a different story, but Miami and FSU had the rivalry that people cared about. Nouveau riche or not, which school laughs now? Sorry that my joke offended your Gator blood.
“I’ve often joked that the Florida Gators and their fans were the nouveau riche of college football, having a long history of being the distant 3rd in Florida’s “Big 3″ until only recently coming into success and fame. ”
I lived in Florida from 1980 until 1999, and miami/fsu did have the storied rivalry from the very late 80′s on into the 90′s, but with Spurrier’s arrival in 91 and the many Bama/Gator SEC Championship games (of which they were the first conference to host) certainly brought the Gators into just as much national attention as the others. And honestly, neither FSU or UM have really been nationally relevant for about the entire last decade, while the Gators have won two MNC’s.
I’d imagine that most non floridian college football fans consider all three programs to be nouveau riche, in any case.
err, spurrier’s first year was 90. oops.