I Was One of the Crazies

No, not on Black Friday. I slept in, ate leftovers, did laundry. Why isn't the laundry ever finished?

But yesterday, DSD and I were out of the house by 9. (We live in the Central time zone). We made our way 2 hours to the NE and arrived in Tallahassee by 12 (now in Eastern time). We parked at the Tallahassee/Leon County Civic Center because there are buses every few minutes between there and Doak Campbell Stadium and we had a pass. But it was probably less than a mile walk, so we walked it. We had plenty of time.

We called our friends, who were supposed to there EARLY to tailgate, but they didn't answer. We saw A LOT of people dressed in blue and orange. We found a little bar right off campus. Only beer was served, so DSD had a couple and we visited with the other gator fans who were sitting around there. I was starving, but the food didn't look really great, so I decided to wait. Eventually our friends wandered by (of all the luck that we would just run into them) and we made our way over to their tent. We weren't there long, though, because it was starting to rain and the stadium was open. So we headed in, found a couple of hot dogs and then just looked at each other, because it was starting to pour!

Apparently the YouTube crowd has not had time to upload any portion of the game and MSNBC has it fixed so that you can't get the code, but I did find this video from the Gainesville Sun



Ok, it starts off with Florida State stuff, but it doesn't seem to show any of the Seminoles big plays, but what can you expect from the Gainesville Sun?

So normally I watch the games on TV and I am incredibly smug about how warm or dry I am. Yesterday I was one of those nuts sitting there in the rain. Soaked to the toes. We did have ponchos, so shoulders to knees were dry, but I am not certain that my shoes will ever be dry. Our heads were fairly dry, but the hoods kept slipping.

I had a blast. DSD was a great sport.

I was sadly disapointed in a couple of the FSU fans who were near us. Most of them were fabulous, but one guy and his girlfriend kept talking smack and they wouldn't stop standing in their seats. So I had no choice but to stand in mine, because I am short. I couldn't see anything.
I was very apologetic to those behind me who were very gracious and understanding and kept glaring at that guy. He also kept bitching about the calls. Which stunk. It was a really poorly called ball game. But the bad calls went both ways. There was one point where a Florida player held an FSU D player and allowed Tebow to throw a touchdown. There was on FSU player who could be seen CHOKING a Florida player (that is probably a personal foul, at the least it is holding). But the crappy calls didn't help (or really hurt) either team, so it was probably as fairly called as any team gets.

We left with four minutes to go in the ball game. The score was 45-15 and even though FSU was driving, I didn't think they were going to make up the 30 point difference (they fumbled the ball shortly after we left, so the final was 45 - 15). And DSD was only there to make me happy and I figured I would be nice to him.

As we made our way to our bus for the ride back to the Civic Center (it was still raining, our shoes were wet and we were tired so we didn't want to walk) I was APPALLED at the state of the stadium. There were beer bottles all over the place right outside the gate. There was trash everywhere. I almost stepped on half of a chicken while in line for the bus. GROSS. Apparently Florida State fans are not concerned by the cleaniness of their stadium after a game.

We made it home safe and sound though and now the sun is trying to peek out. I had wonderful time, but we will enjoy the rest of Florida's season (SEC Championship next week in Atlanta) from the comfort and dryness of our living room.

Go Gators!