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gatormarc

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Everything posted by gatormarc

  1. Back to the original question to see if I can add anything. Gainesville's geographic location within the state is great. It's a college city in that the campus does dominate the culture but it also has some actual real-city amenities like museums, regional theater, etc. since UF is the flagship. There's a significant amount of the population there connected to Shands, UF's Teaching Hospital and a large grad student population so it's both a UF connection and also a big demographic separate from an 18 year old underclass student. It's also about 2-2.5 hours from Orlando, Tampa, and major beaches on both the gulf and Atlantic, and also about an hour from Jacksonville. So it's never far from a "big city" or touristy things. Plenty of in-state kids who couldn't get to UF end up at FSU, UCF, or USF, so it's not unusual for UF students to be traveling to Tally/Orlando/Tampa to party or hang out with old-friends or hosting friends from those other schools. Your nephew would soon enough have friends/roommates with connections to one or all of those cities and an excuse to roadtrip. -- If your nephew is into outdoorsy stuff, Gainesville is basically in the heart of Florida's natural springs. Lots of state parks in the area. Activities like tubing the Itchitucknee and walking down the Devil's Millhopper are part of the student experience. -- If your nephew likes sports, UF is an "everything school" like Texas. A lot of students latch on to something other than just football or basketball. It's a great way to spend time on the cheap. My friends and I went to lots of soccer, volleyball, and baseball games. -- Weather wise, summer is hot and humid. Gainesville gets both Florida extremes. It's interior enough that it doesn't get the coastal breezes. I swear that Orlando has less humidity in August. In the winter, it's usually the edge of the frost/freeze belt. -- Like any big school, UF can be intimidating for a Freshman away from home for the first time, but there's no shortage of activities and things to do. Some kids do better closer to home or on a smaller campus. That's really up to the kid and what they want and need.
  2. Shit, even Sonny's BBQ had like a 25 cent beer night back in the day. I had to look up and see if they still had Beat the Clock but I guess Grog House closed last year.
  3. If it's anything like how the SEC handles the chomp, you'll be more likely to be flagged for celebrating by doing horns up than an opponent is for taunting by doinghorns down.
  4. Losing the ghetto sucked. So much of my regular schoolday activity was there. I worked in the Dean of Students office so regularly walked over to the Black Student Union or Institute of Hispanic Culture since they were only connected to the campus network by modem. I'd usually grab lunch around there and check out Schoolkids or Hyde n Zeeks to see if they had any new used CDs. I've heard that the Mexican place that took over at CJ's is decent but I haven't tried it yet. Kids today have The Top, Mojo, Dragonfly, plus they've got access to Blackadder, Swamphead, and First Magnatude. We thought we were cool because we sprung for Killians Irish Red. I think the other Leonardo's location is still open. I hear that Maui Teriyaki is back too.
  5. Agree with what I have seen here. It's always fun talking to current and former students. Everyone really has their own experience. The city changes a lot. There are definitely more chains now but there's frankly more of everything than when I was at school. The unique local options are still there but they aren't the same as they were before.
  6. https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2024/02/06/florida-state-private-equity-fsu-football-conference-realignment-acc/?fsu Inside Project Osceola: Florida State sports’ 9-figure private equity plan An ACC exit by 2026? Naming rights to Doak? They’re all mentioned in the 2,500 pages of records we received.
  7. I'm not sure what Hayes is going for here. That's only 3 classes, one of which isn't done yet, and also ignores any nuance like transfers including players like Grimsley that spent all of a week at Bama before enrolling at UF but he's not including in this signing class.
  8. Also, now the rules are different now. Anyone who has signed an NLI can request a release without penalty and anyone on campus has 30 days to enter the portal once a head coach leaves.
  9. Texas is sandwiched between rivalry games against Georgia and LSU on Florida's schedule, the game is at DKR, and Texas has a bye week before the game. None of that screams trap.
  10. Yes about the former, but are you sure about the latter? When I search for him, @gswaim is the account that comes up.
  11. Oops. https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-cfp-may-withhold-added-revenue-from-smu-despite-power-five-move-145230576.html Sources: CFP may withhold added revenue from SMU despite Power Five move
  12. Charges by the word.
  13. In my biased opinion, there has always been a little bit of a "little brother" thing with FSU but I don't think anything more than you see from other "State" schools, and in fact they had been surpassed by UCF fans in that regard because FSU was also seen as establishment (and has now had decades of success) while UCF had no legit way to get access to the big time so those fans were the loud and obnoxious ones in the state. What we're seeing now is that FSU feels like a rat in a cage and much of it, they have had a hand in creating. Most FSU fans a year or two ago were confident they could just hand wave themselves out of the ACC. FSU sites sold subscriptions to chumps by making it sound like it was going to happen any minute now for awhile. And now the first time ever, they didn't get the benefit of the doubt despite playing a substandard schedule. Of course, they've now been talking shit about the ACC for a year plus now and are shocked pikachu when everyone agrees with them. Then consider the fact that the playoff could have expanded this year but the ACC went all in with The Alliance™ to block it. FSU fans at the time loved it because it was "giving the SEC the finger" and couldn't understand how the expansion was good for everyone. More shocked pikachu when they found out that the B1G was double crossing the other two members just like everyone else had warned. So yeah, they're cranky as fuck because they know they are fucked and they know they had a hand in getting fucked. All of their attempts to come across like a victim ring hollow because they know they are bullshitting.
  14. It's funny. It's sad. It's funny how sad they've gotten.
  15. The point is fuck FSU. Always and forever.
  16. Norvell hasn't been lighting it up in recruiting. He's not a bad recruiter by any means, but he has not recruited at an elite level yet. Up to now, he has done very well in the portal to fill in those gaps and he has always known for his coaching acumen, not just some guy who throws talent at a problem. This year was his first elite level class but it took several hits on ESD though they did still sign a very talented class. It's worth noting that the UF class that got gutted pretty bad on ESD and was considered one of the big losers on ESD still has a higher average rating than this year's FSU class.
  17. I think it's the culmination of things. For decades, they were cut out of the SEC because frankly they didn't bring anything to the deal. To be fair, no one did. UF sponsored them about a dozen times and most of the time, it never got to a second to bring to discussion. They joined the ACC over the SEC because they wanted an easier route to a football championship and to advance their basketball program and also because they wanted to be part of the upper crust of academics. They saw it as a route to jump Florida in all three while also thumbing their nose at the SEC and decades of being ignored. Football wise, it worked great through most of Bowden's tenure. They love to point at the ridiculously long string of top 5 finishes thanks in large part to a weak schedule. It was a calculated decision and it paid off. Next year, it will too once the playoff expands. This year, it didn't. Basketball wise, they had to watch UF win 2 titles and go to an additional two Final Fours when they were supposed to be the basketball program in the state because of the ACC (see 2020 banner). Recently, FSU's academics finally started to improve, but they are still well behind UF. Athletically, they have also improved a lot too but still behind UF. And now they are dealing with an unforeseen monetary gap because they are not in the Big 2 while also dealing with fan dissatisfaction because most FSU fans still are not interested in most of their conference opponents unless they are winning big. Going to Tally is a pain for most of the fans in the core population of the state and it's not a cheap weekend. Those little things add up if you aren't playing enticing games either because of your opponents or because you aren't winning. They are currently looking to reduce capacity of Doak to 65k as part of their current renovations. That's not uncommon now but it's a big drop.
  18. They prefer the term "unconquered" It's the FSU version of Aggies' "we never lost, just games we were behind when time ran out"
  19. You think they care? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/12/30/ron-desantis-light-florida-capitol-fsu-football-colors/72067537007/
  20. They might still. They've already announced they are lighting up the capitol building for their undefeated season. I understand they hung a Final Four banner for their 2020 basketball team.
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