Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024

As we all reveled in Thanksgiving Break by taking endless pictures of our dogs, skillfully dodging questions about our futures and binging on relaxation, something else loomed eminent on the horizon. Interspersed among social media proclamations of being #thankful were posts of a much different nature. It was "FSU Hate Week," and there was no escape.

Whether it involved digging up some good ol’ fashioned Jameis Winston jokes or simply voicing unadulterated animosity, these posts, tweets and snapchats contributed to the weeklong hype session that traditionally precedes the UF vs. Florida State University football game. Yet, underlying the game and social media smack talk was something much more pervasive: an unceasing rivalry that has stood the test of time.

Our rivalry with FSU is one of those special types of conflicts where everyone has forgotten how it started yet continues to stay angry for the sake of consistency. I’ve never truly understood the purpose of rivalries — possibly because every other school I’ve attended was too small and irrelevant to even warrant one — but something about the UF/FSU rivalry has fascinated me over the last few years.

Perhaps it has to do with the rivalry’s spectrum of manifestations, spanning from harmless proclamations of "Noles/Gators suck!" on gameday to perpetual hatred for anything and everything associated with the enemy school. One friend was taught not to eat orange and blue M&Ms growing up, while another burned Gator memorabilia in a symbolic fire after she received her acceptance to FSU. We all have our thing.

As a naïve freshman, I spent the majority of my first trip to FSU genuinely concerned about how I would be received by my supposed enemies. Yet, as I stood in a crowded Tallahassee bar with "F--- UF" scrawled across the walls, I was pleasantly surprised by several deviations of "Oh, you go to UF? That’s awesome, it’s such a great school."

In reality, it seems as though the students at both universities are the most tolerant participants of the rivalry, perhaps because (gasp) we acknowledge we’re the same after all. As I said in a previous column, we’re all just trying to get good grades, make some friends, graduate on time and not screw up too badly in the process. Despite my unceasing love for Gainesville and UF, I still believe if I had ended up in Tallahassee, I would’ve loved it just the same. The college experience is a nuanced concept, making it impossible to accurately declare one school subjectively better than the other. But that doesn’t mean we won’t try.

FSU Hate Week is a magical time where you can be a complete asshole, abandon all objectivity and get away with it in the name of school pride. In an age when universities are dominated by a politically correct culture, it’s amazing something like this still exists. It’s apparent the only reason FSU Hate Week is acceptable is because nearly everyone involved realizes it’s harmless fun, a manifestation of school spirit and, above all, a tradition. As long as the animosity is contained to one week, I see no harm and think this time-honored institution should be protected.

With 51 weeks to go until next year’s rivalry game, you have plenty of time to drown your post-game sorrows and think of some perfectly devastating FSU roasts for next year. But until then, let’s remember our similarities drastically outweigh our differences and we ought to not to let a harmless rivalry get the best of us.

Marisa Papenfuss is a UF English junior. Her column appears on Tuesdays.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox
Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.