When I was 16 years old, my Father decided to pursue his doctorate in journalism at the University of Florida. So, for the first time in my life, I moved out of the Great State of Texas for life in a new country.
I spent my junior and senior years of high school in Gainesville, Florida. I then spent four more years just up the road in Jacksonville, Florida while stationed at NAS Cecil Field while in the Navy.
There were many, many moments over the course of my time in the Sunshine State that my eyes were opened to the differences between Texas and Florida. One of the first differences that really stuck out to me was just how important college football was in that part of the country.
I was used to Texas where high school football was king (at least, that’s how I perceived it growing up). In Florida, high school football just didn’t matter that much. My school played for (and won) the 5A state championship my senior year and there wasn’t even so much as a pep rally ahead of time. I found it very strange.
However, perhaps because I lived in a college town, the high schools in Gainesville actually had the day off on the Friday ahead of homecoming for UF.
Really, what I am getting at is this; when they say ‘it just means more’ in the SEC, they mean it.
Now, Texans of nearly every stripe will get a first hand look at how it ‘just means more’ when the SEC Media Days descend on Dallas beginning on Monday.
I got a first hand look at the Media Days last summer when the event was held in Nashville and it lived up to expectations. The hordes of fans, media and coaches and players makes it a fun event. And of course, there’s the trash talk.
Sadly, I have some personal commitments this year which will prevent me from attending the media days. So, like many of you, I will be watching the events unfold on the SEC Network. But I still have questions I would like to ask the coaches and/or players of each SEC program if I were in attendance.
