I know there’s been plenty of talk about the greatness of the Miami-Florida State rivalry. It’s a tremendous one, one of the best in the country, easily.
But for me, there is no rivalry that Miami has that I get up for more than the Hurricanes vs. the Gators.
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There are plenty of rivalries to where the fans dislike each other and the players do to. But I can’t remember many more rivalries that are flat out disgustingly nasty and personal between the players and fans than I do in this one.
For me, personally, I have seen some of the wildest stuff in my college football fandom in this game, one that I wish was played every year.
The first and only time in my life that I was physically assaulted was by a Florida fan in 2002 outside the Swamp. We drove up from Coral Gables that Friday and stayed with my parents who lived in Gainesville at the time (yes, they’re Gators). I remember the scene on University Drive that day. Absolute madness. There was an old beat up car in a front yard painted in Miami colors that everyone was smashing with a sledgehammer. People were screaming “f*ck Miami” everywhere we went. It was the first matchup between the schools in 15 years, after all. Lots of pent up nastiness.
And when I was walking to our gate outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with my three friends, a group of about eight Gator fans was passing us. One guy reached over and two-hand shoved me when I wasn’t looking and sent me flying, followed with a “go home, bitch”. One of my friends went after the guy, but another of our friends grabbed him. We had just spent $125 bucks each on a ticket in the nosebleeds (a fortunate back then), and we weren’t getting arrested and missing the game.
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So, I swallowed my pride, dusted myself off, and went inside. Fortunately, the Canes backed up everyone in orange and green, delivering a 41-16 beatdown. Mo Sikes’ 99-yard INT return for a touchdown sent our group into a frenzy.
And the next year at the Orange Bowl, it was again a wild, wild scene. I remember the crowd around the stadium spreading far further than it usually did. The parking was harder to find in the neighborhoods. There were more food stands selling stuff. It was wild.
And inside the Orange Bowl, I remember the section in the open end with the bleachers filled with Florida fans, and when the game tilted to 33-10 Florida, there were boisterous Gators all around us in the upper deck. Some of my friends left. Three of us stayed, and all who did were rewarded with one of the most delicious moments of the 21st century. 28 points in the final 20 minutes (or whatever time it was) of the game. The Florida fans filing out when Alfonso Marshall pulled down the game-sealing pick.
Man, rivalries like that are hard to top. Wild, wild passion. And it’s against folks you share a state with. Some share households with. Players going against each other who were former teammates. And it’s a rivalry that builds up with several years off between games.
I’m so glad we’ve got another chapter in the rivalry on Saturday night. Go Canes!
