Nearly 30 years after James Bates' time as a standout linebacker for the Florida Gators in the early 1990s, he found his body aching like it did in those youthful days in the Swamp. No longer chasing down running backs and quarterbacks, Bates was feeling pain from a less bone-rattling endeavor.
Weeks of painting Florida football's iconic Mr. Two Bits inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on a 4 feet by 6 feet slab of wood "beat me up a bit," Bates said, as his body bent in so many different directions to deal with the size of the piece and the "weird angles" he had to paint in.