With a pep band’s brass and percussion sections rattling your insides, the feel here is less like restaurant and more like a tailgate party. From looking at the fans gathered here, you’d never know the game is actually 1,500 miles away.
Nonetheless, they’ll be plugged in tonight.
No fewer than five giant flat screen TVs are perched along the open air walls of the tent next to Gators Cafe & Saloon in Johns Pass.
One the east end, I hear, sits an even larger monitor. This I have to see.
Do the fans really want to see Urban Meyer that large? Yes, yes they do.
We’ve just completed the parade, which consisted of one band, one bucket truck, and a couple convertibles. All are orange and blue.
The procession lasted all of four minutes, but earned vibrant cheers from the adoring crowd. Amazingly, the spectators managed to succesfully complete a few Gator chops, despite a hand or two full of frosty adult beverages.
That kind of talent can only come from years of experience.
Gainesville, 5 p.m. —At the 12,000-seat O’Connell Center, where the official UF viewing of the game will take place, long lines began forming early. The doors don’t open until 6:30 p.m. but Justin Gromley, Gio Barroso and Kevin Lam showed up to be first in line at 12:30 p.m. The quickly ordered a pizza to be delivered to their spot on the southeast corner of the O-Dome and they finished it off in minutes. By 5 o’clock, they were hungry again but the line stretched all the way to the commuter parking lot and there was no way they were going to eat another pizza without having to share.
On the northwest side of the O_Dome, the lines were even longer. Maybe that’s because of all the TV satellite trucks parked there with their talking heads doing live broadcasts from that spot. Every time a camera started rolling, the crowd broke into Gator chants and cheers. Funny what a camera will do to otherwise sane people.
GAINESVILLE, 4:30 p.m.—The pre-game hysteria is not limited to the campus area and University Avenue. At bars and restaurants across Gainesville, folks are lining up early to get a good spot in front of a big-screen TV. Over at the Ale House on the west side of town, manager Mike Winter is closing the doors at 5:30 to clear the restaurant, then he’s going to re-open the doors at 6 p.m. and start letting Gator fans in. He has some system devised to allot one chair per customer so that those unscrupulous types won’t come in and start hogging seats. “They’re smart—they’ll run you all sorts of ways if you’re not careful,” Winter said.
Outside the Ale House, 80-year-old Leigh Standing and his grand-daughter, Laura Chadwick, are waiting to get a seat. They drove all the way from New Smyrna Beach to watch the game because Laura will enroll at UF this fall. If she’s this dedicated to Florida now, can you imagine what she’ll be like when she enrolls?
Audio: Kristy Paulick
Blonde over Florida blue, Kristy Paulick certainly stands out in the Ohio State crowd. ‘‘I’m used to it,’’ says Paulick. ‘‘I’m usually the only Gator fan here, and I like it.’’ Paulick is one of two Florida fans who have slipped past the Buckeye barricade at Buffalo Wild Wings in Brandon. She came with an Ohio State crowd, though. Her boyfriend and his cousin are decked in red and gray beside her. ‘‘I expect a lot of taunting,’’ says Paulick. ‘‘It’s going to be a long night.’’
Behind me, Matt Hacking’s voice washes over Billy Joel’s. ‘‘O-H!’’ he calls.
‘‘I-O!’’ the crowd responds.
At 3:30 it was still fairly silent at Barnacles. One server suggested that I come back after 5 or 6 p.m. when folks are off work. Until then, I’m back at Buffalo Wild Wings where, thanks to those early birds the Buckeyes, they’re already reaping the rewards of game day. Manager Jared Murphy gave me a quick number crunch. On an average game day Buffalo Wild Wings brings in $8,000 to $9000. When the Buckeyes play they rake in nearly twice that much. During Ohio State’s game against Michigan last month, the bar earned a whopping $22,000. ‘‘The later the game, the better,’’ says Murphy. Tonight’s kickoff is at 8:30 p.m.
3 p.m.—University Avenue, Gainesville
It’s officially nuts here. We’re on University Avenue at The Swamp, the bar and restaurant, not the stadium. A crowd started forming here about 11 a.m. to get inside this popular watering hole. Only the first 400 folks will get in and people were outside with an air mattress, lawn chairs, etc., like they were about to hand out free Playstation 3s.
We met one married couple from the Tampa Bay area, Dani McVety and her husband, Chris McVety. They were second in line and got here at 11 this morning to get inside the Swamp. This spot was the epicenter of partying after Florida won the NCAA hoops title last spring. Cops closed down University Avenue and people poured out of the Swamp screaming and running into the street. If the Gators win tonight, expect more of the same.
My favorite person here was 30-year-old Jeremy Latimer of Bradenton, whom I called Mr. Young Bits because of his attempt to impersonate Mr. Two Bits of UF fame. [Watch The Video] He’s going for his third BA degree here and he’s the house dad of Phi Delta Theta. He led the crowd outside the Swamp in a huge Two Bits cheer and then they went back to drinking beer. Of course, Gainesville has an open container law and the drinking was done on a strip of grass owned by the bar.
Across the street, Danny Harris of Oldsmar was holding up a “We Need Tickets” sign just for the heck of it. There’s no tickets to be had, of course. And the game is in Arizona. He just liked goofing on University Avenue and making folks scratch their heads as they drove by. He will be tailgating on University near Library West with a TV and grill.
Audio: Barnacles manager Greg Brett
All’s quiet on the Florida front … at least here and now. Across the street from Buffalo Wild Wings, seven people are dining at Barnacles (Florida territory according to the Buckeyes fans). Three of them are servers taking a lunch break. The staff expects it to get much busier as happy hour approaches, though. “This is as big as it gets next to the Super Bowl,” says general manager Ken Peliksza. “With Florida playing, I bet it’s the biggest game ever for this area.” The bar boasts 457 television screens (458, if you count the one for the kitchen staff), and every one will be tuned to the BCS Championship Game tonight. “It’ll be like a theatre of football,” says Peliksza, sweeping the remote control around the room. Each screen flashes into sync with the others as he passes. It looks like they’re doing the wave.
The Buckeyes are about to fire up the grill and throw on some gator tail. I’m going to go Gator hunting myself to see how Florida fans are getting ready for the game. Stay tuned ...
Fan Audio: Blake Lang
These Buckeyes are nuts! (Pun intended.) It seems with hardcore fandom comes a little superstition. ‘‘Some of us are just naturally superstitious,’’ says Matt Hacking, who was so superstitious about his lucky customs that he refused to give too many details. He did say that he has four jerseys in his car, but he only wears one of them. His friend and fellow fan, Blake Lang has two – a white one for away games and a red one for home games, but he never puts them on until kickoff. ‘‘We just try to do the same thing every time,’’ says Hacking. Inside Kevin Mercer, 46, of Riverview enjoys a drink at the bar. ‘‘I’m wearing exactly the same thing that I’ve worn all year,’’ says Mercer. He doesn’t really believe his superstitions affect the outcome of the game. ‘‘But I’m still not taking any chances,’’ he laughs.
GLENDALE, Ariz. - If the oddsmakers are correct, it will be an Ohio State victory celebration Monday night. The undefeated Buckeyes are a touchdown favorite against the Gators so it should be no surprise most folks are predicting an Ohio State win.
Tampa Tribune columnists Joey Johnston and Martin Fennelly are picking Ohio State to win. Even Tampa Tribune UF beat writer Andy Staples believes the Buckeyes will defeat Florida. Me? I’m going with the Gators in a shocking upset.
Johnston predicts Ohio State 34-20, Fennelly predicts Ohio State 35-23 and Staples predicts Ohio State 28-21. Last time, I covered a national title game in Arizona, the underdog Buckeyes shocked Miami. This time, Florida shocks the favored Buckeyes. I’ll go with Florida 24-20. If Gator fans are looking for more media predictions favoring UF, don’t rely on USA Today. Of the predictions of 12 USA Today staff writers, 11 picked the Buckeyes. Besides myself, there are a few others picking UF. Orlando Sentinel columnist David Whitley predicts Florida to win 37-2.
GAINESVILLE, 1 p.m.—The first stop of in Gainesville is a mandatory one—Burrito Brothers. It’s a tradition, at least for me. But guess what, Gator Nation? They moved the restaurant out of the hole-in-the-wall spot on the corner of 13th St. and University, where it had been for 25-plus years. I can’t believe it. I thought maybe they “sold out,” you know, went corporate, went big time. After all, they did open a Burrito Brothers last April in Carrollwood. But some guy with a black eye walking past the usual panhandlers on 13th St. told me that something called “University Corners” is developing that spot of Gainesville and that Burrito Brothers basically had to get out. Apparently, a lot of spots around the “Student Ghetto” are getting torn down and developed. The black eye guy said condos are going in starting at $300,000.
With property going for that kind of cash, Burrito Brothers apparently had to move. They went to a spot just about a block west of the old place, just behind the Presbyterian Center on University Avenue.
I have to say, the new place is better. A lot better. It has a courtyard where you can actually sit down and eat (unlike the old location, where there was only a five-foot bar to load your burrito with red sauce. It has a neon “GUAC” sign for the guacamole. When it’s lit, there’s guac. When it’s not, there’s none. Before, there was always a sign on the door saying “NO GUAC TODAY.” And there’s even restrooms in the new Burrito Brothers! Unheard of.
Mike Harris, the Tribune’s local sports team leader, is here with me. He’s doing a story on fans here for the paper. It was his first Burrito Brothers experience. He gives the food two thumbs up. This, coming from a bar-b-que connossieur. He just found the first person—a UF student—who doesn’t care about the game tonight and doesn’t even know who the Gators are playing…sounds like my old UF roommate, who never once attended or watched a Gatoir game of any kind in any sport.
Fan Audio: Barry Ross
“That guy in there just finished his lunch,” shouts one Buckeye fan to Barry Ross in passing. The parking lot party wants to claim tables inside as soon as they can, and Ross, 37, is in charge of decorations. “You should have seen me. I was sweating blowing up all of the balloons,” Ross says as he heads in to finish his work. Decorations for this crowd consist of red table clothes and gray balloons all over the main room of the bar. “We figured they wouldn’t like us decorating the whole room, but we wanted at least six tables,” says Ross, a gray balloon in one hand. He looks around, spots the freshly cleared table and sets the balloon as a centerpiece.
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Still need a ticket for tonight’s game? No problem. As long as you’re willing to depart with at least $1,000 of your life savings. The face value of BCS championship tickets range from $275-$325, but expect to pay four times that amount. Sure, you can use $1,000 more wisely, but if you really want to see your Gators or Buckeyes in person, you’ve got to pony up.
Breakfast here at the Wingate was like a mini pep-rally. 90% of our hotel is Buckeye fans. We switched rooms last night because had no hot water. Just a quick thank you for all your emails about the blog and the photos. I hope it offers a little something different for those of you starving for BCS info of any kind. I’ll post game and party pics as soon as we get back to the hotel. it will be pretty late for those of you on the east coast. But it will be something to look forward to in the morning. I’m not sure what to expect from Jenn if the Buckeyes lose, so I’m hoping they get out to a quick 21-0 lead. 
We are headinig to a pregame Alumni party where we finally get our tickets. Then we get a bus ride to a giant BCS tailgate for the rest of the afternoon until kickoff.
Just a quick hello to everyone following along from Buffallo Wild Wings in Brandon, FL. We are missing all our friends at the day long tailgate. We’re reading the other Tribune blog from there while we are in the hotel this morning. Matt, Jenn says wave those flags, and don’t forget to yell what you yell when OSU needs some good luck on defense. I hope you guys have a blast. I always have a hard time telling people that the place we go to watch games is as loud and packed as it is.
Today is the first official event for us, the Buckeye Bash at Chase Field-Home of your Arizona Diamondbacks. We drove downtown fairly early and had lunch at a great bar called Marjley. It’s owned by former Suns basketball star Dan Marjley. Very good bar food.
From there we walked around downtown on our way to the Bash. Downtown is a nice place with a lot going on. There seemed to be lots of bars and restaurants near the sports complexes. They are also constructing a light rail system. It has a lot of roads messed up and/or closed. Driving a few of the streets feels like a driving test with all the cones and barricades.
There are a lot of people buying/selling tickets all around. We saw a very long line for game programs but decided to wait until tomorrow. Then we saw different programs that were anything but official looking. But, people were still buying them. I tried to snap some pictures, but the guy moved away quickly. Hmm….
We stood in a long line around the stadium, but got in and got good seats. I was even able to catch up to my fellow NewsChannel 8 friends behind home plate. The rally was fun, but a few breaks where they showed video highlights were a little too long. If you’re watching the game on TV, I hope you get to see the OSU halftime show. They did the same routine at the Michigan game, and the formations during the Titanic and Star Wars songs are really cool.
The announced crowd was over 37,000 Buckeye’s at the field. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the upper deck start to fill. The players and coach Tressel were encouraging the fans to do their job and be as loud as possible Monday night.
Sunday night we went to Scottsdale. What an easy drive around the valley. We had dinner at the Roaring Fork at the advice of some Tampa Tribune co-workers (Thanks Michelle Bearden). Way too much food, but very good. There were thousands of fans around downtown Scottsdale as each team had their own parties. There were a few cop cars and fire engines when we were parking. It appeared that a Florida fan had ripped a bench out of the ground and thrown it at someone or something. Other than that, there was just a bunch of chanting and good natured fun. I heard a lot of “War Eagle” and “Go Auburn” chants directed at Gator fans. They countered with some “chomps” and “You suck.” But drunk people aren’t always the most creative.
Not wanting to be tired for the big game, we showed our age and headed back to the hotel before midnight. Like I always say, “Nothing good ever happens after midnight.” The Buckeye party emptied quickly after we heard they ran out of beer. I’m not sure if there were any turf wars, but I hope everyone was at least safe.
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