DUDE! That is awesome! :-) Cee
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Hileman" <[email protected]> To: "GatorTalk" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 2:22 PM Subject: [gatortalk] Our Day with the Gators! > > I don't know if this will work or not, I'm getting mixed feedback from > others. It might only work if you have a FaceBook account and are > logged-in > on that account, but the link from FaceBook says it's supposed to be > publicly available... > > http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66146&l=a122a&id=599441781 > > Yesterday, my family met the Gators in person! > > It all started over a year ago. > > I was at work, listening to Steve Russell's Sports Scene radio show, and > he > had Shelley Meyer on. The news had recently been out about the Meyer's > hosting a dinner in their home for anyone who donated $1 million. I > thought > I'd call in and make a "funny." "Thought" being the key word here. From > memory, it went something like this: > > Me: Hi, Shelley! > Shelley: Hi, Bill! > Me: I've heard about this have dinner with the Meyer's thing if you can > donate $1 million to the Athletic Association. I don't happen to have a > spare million at the moment, but would you consider meeting me and my > family > at one of the local McDonald's, and I'll spring for Happy Meals for > everyone! > <dead silence> > Shelley: Um... I don't know what to say. > Me: Oh, well, it was worth a try. > > I e-mailed Steve Russell that afternoon and begged him to pass on my > sincere > apologies to Shelley for putting her on the spot like that, and explained > it > was a very lame attempt at humor. Steve passed my e-mail on to Shelley > and > the next day she e-mailed me back. She was very gracious about it, and > even > offered for my whole family to come to one of the Thursday night "family" > practices to meet the team. For various reasons, I never was able to go > last year, though Shelley and I kept corresponding back and forth > periodically. > > This year we were able to attend. We were going to attend the Citadel > game, > since that was the lowest pressure of all the games, but that was the week > Shelley had to go to Georgia Tech for her daughter's VB scholarship stuff, > so we agreed to do it during a bowl practice night. > > Last night was it. > > As a bonus, we also got to meet Lou Holtz. He was very gracious as well. > Nobody called him over, he just saw us (I'm sure Dustin in the wheelchair > had a little to do with it) and autographed the helmets Shelley gave us > and > took pictures with both my boys. Much later, when it came Urban's turn, > and > we handed him the mini-helmets, he immediately noticed Lou's signature on > the helmets and looked at Shelley almost admonishingly and asked her about > it. She explained that Lou came over to us on his own, he wasn't asked. > I'm guessing Urban wanted Lou's full input on the practice and might have > been upset if he was called over for that. > > We met many other players during the practice that we didn't get to take > pictures of because the practice was still going on and we wanted to > respect > the "no cameras" rule. We met Louis Murphy and Carl Moore first, later we > met Percy Harvin. I told Percy "Dude, I am SO glad you picked UF to play > at!" He grinned and said "Me, too, man. Me too." We got signatures from > every player who stopped by. > > By the way, Dustin is in a wheelchair because he recently had corrective > orthopedic surgery on December 9th by Dr. Woo of the UF Sports Medicine > complex. Dustin had severe in-toeing that hasn't corrected itself and > needed surgery. He had both femurs undergo a "controlled fracture" (OUCH) > and re-aligned with titanium rods in place. He can stand on them but it > hurts. He'll be undergoing physical therapy starting this week but will > probably be confined to a wheelchair for a few more weeks. > > Shelley was a very gracious host, and spent almost the entire time with > us. > I just can't say enough about her. We also met Tim's father and brother, > Pete (in one of the pics). Also, Tim was the last one we met, and he > spent > a very generous amount of time with us. I think I shook his hands three > times. Later, Dustin said to me "Daddy, Timmy was SWEATY!" Heh, I > noticed, > he put his arm around my shoulder for the pic, and I didn't mind in the > least. My other son, Dylan, later said to me "Dad, I want to join the > Gators now because they're the best!" > > Also, after Tim left, Shelley noticed he had dropped his hand towel near > us > and asked me if I'd like to keep it. DUH! I only wish I could now get > him > to autograph that! > > Even when you never attended UF as a student, IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA > GATOR!!!!!!!! > > Go Gators! Whoop the Sooners! > > > Bill Hileman, MCP, CPD, BCIP > Programmer/Analyst, DASI > > DASI Home Page > http://www.dasi-software.com > > The Bondsman > http://www.bailbondprogram.com > > FTP Site > http://www.dasi-software.com/download > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
