There is no denying that football defines fall semester at UF. For many of us, game day has become a tradition as sacred as Christmas or the Fourth of July. Game day rituals of waking up early to tailgate, sitting through the entire game just to sing “We are the Boys from Old Florida,” and celebrating a victory have become so ingrained in us, it’s almost subconscious.
Via: bleacherreport.com
But for the thousands of freshmen and transfer students coming to UF for the first time, Saturday was their first Gator game. We all remember our first game–or not, if you had a little too much, uh, “school spirit.” The first sight of 80,000 people packed into the Swamp standing for three and a half hours straight is enough to make your hair stand at the amount of pride we have for our school.
Hailing from Connecticut, freshman Sierra Szkrybalo could not wait for her first game.
Szkrybalo had never been to a Gator game, or even knew anyone who had. Before the game, though, she said she had heard enough about it to have a pretty accurate idea of what was to come.
“This school has crazy good school spirit, so I’m expecting a packed, really loud student section to cheer on the Gators,” she said.
Andrew Ingber, a freshman from South Florida, could also picture what to expect before actually attending first Gator game. When asked what he was most excited about, he simply responded, “Just the energy in the stadium and our student section. People have told me there is no other student section in the country like ours.”
UF’s “crazy good school spirit” gives each game day its excitement and can prove to any freshman that UF students have immense school spirit.
“My favorite part was getting to see so many Gator fans all in one place and hearing the loudness of everyone screaming for the team together,” Szkrybalo said.
(Don’t believe him? We’ve been ranked as one of the top 50 loudest stadiums.)
Before the game, Szkrybalo went to a tailgate barbecue, but Ingber had more creative plans with his friends in his dorm, Broward hall.
“Since the fraternities are closed to all freshman guys, our floor is putting together our own tailgate,” Ingber said.
The plan for the tailgate was to set up food, drinks and games in the common room and have everyone on the floor leave their doors open.
“We made flyers and typed up formal invitations to slide under all of the girls’ doors in Broward.”
Unfortunately Ingber’s RA didn’t approve of the idea and shut it down as they tried to get started, but he and his friends definitely get credit for trying to follow game day tradition.
Even though the song says, “In all kinds of weather we’ll all stick together,” both Szkrybalo and Ingber, like many others, left after “The Boys of Old Florida” because of the heat, but both cannot wait until the next home game against Tennessee.
Via: bleacherreport.com
Coming off of a season with no home losses, we Gator fans are jaded and expect victories, but who cares? Going to a game with the mind set that we are going to win only makes the atmosphere more energizing. Like Ingber said, the student section at Ben Hill-Griffin stadium is like no other. If you ever watch a home game on TV, you can hear the shouting during a defensive play, calling “bullshit” and, my personal favorite, “Move back, you suck!”
It’s more than football, it’s the event that brings this massive school of over 50,000 students and countless alumni together to cheer for a common cause.
You can’t really call yourself a Gator until you’ve experienced the magnitude of that pride.
GO GATA.
Photo courtesy of: incahoots.wordpress.com
