Things I Wish I Could Have Tweeted Saturday

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- You know how the SEC has turned the screws on Twitter in-game updates? Well, here are a few short items I would have sent out while standing on the sideline of the Florida-Kentucky game Saturday, expanded because, as you know, One Great Season is a juggernaut that has no limitations.

+ Nice to see old media friends on the sideline before the Florida-Kentucky game.

+ Also nice to see Paul Brown Jr., the Cincinnati Bengals VP of Player Personnel. Our paths have crossed a handful of times over the years, and we visited for a short bit while watching Florida warm up. I sarcastically tipped him off about a hot quarterback named Tebow, and he joked that he thought he'd heard something about a lefty. When I did try to push for a more serious note, perhaps a quote about an attractive player he might have his eye on for the men in stripes just up I-75, he kept it close to the vest.

+ Leading 24-0, Florida took possession at about midfield with a minute left in the first quarter. I picked up my gear and began to hustle toward the other end zone, anticipating the next Gator touchdown. Of course, Tebow didn't want to wait for the second quarter. Instead, he dropped a 44-yard touchdown pass over the middle to tight end Aaron Hernandez on the last play of the opening quarter, completing a 31-point explosion to start the game.

+ My shirts were soaked on Saturday. Was it because it rained during the game? Of course not. It was because the local meteorologists said it was going to rain, so I began my tailgate coverage four hours before kickoff sporting my rain gear. By the second quarter, I yanked off the weak yellow rubber slicker, and sure enough, both shirts underneath were drenched from sweat. It was dry during the entire game -- beautiful football weather, in fact. Thanks, weather people.

+ As the final minutes ticked down at Commonwealth Stadium, Florida's gigantic linebacker Brandon Spikes led a laid-back defense in some light-hearted sideline shenanigans. Before walking away from the fellas, he hit teammate Major Wright in the balls.

+ Listening to the postgame radio show while navigating Lexington traffic, UK callers seemed to find a silver lining in the fact that many Kentucky fans applauded when Tebow stood on his feet after that crushing third-quarter hit that left him concussed. That's when you know your team's football was pretty bad, and that maybe your behavioral expectations are otherwise pretty low.

+ PS, a guy from the Cincinnati chapter of the Florida alumni group heard me on the radio in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago and invited me to his crew's tailgate party. The gathering was mostly made up of guys in their 40s, and when a pair of darling UK co-eds strolled past their bus and cornhole game, one of the dudes swigged his beer and offered, "Man, I just love college football."