If you are ready to feel old, it has been 17 years since Tim Tebow made his iconic "The Promise" speech on September 27, 2008. The speech came on the heels of a 31-30 loss to Ole Miss and is often viewed as the flashpoint that sparked Florida to not lose a game the rest of the season en route to a national title.
Fast forward to today, and Tebow's speech serves as a reminder of what the standards in Gainesville used to look like compared to what they are now.
We just hope both teams have fun
The speech, which is immortalized outside The Swamp, was short and sweet:
"I just want to say one thing.
To the fans and everybody in Gator Nation, I'm sorry, extremely sorry.
I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this.
You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season, and you will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season, and you will never see a team play harder that we will the rest of the season.
God bless."
We see "guarantees" all the time in sports, but what made this speech stand the test of time is that Tebow and company backed it up on the field.
It also highlights that the standard in 2008 was win or else, and the frustration of Gator fans in the modern day is that the administration in Gainesville has tried to gaslight fans into believing that 8-4 isn't that bad.
As much as Billy Napier and crew talk about "Spot the ball" and "Scared money don't make money," the reality is that 22 losses later, we have never seen this squad genuinely devastated after any one loss. Every week, it's just "We need to execute better" and "We need to play complementary football."
After the Miami loss, DJ Lagway tried his own version with "The Guarantee," but the problem is that it just feels too little too late. The time to make that speech was after USF, not after falling to 1-3 for the first time since 1986.
Tebow symbolized an era where failure wasn't accepted in Gainesville, and 17 years later, Gator fans are waiting for that era to return.