Later Alligator!

In addition to Fantasy Football, I also participate in a season-long pool picking college football games against the spread. (For entertainment purposes only, mind you.) I had a very good week, correctly picking 16 out of 17 games. The only loss was the Florida Gators' game. The Gators won but failed to cover the 25 point handicap.
....While reading the game recap, I noticed a link to a University of Florida website, "The Independent Florida Alligator On-Line." I decided to tour the site out of curiosity and clicked on "Politics." With a Bush in office in the Sunshine State, it was reasonable that I might find something of interest for all my fellow Bush Bashers out there.
....Lo and behold, what do I find under the heading of Student Government? The following was from a post dated October 3, 2005:
"What do George Bush, Albert the Alligator, Donald Duck, "Gengis Kan," Your mom, Derek Zoolander, Urban Meyer and every member of Led Zeppelin have in common?"
"They were all write-in candidates for Student Government Senate seats during last week's first-ever intranet election." The leading write-in vote-getter the previous year was Curious George. (No one can accuse these college students of not taking their politics seriously.)

Further down in the article, it states that Senators are required to be full-time students with at least a 2.0 GPA, be in good standing with the University and live in the voting district they plan to serve as a Senator.
....Well that explains why both Jeb and his brother chose to seek other offices. Like Hillary Clinton did in New York, they could have fudged the residency issue. They might have even been able to hoodwink the staff of the University, after all they did get elected to their respective current offices. The GPA, ah now there's the rub! Because of the stringent grade requirements, by default we have a Governor and a President Bush.

The mention of Albert the Alligator brought to mind the venerable comic strip, Pogo by Walt Kelly. The cigar-chomping gator was long a favorite comic strip character of mine when I was growing up. However, I have to admit that a lot of the political overtures contained in the dialogs were lost on me in those days. (Walt Kelly would have had a lot of fun with Dubya!)

As I was putting this post together, I realized I was incorporating a theme I hadn't intended - alligators. How could I post images of iconic alligators without including Hannah & Barberra's Wally Gator ?

Crikey! How can I ignore the alligator's cousin, the crocodile? When you think crocodile, you cannot help but to conjure images of Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter. If you type in crocodile as the key word on a search browser, you are sure to find many references to the man.
....Nearly three weeks after his death, there is yet a plethora of Blogs and articles paying tribute to him. I am amazed at the amount of adoration for him, especially in America. I don't mean that in a bad way and hold no disdain for him.

It's just that I don't remember Frank Sinatra getting as much attention when he died. I daresay that "Old Blue Eyes" was, in the very least, as popular an icon as Mr. Irwin.
....I guess the definitions of icon and idol have changed. One thing is certain, however, the memories of both will outlive all of us.

Sinatra: I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king;
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing;
Each time I find myself layin' flat on my face,
I just pick myself up and get back in the race ...
That's life!

Irwin: Crikey! Well said, mate !

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