More Reflections on the Trip to Gainesville and the Loss to the Gators

I guess we are real Seminole fans now. We went to Gainesville without tickets to witness a loss to the Gators. Even though we won the two basketball games the night before - nothing salves the sore feeling in your belly as you drive home after getting soundly thrashed by your rivals. Finding out the next morning that one of your fellow fans was brutally murdered in a parking garage near the stadium makes it even worse. It makes your question what life is all about.

In the past we used to enjoy going to the stadium to watch the Seminoles beat up on the 7 dwarfs - the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Lulu was not comfortable until the Noles would pin 4 or 5 touchdowns on an opponent. We would laugh when our Noles would paste Clemson 58-0. We would smuggly boast, "That is your coach's job to stop FSU from scoring - not Bobby's." Now the worm has turned.

Coach Bowden used to always say he was, "Just one losing season from his halo falling down around his neck and becoming a noose." With 2 seasons of 7-6 and 7-5 - we are almost there. It is truly shameful the way some fans treat Bobby Bowden after all he has done for this town and school.

We ended up paying $80 each for 2 seats near the goal line in the sixth row. I will let Lulu explain to you how she got a complimentary admission. So it was 3 tickets for a total of $160 - and face value was $40 a ticket. At game time - single tickets were going for $150. That is what it costs to see the national champions playing their archrival at home.

20 years of dynasty has certainly spoiled many Seminole fans. Folks that have never played the game - think they know better than our coaches - and many of them are so brave to go anonymously on talk radio and computer blogs - to tell everyone what they think.

How does one explain many of the football power house schools having mediocre seasons? Is it parity as they say? Is it because the scholarship rules spread the talent around? Is it because the coaches are getting old and kids are afraid to become lame ducks at schools when the coaches leave? Is it just the law of averages.

I have never understood what attracted so many excellent football players to a place like FSU and Tallahassee to play. Some of the folks told me that it is the bright and pretty co-eds at FAMU. With the exception of Bobby Bowden and the excellent facillities that he built here - there is not much to attract football players to this town.

But the same thing is happening at other "former powers." Look at Penn State - Notre Dame - Miami - Nebraska - Michigan. They have similar circumstances and in many cases have fallen further than FSU. Joe Paterno had 3 losing seasons recently - Notre Dame's coaches office has a turnstile at the door - so many come and go. If a place like Miami can fire a coach that went 50-12 - what is next?

Bob Dylan wrote -

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

So - we finally made a trip to the "present" football mecca in Florida - "the swamp." Last week we wept at the closing of the Orange Bowl. 7 football championships shared by Miami and FSU were decided on that field. One thing seems constant. Wherever the high school football stars from the State of Florida go - so goes the title.

I'd like to paint a better picture of the weekend - but that murder in the parking lot after the game really colors my perspective. Right now I am happy with a lower common denominator - I am just happy my family and I got home alive.