...In so many ways.
Ah well. Here's one way: Back in 1979, I was a sophmore at UF, we had just brought in Bear Bryant protege Charlie Pell to somehow dig us out of the hole that Bill Dicky had dug and by then BURIED us in. We were nonetheless full of optimism, and certainly didn't blame Charlie for what ensued that FIRST season under him: 0-10-and 1--and trust me, we were WORSE than our record indicated. So bad, in fact, that we actually had mainly relaxed about the whole damn THING for a season: We gave the Coach and his thin collection of "talent" (very few) and "a buncha other guys" who either'd lost whatever "pride" or "promise" along the way, or hadn't been anything LIKE "promising" to begin with. We did have a FEW "mighta beens" and ONE actual "class act" who was truly fine--a great player and even better young man, WR Cris Collinsworth.
Point here is, tho, from early on in the season, most couldn't miss the evidence staring at us from the field: We couldn't beat ANYONE--So we just relaxed and PARTIED ON. Doubt I need go into details...but have to say, in retrospect it was probably the most "just plain FUN" I ever had at (then still) Florida Field (pre-Spurrier, not "The Swamp" yet): a season-long social scene of drinking, joking and "hookin' up" that earned us Playboy's "Number One Party School" during that time.
I have all kinds of stories we still tell each other on the rare occasions a few of us still get together now decades later. The one that immed comes to mind, time-'o-year and all, is what turned out to be the last Gator "Halloween Ball", held (what turned out to be the last time) in the "quadrangle", the "park" outside the library, between the 13th St University gates and the bell tower. A complete descent into wild drunken barbarism by both sexes. After that they "cancelled" the "Ball", renamed it really ("Halloween Festival") and held a fully funded and more formalized affair in the new "Bandshell", tucked away further into campus on the far side of the stadium. "The Ball" had been a "student tradition" neither funded nor "approved" by anyone, and its plunge into "fully extreme" I always thought was one more symptom of us basically having to cut ourselves off from our "normal" coming together to support our football team and its efforts, and the just "naturally" finding a ways and means to pour that out somewhere, somehow-- and on the night of 10/31, there it WAS.
Anyway, obviously this ISN'T quite the same situation, and times are different etc etc--but for me, I find that for the first time SINCE that season, I am feeling an echo of that same "relieved of caring so MUCH" at the team's performance and outcome overall in any particular game ahead. I'd love to see us beat (of all people) MUSSCHAMP'S charges on Sat, especially at THEIR place--but I don't have much tension, deep emotion in the matter. I may watch, but mainly more like a coach scouting potential recruits:
"Who will we be looking to depend on in the future?" "Where are we particularly thin?" "WHO REALLY WANTS IT?".
And so one.
...Oh, and who wants another beer? Grab the guy next time he's within eatshot...
Ah well. Here's one way: Back in 1979, I was a sophmore at UF, we had just brought in Bear Bryant protege Charlie Pell to somehow dig us out of the hole that Bill Dicky had dug and by then BURIED us in. We were nonetheless full of optimism, and certainly didn't blame Charlie for what ensued that FIRST season under him: 0-10-and 1--and trust me, we were WORSE than our record indicated. So bad, in fact, that we actually had mainly relaxed about the whole damn THING for a season: We gave the Coach and his thin collection of "talent" (very few) and "a buncha other guys" who either'd lost whatever "pride" or "promise" along the way, or hadn't been anything LIKE "promising" to begin with. We did have a FEW "mighta beens" and ONE actual "class act" who was truly fine--a great player and even better young man, WR Cris Collinsworth.
Point here is, tho, from early on in the season, most couldn't miss the evidence staring at us from the field: We couldn't beat ANYONE--So we just relaxed and PARTIED ON. Doubt I need go into details...but have to say, in retrospect it was probably the most "just plain FUN" I ever had at (then still) Florida Field (pre-Spurrier, not "The Swamp" yet): a season-long social scene of drinking, joking and "hookin' up" that earned us Playboy's "Number One Party School" during that time.
I have all kinds of stories we still tell each other on the rare occasions a few of us still get together now decades later. The one that immed comes to mind, time-'o-year and all, is what turned out to be the last Gator "Halloween Ball", held (what turned out to be the last time) in the "quadrangle", the "park" outside the library, between the 13th St University gates and the bell tower. A complete descent into wild drunken barbarism by both sexes. After that they "cancelled" the "Ball", renamed it really ("Halloween Festival") and held a fully funded and more formalized affair in the new "Bandshell", tucked away further into campus on the far side of the stadium. "The Ball" had been a "student tradition" neither funded nor "approved" by anyone, and its plunge into "fully extreme" I always thought was one more symptom of us basically having to cut ourselves off from our "normal" coming together to support our football team and its efforts, and the just "naturally" finding a ways and means to pour that out somewhere, somehow-- and on the night of 10/31, there it WAS.
Anyway, obviously this ISN'T quite the same situation, and times are different etc etc--but for me, I find that for the first time SINCE that season, I am feeling an echo of that same "relieved of caring so MUCH" at the team's performance and outcome overall in any particular game ahead. I'd love to see us beat (of all people) MUSSCHAMP'S charges on Sat, especially at THEIR place--but I don't have much tension, deep emotion in the matter. I may watch, but mainly more like a coach scouting potential recruits:
"Who will we be looking to depend on in the future?" "Where are we particularly thin?" "WHO REALLY WANTS IT?".
And so one.
...Oh, and who wants another beer? Grab the guy next time he's within eatshot...