Last weekend, the mighty Florida Gators football team lost, at home, to Georgia Southern. This is notable for several reasons. First, and foremost, Georgia Southern plays in the lower tier FCS Division I subdivision, not the FBS top category like the Gators. This is the first time since the creation of these divisions that Florida has lost to an FCS, or I-AA squad. It also sealed Florida’s first losing record since 1979 and the first season since 1990 without a bowl game. It could inevitably cost Florida coach Will Muschamp his job, and it’s led to considerable unrest amongst the legions of Florida fans, including the big donors that help fund the program.
As an alumnus of Florida’s graduate school, this lackluster season has taken its toll. Instead of reveling in the glory of athletic success, I’m resigned to being just another school in the pack, now someone that loses to a team with a fraction of the talent and resource. It’s like finishing last in the Pinewood Derby. You thought you had something great, and now it’s a scarlet letter.
Fortunately, I haven’t vested too much in this Gator squad, partly in self-defense and partly because I’ve got two kids and a job that demand far more of my self-construction. So to be honest, I found myself rooting for Georgia Southern by the end, the whole underdog story. A whole lot of Gator fans, especially those closer in proximity to Gainesville, haven’t shared this perspective. They’ve called for the coach’s head, expressed emotions bordering on despair, and made it sound like they’ve just lost their home to foreclosure. To many, who they are and Florida football are one and the same, and the team’s shortcomings, and past successes, are internal processes, not games we watch for fun.
The same could be said for football fans just two hours up the road from Gainesville in Tallahassee, home of the nation’s second ranked Florida State Seminoles. Only their problem isn’t losing games, it’s a looming sexual assault charge against star quarterback Jameis Winston, who until this resurfaced allegation was the singular front-runner for the Heisman. Winston’s future is up the air, as state attorney William Meggs decides whether to file charges in the 11-month old case, one involving possible corruption by the Tallahassee police and enough Southern drama to look like a sequel to the Pelican Brief. Not to belabor the details of the case, which are still emerging, but north-Florida’s star QB may have been shielded from indictment while the alleged victim was strongly encouraged to drop rape charges. This case lay dormant for nearly a year until a savvy journalist, namely Matt Baker from the Tampa Bay Times, started making some requests for public records.
In wake of the re-ignited charges, a vocal populace of Seminole fans have cried foul, engaging from everything from good old fashioned victim blaming to flat out slander. They’ve called it a witch hunt, used words like whore and gold-digger, and wished worse on the accuser than your average dictator. FSU game days are Jameis Winston pep-rallies, filled with hero worship and selective cognition. He is right, the nameless she is wrong, and the narrative continues.
You can see why it happens. Like with their Gators contemporaries, Seminole fans have taken this team to heart. To accept this possible reality, that this athletic success might be built on the arm of a rapist, would dismantle their entire being, their sense of self that’s coated in garnet and gold every Saturday, and probably most days in-between. This championship season is their championship season. So Seminole fans engage in classic self-preservation, which in this case means marginalizing an alleged invasive crime perpetuated by a culture of privilege. Anywhere else, it’s unthinkable. In sports, it’s simply fandom.
This is what happens when athletes become gods and teams serve as identities. It’s hard to say who’s truly at fault, if fault is in fact the right word. Perhaps it’s the teams and schools themselves, who invite us to cheer on our team. Perhaps it’s the media that builds heroes as revenue streams. And maybe it’s us, who should vest more in our families and communities than some team we cheer for.
Florida and Florida State play this weekend in their yearly civil war. It’s lopsided this year, with FSU far and away the better team. They should win by a landslide. Even if in the end, there are no real winners here.
Keith Strudler is chair of the communication department at Marist College and director for the Marist College Center for Sports Communication.
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