The Official 2009 - 2010 College Football Thread

[burberryaholic]

^^ Jeneen - I bet you had an awesome time then; it was a GOOD day to be a Florida fan

[amanda]

Originally Posted by burberryaholic

Amanda, be glad you missed last year!! My friends and I sulked the entire way back to St. Simons and then refused to go out Saturday night. I think that game was 70% Georgia playing horribly and 30% bad bad calls by the ref--I refuse to allocate any credit to UF for that victory

Yeah, I'm not sad that I missed that game. I watched it at home with my dad, also a UGA alum, and our bulldog (I left for Colorado the next morning), and it was very, very silent in our living room for most of the game.

I'm STILL pissed that I missed out on the year before, though. It was my senior year in college and I HAD A TICKET! I had actually gotten one legitimately, through the school, for only $30! And I was all set to go, but I had to work that day and watched most of the game while sitting in the home theater section of the Athens Best Buy. And then I went and got puking drunk at a Halloween party afterward to celebrate!

[Jeneen]

My hotel is booked for FL/GA weekend!

[Charles]

Where are you staying and for how long?

[meggyg8r]

GO GATORS!!

I'm happy to see so many Gators on this board! Chomp chomp!!!

DF is a Nole so we have it out about once a year, but the best part is is that since we started dating in 2005, the Noles haven't beaten the Gators at all

[Attagirl]

I can't believe how many SEC fans are here. I don't think this will be our year but add one more to the LSU fan list.

GO TIGERS

[Jeneen]

The Hyatt on the side near the Landing - Friday and Saturday... I've stayed across the water the past few years, so I am excited to be staying closer to the action.

[amanda]

Originally Posted by Jeneen

The Hyatt on the side near the Landing - Friday and Saturday... I've stayed across the water the past few years, so I am excited to be staying closer to the action.

oooo the Hyatt is a good location!

I'm also excited to see the SEC so well-represented in this thread, but I think SEC fans have a level of obsession with college football that can't quite be matched in other conferences (and there are actually some historical reasons for why that is), so it doesn't surprise me!

[Jeneen]

Please fill me in on the historical reasons, Amanda.

When Urban Meyer first came to Florida to coach, he commented on the sheer amount of women who are completely into football and have great knowledge of the game... it was a cute quote but I can't seem to find it.

Fans of conferences not in the south - do you think your ladies are hardcore football fans?

[amanda]

Originally Posted by Jeneen

Please fill me in on the historical reasons, Amanda. When Urban Meyer first came to Florida to coach, he commented on the sheer amount of women who are completely into football and have great knowledge of the game... it was a cute quote but I can't seem to find it. Fans of conferences not in the south - do you think your ladies are hardcore football fans?

In general, it took much longer for the South to get pro football franchises than it did the rest of the country. Up north, where pro football has had a foothold for much longer and colleges in general tend to be smaller, people are more likely to gravitate toward pro teams.

In the South, on the other hand, a lot of states still don't have pro teams and the ones that do (Georgia, Louisiana) were among the last to get them from the NFL. When you combine that with the huge state school culture that's here, people tend to look more towards college teams to give them something to root for. Also, since many people that live in the South aren't FROM here, they may have an affiliation with a pro team up north from their childhood that they won't give up, which discourages them from following pro teams here. And then they send their kids to college down here, and another generation begins...

And it sort of perpetuates himself. Pro football seems like a very blue-collar northern thing to me, and I don't identify with that culture at all. And the more the South feels culturally disenfranchised from the rest of the nation, the more people in the South (that may not even have a direct affiliation with a university) will cling to things like college football, because they seem more innately "southern." Even someone like me, who doesn't share ANY of the common southern cultural values, sort of eschews pro football as a bit of a reaction to how negatively northerners view us.

I was born and raised in Atlanta and I don't know a single person that gives a crap about the Falcons in any kind of serious way, although I doubt you could find someone in Pittsburgh that could honestly say the same thing. I've known people all my life that were hardcore SEC fans that will never, ever change or question their allegiance. I will be a Bulldog until I die.

And Urban's comment about female football fans in the South is something I've heard quite a bit. Possibly it's for some of the reasons mentioned above, but I'm not really sure. It definitely crosses gender lines here, though, in terms of both interest and knowledge.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Jeneen

The Hyatt on the side near the Landing - Friday and Saturday... I've stayed across the water the past few years, so I am excited to be staying closer to the action.

Cool! I live like 5 minutes away.

We'll def have to hang out. Amanda, you better come too!

[Jeneen]

Amanda - thanks for learnin' us! I would love to meet up at FL/GA with you and Charles - do we need to start a group in the meet-up section so we don't hijack this thread (sorry guys, we're a bit obsessed.)

[meggyg8r]

That's awesome so many of you are going to FL/GA. I would love to go but it is the day I am getting married! I cannot believe I scheduled my wedding for such an important game day... but my garter is orange and blue so I'll be representing the best I can!

[burberryaholic]

^^ I'm jealous Jeneen--I've always wanted to stay right by the Landing! I always stay in St. Simons and drive in for the game. It's Georgia-mania on that island!

[Jeneen]

Meggy! Shame on you for double booking! J/K have a wonderful wedding!
Burberry- aholic - looking forward to meeting you!