People say it's intimidating to go into The Swamp as a visitor and play the Gators.

Trust me, it's much more alarming to go into "The Lagoon", as it is referred to, in St. Augustine and interact with the real deal.

So we showed up at the Alligator Farm at 11:30 AM and met the Assistant Curator of Reptiles, Jim Darlington.

We walked through the lobby, out the doors, and onto a wooden path to see the animals. On the left, there was a Golden Lion Tamrin, which I think was a monkey. It definitely wasn't a lion. On the right were two albino alligators, which I never knew existed.

Then we walked down the steps and saw "The Lagoon." Over 40 American alligators lounged around either in the water at the center of The Lagoon or on the dirt surrounding it.

It was quite a scene, and it usually draws some interesting reactions from the visitors.

"The ones I really do notice," Darlington said, "kind of like your all's reactions when you walked down those steps and you see through that glass and you look in this enclosure. It's like, 'Wow!'"

Before he fed the gators, Darlington talked with us for about 15 minutes and told us some facts about these intriguing creatures. They have the same life expectancy as humans. These particular alligators feed off manufactured pelleted food, with an occasional side dish of quail or chicken (not gamecock).

The alligators were just lying around lazily, hardly moving. A gator can sit in one spot for almost the entire day, soaking up the sun's energy so it can move later when it's necessary.

I asked Darlington, "What would happen if I jumped in there right now?"

"He'd nail 'ya."

Okay, I guess I won't be doing that then.

So how dangerous are these animals?

"Generally speaking," Darlington said, "the only time alligators are dangerous, in their natural habitat, is when people have sort of habituated them to accept food from us. Most of the time they're really afraid of people, even big (alligators). But when we start feeding them all the time, just like any other animal, they start hanging out, and that creates a dangerous situation."

Feeding the alligators makes the more dangerous. Well then, it only seemed appropriate for the three of us to enter The Lagoon immediately following the feeding. This just kept getting scarier and scarier.

Let's just say Darlington is a much braver man than I am.

The crowd gathered as he took a bucket of quail and approached the alligators. As he neared them, the gators moved slowly towards the food, fully aware that a snack was on the way.

He came with about a dozen quail. Not all of the alligators ate this afternoon. He threw one to his left, one to his right, then fed the alligators who were halfway out of the water in anticipation of their meal.

These gators are incredibly docile until food enters the equation. Then they are as aggressive as you would expect.

So the feeding ended and it was time for us to enter the forbidden territory of the alligators. We actually had to sign a waiver. This was setting up to be a huge mistake.

We walked in with Jim. He brought some food to keep the animals calm, and he warned us that if anything alarming did happen, we shouldn't panic. Just say, "Uh... Jim. Little help." That would work better.

The SEC road trip has taken us all over the Southeast. Just a few days ago, we were in the northernmost point of the conference, shivering in the cold weather of Lexington. Today, the mission brought us to the swamplands of the South. I was shivering, but it was because of fright this time.

I slowly took some steps towards the massive alligator. Jim told us to get right up to the tail of the gator. We followed instructions. In the end, I reflected on the afternoon and realized what an amazing experience that was. To be that close to a deadly animal and be able to smile with Glenn and Emily and take a picture (which will most definitely be in a Clog) was something I never thought I'd be able to do.

It's all part of the SEC experience. The Gator is the state reptile here in Florida, and it's something that UF fans take a lot of pride in.

"The University of Florida comments in regards to gators happens a lot every day here," Darlington said.

"One of my favorite things one time," he told us, "is I took a toy stuffed bulldog years and years and years ago down in here with me. And I let an alligator grab it and pull on it on a day that we had a bunch of Georgia fans here. They're all booing and hissing. It was all in good fun, for me anyway."

The lesson to be learned today is: Don't trespass on a gator's territory, whether that's The Swamp or The Lagoon. It's a scary proposition, believe me.