Orange and Blue

Last week Gator fans were asked to "blue out" the stadium by football coach Urban Meyer. Because we were playing the Tennessee Volunteers, whose color is a particularly heinous shade of orange, Meyer wanted all Gator fans to wear blue. The effect was awe-inspiring. As I looked across the storied Florida Field into the shady alumni section, all I saw was a mass of blue, peppered with a few (who obviously hadn't gotten the memo) wearing orange.
As I looked at the 70 rows behind me in the student section, I also saw a lot of blue. But another very noticeable color was orange. This wasn't the orange of a Gator polo or University of Florida T-shirt; but the orange color your skin takes on when you've been standing in the sun for too long.
Urban asked us to wear blue, but most people were sporting a nice orange glow. I realize I should have learned from the first game against Western Kentucky (and countless years of living across the street from the beach) that when you're out in the sun for that long, a little sunscreen never hurt anyone.
Sunscreen is a vital part of any pre-game ritual. As much as I love a tan line from my sunglasses and whatever style of dress I happen to be wearing that week, the amount of sun students are exposed to during games is highly dangerous. On a day like Saturday, when the clouds were few and far between, the sun beats down on the student side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium like the Gators beat down on the Vols. We stand on the bleachers for four hours on a Saturday afternoon to cheer on our beloved boys without realizing the risk we're posing to ourselves.
So Gator fans, I ask you: when we play Auburn on Sept. 29 (the day after my birthday!), please wear an SPF that's at least as high as you want the Gators' score to be.