Gator Mania

My labmate had an extra ticket to the football game yesterday, so I decided to join her for a glimpse of University of Florida sporting events. It is something I thought should go on my list of 47 things to do before leaving Gainesville. (I didn't actually make one, but if I did, a football game would be included.) I also wanted to do it this semester, as I felt that if I didn't do it now, I never would.

My first dilemma was what to wear because I don't own any UF gear yet. But I quickly solved that by recycling my Pomona-Pitzer cross country shirt with blue and orange, which, coincidentally, are also the UF colors. I set off toward campus on my bike a couple hours before the game to meet some Zoology folks pre-partying in the courtyard of our building. I must say, one of the most surprisng parts of this whole deal was the before-game madness. Every single spot you could possibly park a car on campus was taken: lots, streets, even the grass in some places. One enterprising frat house had moved all their cars to the street and then advertised $20 parking in their empty lot. There were a few large lots dedicated to RVs, where people began parking early the morning of the game (and possibly even the night before). All grassy areas were taken up with shade structures (mostly blue) and grills and lawn chairs and cases of beer. Essentially, the entire campus was one big tailgate party, and keep in mind it's quite a large campus.

We followed the mob-like herd into the stadium with a few people randomly bursting out into Gator chants. We passed a nearly naked guy wearing nothing but 3D stuffed animal Gator underwear with half the Gator portruding from the front and the other half from the rear. The stadium seats 94,000 people, and they make sure to fill every seat possible. We were unfortunately next to the opposing team's small section, but the rest of the stadium was a sea of orange and blue. At one point--I don't know how--a wave got started that travelled twice around the entire stadium, which isn't trivial when you think of the fact that nearly 100,000 people are coordinating their movements. I reluctantly joined the cheesy cheers: Go Gators, let's get up and go! and chomping arm movements. But I'm told that if I keep going to the games, I'll be sucked into the fanaticism. Not being a huge sports fan (and I will admit, this was the longest I ever paid attention to a football game), I don't know if I'll go back, as acquiring tickets sounds like more effort than I want to put into it, but it was a fun event to have experienced at least once.