ROTFLOL!  Its good to be hated again.  Its OK fellas, you won't get that level of hate from us.......you're just not worthy.  I hope you enjoyed your minor little bowls. 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/local/sfl-crivalryjan05,0,7766772.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines

Gator haters go on the attack

As the University of Florida competes Monday for the national college football championship, state residents will set aside their differences to cheer as the young men of Florida take the field.

Or not.

"I'm rooting against them," said Scott Osteen, a Florida State University graduate from Jupiter who heads the Palm Beach County Seminole Club.

"I root for them to lose," said Bill Rose, a University of Miami fan from Palm Beach Gardens. "My second-favorite team is whoever they're playing."

Next week's Bowl Championship Series contest between Florida and Ohio State reveals the deep animosity for the Gainesville school among fans of the state's two other college football powerhouses. Slights from 30 or 40 years ago are recalled with fresh outrage. Insults from Florida's former coach Steve Spurrier are hashed and rehashed. And beyond specific grudges, there's resentment of a university that absorbs the lion's share of funding, carries the most prestige, possesses the grandest campus and provides the largest number of recruits to the state's ruling class.

"They like to strut and preen and tell everybody how beautiful they are," said Charlie Barnes, executive director of the Seminole Boosters, which raises money for FSU athletics.

Miami fans still seethe over a 1971 Orange Bowl incident called the Florida Flop. Leading 45-8, with less than two minutes to play, Florida had a single objective: Get the ball back so quarterback John Reaves could break an NCAA career passing record. So with Miami deep in Florida territory, 10 of the 11 Florida players reclined on the field, some resting their heads on their hands, and allowed Miami to score an easy touchdown. Florida got the ball back, Reaves broke the passing record, and Miami coach Fran Curci refused to shake hands with Florida coach Doug Dickey.

"Talk about being disrespectful to the other team," said Rose, the Miami fan, speaking 35 years later. "You just don't forget things like that. I wouldn't root for them."

FSU fans remember the humiliation of having to practically beg Florida to play them. Formerly called Florida Female College, FSU went co-ed in 1947 and quickly fielded a football team. But the University of Florida refused to play the Tallahassee upstart. Frustrated FSU boosters took their case to the Legislature.

"There was actually a vote called on a bill that would have required the teams to play, and it failed by a few votes," said Cale Conley, author of the 1993 book Sunshine Hate, a history of the rivalry between the two schools. "The governor was so mad about it he called a closed-door meeting between the presidents of the two universities. Shortly thereafter, they played."

Florida won their first game, played in 1958, and the next two, insisting on playing in Gainesville because it claimed FSU lacked an adequate stadium. These slights added a genuine animosity to the rivalry between the two schools. "It's become quite bitter over the years because they refused to play us for a number of years and they refused to play us in Tallahassee," said Bud Cash, of Pembroke Pines, who played baseball and basketball for FSU in the late 1950s. "They felt like they were so much better than any other schools in the state."

Despite snubs from Florida, both FSU and Miami developed football programs that ranked with the best in the nation. Under coach Bobby Bowden, who holds the best record in major college football history, the Seminoles have chalked up 30 straight winning seasons. Since the 1980s, Miami has been voted national champion five times, and set a record with 34 consecutive victories. Both schools have sent many players to the pros.

But as Florida prepares for its game with Ohio State, fans of Miami and FSU are facing a nightmare. Their teams had disappointing seasons. Now they get to watch as the team they hate most competes for the national championship.

"Florida is our big rival, and we hate to see them win because Florida fans are obnoxious and they'd throw it in our face for a year," Cash said.

It doesn't help that the University of Florida has had a lot to brag about lately. U.S. News & World Report's latest college ranking classifies Florida as "most selective," the same category as Duke, Stanford and Harvard, while it places FSU and Miami in the lower category of "more selective." The New York Times recently ran a front-page story on the soaring academic reputations of some state universities, with Florida as Exhibit A. The university's basketball team won the NCAA championship last year, the first time a Florida school took the title.

And Florida retains its traditional strengths as the biggest, best-known and best-connected university in the state. It is home to Florida Blue Key, the honor society that provided a political start to former Democratic Sen. and Gov. Bob Graham, the state's new Republican attorney general, Bill McCollum, and many other state leaders.

When FSU alumni have come to power, it's often with a chip on their shoulder and a desire to steer funding toward their alma mater. When FSU President T.K. Wetherell, a former wide receiver for the Seminoles, was speaker of the Florida House, he pushed through legislation to finance an office and athletic complex that allowed for the expansion of the school's football stadium. When FSU graduate John Thrasher became speaker, he successfully fought for an FSU medical school. And FSU now has another graduate in high office, Gov. Charlie Crist.

At a press conference last week, Crist said he will root for Florida. Maddeningly to boosters of Miami and FSU, some Florida fans claim to harbor no particular hostility toward their schools. Dave Mica, past president of the University of Florida National Alumni Association, said Florida has lots of rivals and pays no special attention to FSU or Miami.

"Our biggest rivalry as Gators is with Ohio State," said Mica, now president of the Capitol Area Gator Club in Tallahassee, which has the motto "Civilization Among the Savages."

"Georgia, Auburn, Miami, Tennessee, FSU -- they're all rivals. When you're on the top of the mountain, everybody tries to claw you down."