Gators

A. L. Gators may not actually be located in a southern swamp, but at least this Florida-themed bar has a low elevation address near the Chesapeake Bay.And even though it is not all that long a drive from Baltimore to Riviera Beach, the trip through the landfill-and-marina terrain of northern Anne Arundel County seems to take you far from the city.Not that the destination is entirely unfamiliar. A. L. Gators, which holds 1,000 people, occupies the site of what was once the rock club Network.

GAINSVILLE, Fla. -- Steve Spurrier, University of Florida football coach and prodigal son, watched ESPN's telecast of Miami's 40-10 victory over Houston and was duly impressed."

ATLANTA-- --It was the end of two roads last night at the Georgia Dome - the dynasty and the coulda-been dynasty. Florida was too good, too deep, too much for Ohio State. And yes, back-to-back national championships in this day and age of college basketball constitutes a dynasty. Give it up for the Gators, then, because it has been awhile, 15 years, since a repeat happened, and it will be awhile before it happens again. But give it up, too, for the best center of his time. Greg Oden, at 19, became a man last night.

Here we go again. What would a college football season be without a little controversy in the polls? Based on what happened this week, this year might even be wilder than last season.You might not have noticed -- Tom Osborne barely did -- but Nebraska slipped ahead of Florida in the Associated Press poll of writers and broadcasters.That was after the Gators pummeled New Mexico State, 70-21, in their first game while the Cornhuskers were idle after a 31-0 victory over then-24th-ranked West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic.

ATLANTA -- If there is some sort of elixir, a blueprint or a set of instructions for repeating as national college basketball champions, former Duke forward Thomas Hill coyly hinted that he has it - and he's decided not to share it with Florida. "I'm not going to divulge the secret," Hill said, the crinkle of his smile seemingly audible over the phone this week. "Go, Bruins." Today's national semifinals Ohio State vs. Georgetown, 6:07 p.m.; Florida vs. UCLA, 8:47 p.m. (approximate) TV: Chs. 13, 9

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Last season's lasting college basketball image, one that helped make Florida's Joakim Noah the sport's most popular player, came a few minutes after the Final Four's final buzzer. Standing on the scorer's table, Noah, the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player, turned to a throng of Florida fans at Indianapolis' RCA Dome and delivered a Gator chomp. Another image, one that helped make Noah the sport's most polarizing player, happened the same night. During the national title game against UCLA, Noah flirted with a few Bruins cheerleaders - winking at them once, blowing kisses another time.

Nine College of Notre Dame players scored in the host Gators' 16-0 shutout of Trinity University yesterday. Lauren Terry led the Gators (6-1, 1-0 Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference) with three goals. Tina Money scored a goal and had a career-high four assists to go with six ground balls, four draw controls and four caused turnovers. Trinity fell to 0-5, 0-2. Buffalo State 14, St. Mary's 13 -- Leah Bernal scored with 17 seconds left in double overtime and Steph Georgopolous scored five goals as the visiting Bengals (6-0)

In a wild game of one-upmanship between Perry Hall and No. 8 Catonsville yesterday, scoring goals came easily. Making a lead stick, however, proved more difficult.The Comets answered Perry Hall's first goal within 10 seconds. The Gators matched Catonsville's second goal within 26 seconds. The Comets answered the Gators' third goal within 2: 27.In a game that was tied for all but 15 minutes, Kristine Barton gave the Gators a 4-3 lead with 11: 52 left and the Comets could not respond. Kathy Baran added an insurance goal with eight minutes to go as the host Gators upset Catonsville, 5-3, in a Baltimore County Heron Division game.

Atlanta -- The day before the national semifinals, the Florida players, almost to a man, presented "hate" as their motivational theme for the Final Four. The other teams hate us because we have what they want, they said. Other fans hate us because we're the champs. Everybody wants to see us get knocked off. "I'm not talking about someone trying to kill me," the Gators' Joakim Noah said Friday. "When I say `hate,' I'm talking about all the doubters. There have been a lot of doubters this year.

Perry Hall coach Larry Butts always expects a slugfest when facing Patapsco, and his No. 12 Gators' 12-5 victory over the visiting Patriots yesterday was everything he anticipated.Chris Zorn went 3-for-3 with two walks and an RBI, and Alan Batac was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored, as the Gators (5-0, 3-0 in Baltimore County's East Conference) out-hit the No. 18 Patriots (4-1, 2-1) by 11-10, carrying hurler Adam Nastalski to a 2-0 record."With the bad weather we've had, we did a lot of work on hitting from a cage inside," said Butts, whose Gators have won three games via the 10-run rule and another by eight runs.