A Gaucho in a sea of Gators

I meant to post this one a while ago, when it was more relevant. But with football season winding down, the Gator mania has lessened.

I now live in north Florida. The University of Florida is in Gainesville, is just down the road. Many, many people from north Florida that go to college go to UF. The UF mascot is the Gator. (It's also the home of Gatorade, by the way.) UF is also known as Florida.

Florida won the football championship last year (2006). They also won several basketball championships recently, as well. (And I'm setting myself up for a lecture on the history of Florida sports by not providing specifics, here.)

Anyway, the majority of my coworkers, with a few exceptions (a couple of FSU (Florida State University Seminoles), an Ohio, a University of Colorado, a Temple University, and a few other universities thrown in for good measure) ,are Gators. They wear Gator colors on Fridays (blue and orange if you were curious). They have Gator signs on their desks. One even has blue and orange Christmas-style lights around their cubicle.

Now, not only are these people Gators. But football is serious business out here. The grocery stores have huge tailgating sales before big games. People with RVs line up to get in the prime tailgating locations before big games for days. Yes, days.

So here I am, from a college that disbanded its football team way back in the late 80s. Surrounded by people that take their football team's wins and losses very, very seriously. It's been a culture shock.

But I have been thinking about printing out a UCSB Gaucho logo and putting it on my cubicle, much like these folks have their Gators.