Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.

The crowd counted down as eight people shoved the last bits of food into their mouths.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Time was up. The tallies were counted. The results were in.

Fire Lt. Sean Withers was the winner. He was handed a brown and gold grand champion belt, which he proudly held up for all to see.

Withers ate eight hot dogs in just a handful of minutes.

“I wanted to win,” he said. “I blanked out and just thought about winning,”

More than 30 people came out to see two teams compete in a hot dog eating contest at the inaugural Sausages for Safety event Saturday afternoon at First Magnitude Brewing Company, located at 1220 SE Veitch St. The event served as a fundraiser for Kiwanis Safety City, a partnership between Gainesville Fire Rescue and Kiwanis of Gainesville.

“We paired up safety education activities with a hot dog eating contest, so it would be a full day for families to come out and enjoy,” said Krista Ott, risk reduction specialist at Gainesville Fire Rescue.

Kiwanis Safety City is a community project that began in 1996. The project teaches children emergency and safety procedures through hands-on experiences. It has two main field-trip programs: one for kindergartners and one for fourth-graders.

The program for kindergarteners involves learning about bicycle and pedestrian safety. The fourth-grade students are taught up to three lessons. The list includes home escape plans, gun safety, internet/social media safety, alligator safety and basic first aid. Both programs are free.

Mayflower Cellars, the competition’s hot dog supplier, sold $10 wristbands on site, with the full amount going to Kiwanis Safety City. The wristbands gave patrons 50 cents off each drink, wine excluded, at First Magnitude. The $40 four-person team entry fee also went to the organization. The fee included a free drink ticket at the brewery and a coupon for a free sausage from Mayflower Cellars.

Gainesville Fire Rescue and Marion County Fire Rescue were the two teams participating in Saturday’s contest.

Each team had five minutes to consume as many hot dogs as possible.

A handmade trophy, with a plastic hot dog on top, and championship belt were the awards for the winners. The team that ate the most hot dogs received the trophy. The competitor who ate the most was awarded the belt.

While Withers was the individual winner of the contest, his Gainesville team, named “Just Try and Ketchup,” won the trophy for eating a total of 25 hot dogs. The Marion County team ate 18.

Haley Wade from WCJB TV20 News was the emcee for the contest.

The money raised at Saturday’s event went toward building an interactive, all-hazard safety house, Ott said. The inside of the house will have a kitchen and a living room. The children will learn about certain dangers that may occur in each room. For example, the kitchen will be equipped with cabinets that contain pictures of different products to teach them poison prevention.

There were various safety education activities for youths at the event.

At one end of a table, the American Red Cross had what was called a Pillowcase Project. Children were given pillowcases to decorate. When they finished, they filled their pillowcases with supplies such as Band-Aids, mini flashlights, water bottles, tissues, notebooks and pens. The project was a way to teach weather emergency preparedness.

At the other end of the table were brand new bicycle helmets in different colors, styles and sizes.

“We’re talking to the young people about wearing helmets properly and the purpose of them, which is a cushion, a pillow, a shock-absorber in case you have a fall,” said Dekova Batey, bicycle/pedestrian coordinator for the City of Gainesville. “The brain could be impacted, and that affects everything that your body does. Your brain is your computer.”

As part of a statewide initiative through the Department of Transportation, a free helmet was provided to each child who wanted one, Batey said. The helmets were fitted based on head size, not age. A parent’s signature was all that was required to take one home.

Jon Pilgrim, the owner of Mayflower Cellars and co-organizer of Sausages for Safety, said they wanted to execute the first-time event the right way, so they could “build on it for next year.” The main goal for next year’s event is to have local businesses sponsor a team.

Pilgrim, 38, said he has another change in mind for next year: a real trophy and championship belt. He said he wants to have the trophy made by a business in Gainesville. But he has other plans for where to get the belt.

“There’s a young man online who started a business making legitimate championship-style belts. He donates the money to charity that he raises from it,” the salumist said. “Next year, when we have this very nice belt, you have to defend it the next year, or you forfeit the belt.”

Withers, though, isn’t concerned about the possibility of having to give it up.

“I’m kind of competitive,” he said. “I’m not a quitter. I plan on bringing the belt home next year. It brings awareness to Safety City.”

They jigged and jived.

They skipped and swayed.

They tapped and twirled.

They did it all to a jaunty tune.

Around 35 members of the Gainesville English Country Dance Group gathered Monday evening for a night of fellowship and fun. The social dance event is held every Monday from 6:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the United Church of Gainesville at 1624 NW Fifth Ave. Admission is $3 for students, $5 for nonstudents.

“It’s fun,” said Annette Merritt, co-leader of the dance group. “Anywhere you travel, you can find one of these groups. It’s a wonderful connection.”

Merritt, 65, and her partner, Randy Thorp, 66, have been co-leading the Gainesville English Country Dance Group since 2010 after the previous leader left the area. The group is free to join and is a registered nonprofit organization, with all event proceeds going toward paying the rent for the space at the church.

When they first took over the group, Merritt and Thorp had a difficult time getting people to show up to the event on a regular basis. But after a few promotional efforts, they’ve brought attendance up, from fewer than 10 to an average of 30 each week. The group’s Facebook page currently has 224 members and is still growing.

English country dancing began as a court dance, a dignified dance performed in a court in the 1500s. Three centuries later, it became less popular as couples’ dances, such as polka and the waltz, became more popular. Interest in the dance form was revived in the late 19^th century when historians found the old manuscripts.

English dances are choreographed to fit a tune. If one is a good choreographer, the moves just flow and feel right to the music, Merritt said.

The dances can be fast, slow or stately and done to jig, reel and waltz-time music. Dances performed can be done by couples or a room full of dancers. Figures, a named group of steps, are learned and then called for dancers to follow.

For those attending Monday’s event for the first time, Merritt gave a 15-minute lesson on each of the dances for the evening.

“With English dancing, as with anything, there’s a vocabulary, and it’s all very new to people,” she said. “So, I look at the dances and the terms we’re going to be talking about. And I teach those so that people won’t feel so overwhelmed.”

When the dancing began, Merritt and Thorp took turns calling every move in each sequence. While one called the moves, the other danced with the rest of the group.

“It’s easier to learn because you don’t have to know the dance when you come in,” said Ericka Midtgard, who’s been attending the event for nearly 10 years. “They train you and walk you through it.”

Monday night’s event consisted of 10 dances. Among those dances were the Prince of Westborough, a dance to waltz-time music; Flippancy, a partnered dance to the traditional Celtic tune “Over the Water to Charlie”; and Tour de Force, a group dance to Coriolis jig music.

One dance called by Thorp that evening was entitled Arcadian Nuptials, a three-couple set dance. The dance dates all the way back to 1752, he said.

Live music was provided by Hoggetowne Fancy, a four-piece band comprised of three men and one woman playing a recorder, a kalimba (an African thumb piano), a 16th-century lute and a six-string guitar.

Tips for the band were encouraged but not required.

As part of the evening’s itinerary, the group took a short break to grab a snack and get to know one another. Everyone stood in a circle and introduced themselves.

To Merritt, this activity is essential to maintaining the warm, welcoming feeling the group has developed over the years.

“I’ve been to too many places where somebody never gets noticed,” she said. “I want people to feel like ‘I can come here.’ I want this to be a place they can go and just socialize – and forget about the world.”

Villains were wreaking havoc in the city. Some were above ground, robbing banks and terrorizing the streets, while others slinked and slithered in the sewers, plotting and planning their next scheme. Superheroes joined forces to defeat the enemies and take back the city, but to no avail. Evil triumphed over good.

It happened on a colorful piece of cardboard, in the middle of a food court.

More than 20 board-game lovers attended the monthly “Spiel Samstag” (German for Play Saturday) All Day Board Gaming event on Saturday. It was hosted by Gainesville Gamers, a club that brings together gamers of all ages and levels in north central Florida. The free event is held every second Saturday of the month from noon to midnight in the Reitz Union Food Court at UF, located at 686 Museum Road.

“Some of us are stupid and stay all day long,” said Neil Edge, the club’s founder.

Edge, 47, started Gainesville Gamers in March 2004. His reason for creating the gaming club was simple: he needed someone to play games with, he said.

“Neil is really the patriarch of the Gainesville gaming community,” said Daniel Ferguson, avid gamer and close friend of Edge.

Over the years, the club’s size snowballed from just a handful of friends to almost 500 members on Facebook. Club meetings are held every Wednesday starting around 5:30 p.m. in the food court of the Reitz Union, where time is spent playing mostly board and card games. There are no fees required to join.

Board games played on Saturday included Forbidden Stars, an interplanetary war game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, a dystopian science-fiction society; Blood Rage, a game based on Norse mythology involving Vikings, battles and quests to gain glory by securing a place in Valhalla; and Whistle Stop, a game where players travel west across the country by railroad to deliver goods and expand their network of whistle stops.

Most board games are competitive, with each player fending for him-or-herself; but some games are cooperative. Cooperative board games require all players to work together to achieve a goal. They win or lose as a group.

In the cooperative game XCOM: The Board Game, players take on four roles: central officer, chief scientist, commander and squad leader. Together, they assign soldiers to missions to defend their base from alien attack.

The game, however, is a little different from other cooperative games. It incorporates the use of technology into its gameplay by way of a mobile app.

“The app tells you what the invasion plan’s gonna be and what aliens are coming in,” Edge said. “It’s really a clever game.”

Board games weren’t the only games played on Saturday.

Ryan Freels, a gaming club member, had his own table hockey game set up, with a familiar team in the rink. The team had on orange and blue uniforms with the Florida Gators logo on the back. The goalie of that team wore a green alligator mask with yellow eyes and sharp teeth.

“I hand painted all those myself,” Freels said with a hint pride.

Each table hockey game lasted five minutes until an alarmingly loud buzzer signaled the game’s end. The game was played one-on-one and in teams of two.

Freels said he’s been coming to the gaming club for about five years and hopes his own club, the Gainesville Table Hockey Club, takes off soon.

The monthly all-day gaming event has been around since the club’s inception in 2004. Edge’s long history of enjoying board games played a part in giving the event its German name.

“Most early modern board games were all German designed,” he said. “For us who have been around for some time, [we] are used to seeing German words and rule books all these years.

“It has correlation when we see spiel Samstag. We know to play Saturday.”

Savory sausages sizzled in the sunshine on a large grill. Hearty tomato sauce and soft mozzarella topped a circle of flattened dough on its way to a wood-fired brick oven. Pulled pork sandwiches oozed with barbecue sauce and cheesy macaroni.

It was all for the dogs.

Nearly 300 people, at $10 a head, came out in the sweltering heat for the inaugural 2018 Gainesville Food Truck Festival at the Peanut Patch and Corn Maze at 8214 SW 89^th Ave on Saturday. The festival, hosted by P&L Financial Services Inc., served as a fundraiser for Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Inc.

“We’re Williston’s best-kept secret,” said Rachel Edwing, the charity’s fundraising events coordinator.

The nonprofit organization provides service dogs for veterans and first responders who have post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. Dogs are trained and matched with a recipient based on his or her specific need. For example, to prevent self-harm or suicide attempts, some dogs are trained to detect the levels of stress in those who are depressed.

To show their support for the cause, Danny Berry and Crystal Hassell, owners of the corn maze, provided the property for the festival, free of charge. They also did not receive any portion of the ticket sales, Hassell said. All proceeds from ticket sales went directly to the charity as donations.

The festival featured food items for sale from Soup to Nuts, Backyard Grill and Smoke, Dank Cakes, and more than a handful of others. Eggroll Empire offered samples of authentic, homemade garlic crab egg rolls and conch fritters, while Mayflower Cellars had slices of handmade bratwurst and cilantro citrus sausage for tasting.

Additionally, books, do-it-yourself bottled sand art, jewelry, and photography were available for purchase at select tents. The Jax Pack, the promotional team for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was on site, as well as the LifeSouth Community Blood Centers bloodmobile.

Vendors weren’t charged the $200 fee for booth or truck space, said Lisa Clark, branch operations manager at P&L Financial Services Inc. Instead, they were asked to donate a percentage of their sales to the organization. Over 20 vendors obliged, one of which had a personal connection to the cause.

“We’ve raised service dogs before for Southeastern Guide Dogs,” said Frank Archer, owner of Eggroll Empire in Jacksonville. “We knew this was for the veterans. My dad’s been in the military for 27 years, in the Marines, and this is something we felt we should do.”

The training of one service dog is 1,500 hours, roughly two years. To raise and train one dog costs between $25,000 and $40,000. But the organization’s fundraising goal was a different figure.

“Our dream goal is $22,000,” Edwing said. “We set the $22,000 goal in line with the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide a day.”

According to Clark, people are on a waiting list for about seven years for a dog. “Our goal is to raise enough money to take one person off that list,” she said.

That goal was not achieved on Saturday. The festival made a little over $2,000, said Mary Jo Brandt, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer. But she was still positive about the outcome.

“We are very grateful for everyone’s participation and helping us to save lives,” she said.

Alexandra “AMarie” Castillo is an outspoken, sports-loving stand-up comedian who’s as straightforward as they come. Known in the New York City comedy community as “Part Time Bro,” her acts are centered around sports but appeal to both men and women.

Castillo’s main show is called “Bro Down Hoe Down.” She also hosts “Two Minute Warning,” a popular show in which 32 comedians represent each of the 32 NFL teams and go head-to-head in a roast session. The lively New Mexico native has performed in comedy clubs all over NYC and credits New York Comedy Club for making her into the host she is today.

In a brief interview, Castillo opened up about her life and career in The Big Apple.

When was the first time you knew in your heart you were successful and good at your art?

“I knew the moment I was successful was this year. Mine had to do more with self-love and self-worth, which I think can help with success in every area of your life.

“As a comedian and sports personality, I thought being successful was being super famous and having a lot of money, which is not success is at all. I’m nowhere near famous, but I’m known in New York in the comedy community.

“I don’t want to say I’m successful, because I’m never satisfied. When one goal is complete, I already have been working on the next.”

What was your worst day on stage/performing?

“My worst day on stage hands down is actually two performances. I was drinking way too much and went on stage when I shouldn’t have. I was sloppy and slurring.

“It was very unprofessional and, even though they were small “bar” shows, I still think that is unacceptable. I would never do that ever again. I hardly drink now, especially when I’m performing.”

What’s the most important thing an entertainer/performing artist should know?

“The most important thing to do is be yourself, own who you are, be humble, and shine silently. Don’t tell people what you’re going to do. Show them.

“Work hard and hustle. It will show. Find what’s going to make you stick out and be different.”

What’s your biggest pet peeve about media coverage?

“In general, media always make it bigger than what it seems, and they are a broken record. They say the same things over and over.

“We are lucky that more and more girls are working in the sports world but, as we all know, the majority of men don’t respect it. It’s funny that men don’t think girls know sports.

“We all have access to the internet and ESPN. We all can be informed.”

Who is your biggest fan?

“My biggest fan is myself. You got to be. In this business, we’re all on our own.

“My mom, family, and friends are super supportive, but at the end of the day, you have to be your biggest fan and cheerleader.”

Across the table in his office, professor Ted Spiker holds a pair of tortoiseshell reading glasses in his hand. When he first purchased them at Walgreens, he thought they were distinct and interesting.

“I posted a pic of myself in these,” Spiker said.

“I wore a brown suit with a pink shirt. The pink shirt had white checks on it. Someone commented that I looked like the Neapolitan ice cream,” he said, chuckling.

Spiker, 45, came to the University of Florida in 2001. He teaches courses in Advanced Magazine Writing and Sports Media and Society at the University’s College of Journalism and Communications. Spiker was named the campus-wide Teacher of the Year for 2016-2017.

Most of the items Spiker carries are what one would typically find in the bag of a journalism professor: a laptop, a notebook, pens. However, some of its contents are unique to him with stories to match.

Spiker’s brown leather Coach messenger bag was a gift from his wife for his 40th birthday. He totes all his belongings in it, but that wasn’t always the case.

Spiker used to carry a backpack with too many items in it, for fear he would forget something. To simplify his life, he downsized from the backpack to the designer crossbody bag. The transition was effortless and beneficial.

During his earlier years at the University of Florida, Spiker taught an Applied Magazines course. The course required its students to produce content for Orange & Blue, a 36-page student-run magazine that comes out twice a year. Per the course syllabus, Spiker’s role was to “advise, coach and critique students in all areas of producing a magazine.”

A current issue of The Independent Florida Alligator (The Alligator), a student newspaper covering the University of Florida and Gainesville, has a place in Spiker’s bag. “I do critiques with a handful of the Alligator staff once a week,” said the Delaware native. Spiker reads through the newspaper and provides feedback on what the young journalists can do to improve, which he feels reflects their willingness to succeed in a tough job.

Spiker’s writing career began with a focus on health, fitness and nutrition. The former Men’s Health editor has worked on multiple publications with Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen.

In a robin’s-egg blue case, Spiker possesses a silver pen with the Caduceus symbol on it. The Tiffany pen was a gift from Drs. Oz and Roizen as a thank you for his contributions to the book “YOU: The Owner’s Manual.” The gift came with a note bestowing Spiker with an honorary medical degree for his work on the book.

Fitness is as much a part of Spiker’s professional life as it is his personal life. In 2013, the author of “The Runner’s Diet” participated in and completed the Florida Ironman course (112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run, 2.4-mile swim) in the allotted 17-hour time limit. Spiker is currently the writer for the Big Guy Blog for RunnersWorld.com, a forum he uses to share his fitness goals and his journey to accomplish them.

A thin black cord lay on the table, the charger cable to Spiker’s new Garmin watch. He had gathered together several birthday gift cards to purchase the pricey fitness-tracking device. Incorporating the use of the Garmin into his routine has aided Spiker in his ongoing quest to be a better and faster runner.

Spiker is aware that he is physically imperfect, and he has no problem poking fun at himself about it. In his book “Down Size: 12 Truths for Turning Pants-Splitting Frustration into Pants-Fitting Success,” he uses self-deprecating humor when mentioning the less-than-flattering comments people have made about his body shape. Spiker knows his flaws and doesn’t mind talking about them.

“I sweat like a son of a gun all the time,” Spiker said, flashing a corner of an old, dingy white golf towel in his bag. The towel comes in handy when he needs to dry off between meetings and classes. Although it’s a little on the worn side, and he knows he should probably get a new one, Spiker keeps the towel in his bag “at all times” because it’s convenient and perfect in size.

Spiker takes his work seriously but not himself. He is proud of what he’s accomplished in his career but also embraces his imperfections and oddities.

“I don’t feel like that’s very interesting,” he said as he placed the items back in his bag.

Rita Moreno appeared on the red carpet of the 90th Academy Awards wearing a familiar gown. The “One Day at a Time” star sported a dress she’s had in her closet for over five decades. It was the same dress she donned in 1962 when she won the Oscar for her supporting role as Anita in the musical “West Side Story.”

Rebecca Keegan of Vanity Fair was the first to report Moreno’s choice of attire a few days before the event. At the Oscars rehearsals, the 86-year-old’s daughter, Fernanda Luisa Fisher, divulged her mother’s plans to re-wear the gown.

Moreno told Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet that she went to the 1962 Academy Awards not thinking she would win. ” I thought for sure it was going to be Judy Garland for ‘Judgment at Nuremberg,’” she told Seacrest.

Moreno’s acceptance speech that evening was about 15 seconds long. “I can’t believe it! Good Lord – I leave you with that,” she said when accepting the award 56 years ago. Moreno was the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar for best actress in a supporting role.

Moreno also told Seacrest she didn’t think she would ever be able to wear the dress again. She was sure the gown wouldn’t hold up after so long due to the delicate nature of its material.

“The fabric is made out of obi, which is the sash that Japanese women use on their kimonos,” she told Seacrest. “They’re usually folded over and over and over, this is one piece of fabric. I would think it would tarnish.”

Moreno’s vintage look wasn’t exactly how she wore it in 1962. She changed the black bodice from high neckline to strapless. Moreno used the extra fabric to make a headband, which she paired with long black gloves and a chunky gold necklace.

Moreno’s choice of fashion received positive reactions on Twitter.

That’s our @TheRitaMoreno

I can’t even fit into the dress I wore home from the hospital after my first kid!! https://t.co/dEGaXmUQnI

— Gloria Calderón Kellett (@everythingloria) March 4, 2018

Yasssss Rita!! Opening pose. Vintage gown. Comedy. Beauty. Heart. Yall wanna throw around the title legend. THIS IS A LEGEND. #RitaMoreno #Oscars

— Shangela (@itsSHANGELA) March 4, 2018

ICONIC. #Oscars

https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a19077933/rita-moreno-wore-1962-oscars-dress-2018-oscars/

— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) March 4, 2018

        Moreno is one of 12 stars to hold the EGOT designation, having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.

 

“Jane the Virgin” fans saw Gina Rodriguez depict a different character in Paramount’s new female-lead sci-fi thriller “Annihilation,” which opened in theaters Feb. 23.

The 33-year-old actress portrayed Anya Thorensen, a lesbian paramedic with a side-shaved head and a foul mouth. The character is unlike Rodriguez’s good-girl television persona Jane Villanueva on “Jane the Virgin.”

Thorensen is a “tough girl,” the total opposite of Jane. Rodriguez got to tap into a side of herself that she has been longing to display on the big screen.

“Jane is definitely a character that is so different than myself,” she told co-star Tessa Thompson on Refinery29.com. “For Anya, I got to utilize things that I had been dying to utilize, like physically.” Rodriguez was referring to the several years she’s spent boxing and training in Muay Thai, which she felt she put to good use in “Annihilation.”

In the same Refinery29 video, Rodriguez voiced that she never thought she would get the chance to play a character like Thorensen in her career. “It felt like such a breakthrough,” she said. “And I said this to Alex [Garland], I was like ‘Thank you for seeing something [that] I don’t feel like a lot of people have ever seen or been willing to risk and give me that opportunity.’”

In a video interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Rodriguez, alongside Thompson, was asked about the physical transformation she had to undergo for her role. “Annihilation” director, Alex Garland, had asked if she would mind cutting her hair.

Rodriguez was prepared to do whatever the director asked. “‘Are you kidding?’” she said she asked Garland. “‘For you, I’ll go bald. Whatever you want.’”

Although the Chicago native was willing to change her appearance, she described the aftermath as “hellish” and “rough.” They cut off thirteen inches of hair and shaved the side of her head. “I did not recognize myself, and I did not know how to feel about myself,” she told Yahoo! Entertainment.

Thompson interjected to express that she was excited Rodriguez felt this way. “It’s exciting as an actor to get to look in the mirror and not recognize yourself inside of a part. To me, that’s the beauty of what we do,” she told Yahoo! Entertainment.

Rodriguez told USA Today that she enjoys the brief “magical realism” moments on “Jane,” but playing a different character altogether was a pleasant change. “It’s really nice to escape for longer periods of time like this,” she said.

 

On a warm Feb. 7 afternoon, a small crowd of Florida Gators fans makes its way to the football team’s Indoor Practice Facility. Decked in orange and blue, they enter through the doors and under the football-helmet archway.

Once inside, the invitees follow the smells to the back of the room. There, tables of complimentary food, beverages, and dessert are set up.

The guests satisfy their appetites with miniature hot dogs, pulled pork tacos, and beef brisket sliders with au jus for dipping. Iced tea and orange-infused water are available to quench their thirst.

As attendees nibble and sip, they head to the mid-field seats and decorated standing tables in anticipation of what’s to come. While they sit and wait, a large screen on the stage displays pictures and highlight reels of players who committed to Florida earlier that day for National Signing Day.

Florida’s mascots, Albert and Alberta, are making their rounds and taking pictures with the littlest of Florida fans. The Gator football cheerleaders soon join, in their scarcely seen all-black uniforms, with a small portion of Florida’s Pride of the Sunshine Marching Band following close behind. The band plays several familiar gameday cheers, such as “Gator Bait,” “Jaws,” and the classic “Go Gators!” to hype up the crowd.

An emcee approaches the stage to introduce the evening’s highly anticipated speaker. “So, if you guys wanna look that way, you might wanna see a special individual about to make his way in!” he says. The band strikes up Florida’s fight song, “The Orange and Blue,” as the crowd applauds and rise to its feet to welcome new Florida head football coach, Dan Mullen.

Mullen is stylish in a gray suit, soft orange tie, and a fresh pair of Jordan’s on his feet. “It’s great to be back!” he says into the microphone.

The coach is no stranger to Florida football. Mullen was the offensive coordinator during the 2005-2008 football seasons.

The Philadelphia native begins to talk about how people have approached him concerning the “big expectations” at Florida. “I understand those expectations, and I embrace those expectations,” he says with passion. “This might sound crazy, but I probably have higher expectations for our football program than everybody else!”

Mullen says the responsibility is to bring back the “Gator Standard.” It does not have an exact definition. It’s just “the standard in which we live by.”

According to Mullen, achieving the goal of bringing back the “Gator Standard” starts with a relentless effort from everyone.  “It’s not just the guys on the field,” Mullen says. “It’s everybody in the Gator Nation doing the absolute best they can to be the best that they can.”

Mullen goes into detail about what else the “Gator Standard” entails. The list includes the players’ conduct on and off the field, fans having pride in everything the players are doing and the players living by the standards expected of them in the classroom and the community. Mullen’s most notable aspect of the “Gator Standard” receives cheers and applause from attendees: expect to compete for championships every year.

Mullen says he has a few favors to ask of Florida fans. First, he doesn’t want to see one empty seat at the Orange and Blue Debut spring game on April 14. Fans are encouraged to “pack the Swamp” and show support for the team, even if it is just a scrimmage game.

Second, Mullen says he wants the fans to create the “best home-field advantage in all of college football.” Make Florida a tough place to play for opposing teams. “Every game we have the most intimidating home-field advantage, and everybody is scared to come into the Swamp. That is critical for us,” he says.

Mullen’s speech concludes, and he opens it up to the audience for questions. When one man asks him what he’s going to do about the University of Georgia’s head football coach implying the Bulldogs have overthrown the Gators as Southeastern Conference (SEC) Champions, Mullen gives a zesty, humorous reply.

“Listen, making it to one SEC Championship Game doesn’t make you a dominant program,” he says. “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.” Applause, cheers, and laughter ensue after this comment about the school’s long-standing in-conference rival.

To conclude the light-hearted evening, Mullen thanks all for coming and leaves Florida fans on an optimistic note. “I can’t wait to give you the team that all of you deserve next year on that field every single Saturday,” he tells the crowd with conviction. “Go Gators!”