A familiar voice in the press box mimics the chant from Florida fans before last Saturday's annihilation of Tennessee.
"It's great ... to be ... a Florida hater," says David Pollack, laughing at his joke.
Later, after Tim Tebow lofts a pass over Eric Berry for a touchdown, Pollack gets out of his seat and demonstrates how the Tennessee freshman defensive back failed to maintain his technique. Berry backpedaled to face the ball instead of running with receiver Riley Cooper, costing himself some space.
Pollack, the former Georgia defensive end now working as a college football analyst for CSTV, smiles and gestures and laughs and watches the game intently. And you quickly realize why a broken neck can't break his will to play football again.
He loves the game too much. The passion you saw from Pollack inside Sanford Stadium has not subsided.
"I'm not giving up hope," he said. "I'm going to do whatever the smart thing is to do. If the doctors tell me I'm at more risk than anybody else, then I wouldn't play football. If they tell me I'm healthy and not at more risk than anybody else to play football, then I'll play football."
Pollack fractured his C6 vertebra making a tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals almost one year ago to the day -- Sept. 17, 2006 -- and wore a halo to stabilize his neck. Doctors hoped the break would heal on its own. It did not. He underwent surgery last January and now waits, hopes, prays.
"I have to see how everything heals the rest of the way," Pollack said. "I'm still not completely healed. It takes about a year, year and a half, for the surgery to really fuse. I'm waiting on the gaps to fill in on my vertebra. It's getting better. Every time I go to the doctor, every couple of months, it's closing up and closing up."
Any attempt to play football again, especially after watching the Buffalo Bills' Kevin Everett remain motionless on the field nine days ago, seems risky and silly and not worth taking a chance. But Pollack says he'll make the smart decision, and it's hard to argue with a guy who invests so much into football.
He volunteered to help Bengals coaches break down tape this year. Pollack calls his CSTV gig "super cool" because he gets to remain close to the game.
He gets up at 5:30 a.m. every morning, plays two hours of basketball, swims for an hour and then lifts weights for two hours. His range of motion and strength are returning. You start to think that if anyone can return from a broken neck, it's Pollack.
Of course, Florida tested the range of motion in Pollack's neck by surfing up and down the field with ease last Saturday against Tennessee's so-called defense. Pollack seemed delighted watching Florida's offense and described the difference between the two rivals in six words when asked if he recognizes formations from his tape-watching days at Georgia.
"Not with Florida. More with Tennessee," he said. "Florida just spreads you out and does that fun-'n'-gun stuff, man. That trick-'em stuff. Urban Meyer does a phenomenal job of coaching. He really takes what the defense gives him. It's hard to stop everything they do."
But Pollack said his Gator blue shirt was not indicative of much -- "It looked good with my outfit," he said -- though he'll admit to having some bias in his new job.
"I have the most invested in Georgia," he said. "I'll always pick Georgia."
E-mail Darren Epps at depps@timesfreepress.com
