Not much happened during January mainly because we’d both been under the weather with one bug or another. However, we were well enough to attend a 
As luck would have it, the parking
lot on campus directly adjacent to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center where the game would be held had plenty
of spots available when we arrived. Our
first mission was to find a restroom, and the closest was across the street in
the Ben Hill Griffin (Football) Stadium, affectionately called “The Swamp” 
since
the early 1990s by those in Gator Nation.
We were surprised at how small the interior of the stadium appeared even
though it can hold about 90,000. The
steps seem to go straight up, and there’s just no extra space around the field
like many other stadiums we’ve seen.
Outside the stadium is a huge
bronze alligator with the inscription “In honor of the 2006 Football National
Championship and members of the Bull Gator program” along with the names of
those members.
A little further down on
the west side of the stadium are some plaques immortalizing former students who
were enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame and 3 large bronze statues of former students and Heisman
Trophy winners Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, and Tim Tebow.
A little further down on
the west side of the stadium are some plaques immortalizing former students who
were enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame and 3 large bronze statues of former students and Heisman
Trophy winners Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, and Tim Tebow.
Since we still
had time to kill, we walked back across the street to the O’Connell Center, continuing
around the building to check out the surrounding campus. Once inside we stopped
by the pre-game rally designed to get everyone pumped up with games, music,
balloon animals, autographs from the ladies' softball team, and you could even get your picture taken with the Florida Gators mascots, Albert and 
Inside the arena both
teams were busy warming up, and we hung out for awhile behind the railing of
the lower level to watch. It was still an hour before game time, and the
student section (known as the 
“Rowdy Reptiles”) was already nearly full and would periodically break into working on their cheers…or should I say jeers at the Tigers?!
Our seats were a
few rows from the top of the arena so getting any decent photos during the game
proved difficult. The best I could do
was when both teams lined up for the national anthem because the one I took at
tipoff blurred! The ladies next to us were very nice and obviously alumni. They were really into the game and 
knew all the cheers including the Gator Chomp. Quite a number
of Tigers fans were in attendance (probably a couple hundred), but it wasn’t enough
to propel our team to victory. Going in
we figured it would take a miracle for our team to win, and the Gators
dominated from beginning to end with a final score of 83-52. Despite the loss, we had a good time, and always enjoy visiting other college campuses and soaking up the atmosphere.
