Being an FSU Fan: Not for Sissies!

By Jim Joanos

The Florida State University football team’s “shocking loss” to North Carolina State last month caused Seminole fans lots of unhappiness. I, for one, couldn’t sleep much the rest of the night and for several days was very uncomfortable around some of my Hurricane and Gator fans. The loss essentially meant that this season will not be the perfect season we had hoped for. Instead, it will be another one of those more normal seasons where the best we can hope for at the end is to have won lots of games and play in a good bowl game. The loss was especially painful in the knowledge that “what if” one or two things had gone differently, the result would have been different and wonderful. But, needless to say, this is definitely not the first time that in my over sixty-five years as an FSU fan that I have loss sleep over a “what if” game loss where the stakes were very high. There have been a number of other, such games. Let me mention a few.

One of these was the 1964 football game at Virginia Tech when the tenth-ranked Seminoles lost to the Hokies, 11-20. The Seminoles had entered the game sporting a 5-0 season record which had included victories over a Kentucky team ranked fifth in the country (48-6) as well as a 17-14 victory at Georgia, which occurred the very week before. Two pass interceptions and a tackle-eligible trick play by Tech had figured into the loss. Another example was the 1971 football game in which, the Seminoles had also won their first five football games of the season and were ranked 19th by the AP, but then went down to the University of Florida and lost to the Gators 15-17 in a game in which FSU had two costly fumbles. In 1991, the undefeated Seminoles, ranked number one, in the famous first “Wide Right” game, lost to Miami, 16-17 when a last moments FSU attempted field goal missed. There have been similar such heartbreaking games in the other sports as well. There will be more in the future. That is the nature of it.

Sometimes, I wonder why we fans continue to give so much moral support to FSU sports teams when we know that on occasion, there will be great disappointment. Well, there are several good reasons.

First, the good times far outweigh the bad ones. My personal experiences are an example. I have had some wonderful times being an FSU fan. At age thirteen, I was able to enjoy the beginnings of a brand new men’s athletics program when the school transitioned from the Florida State College for Women in 1947 to a coeducational Florida State University. I was among the 8,000 at Centennial Field when FSU received the opening kickoff from Stetson in its first modern era football game. I was also in the stands forty-six years later in Miami when Nebraska missed a last moments field goal and the Seminoles won their first ever football national championship in 1993. I have seen the Seminoles play basketball games in the old Dale Mabry Air Base gymnasium, Tully Gym, the Leon County Civic Center, Greensboro and Charlotte Coliseums, and a host of other places. I have been to three College World Series at Omaha’s legendary Rosenblatt field and hope to make it to one at the new stadium. I have enjoyed FSU national championships, not only twice in football, but men’s gymnastics, men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s track and field. There have also been numerous national runners-up experiences. There have been numerous conference championships. For every disappointing game or match, there have been dozens more, very satisfactory ones.

Secondly, there has been the opportunity to follow the careers and enjoy the successes of hundreds of great athletes like Deion Sanders, Buster Posey, Gabrielle Reece, Dave Cowens, Mami Yamaguchi, and Jessica van der Linden, to name but a few. Some of those great athletes like Dick Howser, Charlie Ward, and Garrett Johnson have especially inspired us with their character and deportment, to be good people. In short, our athletes inspire us on both a daily and long term basis.

Finally, being a fan of a team allows us to be part of something big and meaningful. It makes us part of a family. It gives us pride and happiness when there are successes and solace, when there are disappointments. We celebrate with our FSU family when we win and cry with them when we lose. But most of all, we know that when we go through those times, win or lose, we are together. It is a great feeling.

Bring on the next team. We are not done yet!

1964 game vs Virginia Tech October 24, 1964	1971 game vs Florida October 16, 1971	1991 game vs Miami November 16, 1991	1947 game vs Stetson October 18, 1947
National Championship game vs Nebraska, January 1, 1994	Deion Sanders	Buster Posey	Gabrielle Reece
Dave Cowens	Mami Yamaguchi	Jessica van der Linden	Dick Howser
	Charlie Ward	Garrett Johnson