Some Fond Memories of Old

Being football season and the best part of football season (that period before the Gators lose), I'm a little nostalgic for some of the memories I've had attending games. I started going to UF games back when I was in high school with both my brother and a friend of mine procuring tickets. I would go to an occasional home game (especially against shitty teams) or even the SEC championship (my friend's parents really saw me as a positive influence in his life, so they would take me on trips to Atlanta and shit). Anyway, it all was rather fun, but the real fun started when I got to college. From watching colossal Peyton Manning chokes to ungodly scores against mediocre teams I saw a lot.

1996 was cool, as I went to 10 games, got to meet Rick Flair--whew!, taunt Kirk Herbstriet, see police dogs and mace get used (all the same game), and I got to wait in line for tickets for over a day. Boy that was quite a scene, as people brought couches, TVs, Playstations, and an insane amount of junk food to hold them over. We all camped out in the stadium, and the athletic department even pitched in for pizza. That led up to being able to watch the Gators win their only national title (and my revulsion for how nasty New Orleans was--it has since bathed). Also in there was an unfortunate incident in Atlanta where I strained my groin yelling real loud. Fuck that hurt.

Speaking of yelling loud, I once had someone get the cops on me for making too much noise. I used to go to all the Jacksonville Jaguars games, and the dude in the seat in front of me claimed I was harming him by cheering a little. The cops laughed at him, the rest of the seating section taunted him, and he never returned. That seat remained unoccupied the rest of the year. Perhaps the most eventful happening at a Jacksonville game was watching a drunk guy swing and miss hitting some guy he was pissed at and hit his own daughter. Poor girl. Oh, we sat in the 'no drinking, no cussin' section of the stadium--lot of good that did.

I suppose I'll go to more games sometime in my life, but it was quite a blast then, and it will likely never be the same.