What I Love About UF

[Wuerffel4Pres]

We talk about the constant negativity and b!Itchfest amongst our fellow Gators so I wanted to start a thread in which we can discuss all things we love about the University of Florida. I'll start:

1. I love our colors. Orange and Blue. Complementary colors. And the perfect shade of each. Love that royal blue and our shade of Orange is so much better than Tennessee's.

2. I love the Gators script on the football helmets. So classy and pretty looking.

3. I love our mascot. The Gators. So many mascots are boring or not intimidating. Gators are a bad ass mascot. And unique!

4. Speaking of Gators, I love the chomp. Only a few schools have a physical action they do that identifies them with their team. And I still think ours is the coolest. The war chop doesn't even compare. Thousands of people doing the chomp in unison still gives me chills.

5. And on that same note, I love The Swamp. The nickname of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and how it was named is so freaking cool.

6. I love the guy who named it, Steven Orr Spurrier. And the fun he brought to Florida football. Before SOS, the SEC was a defensive, run oriented league. Spurrier offensively changed all that with his innovative style effectively changing college football forever. For the rest of time, no matter what happens, I'll always have the memories of the Spurrier years and I'll always smile.

7. I love "We Are The Boys." Thousands of people swaying side by side, whether strangers or friends, but all Gators.

8. I love the Gator Nation. There are two groups in this world, that I've always felt privileged to be a part of something so special and the Gator Nation is one of them. The other being fans of the band Sister Hazel (also fellow Gators) because being a part of either group creates a special bond and makes us part of an amazing family. Or at least it does me.

9. I love the O'Dome and the Rowdy Reptiles and the undying passion of our fanbase, second to none.

10. I love our campus. Some campuses look and feel like dumps. Not the University of Florida. Beautiful campus. Some great architecture. The layout is near perfect. And how many campuses can you go see real life alligators and bats right there?!

11. I love that seemingly every time I read about some incredible scientific or medical breakthrough, it seems to happen at the University of Florida.

12. I love that UF probably has the two greatest representatives of athletes in history in Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow.

13. I love that athletically, we are one of the best, if not the best university in the nation overall and definitely probably the best for women.

14. I love that we're centrally located in the state. All options at our fingertips.

15. I love our fight song and some of our chants, particularly Gator Bait. I always like to think that it's probably because of my favorite defensive player ever, Lawrence Wright, that that chant started. Please don't tell me otherwise and take that away from me.

16. I love that we are one of the top public schools in America and have been for years.

Forever and always, it truly is great to be a Florida Gator.

 

[stephenPE]

I loved going to games in the 60s and seeing SOS play. I loved walking around campus as a kid seeing the gator in the cage by the Century Tower. I loved all the Gator Growls and homecoming parades back in the 60s and 70s. Im love having my UF degree hanging in my room (Masters in Ed) at school. All the kids I teach know my allegience as I wear orange and blue or a gator shirt everyday. I love that the UF is in Gainesville Fla. Gville is cool and always has been. All the things W4PRes said I agree with. Those things make us what we are............I was born a gator. My parents went to UF. My daughter has a degree from UF as does her mom and uncle and aunt. My grandmother worked there for over 20 years. It is in my blood. I worked at UF for 4 years while I was an undergrad. Oh yeah. My daughter the UF grad rode in the lead car of the parade as a young girl with her BF cause the BF's dad was the Chief of Police and lead it in that GPD Corvette.

 

[Gator2222]

I love your optimism.

I put the over/under at 12 posts before this thread goes off the rails.

I live in Gainesville and my work frequently has me on campus and/or interacting with UF students. I love all of the great people that I get to meet. They keep me young at heart and inspired to achieve.

Go Gators!

 

[ChiefGator]

I love the fact that we have superior academics and through the many aspects of UF help a lot of people. From the great doctors at Shands, to the people around the state who assist our citizens. Now I love a lot of those other things associated with athletics, but without a school they would mean little to me. I also appreciate that Gator Nation does a lot of good around the world, not just support athletics.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

17) Gainesville green
18) The Hogtown moniker
19) Easy access to Cafe Risque
20) The safety of walking under Century Tower during graduation
21) Tie between the Fries statue and the Potato statue
22) Free food at Plaza of the Americas

 

[TN G8tr]

Can't disagree with any of that. Born a Gator, Been a Gator, and Always will be a Gator.

Sad that Burrito Bros. is gone.

 

[GR8 2B]

I love the energy at the football games; the brother- and sisterhood of the Gator Nation, which is virtually everywhere I go; being able to tell people I'm a Gator when they ask where I went to school; the memories I have of attending UF and the lasting friendships I made there; the Gator culture, which I have found all Gators I've met share; the lessons, both social and professional, that I learned while attending UF, and which played such a huge role in my having the good life that I have. I also confess an affinity for Gainesville green.

It's GR8 2B . . . a Florida Gator!

 

[GatorStud]

I loved the Halloween Ball on the Plaza of the Americas about 77-78'...
I loved watching the hot air balloon rise from behind the south end zone rotating to read 'Trojans are Disposable' B4 the USC kickoff...
I loved having the purist methyl salicylate yield by chromatography in Leigh Hall...

... party, camaraderie, academics... Go Gators!!

Great take W4P :cool:

 

[gardnerwebbgator]

 

[T REX]

What's not to love?

 

[MidwestChomp]

I love game day both basketball and football. I love camping out over night for the Kentucky basketball game. Women's gymnastics is a great atmosphere as well. There are some great professors who have come and gone and are still there and I wouldnt be who I am today without them.

I lived in Gainesville for 9 years and a big piece of me is still there not only because of UF, but also because my 5 year old daughter was born there. Every time a UF football or basketball game is on I tell her those stadiums are in her birth city and one day I'll take her to a game there. I get all nostalgic just thinking about watching her crawl around the north endzone at BHG.

 

[Jbossgator8]

I love all the National Titles we have in ALL sports which makes us an ALL Sports University. Go Gators!!

 

[revgator]

I always say that I hated living in Gainesville, I'm a coastal guy but i loved living at UF.
I love our colors
I love Corry Village
I love the history, I would wander around campus and imagine students there decades ago.
I love the level of academics and quality of research produced.
Like @Midwest my youngest was born while I was at UF
The biggest thing I love is that no matter where I'm at, or who it is, if I see someone represent the gators, I feel a kinship. I've made so many great friend that way.

Go gators.

 

[Chomper]

Parties at the Devil's Millhopper and weekends tubing the Ichetucknee. Off-campus I know, but still....

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Minus the sister hazel part we're on the same page.

 

[NavetG8r]

Like hoar.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

I put the over/under at 12 posts before this thread goes off the rails.

You're developing a bad habit of this type of snarc... and you were wrong. Just because you WANT everything on the board to turn negative in order to validate your outlook doesn't mean it will.

 

[ATXGator]

I love being part of Gator Nation. I don't know how it is with other schools, but there is truly a community. You really notice it when you live outside Florida. People are often saying Go Gators when I wear gear here in Texas and many of our closest friends are Gators we met through the alumni club.

Not to mention I have run into Gators when on vacation in Massachusetts and Venice and they have been awesome and helpful.

 

[Gator2222]

You're developing a bad habit of this type of snarc... and you were wrong. Just because you WANT everything on the board to turn negative in order to validate your outlook doesn't mean it will.

I was wrong...it was post #17. Relax dude, you don't have to be angry all the time. Seriously.

 

[78]

I love a zillion things about UF, but what I mainly love is that it's my school. That's why I'm here posting.