So, I am in the Las Vegas Airport waiting for my plane to leave which I had already waited for 4 hours since I was switched to another airline after my original plane left late and wouldn't arrive in Denver to meet the only plane going to Tampa from there.
Low and behold, I see so much blue and orange I want to puke! How can your worst nightmare as a Seminole fan come to life...... Well, going to Tampa the day after the Gators win the Tostitos BCS Bowl against Ohio is what happens! I felt so bad for those Ohio State fans even more than I did for myself. I could covertly stay undercover, they (ohio state fans) can't stay undercover, they proudly are wearing their red and grey coats and getting ribbed (nicely sometimes, rudely other times,) by the Gator fans.
Okay, so let me tell you the truth, I admit that I did root for the Gators during the bowl game, only because Urban Myer was the Utah coach and took 5 players with him who started defensively for the Gators, but I did not feel comfortable doing it. I rationalized that it was for those Utah members that I routed. That SteverSpurrier was no longer the coach and that I was not living in Florida anymore and that even though it was Matt's education that has taken us to where we are and yes, that Florida State was he reason for being in the job he is, that I was just supporting the utah players and nothing else. Well, being smacked with all those fans really put me on the Seminole defense again. How could I root for the enemy? What was wrong with me? then wham! "Come on Sandi, it is just a game!"
I ended up talking to this guy who had been waiting as long as I who was wearing only his gators hat. He told me that he and a few buddies flew to Arizona for the game, sat outside the stadium because they didn't have tickets and watch the game on the jumbotron! So I told him congrats on his win, but that I was a Seminole fan and that I was very uncomfortable with all this blue and orange, he laughed. I told him that my husband went to Florida State, and that we were there during the Spurrier era. He said he was from Bradenton, married his high school sweet heart and was a civil engineer for the city he lived in, but didn't go to the University of Florida, but that it was the closet college for him to root for and that he had done so his entire life!
The only nice gator fan, went and talked to the ohio state fans and they were smiling and laughing with each other. That was a nice thing to observe!
The funny thing was that I meet this lady that was wearing this t-shirt that fit the attitude that we had encountered during every FSU vs. UF game and I asked her if I could take a picture of her with her t-shirt. She was a really nice person and thought that it was great that I like her t-shirt. So sad, but she thought is was a nice gesture and I wanted it only for this blog....
Matt and I always thought that Gator fans felt entitlement with Spurrier in charge and this ladies shirt proved it... Besides some of the losers that would jeer at the Ohio fans when they walked onto the plane. and then started a match of rudeness between all the fans! Yeah, be proud of your team, but come on, can't we all get along?
Well, as I landed in Tampa I was very happy to get away from the blue and orange. The guy that started out in Las Vegas with me was still there at the carrosel and I told him have a great day, got my luggage and went out into the humidity to met my sweet daddy outside the terminal. AH, FLORIDA! On to my vacation!!!!!
