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Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Sports

OPINION  |  COLUMNS

‘Evelyn Goes Gator’: Sport as a social language

Back home in Ireland, sport is tied first to geographic location. Even if you never played, you usually belong to something: a club, a parish or a county. The Gaelic Athletic Association organizes Ireland’s main indigenous sports, Gaelic football and hurling, through local clubs. Because it relies on volunteers and local pride, sport ends up woven into ordinary social life.


The Florida Gators football team runs onto the field before 
a football game between the South Florida Bulls and the Florida Gators on Sept. 6, 2025, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

I attended my first Gator football games as a freshman. I get the hype now.

Before arriving at UF, I never truly understood the thrill of college game day. My parents were never particularly big football fans, let alone college football. Even though I grew up in Miami, I only went to one University of Miami football game (don’t worry, I believe orange goes much better with blue than green), and even then, the atmosphere wasn’t as impressive as what I have already experienced here.



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