Don’t blame it on the alumni section that Florida basketball home games are not as rowdy as they use to be.
At any Gators sporting event I have attended when the crowd is not loud enough for certain fans, they immediately point the finger to the older, calmer alums.
But that is not the reason why Southeastern Conference opponents shouldn’t – and probably don’t – fear coming to the O’Connell Center anymore.
The student section is not as ruthless as it was my freshman year.
I understand the team isn’t as good it was when it won its second national championship, but that shouldn’t matter too much.
UF has one of the largest student bodies in the nation and supposedly one of the most dedicated fan bases, but I guess that second part should be said with this clause: only if the team’s good.
My first year, before I became an objective journalist, I joined a group of my friends who waited all day (or if it was a weekend game, we were out there Friday morning prepared to spend the night) outside Gate 3 to guarantee ourselves front-row seats to every game.
And it wasn’t just us.
The atmosphere was similar to the movie “The Warriors” that involved a city filled with rival gangs.
Other than us – known to others as the New Kids – there were the Hard Hats, the Striped Guys and the Engineers, to name just a few.
It was a competition to just get out there first.
For the Kentucky game, due to UAA rules, we camped out across the street 10 days before the game, a full week before we were allowed to be there.
And it was only another day before the next group showed up. The night before the game, the line of people camping out went down the ramp of Gate 3 and down stadium road to near the baseball stadium’s entrance.
Once the fans were let in and the opposing teams came out, the heckling began. And research was done, too.
Fans knew way more personal information about some of the opposing players than any fan should know.
For the game against Tennessee that year, the Hard Hat group brought blown up photos of UT guard Dane Bradshaw’s attractive sister. Throughout the game, chants broke out about his sister every time the ball touched his hands.
That ruthlessness and dedication is no longer there. Fans just show up, cheer and leave.
College basketball is one of the few sports where fans can make a difference and get inside an individual player’s head.
At football games, a loud crowd can make it hard on an offense, but there is little chance a player can hear taunts aimed specifically at him.
This year, fans can show up half an hour before tipoff and still get in the student section.
Heck, before the Auburn game, spots were still available the day of the game for students to register.
And for the Kentucky game, there were not more than a handful of people camping out.
The Rowdy Reptiles section never included the alumni.
Although it helps if the team is better than what the Gators are, it’s on the students to make the O’Connell Center a place to fear playing at.
And that hasn’t been there lately.
