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da Fan
A LOYAL FAMILY
Upon first glance, nothing seems too outlandish for a Gator fan's
home. Al Reis, 70, wears his Gators flip-flops, David, 47, Al's son,
wears his Gators T-shirt, and Al's wife Barbara rocks calmly in her
rocking chair. Helmets encased in Plexiglas sit up on a shelf just
behind her. "As you can see I've lost a bedroom to it,"
says Barbara, 73, from the hallway covered in signed pictures, miniature
bats and newspaper articles. From miniature PT Cruisers, helicopters
and the new edition, a B-51 bomber, each emblazoned with that shining
Gators logo, the memorabilia reaches the ceiling and tops more than
1,000 pieces.
The Reis family arrived in Gainesville from California in September
of 1996 after Al's retirement from the Army. While waiting for a woman’s
basketball game, they discovered the baseball park, and haven’t
missed a game or a practice since. David says, "It must be 250
games, at least."
by Jessica Seubert
The Wise Guys, The Camper, and the B-Ball Babes.
(Photo by Daniela Aguilera)
B-BALL BABES
David Lee dunks aren’t the only freaky things hoops fans can
see at games. While camping out before one game, Leslie Trauger and
Lisa Hecht yelled almost as loudly as they did when Peep hit that
buzzer-beater against Georgia.
" This huge spider just fell on top of me and I lost it,"
Trauger says. "I just flung the thing off me and started running
as fast as I could.”
by Allen Roberts
THE WISE GUYS
Before the first serve of the volleyball game, four UF students wearing
bright orange T-shirts, autographed by the entire Gator team, roll
into the O'Connell Center ready to rile everyone up. Ross van Boven,
Benjamin Fedeles, Dan Buethe and Sean Altenbach are "The Gator
Wise Guys."
They scream, they cheer,
they make up their own chants and the entire crowd follows their lead.
"Nobody screams at volleyball games like they do at football
games, so we figured we'd change all that," says Altenbach, 19.
Head coach Mary Wise says they’ve done just that. " The
Wise Guys are part of the magic of the O'Dome," she says.
" They are one of the reasons our team is so successful playing
at home." With what started as a harmless crush on junior setter
Lauren Moscovic soon became a way of life. "Over and over again,
opposing teammates have come over and said, 'We wish we had fans like
you,'" Buethe says.
by Morgan Lord
BANDANA PETE
Pete Calamore’s banner has partied hard. Having been to every
game in the Swamp since the 1993 Tennessee game, it’s been stolen,
thrown in trashcans, and vomited on.
Photo by Daniela Aguilera
But it wasn’t until the 1997 LSU game that the first banner was
forced to retire. Calamore and a friend decided to parade the sign in
the student section. "It was 6,000 vs. two—we lost the banner,"
he says. Still, he stays a fan addict. He says, "You start saying
'we' and 'us,' and you’re not even part of the team."
by Morgan Lord
The camper doing what he does best
(Photo by Daniela Aguilera)
THE CAMPER
Who’s the rowdiest reptile of them all? Senior Ryan Weinstein,
who always sits in "his" seat (first row; half court) and
who hasn’t missed one game since his freshman year. "Once
I had to drop a class (calculus) because it was at the same time as
a game," he says. "My priorities are not what they should
be I guess."
by Oscar Ubillus
The bandwagon -- on or off?
Earth to Gator fans…
Other sports do exist at UF.
While we’re shedding tears about football and basketball, it's
funny how quickly we forget we have one of the top volleyball, baseball
and tennis teams in the country. But who cares, right? If you believe
Gator fans are the greatest college fans in the nation, turn around,
because this may make you realize we are the No. 1 School in the nation
… at jumping on the bandwagon. Hey, at least we're number one
at something. So we asked some experts. Are we or aren’t we?
by Daniel Baer
