Oops, meant to send this to Gatortalk. Please don’t shoot!!
Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker Halo Realty, LLC 700 E. Main St. Hendersonville TN 37075 [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 615-822-3509 fax: 615-822-7741 mobile: 615-972-4239 ________________________________ From: Oliver Barry Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 3:14 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: FW: [gatornews] Fw: Mr. Two-Bits to hang it up after 60 years at Florida What a great article, and, so true! We should be very careful when we’re talking about our student athletes. It’s ok to cuss theirs, just not ours. I’m going to miss Mr. Two Bits. I wish someone could step up and take his place. But, how do you replace an original? He’s a Florida institution! Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker Halo Realty, LLC 700 E. Main St. Hendersonville TN 37075 [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 615-822-3509 fax: 615-822-7741 mobile: 615-972-4239 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gatornet Admin Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 3:02 PM To: GatorNews Subject: [gatornews] Fw: Mr. Two-Bits to hang it up after 60 years at Florida ----- Original Message ----- From: John Vega <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> OrlandoSentinel.com Mr. Two-Bits to hang it up after 60 years at Florida Mike Bianchi SPORTS COMMENTARY November 21, 2008 Three decades ago, Hugh Culverhouse, then the owner of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, came to George Edmondson with a proposal. Culverhouse had seen the passion and devotion Edmondson � a.k.a. Mr. Two-Bits � generated by parading around the stadium on autumn Saturdays and leading cheers at the University of Florida. He wanted the same sort of excitement and fervor at the Bucs' games on Sunday and made Edmondson, a Tampa insurance salesman at the time, a lucrative offer. "Will you come do the same sort of thing at our NFL games?" Culverhouse asked. "We'd pay you real well." Mr. Two-Bits shook his head immediately. "No," he answered. "What I do for the Gators is from the heart, not from the pocketbook." For six decades, Mr. Two-Bits has been the heart and soul and a booster and a benefactor of the Gators. And, now, sadly, he's hanging up his saddle oxfords. That's right, Mr. Two-Bits, 86, is retiring after 60 years of leading cheers, lifting spirits and supporting his team through the best of times � but, more importantly, through the worst of them. "The Gators are on top now," Mr. Two-Bits says. "They don't need me like they used to." You want to talk about not leaving until your job is finished, Two-Bits has done just that. He started cheering at Florida Field on a Saturday in 1949 when he attended a UF game against his alma mater � The Citadel. He will finish on a Saturday 60 years later with the Gators coincidentally playing The Citadel. Except this time the Gators are a national power, ranked No. 3 in the country and everyone's favorite to win a second national championship in three years. Back in 1949, they were the class clowns of the Southeastern Conference and two years removed from a 13-game losing streak. Edmondson had just gotten out of the Navy, where he was a fighter pilot during World War II. He moved back to Tampa and was invited to a UF football game by some Gator buddies of his. He couldn't believe his ears when the Gators took the field and UF fans started booing. Then the head coach Joe Wolf's name was announced and they booed even louder. "I was appalled," Edmondson says. "It was terrible. I didn't understand it. How could you boo your own team? They were just college kids out there trying their hardest." That's when he got this crazy idea in his head. Whenever Florida fans started to boo, he stood up and started screaming out his two-bits cheer. And then he coaxed those around him to stand and do the same. By the end of the game, his entire section was cheering wildly. And as it turned it out, the Gators won and a tradition was born. Edmondson came back the next week and fans came over to his section just so they could cheer along with him. Eventually, everyone started calling him Mr. Two-Bits. He became so popular that he began traversing the stadium throughout the games, popping up in different sections to lead cheers. He's seen it all. He saw Steve Spurrier kicking that field goal against Auburn as a player a few decades ago; he saw Spurrier coaching the Gators to a national title a decade ago; he saw Spurrier coaching against the Gators a few days ago. Through all the years, the cheers and Gator fans crying in their beers, you could always count on Mr. Two-Bits showing up in his yellow button-down dress shirt, his orange and blue necktie, a pair of nice slacks and those 1950s saddle oxford shoes. He is a throwback from a more genteel, civil time when college boys went to football games dressed in blue blazers and ties and college girls were all gussied up in high heels and dresses. He doesn't like where fandom is headed today. He hates that some stadiums are being taken over by drunken, profane fans. He doesn't own a computer and shakes his head sadly when told of the negative dialogue that is rampant on today's fan message boards. "I don't like all the negative stuff out there," he told me once. "It used to be if you were unhappy with your team, you'd talk about it among friends. Now, people are punching buttons on a computer and sending it out all over the world. "I've always thought teams face enough negativism from the opposing fans. They don't need it from their own fans, too. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I believe you support your team, your players, your coach, no matter what." Through six decades and 11 coaches, he's done just that, He's cheered unconditionally for his team, motivating millions of fans at hundreds of games. One more time Saturday he will sprint out onto the field, silence the crowd by blowing his whistle and then he'll hold up that tattered handmade sign that simply says "2-Bits." And then he'll point to the fans, whirl around, thrust his arm into the air and start his cheer: Two bits! Four bits! Six bits! A dollar! All for the Gators, stand up and holler! Remember what he said earlier? He said, "The Gators are on top now. They don't need me like they used to." He couldn't be more wrong. In today's real world where the economy is crumbling and the future looks grim, we need somebody who will inspire us to cheer when we feel like booing. And in today's sports world of noxious negativity, drunken debauchery and message-board misery, we need that old man in the yellow shirt. The fact is we need Mr. Two-Bits now more than ever. Mike Bianchi can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
<<inline: image001.jpg>>
<<inline: image002.jpg>>
