Decided to take a long overdue Walk into the Future pilgrimage back to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium AKA The Swamp to watch the Florida Gators play the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls.
My favorite person, Jayla Williams reminded me in September that we have not been to a Gator game in a few years. The Gators struggled on the field from 2016 – 2018 due to horrible coaching and bad recruiting. We started to turn it around with a new coach but then COVID-19 made going to football a public health issue, so we stayed away.
I caught the Gators play in Tallahassee against FSU a couple times during the bad years since I lived and worked there. Jayla and I had been on hiatus from The Swamp and this game was a great opportunity to spend time in a favorite location for us.
We picked the USF game because it was supposed to be an easy victory for the Gators. Someone forgot to tell the USF players to lay down and take their butt whipping.
The Gators won but it felt like a defeat to most of the fans in attendance. FYI—Gator fans can be a prickly bunch (me included) so the world was not ending but anything other than a perfect game by the beloved Gators gets under people’s skin.
I was able to get our tickets off Stub Hub for a good price. We sat in Section 20, Row 21 which put us in the south endzone with a great view of the field and close to the Gator’s bench. It was exciting to be back in the Swamp and experience a game day with Jayla again. I’m sure we have a few more of these moments in our future and hope for a much better game from the Gators.
Here are a few pictures from our Swamp adventure:
Irie!
Walk Into the Future 