Florida Gator Canned Ham Awards: D-Minus Three Weeks and Counting

Nothing recognizes an out of the ordinary accomplishment better than a brightly packaged canned ham.  So with this in mind, here are my five unheralded Gator football, and other, community accomplishments for the previous week.

Florida Gator Football Scout Team

Individual canned hams to every member of the Florida Gator football team that participates on the Scout Squad. Conference and national championships are won, in part, by lettermen practicing against talented, focused, and motivated teammates—without which the concept of “game day preparation” would be moot.   

Scout Team members are rarely recognized for their efforts and it’s an honor to bring a fraction of the attention owed to them.

The Florida Gator Women’s Soccer Team

The No. 10-ranked Gators dropped one to the Texas A&M Aggies but are poised for a rebound against the Miami Hurricanes on the 21st. Often very overshadowed by the activities going on at The Swamp, these women play for the love of the game and true school/team spirit. 

Great team, great play, and a great venue. This fall, we have two teams shooting for conference and national championships!

Bill Castle and the Lakeland High School Dreadnoughts

Once again, Lakeland High owns the largest high school contingent within the Gator squad. Black, Lawrence, Pouncey (times two), Rainey, Wilks, Wilson…and those are just the ones listed in the media guide.  

The Black and Orange have made a very nice transition to the Orange and Blue!

Dan Mullen and the Mississippi State Bulldogs

The kickoff for the Florida vs. MSU game has not been officially published yet. This is BIG news since most every knowledgeable Gator fan dreads playing in Starkville at night. 

Canned Hams to Dan, the Bulldogs, CBS, and the MSU administration for allowing Gators fans everywhere to pretend, for a few more days anyway, that they won’t have to listen to the dreaded cowbells at night!

Lane Kiffen

The Low Sodium (aka Honorable Mention) canned ham goes to the ever so entertaining leader of the Tennessee Volunteers. Lane startled us all by keeping his name out of the news until he made a few remarks last week about remarks he made earlier this year.  This effort, although not quite worthy of a true canned ham, does garner some praise for an attempt at restraint.

Note to LK—It ALWAYS feels better when you stop hitting yourself in the head with the hammer.