Sitting in an airport with a bad case of the Scaries after spending a guys weekend in Gainesville and thought I’d share real time thoughts on the experience.
Before we get into positives - let’s get the “Cons” out of the way bc they need to be addressed.
What I didn’t love
- Gainesville is “fine.” Big school, Spanish moss trees are cool, nice campus, but not as scenic as Lawrence or other schools. Also the reality of seeing a college town without bias. I’m always reminded of this when out of state kids visit KU and are impressed. In all nice college town but nothing that said “wow”
- College kids are lame these days. It’s troubling. Girls, scrap the mom jeans. Guys, invest in self care. It’s ok to be in shape. Bars were DEAD on Friday night. before a 3:30 Saturday rivalry game….da f*ck? No shit talking, no energy it was concerning. The scenery did not meet expectations.
Now game day everyone showed out but some college kid told me, “we usually stay in before a big game to rest and prep to go hard on Saturday” and that’s the lamest shit I’ve ever heard.
@BringBackMangino this is what happens when you kick fraternities off campus and mess with the college ecosystem. The loud, obnoxious BDE that is needed on football weekends was certainly missing.
- Bar scene was good some great dive bars and adjacent to stadium. But $15 cover on game day - go f*** yourself bar owners.
What was Cool
- Gameday was awesome. Great example how to build an excellent atmosphere on a model of simplicity and functionality. Great layout - campus, stadium, bars. Blocked off parking, open container a la Campus Corner. Great weather, tailgating laid out well out but supplemented by row of bars across from stadium. Weather was great. Was able to post up at 2-3 locations and absorb the full atmosphere.
Side note - not a political opinion but watching the vendors in the street peddling UF Trump Gear was humorous to me given it’s a college town but welcome to the South.
- Loved the Stadium. It’s big but angles are wide and thus not tall or steep. Not a bad seat in the stadium. BGH isn’t new. It’s not fancy. No massive Jumbotron. But super functional and “easy.” Plenty of options for concessions and bathrooms. Never a line. UF’s chants, themes, and engagement very simple and easy to follow.
- Educated crowd. Knew football and how to cheer at a game. A lot of Tebow jerseys which I found funny given that was 15 years ago but overall a “blue blood crowd” - engaged, active, loud, but presented well. Was 80% full but not bad for a 4-5 team that got killed last week.
“Wow Moments”
- LSU coeds were the MVP of the weekend. If that is a sample size of the college then I’m pushing my kids to go there. Nuff said.
- UF plays Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” at the end of the 3rd quarter and it was one of the coolest football thing I’ve seen live. I wasn’t expecting it and Florida was letting the game slip away before they sang that song and the first play of the 4th quarter UF throws a 50 yard bomb setting up a go ahead TD and the energy and momentum swing that followed was unreal. Dead f’ng serious that song fueled the comeback. My cousin (UF alum) said that the year Tom Petty died LSU came to UF and their band played during that song and he was still visibly upset that their band did that. Hearing him say that and 1 minute later they throw the bomb - was pretty surreal. Momentum is a real thing.
-SEC football is something special in person. It’s such a cleaner product than anything we see in the Big 12. And it’s the little things. The tackling was excellent. ST units were crisp. Balls were snapped faster and kicks exploded off of legs. The game had a rhythm and a flow to it and it made a 3.5 hour game seem like 2 hours.
Was the coaching better? Lol not at all. Did guys drop passes and make procedural penalties? Of course. And the refs were awful. But the quality really stood out in person - everyone on the field was a legit dude. I can see why TV networks are throwing them so much money - the Big 12 is AA ball in comparison. Not even close.
Conclusion - if you’re a football junkie you need to make the investment at some point in your life and go to an SEC game. Was pretty spectacular. I hope our leadership is studying these schools and seeing how you can build a first rate atmosphere without having to spend a ton of $$$, or even be a 10 win football team. Just make a simple, clean, fun experience that is repeatable and commit to it. Not that hard.
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