FSU vs. UF

This past Saturday, November 24th, was the much-anticipated annual rivalry game between Florida State and Florida. Since the game was in Tallahassee this year, we attended the showdown in Doak Campbell Stadium which one of the radio announcers referred to as the "House of Horrors" after the game. We lost. Miserably.

However, that doesn't mean I didn't have a good time. The atmosphere in the sold out stadium was amazing, up until about half way through the 4th quarter when all hope was lost and it was 100% certain that we were definitely going to lose the game.

I was mostly excited about getting to see our friends for one last home game this season and getting to actually wear a sweater to a game. Usually, football games in Tallahassee are in the 90 degree heat, even in November, but for once it was a little chilly. Real football weather. And so the tailgating commenced...

Welcome to our tailgate! Yes, my husband and his fraternity brothers have their own banner.

As Seminole Boosters, we get a parking spot for the season. Ours is in a parking garage, so we always set up our tailgate on the top deck of the parking garage. That way we get to be outside and have a great view overlooking campus. Sometimes it gets a little windy up there, but we always tie down our tents so it has never been a problem before.

Apparently, the football gods were not on our side on Saturday. I feel like our tailgating experience was some foreshadowing as to what was going to happen later in the game. In the midst of our tailgating festivities, this happened...

The wind caught our tents and sent them tumbling over the side of the 4 story parking garage. Luckily, we tied them to the parking garage so they just hung there over the side, suspended in the air. No one was injured or hit with the tents flying through the air, but it was especially difficult to get them back over the side of the garage. Eventually we were able rescue the tents; however, both of them were broken in the process. I should have known that this was a bad omen for the football game.

After the tent fiasco, we went about our regular tailgating activities. My husband played tailgate chef and prepared some delicious treats for all of us to enjoy. The main dish on the menu was of course deep fried gator tail in honor of our opponents :)

We had to use our little electric fryer, instead of our normal fryer because we aren't allowed to bring propane tanks up in the parking garage due to fire hazard. This was probably a good thing seeing as how lucky we had been thus far that day. Some of the UF fans from the tailgate next to us kept coming over and eating our gator too because they liked it so much. Ironic? I found it pretty entertaining.

Soon it was time to pack up the tailgate and head to the bloodbath game. Although we lost the game, I still enjoyed the festivities that surround the FSU vs. UF tradition. There's nothing like a good state rivalry.

FSU plays again on Saturday in the ACC Championship so I am hoping that we can be victorious over Georgia Tech and get to go to a good Bowl Game. Either way, I never give up on my 'Noles even when they break my heart. Football season is almost over so we better enjoy it while we can. Go Noles!