Believe when I say, Florida Gators football players do not want it that way

Florida Gators football coach Will Muschamp pulled a well-received switcheroo on his players this past week. In lieu of a Wednesday evening practice to wrap up camp, he invited the team to a shindig at his house complete with karaoke machine.

A quartet of players took the opportunity to ply their pipes on Backstreet Boys signature anthem “I Want it That Way.” Compare the Gators’ version with the Georgia Bulldogs locker room chorus from a year ago.

It’s an odd song choice for the Gators — aside from being a favorite of inebriated sorority girls, the sentiment expressed by the lyrics is entirely inappropriate. After fumbling their way through a disastrous 2013 season, they definitely do not want it that way.

Recorded in Stockholm, “I Want It That Way” was released in the Spring of 1999 from the Backstreet Boys Millennium album. Despite horribly muddled lyrics (you want it what way?), the song went to the top of the charts in more than 25 countries, with the notable exception of the United States, where it peaked at number six.

The song and its video inspired a number of parodies — most notably Blink 182’s video for “All the Small Things” — and led to one of the great amateur lip-sync videos of all time.