As championship games go, Super Bowl XLIII was a relaxed affair in Gainesville.
Many residents watched the game at home with friends and few stuck to die-hard allegiances as the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Arizona Cardinals.]
"This is more of a house party kind of day," said Hoss Rice, a manager at Gator Dockside.
With only 32 teams in the NFL, there are not many fans in Gainesville who have a strong attachment to any given team, he said.
Gator Dockside provided food for parties, selling take-out bags of 500 chicken wings for $220, which is $159 less than menu price. They also had a smaller, 100 wing bag. Dockside sold about 10 of the large order and 30 of the smaller, Rice said.
Faren Hely, one of the few cheering the Cardinals at Dockside, sported a San Francisco 49ers jersey and was there to support her division, if not the Cardinals directly.
"I'm just more of a 'let's go out to a bar' type person," she said. "It's much better than sitting on the couch at home."
But Emily Bohler had a different approach.
She held a house party with about 15 friends. Nobody who attended the party was a die-hard fan of either team.
"I'm for the Cardinals because they're the underdogs," said Anna Garrido, a senior at UF.
Jill Dolan, 22, is a fan of the Miami Dolphins, but supported the Pittsburgh Steelers as her second choice. She was the only one at the party wearing a Steelers jersey.
Another partier, Josh Lancaster, 24, said that the Super Bowl is just another excuse to get together.
"We're really just here having a party," said Lancaster.
All the partygoers agreed that the slightly anticlimactic celebration after the Super Bowl was nowhere near as exciting as when Gainesville rushed the streets following UF's win in the BCS National Championship.
