After this Saturday, what began on September 17, 2005, thereafter rooting a deep hatred inside of me for everything university of south florida, will finally come to an end - and this time for good.
I am of the generation of our fans who were
students during usf's sleazy maneuvering against our athletics programs and our broader university (being in school 2002-2009). Further, on the night of that first game in 2005, a group of seven usf fraternity members jumped me and my then-girlfriend after the game in Tampa, completely unprovoked. That event remains, to date, the only physical
fight of my adult life. It sounds kind-of twisted, but my hatred of usf was a part of my coming-of-age, and therefore is a part of who I am today. I feel that some of our younger fans (and to a lesser extent, some of the older fans as well) will never quite understand how the constant unprovoked humiliations at the hands of their administration, political lackeys, coaches, tshirt fans, and players felt.
That said, it is almost over. Despite losing some early battles, UCF has won the war. And now, at the end, it is time to let go of the University of South Florida Bulls, and to pass the proverbial torch to the Owls of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton (the real south Florida).
EDIT: I would like to apologize to those on this board who came before me who took umbrage with the "older fans" comment. I meant no insult. I was just attempting to convey that, in my personal experience, when you are younger/still a student, you have a lot less going on in your life, and as a result, stuff like what usf pulled in the 2000s affects you much more powerfully than when you're older and have more life experience. For example - when they got the Big East invite over us and we were left out in the cold in 2004, I had no serious job, no kids, no cheating twat wife, no business... I was just a student ho-humming through life - and that turn of events
devastated me. If it happened today, I'd be pissed-off for sure. But with everything else that I've got going on in my life, would it alter my worldview? Nah.