What's In A Name?

So you may be asking yourself, "Why do you call this thing Gator Music?"  Well, the answer to that is a pretty easy one.  It combines two things that I loved as a kid growing up and still do today.  Allow me to explain...

For those that don't know, I grew up in Florida which is a state the is known for being huge when it comes to football.  There are 3 NFL teams and, from what I can think, 5 college teams at the highest level in the NCAA.  The most important of which is the University of Florida.

I think I was a Gator fan from birth.  You see, my dad went to school at U of F and, as anyone else who went to the school knows, you don't go there and ignore the football team.  It's a bit of it's own religion during the Fall.  On Saturdays, you'll pretty much know what most native Floridians are going to be doing if they aren't working.  The same could be said for the teams that play in Tallahassee and Miami but, they hold no importance to me so, I won't say anything about them.

By the time I graduated from college, I think I had been to about two dozen Gator games.  Two of those games were for the National Championship; one they WON! the other... not so much.  I also had quite the extensive wardrobe consisting of, mostly, orange and blue clothing.  Ahh, good times!  In Florida, football IS a way of life.

Now I have to say, as much as I love football, I was never much of a player.  I played for a couple of years when I was in elementary and junior high but, that was out of obligation.  Playing it, for me, was no good.  I didn't care for being out in the sun and weighed down by all those pads.  Plus, I've never been much for hitting people, as part of a game or otherwise.  But, my love for the game still exists and you could plop me down in any stadium and I'd be "happy as a clam" or "a pig in poo", whichever you prefer.

Now, the other part of the GM name is pretty obvious.  I credit my sisters Cindy and Leslie for inspiring my love for music and performing.  My little hometown of Wauchula was all about the football and not so much with the performing arts.  In fact, my high school (the only one in the county, even today) didn't even have a theatre department.  But luckily, I got to watch my sisters perform and go with them to different shows to stay exposed to those things.  That inspiration and passion for music is what helped determine my chosen career path. 

So there you go, the reason I came up with the name that I did.  As the years have passed, the focus has shifted from more Gator to more Music but my love of both remains.  If you had a blog, what you call yours and why would you choose that name?

Until next time...