[gatortalk] Fwd: [gatornews] Bianchi: Spoiled Gator fans can't even sell out season opener

Ouch!!  I'd love to complain that Bianchi is just another in a long line of Sentinel writers who carries a grudge for Florida, another Gator Hater. But, Bianchi is a Gator!  And...  He's right!

Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Helen Huntley <hhsgator@gmail.com>
Date: September 2, 2012 6:17:35 PM CDT
To: gatornews@googlegroups.com
Subject: [gatornews] Bianchi: Spoiled Gator fans can't even sell out season opener
Reply-To: gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com

poiled Gators fans can't even sell out season opener

Mike Bianchi, SPORTS COMMENTARY

9:20 p.m. EST, September 1, 2012

 

GAINESVILLE — Now we know what that empty chair was that Clint Eastwood talked to at the Republican National Convention.

It was one of the vacated seats from Florida Field.

Or, wait, maybe it was the one reserved for Florida's starting quarterback — because that seat is still unoccupied, too.

If the Florida Gators keep playing as they did in their sloppy, choppy, jalopy of a 27-14 season-opening victory over Bowling Green on Saturday, that nonsellout gathering of 84,000 fans will seem like an Indianapolis 500 crowd by the end of the season.

As it was, the Gators played the opener in front of their spoiled-rotten fan base, and a Jacksonville Jaguars crowd broke out. What next? Tarps in the upper decks and home games in London?

Poor Will Muschamp. Now all the second-year Gator coach can do is tune out the deafening "noise in the system" former coach Ron Zook used to rail against. Despite the victory, the message-boards assassins will ravage Muschamp with criticism about the offense's third-down-conversion rate, the defense's poor tackling, the 14 penalties and the uncertain quarterback situation. Even though Jeff Driskel was on the field for the first snap and played the entire second half, Muschamp claims he doesn't know whether Driskel or Jacoby Brissett will start next week against Texas A&M.

There will be no Gator fan love for UF running back Mike Gillislee's 148 yards and two touchdowns. There will be no consideration that Muschamp admittedly tried to force the running game on third-and-short to establish a physical mind-set among UF's offensive line. There will be no regard that Muschamp and new coordinator Brent Pease held back much of their offense in preparation for next week's SEC opener at Texas A&M.

That's not what Gator fans do.

They just complain a lot.

Muschamp has said all week that he wanted the opener to set the tone for the season, and he claims that's exactly what happened Saturday.

"We're 1-0," he said. "I like this football team. Are there things we need to work on? Yes. ... But I certainly feel a lot better than I did a year ago — I can tell you that."

Of course, UF fans don't want to hear that. They wouldn't be satisfied unless the Gators won 60-0 over Bowling Green — a team from the Mid-American Conference. They will point to what former UF coach Urban Meyer's Ohio State team did when it played a MAC opponent Saturday (a 56-10 win) or what UCF did when it played a MAC team Thursday (a 56-14 win).

Muschamp's mission is not only to rebuild the roster, but to re-energize a once-passionate fan base quickly losing interest. He and his team certainly did nothing to invigorate Gator Nation on Saturday. Muschamp has closed practices to fans and media, but if his team puts together a few more lackluster performances, he might want to consider closing games, too. Then again, he might not have to worry about it because fans might just quit coming on their own.

In fact, they already have.

What happened to that old Gator arrogance and adoration?

Where is that old Gator devotion and emotion?

Have you ever felt less of a buzz for a UF season than this one? Just goes to show that Florida fans might be the most fickle in all of college football. They are four years removed from a national championship, three years removed from an undefeated regular season, and The Swamp is drying up.

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Florida's last two non-conference home games (other than FSU) — Bowling Green on Saturday and Furman last year — are the lowest-attended since the last home game before Zook got fired. And it's not just the high-dollar seats that are going unsold. For the first time anyone can remember, the Gators didn't sell out their allotment of season tickets or student tickets.

"It's not fun when the Gators aren't winning," UF student Magdala Joseph told the student newspaper. "If it becomes a season where the games are worth watching, I'll go."

Can you say spoiled?

Can you say faithless and fickle?

I think it's time for Florida fans to change the words of "We Are the Boys" — the traditional old song the UF crowd sways to at the beginning of the fourth quarter of home games.

The old verse says, "In all kinds of weather, we all stick together."

The new one should say, "In only fair weather do the fans get together."

If you don't believe me, just ask the empty chair.

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740 AM.

--

Helen Huntley

(727) 823-3801

www.helenhuntley.com

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