the reasons have been speculated by my friends over the years, and honestly i haven't always been able to put it into words even for myself. if anyone is curious, no it's not b/c of a football team or a coach or a win/loss record. it's something far more relevant. it's an undercurrent, it's a theme, it's a way of life.

i just seemed to fit better at uf, and enjoy it more.

in my opinion and in my experience i find georgia to be more of the 'old south' mentality, and that is to say more of the 'old world' mentality and florida to be more of the 'new world' mentality. if this were 1776, uga would be england with all of it's rich history and self-importance and florida would be the 13 colonies, the upstarts, the 'less-cultured' (and on the brink of greatness). just like that war, i find uga at times to be more of an aristocracy and uf to be more of a meritocracy. there are many many beautiful things about the south and southern mannerisms that i cherish, but there are facets that i find undesirable as well. i care not for the genteel way of life. you want to know a deep, dark secret? i'm glad the south lost the war. i think this country and it's people are better off for it. far better off. i don't care what your daddy did for a living. i don't care what your last name is. what have you done in this world? what is your contribution. i didn't grow up wanting for much but honestly i didn't grow up one of the rich kids either. so when i went to uga and half the marietta girls are buzzing around in their daddy's bmw's wanting to know what frat i was in when if i had the nerve to talk to them, it just irked me (perhaps that was a shortcoming of mine less than any reflection on them, who knows?). maybe it was simply my good fortune but i just never found that attitude nearly as prevalent at uf. i remember being at uga and seeing t-shirts that read "we're not snobs, we're just better than you." i think nowadays they have those type shirts everywhere but at the time i only remember seeing them there and honestly for a while i bought into the idea myself. the whole jean-shorts thing uga fans go crazy over is an extension of that culture, liking to think you're better than someone else. that sort of hoity-toity air about people from the rural south (see ole miss for a great example) where people assume airs about themselves while the rest of the country just views them as rednecks (but they have no idea since they rarely leave the state). listen, i grew up in georgia. i'm a cracker. i'd just like to think i can go out and see the world and be something different if i so choose, free of labels. i feel blessed for having had the opportunity to get out and travel and find out the world is a lot bigger than i thought it was when i was in undergrad. if there's one quality i love about the north it's that people care less about where you come from than who you are yourself. and yes, florida does have far more northern influence than georgia does. i don't think that's the worst thing in the world quite frankly. in fact, i found florida to be a more diverse school on many levels, ethnically, racially, intellectually, philisophically, politically, etc.

anyway, i hate to characterize one state or school by just the handful of experiences that i've gone through, but that's what i have to work with when i catagorize things in my mind. there are snobs in florida. there are hard-working humble people in georgia. just thought i'd provide some generalities to share my unique perspective on things to the 2 or 3 people on the board that might care.

go gators.