There was the first time somebody told you Santa Claus wasn't real. (Not true.)

There was the time your best friend started dating your ex-girlfriend. (Weasel.)

For the older crowd, there was getting the news that The Beatles had broken up.

Put 'em all together and that's pretty much how it feels for Tennessee fans having to stomach three consecutive national titles for the Florida Gators.

Two basketball titles and a football championship all in 12 months? Maybe the Romans were right to have vomitoriums at the ready.

If you're a glutton for punishment (rather than for pasta and wine), dial up the Web site of Florida's Athletic Department and peruse the ads for their basketball and football championship DVDs.

For a Vols fan, could anything be worse?

Well, how about watching the hometown team compete at an agonizingly close pace with the Gators head-to-head?

In basketball, Bruce Pearl and the Big Orange have bested the national champs in three of their last four meetings. The only loss came earlier this year. In Gainesville. With Chris Lofton on the bench with a bum ankle.

In football, Phillip Fulmer's Vols were just two points short of knocking off the reptiles at Neyland Stadium last September. Tennessee even had a 17-7 lead before falling 21-20.

But even though they stood toe-to-toe in terms of head-to-head, the Vols got left in the dust over the long haul. Make no mistake, Tennessee is competitive with Florida, but the Gators have a second gear that Tennessee lacks in the two major bread-winning sports.

Here's what I mean while the Vols lost by a point in football, the Gators went on to rout Ohio State and win football's BCS championship with a 12-1 record.

Tennessee, after the Florida loss, went on to lose three more games, including what looked to be a sleep-walking effort against Penn State in the Outback Bowl. Final record: 9-4.

That's a one-point difference head-to-head, a world of difference in the big picture.

In the last two basketball seasons, UF has gone 68-11 and won two NCAA tournaments (along with two SEC tournaments as hors d'oeuvres). Tennessee has hung more than a quarter of their losses on them.

But while the Gators have cranked it up in March and blown away all comers, Tennessee has survived Winthrop, been upset by Wichita State and been caught and passed by an Ohio State team that Florida toyed with in the national championship game.

The gap has been close head-to-head; it's been wide overall.

In baskeball, the Vols don't have a second gear YET.

In football, the Vols don't have a second gear ANYMORE.

No one can question that Pearl has the UT hoopsters headed in the right direction. Tennessee is listed in just about every pundit's early 2008 top-10 predictions.

Florida loses almost everyone but their coach and their water boys. Tennessee returns just about everyone but their spiritual leader (Dane Bradshaw).

The basketVols appear to be in the shop, getting "suped up" for future success.

The football Vols appear to be in the garage, needing further work to get their engine purring like it once did.

Going from 5-6 to 9-4 is a sign of improvement. But after a Spring in which offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe made his quarterbacks and receivers run stadium steps, it looks like it might be a slow trip back to the top of the polls.

The gridiron Gators will have to replace a starting quarterback and darn near a whole defense. But the Vols will be relying on young talent, too. Almost everywhere on the field.

This Spring showed that Tennessee still has issues on the line of scrimmage, still needs help at receiver, and still looks to go only as far as a healthy Erik Ainge can carry them.

And if you're counting on big-time performances from UT's newcomers at wideout, just remember that Kelley Washington and Anthony Miller have been the Vols' only two "impact" newbies at that position in the last 20 years. The odds aren't in UT's favor.

The lay-out, at the moment, is pretty clear:

Tennessee's basketball program looks to be in the fast lane to success.

Tennessee's football program looks to be in the shop for another re-tooling.

And Florida looks to have found a second gear that no one else can match.

John Pennington hosts The Hall's Salvage Sports Source on Sunday at 11 a.m. on WATE.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.