I lived in Florida (born here), Georgia, and several other states before work returned me to Florida a few years ago. I've been to many football games involving every team in our conference (with the exception of Missouri). That makes me feel somewhat qualified to say this: Florida Gator fans are the most spoiled, self-deluded, and whiny fans in the SEC. They remind me of old-school Notre Dame fans (you know, back when Notre Dame had been relevant for more than one season). Since Florida lacked a real football tradition until around 1990, it's almost as if the Fighting Irish boorishness was transplanted into Gator fans just as each program began moving in opposite directions. Here is an example of the typical attitude of Florida fans from a prominent Gator forum:
"Why does Bama get so many advantages in this conference?
They're not Texas. They don't bring in far more revenue than all the other teams. In fact, they're a podunk school with bad academics in a backwards state.
Yet, they have the SEC Office in Alabama. One of their Alumni is head of officials and they rarely get flagged. They control most of the tickets to the SEC Champ game.
The worst is they got to remove UGA from their schedule this year. This game should have played out during the regular season. If UGA had won, so be it, they would have played a tougher schedule than us and deserved to go to the Champ game. If Bama had won, we would have been in the SECC game like we should have been after playing the muderous schedule we did. They go on probation for violations and get to keep their championships. We get our stripped.
I just don't get it."
Right. It's clear that there's a lot they don't get. The typical Florida fan has the most limited understanding of basic football rules, techniques, and history of any group in the conference. While a few seem to realize that the SEC wasn't created in 1990, those people are rare. Living in Georgia during the Herschel years was miserable, but that was nothing compared to residing in Florida while the Gators were led by Tebow and Meyer. At least the Bulldogs had fans that understood the sport. Talking to a typical Gator fan about football strategy is like explaining the concept of soap to barners. It's something that they just don't find important. Please note that this doesn't apply to FSU fans. As for University of Miami fans, I believe they're all extinct or incarcerated, so this doesn't apply to them, either.
"Why does Bama get so many advantages in this conference?
They're not Texas. They don't bring in far more revenue than all the other teams. In fact, they're a podunk school with bad academics in a backwards state.
Yet, they have the SEC Office in Alabama. One of their Alumni is head of officials and they rarely get flagged. They control most of the tickets to the SEC Champ game.
The worst is they got to remove UGA from their schedule this year. This game should have played out during the regular season. If UGA had won, so be it, they would have played a tougher schedule than us and deserved to go to the Champ game. If Bama had won, we would have been in the SECC game like we should have been after playing the muderous schedule we did. They go on probation for violations and get to keep their championships. We get our stripped.
I just don't get it."
Right. It's clear that there's a lot they don't get. The typical Florida fan has the most limited understanding of basic football rules, techniques, and history of any group in the conference. While a few seem to realize that the SEC wasn't created in 1990, those people are rare. Living in Georgia during the Herschel years was miserable, but that was nothing compared to residing in Florida while the Gators were led by Tebow and Meyer. At least the Bulldogs had fans that understood the sport. Talking to a typical Gator fan about football strategy is like explaining the concept of soap to barners. It's something that they just don't find important. Please note that this doesn't apply to FSU fans. As for University of Miami fans, I believe they're all extinct or incarcerated, so this doesn't apply to them, either.
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