The Florida Gators ARE the State of Florida's team. Always has been....Always will be. For the longest time, there was no pro team in Florida so people who were UF alums obviously were loyal to the Gators as were Floridians who just wanted a local team to cheer for. Eventually over time some fans in the South Florida market came to be Miami fans and some fsu alums to be noles but the overwhelming majority of Floridians via an alum connection or not considered themselves just "Gators". Then by the 70's, 80's, and 90's..... This pattern just continued but Miami and fsu did at least garner more fans via alums and younger fans who enjoyed the success they were having. Do not kid yourself. You say UM has a lot of fans who never went to school there (as if that matters...I'll get to that later) well so does fsu. You think LA (Lower Alabama aka The Panhandle) doesn't have its share of semis who barely eeked out a HS diploma? And so what if that is the case? You strike me as one of those "Well I actually WENT to fsu so THAT makes me a better fan" type of people. Are you one of these who think the more education one has is the measuring stick of a "good fan"? Ridiculous! Example: At the 2001 Orange Bowl against Maryland, a UF alum was sitting behind me. I know he was an alum because I heard him telling his friend he was with about exploits of "When I was in school at UF"....Anyway, after one of UF's many kickoffs that night, UF kicker Matt Piotrowicz made the tackle. The guy went on for five minutes about how amazed he was that UF's kicker (whose name he couldn't call out if his life depended on it) made the tackle. All I could think was"He's been making tackles on kickoffs all season." But he is an alum so he is a better fan than I am? Puh-leeze!I'm not saying he's worse, but he damn sure isn't better. As Gonzo mentioned, I never graduated from UF. I admit, I dicked around in High School waaaaaaaaaaaay too much and quite frankly couldn't get into UF. I went to Community College for a couple of years and began work in the insurance industry back '88 have been in it ever since. Do I feel "less qualified" to be a fan of UF than you do of fsu simply because you went there? Uh, no. My Grandfather had season tickets from '40 to '68 (the year of his death) and my Father also went to games regularly all throughout my upbringing. I've had season tickets since '86 and as long as I have air in my lungs this will continue. God forbid, had my heritage been that of the ketchup and mustard persuasion, I'd probably be a semi but Thank God....