When Mrs. SportDork and I came back from the UK last year, I knew that returning to full-time employment would make it tough to keep up with once-a-week blog entries.  What I didn't expect, however, was that once-a-week would become once-a-year! 
 
August 10, 2008.  That's the last time I addressed the SportDork Nation.  Ironically, I spent the majority of that entry apologizing for not posting an entry in over a month, as well as providing a recap of notable (and obscure) sports moments that had occurred during the previous month. 

 

I know what you're thinking.  What the f&*%, SportDork?  The Gators - your team - win the National Championship, and you're nowhere to be found?  MIA?  For a year?  How could you do that to us?

 

Allow me to explain.  Believe it or not, the Gators' amazing run at a second national title in three years - the very event that you would have expected to prompt me to post entries daily instead of weekly - was the reason for my silence. 

 

Once the season was underway, and my stint in Mahwah, NJ had ended, I was ready to give the SD Nation all the in-depth college football analysis you could stomach.  But then something happened, and I realized that under no circumstances could I post a SportDork entry until the season was over.  In fact, I couldn't even go so far as to communicate with the SportDork Nation through SportDork.com to let you know that there would be no more entries.  I couldn't risk it.  Not after the weekend of the UF-Ole Miss game, when I discovered that my actions could single-handedly determine the fate of the Gators' season. 

 

That was the weekend that I made the decision to deviate from the established Gator football weekend script, and was promptly left to witness the havoc that it wreaked. 

 

What did I do?  What egregious act did I commit, causing the Gators to suffer their first defeat of the season to an inferior Ole Miss team?

 

I changed t-shirts.

 

That's right.  I left Old Faithful in the closet:

 

 

And donned what I believed to be, at the time, the successor to the throne:

 

 

 

Beautiful shade of orange, isn't it?  I have to say, I had good intentions, and a prudent plan.  At least I thought I did.  Recognizing that my time-honored lucky Gator game-day t-shirt was approaching the end of its useful life, I decided it was time to begin breaking in a replacement.  Now, I'm no idiot - the replacement T wasn't going to get thrown to the wolves.  It wouldn't get any playing time during the big games until it had demonstrated that it possessed the requisite mojo to hold its own in the lesser battles.  UT, UGA, LSU, FSU - they would still get Old Faithful.  He had been through the big ones before.  He knew how to handle the pressure.  No, the new T would be relegated to the second-tier games, given an opportunity to show what he could do, and then slowly worked into the rotation, until one day when Old Faithful would be retired and the mantle would be passed to the new kid on the block. 

 

Well, we all know how that one turned out.  The newbie got his shot against Ole Miss, and he blew it.  As I sat on my couch, drying the tears and trying to comprehend how the Gators could have lost to Ole Miss at home and likely eliminated themselves from national title contention, I came to a shocking realization: my actions had probably ruined the Gators' season.  A decision as seemingly innocuous as which Gator t-shirt to wear had likely decided the Gators' fate.  Yes, the power was intoxicating.  But it was also overwhelming.  How could one man be given so much responsibility?  I immediately understood how the President feels.

 

Luckily, the whole experience was a wake up call.  I immediately burned the replacement t-shirt, made amends with Old Faithful, who, as you can imagine, was none too pleased with my behavior, and thought long and hard about what I needed to do to ensure Gator victories for the remainder of the season. 

 

The one thing I realized I couldn't do was change up anything I had been doing prior to the Ole Miss game.  And as much as it pained me to acknowledge it, one thing that I had done consistently since the start of the season was fail to publish SportDork entries.  At that moment, I knew what I had to do.  It was clear that if I posted a SportDork entry before the end of the season, I would risk jinxing the team and would jeopardize their season.  I had to continue to do nothing.

 

We all know what happened next.  The Gators went on a tear, pulled out a huge win against Alabama in the SEC title game without Percy Harvin, and then brought home the title against Oklahoma in Miami.  Here's a shot of The SportDork preparing to enjoy the fruits of my labor in the Orange Bowl parking lot before the game:

 

 

 

Notice the t-shirt?  The outcome was never in doubt.

 

It wasn't easy to keep my silence.  I almost cracked a few times and spewed forth celebratory passages after big wins, but I knew I couldn't.  I had a responsibility, and even though that meant The SportDork Nation had to suffer, I'm hoping you can forgive me.  Clearly, it was for the greater good.  And even though I didn't get a phone call or letter from Urban Meyer thanking me for my contribution to the title effort and for the many sacrifices I made during the season (just ask Mrs. SportDork how she felt about me wearing the same pair of underwear for over four months), I didn't need one.  Urban knows.  And I know he knows.  And that's good enough for me.  (Although I wouldn't argue with a small cut of that sweet new deal he signed yesterday.  http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20090803/ARTICLES/908039934/1136?Title=New-contract-makes-Meyer-SEC-s-highest-paid-coach)

 

"So that's all great," you say, "but what about the seven months since the title game?  What have you been doing since then?"

 

Let's just say the season took a lot out of me.

 

 

 

I've been resting.

 

Remember "The Promise" that Tebow made after the Ole Miss game?  Here it is, immortalized on a plaque outside of the Florida football complex:

If it was good enough for Tebow, it's good enough for The SportDork.  After a year-long hiatus, I have decided to make a promise of my own.  Here it is, The SportDork Promise:

 

"To the fans and everybody in SportDork Nation, I'm sorry. I'm extremely sorry. The SportDork was hoping for weekly entries. That was my goal, but something SportDork.com has not done for over a year."

 

"I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this year away. You will never see any blogger in all of cyberspace post as regularly and with as much commitment as I will during this upcoming college football season. You will never see someone post more obscure, inane college football insights as I will during this season."

 

"You will never see a blogger work harder than The SportDork will during this season."

 

"Peace Out."

It will be immortalized on a plaque at SportDork Headquarters.