Destructive partisanship is the sad status quo in Florida:
As the University of Florida competes Monday for the national college football championship, state residents will set aside their differences to cheer as the young men of Florida take the field.Or not.
"I'm rooting against them," said Scott Osteen, a Florida State University graduate from Jupiter who heads the Palm Beach County Seminole Club.
"I root for them to lose," said Bill Rose, a University of Miami fan from Palm Beach Gardens. "My second-favorite team is whoever they're playing."
Next week's Bowl Championship Series contest between Florida and Ohio State reveals the deep animosity for the Gainesville school among fans of the state's two other college football powerhouses. Slights from 30 or 40 years ago are recalled with fresh outrage. Insults from Florida's former coach Steve Spurrier are hashed and rehashed. And beyond specific grudges, there's resentment of a university that absorbs the lion's share of funding, carries the most prestige, possesses the grandest campus and provides the largest number of recruits to the state's ruling class.
"They like to strut and preen and tell everybody how beautiful they are," said Charlie Barnes, executive director of the Seminole Boosters, which raises money for FSU athletics.
My burden in life is to always see the the clear middle road. Even if I hadn't gone to both FSU and UF and married someone from UM, I would still seek only the greater good of my state. Especially against the sons and grandsons of the Ohio drivers who plague our fair roads with their bad driving.
Posted by floridacracker at January 6, 2007 11:28 AMIs Miami even considered a Florida school? ;- )
Posted by: hamous at January 6, 2007 11:57 AMAt first glance, I had assumed the story would be about FSU and UF, because that would be NATURAL. But this being a local paper, they had to work UM in there too. UM's not even a state school.
Posted by: Donnah at January 6, 2007 12:00 PMI never made it to UF, although I did manage to get a degree from Santa Fe. Houston is my alma mater. But I went to a lot of games back in the 70s. I remember one homecoming game in the early 70s when the Gators played Rice...and lost. That had to be a low point in Gator football history. I also remember the alumni section pelting the Miami bench with oranges. And the guy in the leisure suit nicknamed "Two Bits" wandering around leading cheers. Wonder if he's still around?
UF & FSU both, huh? Tha'ts gotta be a dilemma on Thanksgiving weekend? Who do you root for?
Posted by: hamous at January 6, 2007 01:22 PM"I'm rooting against them," said Scott Osteen, a Florida State University graduate from Jupiter who..."
I'm assuming there's a city called "Jupiter" in Florida, unless the enmity is so strong it's gone interplanetary.
Posted by: dorkafork at January 6, 2007 01:24 PMDonnah,
Florida wasn't yet a state when Miami University was chartered in 1809 and while it remains a "no car" campus to this day, those bad drivers with Ohio plates are probably suffering PTSD from sharing the drive down 75 with Canadian and Michigan drivers. Or worse yet, you're catching them after they've run the gauntlet of geezers on the way through the St. Pete area.
Posted by: tfhr at January 6, 2007 03:42 PMGo Bucks.
Posted by: Norma at January 6, 2007 07:26 PMGatorbait !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZcpH7pwuGs
Posted by: csason at January 6, 2007 07:37 PM"Gator Nation" baby...
UF is in the hunt for a National Championship and win or loose, they earned the trip.
"It ain't bragging if you can do it."
Dizzy Dean
Once again .....The SEC DOMINATES !! Congrats GATORS !!!
Posted by: Lyv Wire at January 9, 2007 05:02 PM