6:28 PM
ckw
My love for 2 rivals is totally explainable... My high school didn't have football, so when I got to FSU, I took the fight song part of orientation way seriously and learned it to the letter. I didn’t know where my classes were, but I knew when to get in line for season tickets and what to scream when I heard certain music cues from the Marching Chiefs. I learned to hate UF & Miami and stocked my closet with garnet & gold t-shirts. I even bought one of those cliché little-kids-in-black-&-white-with-team-logos-photoshopped-in shirts that said “Prince Charming doesn’t wear orange & blue.”
My heart stopped when I walked into Doak for the first time. I was in love. I lost my voice at every game, defended the 4th quarter “4” that my UF friends mocked, and chopped till my right arm about fell off, especially during the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter pushes when things got intense. I mocked my UF friends as Zook & Leak had a rocky season, even though Rix threw more interceptions than touchdowns and we all not-so-secretly thought he was an ass. I lived a block from Doak. I updated the top 10 AP rankings and complete ACC standings on my bathroom mirror, taking up so much space, I had to use my roommate’s side to see. I wore black the week after we “lost” to Clemson (don’t get me started), and stayed for the entire loss to Miami Oct. 11, 2003, despite being cold and soaked as if I jumped into a pool fully-clothed due to the torrential downpour that delayed the game more than once. I even went to the UF v FSU game, in the Swamp, in the UF student section, wearing as much Noles gear as one person can.
...Then I transferred to UF for totally academic reasons. The switch was hard. I learned on my Noles. They were my first football love. The first tingles when I walked into the stadium on game day. The first excitement when we won. The first heartbreak when we lost. I was unsure about cheering for the Gators I so recently mocked. After losing to Miami twice in the same season, I justified cheering for the Gators while staying loyal to my Noles by hating Miami with a burning passion.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Gators & will defend them till I die, but I still don’t know all the words to the fight song and can only slur along with the alma mater like the 90,000+ other Gators in the Swamp, getting about 50% of the words at the right time. I cheered just as hard in the Swamp as I did at Doak. The Swamp & UF's campus feel like home, the Gator Nation like extended family. I shed a single tear during the song we sing & sway to between the 3rd & 4th quarters at my last game as a student (a momentous thing, since I hadn’t come close to crying since high school graduation). My first football season as a Gator wasn’t as magical as losing my football virginity to FSU, but it was just as intense if not more so with all the new, crazy rivalries in the SEC. My original football love and my alma mater will forever be in competition, but I will always boo Miami.
5 comments:
That's a bunch of bullshit! Don't be a cop-out! You must pick one. You can't choose to love 2 schools, especially if those 2 schools happen to be intense rivals! People move on from their first loves. You moved on didn't you? Your golden years were at the University of Florida! You degree says University of Florida! You are an alumni of the University of Florida! 'Nuff said.
I would like to tell you that you are right, but sadly my dear girl I cannot support the idea.
You remind me of a guy I work with while my sting at the Poly. His name was Charlie, and he was a die-heart Canes fan. He would never cheer against the Gators, but he would never defend it, which is clearly where you two differ.
I am not saying that you shouldn't have two teams to cheer, thats is common, but you cannot be fan of both teams. You can wish them to do well, but you cannot be a fan of both teams. You can hate Miami, actually you should hate Miami, but you cannot be a fan of both teams.
Well you get my point. We will never make you decide to choose one of the other because we love you too much, but you cannot be a fan of both teams.
Cheryl!!! c'mon woman!! With as many times as we went to games together?? The fight song, the alma mater and "We Are the Boys" are Gator football hymns!!
-Kim
It's okay. I like the Yankees and the Red Sox. It happens.
Thanks Ang! :)
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