Thoughts from Gainesville and Florida

[chawan_cut]

just got back to Orlando from Gainesville. i'm about to upload game photos, and i'll link to them laters.

we got lucky. it was HOT in the morning. really hot. sun was out and burning hard. the clouds rolled in and it was nice and overcast. then right before the game started, it downpoured. then the sun came out and made it humid again. but then the clouds covered up the sun.

the florida fan said we were lucky it didn't thunder and lighting, or they would've chased all fans under the stadium into the concourse for safety.

anyways, needless to say, it wasn't as humid as it could've been for the guys. that was our only luck.

90,000!!!! the seats were bleacher seats and kinda crammed together, so that's how they all fit. but still, 90,000. i'm trying to figure out if the Bama stadium was more impressive that the swamp.

the first quarter we had the florida fans worried. my friend and i sat in good seats surrounded by the gator fans. we could hear them all saying, what's going on? this isn't supposed to be happening. we're supposed to be blowing them out, etc etc. our D was doing well. our offense was moving the ball but stalled. and then the floodgates opened. nothing went well after that.

the momentum flowed and it was over. the one thing that impressed the florida fans was that our D line was holding their own against the big boys of Florida. they liked the way some of our guys were hitting hard and tackling. they all were "ooohed" by brashton's hit on the guy near the endzone and all clapped when he walked back to the bench and being stunned shortly.

the one that surprised me was that when Dan Kelly was finally able to kick off, they were surprised he was able to kick it out of the endzone. they said they can't remember the last time a Gator kicker was able to kick it that far. they wanted to trade kickers. they kept making fun of their kicker when he kicked it to the 25 or short. they said his best kick was that squib kick.

all the fans that we met were EXTREMELY nice. southern hospitality lives on in Gainesville. the only negative thing i heard was from a kid that sped by on a golf cart. everyone else was surprised that we flew all the way there. they kept asking how long the trip took. they couldn't see themselves flying that way.

they all kept telling us "sorry" afterwards for the beating, but i told them, hey, we didn't do much to stop it.

BIG props to Nalo boy and his crew for the tailgate and food. by the pictures i posted in the other thread shows the fun that was had by all. glad all the sportshawaii, tsaikos, and any one in green could have a safe haven to meet up and talk story.

ok, time to get to the picture uploading. will link later.

[jhb3043]

its good to hear that those of you that were able to attend were treated nicely

[BigWave96744]

Looking forward to seeing your 500+ pictures....

[wyokie]

all the fans that we met were EXTREMELY nice. southern hospitality lives on in Gainesville. the only negative thing i heard was from a kid that sped by on a golf cart. everyone else was surprised that we flew all the way there. they kept asking how long the trip took. they couldn't see themselves flying that way.

they all kept telling us "sorry" afterwards for the beating, but i told them, hey, we didn't do much to stop it..

The Gator fans were nice to the Wyoming fans before, during and afdter the 2005 opener in Gainesville which impressed a lot of Wyo fans.

Only reason I posted that was to show that regardless of who the SEC plays OOC the fans are nice.

[chawan_cut]

yeah, they said that they are nice to non-conference opponents and save their hate for their rivals

[Bully808]

yeah, they said that they are nice to non-conference opponents and save their hate for their rivals

I tell you what though if we won today they would hate us j/p lol.

[chawan_cut]

what was also cool was that these florida fans are so hardcore, they learn as much as they can about their opponent. kids and adults were aware of what we did last year and what we didn't have coming back.
one kid asked me, hey, what was that dance thing that you guys got penalized for? and i pointed to the corner as our guys did the ha'a.

what i also liked was the true college football environment. all florida fans stood all game long. only sitting during timeouts and halftime. no one complained about them blocking the view of people in behind, as everyone was up. they all knew the fight songs and cheers. the all knew the alma mater. i know its hard to compare them to us, but it is nice to see how passionate they are about their team.

here's the link to my pictures (sorry bigwave, only 300). i'll add captions later if i have the time. some of the photos are supposed to be panoramic, but i don't have the olympus camedia software cd. you'll see which ones as they'll be pictures of the stadium.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chawancut/UHVsFlorida

[GatorRade]

I'm glad to hear you were treated nicely. We definitely have our share of bad fans. Hawaii to Florida is a long trip not be welcomed respectfully.

It was really nice for us Florida fans to open up with a real team instead of LA Monroe or something. Thanks for traveling, and maybe we'll see you guys in a BCS bowl sometime.

[chawan_cut]

oh, i forgot to mention something funny.
the florida guy in front of us asked "so when are they gonna put in oke-fenokee??"
i was like who?
he said "your qb, they've been calling him that all week on the radio"

we all thought the same thing. when??? a little too late. still, it wasn't just one individual. it was overall.

[ghb2513]

the florida guy in front of us asked "so when are they gonna put in oke-fenokee??" i was like who?
he said "your qb, they've been calling him that all week on the radio"

[totoroboy]

Good recap of your experience at the Swamp Chawan! It's great to hear that fans can be passionate about their team and classy at the same time. Although our fans are great for the most part, there are a lot of bad apples down here. For people complaining about prices.. Liz chun mentioned that Gator season tickets are $3700-3900.. over $500 per game. You'll also need to contribute a minimum of $2500 to get guaranteed parking. Our season ticket average must be about $220 with parking for $5.. a small price to pay to support the biggest event in Hawaii.

[Mr.EDGE808]

Amigo! Nice job on the pictures,and thanks for sharing! Did you make your way back to Hawaii yet?

[mainlandkid]

nice pictures...lol nice one on the price of gas