i've went to fla in '98 and had similar experiences that i won't go into at this time.

i swore never to go back. haven't been since.

Well I have to take a "tiga" veiw with this one (you know the veiw that is the most unpopular and no one in the enitre Tiger nation agrees with:grin: )

Anyway I have been to two Gator games (one when LSU was playing and one because it was free and LSU had a bye week) and wore my LSU clothes to both and actually had a GREAT time! The fans were fun and and the beer was free!

With said that living here of course I hate the Gator game more then most because it has the most potential for me to have to hear my friends gloat for the next year!

But I like a lot of the Gator fans around here because they are typically a more football educated group (more the FSU and Miami fans) and I can usually get into some good SEC conversations with them.

Actually for games that don't affect Florida I get about 20 of them to watch and cheer for LSU, even got one die hard Gator fan's wife to wear an LSU shirt this season (divorce maybe coming soon though:cry: )

before the game i was kicked in the shins by a 5 yr old and after the game i was cursed out by grandma gator (who the grim reaper has probably caught up to by now).
and about every gator fan i came across between those ages were about just as bad if not worse.
when i have one bad experience i chalk it up to chance. when they're all bad, i don't consider it a coincidence.

Well we can agree to disagree! Maybe you are mean and I am sweet! Nevermind that can't be it!

i may go back one day but i'd be a little nervous to bring the mrs.

Dude is waaaay off base on this one, I live in the heart of Gator country over here. The Gator fans over here actually show a lot of respect for LSU and its players. Let me digress a bit, on a resent post I said I was "surprised" how many "Geaux Tigers" I got from Gator fans on a visit to the mall. From what I've seen on this forum + things I've heard from BR, there's very little bad blood at all between these schools. The players themselves from both schools by and large actually like one another. On the other hand, UF vs. GA, the fans for the most part can't stand each other. Same can be said for the UF vs. FSU. The closest thing that we've had to a true rivalry obviously was Ole Miss, but thats kinda getting to be weak. At this point with the exception of Bama, ARK might be one building for us, but even then thats still off in the future. Wheres this guy from anyway???

:tigereye::tigereye::tigereye::tigereye::tigereye:

She can party with me! I will keep her out of trouble!!!

This is what I see also, minus that one group that swears we killed a real gator a couple years back and had him haning above the entry way for the students Gator section, the fans here that I have met respect our program and what we have done (ref: beating them on thier longest winning streak in thier history) and want to see us suceed as long as we lose to them.

i promise you i'm not off base with what my own true experiences were.

but i'm willing to believe you and OT on your experiences as well.

I thought maybe it was a satirical piece when he mentioned USC/Stanford and Notre Dame/Duke as supposed great rivalries. :huh:

If anything USC/ND is a great rivalry. We've been playing each other every year since 1926 and in 1952 the rivalry "trophy" called the Shillelagh was introduced. A Trojan Head or a Shamrock was placed on it depending on who won the game and in 1989 there was no more room so a second one was commissioned when the original was retired and put on display at ND. The current one was handcrafted in 1997 in County Leitrum, Ireland.

I know, useless trivia to Tiger fans but it certainly puts true rivalries into perspective and while Stanford came out on top this year, they are nothing close to a USC rival.

Well, for me, LSU vs. Ole Miss is still a great rivalry. But from a national perspective, the USC/ND and the LSU/Ole Miss rivalry were only very interesting to the national public back when both USC and ND (or both LSU and Ole Miss) were top powerhouses at the same time (like if ND was like today's Ohio State or if Ole Miss was today's Florida). And, for me, my favorite ND rivalry is the ND/Michigan rivalry (the two teams that have the two best winning percentages in history).

From a national perspective, the great rivalries of today are those between two of those teams that are currently top powerhouse programs, like Texas and Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State, LSU and Florida, Florida and Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, etc. That's how the USC/ND rivalry was back in the past. It would be nice to see ND become a top powerhouse again (like Ohio State), and for USC to stay a powerhouse, and to see USC/ND be one of the great rivalries again from a national perspective. Weis has been getting some top recruits...