The Quest: University of Florida

(Sorry for the formatting issues, this was ported over from an old blog)

The Quest is my attempt to go to a College Football game in as many places as possible and write about my experience. It starts with the place, there are incredible places to visit, college towns, big cities, north, south, east, west, they play College Football all over this great nation. Each individual football experience revolves around the “Gameday” which usually starts with tailgating. Food is an essential part of the sport for the fans, end of story. Then comes the game atmosphere, the stadium, the fans, the look fo the team, the entrance, the band, the songs, the chants, it all plays into the experience of being in the stands.

Last weekend, I went to a game in “The Swamp.” Florida was my 5th SEC School, leaving Georgia the only school I haven’t been to in the East. The game was Tennessee @ #16 Florida.

The Trip

Knoxville to Gainesville: 545 Miles, 8 Hours 41 mins.

It’s an 8 hour drive from Knoxville to Gainesville, our trip started on Friday afternoon around 3 o’clock.  This trip, I would be joined by my buddies JT and Dakota. JT is a zealot of a Vols fan with North Carolina roots, hailing from the same town as Vol great Heath Shuler. Dakota is a western Tennesseean that actually walked on to the team, but isn’t quite on the traveling team yet. We decided to stop in Atlanta Friday night for a Braves game. The Braves need a win, a recent skid and a hot streak by the Cardinals has pulled the Cards within 3 games. It was Star Wars night at the park too, so at one point I had Baseball, Coke, and Star Wars. Does it get much better than that?

I try to follow baseball some, I don’t consider myself an expert, but I think I can say this: Derek Lowe is terrible. He lasted 3 innings and gave up 6 runs and two long balls. We didn’t really care honestly, we were in the $3 seats and were going to have a good time regardless.

Here’s some advice, when the home team is getting blown out, walk down to the good seats and look for people leaving. We didn’t do this, but we were lucky enough to have some guy offer us his tickets 10 rows behind home plate. And we obliged. Any game becomes a great game with a good seat upgrade, I don’t care what the score is.

After the game there was actually a pretty solid fireworks shows that featured the loudest cheers from Braves fans all night.

After staying the night in Atlanta, we got an early start down to Gainesville. Let me see this, southern Georgia is one of the most boring drives, ever. We did get to listen to Gameday on the radio, but the drive was just awful.

I had never been to Gainesville before. Off Campus, it’s what you would expect from Florida, some rundown homes, retirement houses, and golf. The Campus of the University of Florida is very pretty. Spanish moss hangs from most of the trees and the brick buildings all give a classic university feel.

Parking is tough, Gainesville is a small town, with a huge university (around 50,000) and on Gameday, the population swells. But nevertheless, we get parked and link up with some other Tennessee fans. After exploring the campus and seeing some sights around the stadium, including the Bull Gator statue, the Heisman statues, including Steve Spurrier, the hero of my Alma Mater, Science Hill High School. The gameday atmosphere is great, tail “gators” (see what I did there?) everywhere.

Inside, the stadium seems to be build straight up, to trap sound inside, which it does.  . . very well. Florida’s entrance is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The Jaws theme plays, videos of swamp gators play on the Jumbo-tron, and the fans do the signature “Chomp.” It’s breathtaking unless you’re the other team, then it’s just intimidating. And The Swamp does a number on the Volunteers. The Gators jump out to a 16-0 lead on fantastic play by Chris Rainey. Tennessee WR Justin Hunter went down with a gruesome injury on the Vols first drive and the offense didn’t seem to find it’s rhythm until the last drive of the first half. The Gators were forced to kick three field goals, though having the Ball in Tennessee territory, one of those possessions coming off a blocked punt by, none other than, Chris Rainey.

Still at half time, the Vols had just scored to cut the lead to 9, the Defense had made some key stops, and the offense had started to roll. But on the first pass of the second half, Tyler Bray’s pass was intercepted, the Vols never really got back into the game, the closest they got was the final score, 33-23.

Gator fans are mostly nice, but I will say this, they like to taunt. Whenever Florida did something good or Tennessee did something bad, they would either throw up their arms in mockery like “What was that Tennessee?” or just “Chomp” at us. I found it hilarious, but other Tennessee fans (who are usually angry, regardless if their team is getting beaten) didn’t take so kindly. One guy made the mistake of standing up and retaliating gestures (I’m pretty sure he used the Triple H “suck it”) to the Gator Fans, much to their delight.

“The Swamp” is just a frustrating place. The players are shaken by the loud crowd and frenzied fans. The visiting fans are taunted and frustrated by the Florida Fans, all of this adds up to a very hostile environment, and to be honest, it’s a spectacle and fun to watch, unless of course, you’re the visiting team.

Florida is a school that relatively new to success in Football. There isn’t that classic tradition you would find at places like Tennessee or Alabama. But there is tradition all the same. And when I say success, I mena success. Three National Titles since 1996, numerous SEC Championships, and save a few years, dominance in the SEC East.

“The Swamp” is a great place to watch a football game, it’s one of the loudest places I’ve been and another totally unique Saturday experience that makes up the reasons we love College Football. I can check off Florida off of my list of stops on the “College Football Experience Tour.”

On “Jorts”: An Essay

By Sam Scott

There is a phenomenon among the fans of the University of Florida. Alabama has houndstooth, Tennessee has every article in Orange clothing, and then Florida has “Jorts.”If you don’t know what jorts are, the word is the combination of Jean and Shorts, jorts. In the 90’s, people began to understand that there is a certain article of clothing that Florida fans seem to always wear to the stadium on Saturdays. The first to really notice were Georgia fans in their annual competition against Florida in Jacksonville.

Jorts swept Florida nation like a wave, and though no one knows where they started, they understand that it has become a staple of Florida fan-dome. Today, they’ve become popular for Florida fans. What began as a way of mocking the Gator faithful, became a “yankee doodle” like source of pride.

Jorts are here to stay. They won’t go away, and they shouldn’t. For Florida, it’s a reminder that, no matter how successful we become, how many championships we win, or how many Heisman trophies come to Gainesville, our roots are delightfully trashy, and that’s something to be proud of. So I say to Florida fans, sport your jorts with pride. Remind everyone that NASCAR began in your state, remind them that 85% of the state, besides Disney world, is trailer parks and retirement villages. At the end of the day, you can hang your Jorts with pride, tell your kids and your grandkids, I wore those Jorts.