Over the years, Florida football has tried a number of themed games that fans could coordinate. Blue Outs, Orange Outs and last year the Gators introduced a Black Out.
Yesterday, the Gators announced their motto for the season opener against Miami, and fans online did not react well.
Spoiler alert: Things are going to get hot in the swamp at 3:30 a.m. on August 31. Current forecasts call for a heat index of up to 101 degrees and a UV index of 7.
With this in mind, Florida announced on social media yesterday that the opening game would be a “White Out” game and fans would be encouraged to wear white clothing at the game.
First Saturday in the Swamp…WEAR WHITE.
Stay cool and wear white for our first game against Miami on August 31st!
Get your Gator gear here ⤵️
🔗https://t.co/3I7vwiJQw9#GoGators | @GatorsFB pic.twitter.com/WE4rAhKTFt— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) 22 August 2024
The reactions did not exactly spark enthusiasm in the Gator Nation.
“I really thought it was blue because in Miami all the jerseys are white.”
“Oh no”
“Wet T-Shirt Contest”
“Why on earth would we wear white to this game? Christ. Everyone will be wearing blue. We’re playing Miami.”
“Opening game at home and you want the fans to wear the same color as the away team’s jerseys? Just delete that.”
“Yeah, we don’t follow that at all, LMAOOO, we wear blue”
“How about wearing blue? You know, the color that the opponents don’t wear.”
“Change it to blue. It’s not too late to admit your mistake and correct it!”
“NCAA 25 showed blue, so I wear blue”
“Wear blue! Go Gators!”
“You should probably wear blue”
“I will play in blue, like most Gator fans”
“I highly recommend upgrading this to blue.”
“Nobody does that, lol, it’s Miami, everyone strolls to Gainesville in blue”
We could go on to countless other reactions, but there are essentially two problems with Florida’s attempt to get fans to wear white clothing at the game:
- White is not a color associated with Florida, but it is a color associated with Miami. More specifically, “White Out” is most associated with Penn State.
- According to a very unscientific survey of Gator fans, many Florida fans don’t even own a white Florida Gators shirt.
We here at Hail Florida Hail have a feeling there will be a mixed bag of 65% fans in blue, 20% in white and 15% in orange in the stands on August 31st.
And if Florida was hoping for a whiteout, the numbers don’t lie and they spell disaster for this issue.
