Colleges

School spirit washes over Gainesville

By MELANIE AVE
Published April 3, 2007

Fans at The Swamp Restaurant in Gainesville celebrate as the final seconds tick off the clock. Photo gallery
	[Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes]

GAINESVILLE - Gator Nation rocked, yelled, drank, partied, cheered, stomped and rocked, yelled, drank, partied, cheered and stomped some more.

It began hours before Florida took on Ohio State in the national championship game Monday night in Atlanta. And it didn't stop.

Around these parts, if you weren't wearing orange and blue, you weren't a true Gator fan. Diehards crowded into bars along University Avenue or watched the NCAA final game on four big screens at the team's arena, the O'Connell Center.

"I'm not a rowdy kind of person," said UF junior Christopher Chin-Sang, 21, one of the last people allowed inside the popular Swamp restaurant next to campus four hours before the game. "But how can you not be enthusiastic about this?

"The school spirit here is amazing."

While the mania dimmed in comparison with that surrounding the football team's national championship in January or the basketball team's surprise national title win a year ago, it was clear Monday was no ordinary day at UF, the state's largest university.

The school was seeking its third national title in two years and the first back-to-back basketball titles since Duke in 1991-92.

Hundreds of students skipped class in preparation for the game. Normally packed lecture classes held but a handful of the academic faithful.

Freshman Jillian McGinnis, 18, skipped a computer class and became the first in line outside Gate 2 at the O'Connell Center - 12 hours before tipoff.

"I'm a big Gator fan," she said, an alligator tattoo stuck to her sunburned face. "I wanted to make sure I got the best seats."

"The atmosphere here," said another student, Derek Lanuto, 19, "is the next best thing to being at the game."

Police greased light poles near the campus to prevent students from climbing them. They removed potential street missiles, like unchained newspaper stands, and turned over concrete trash containers and replaced them with cardboard ones.

The O'Connell Center proved to be the place to be as hundreds of students stood in line for hours to get free T-shirts and watch the game free of charge, albeit without booze. They passed the time playing cards, listening to iPods and painting their bodies in school colors.

Jason Goldstein, a 20-year-old sophomore from Wellington, and two friends camped outside the arena overnight with their sleeping bags to make sure they would have choice seats.

When the doors opened, about two hours before the game, they ran to their first-row, half-court seats, as the theme song from Rocky blared.

"This is the place to be," Goldstein yelled over the din.

Inside the arena, fans acted as if the team was on the court them instead of on screen. Fans did the wave, screamed until they were hoarse and booed and Gator-chomped every mention of Ohio State. As the ball flew in the air, Zack Smith, a 19-year-old freshman with an orange Afro wig, thrust his fists in the air.

"Kick a--!" he screamed.

Melanie Ave can be reached at 727 893-8813 or mave@sptimes.com.

[Last modified April 3, 2007, 00:30:51]