Athens - UF vs. UGA Basketball

Last weekend we finally went to Athens for the first time! Since the FL/GA football game is always in Jacksonville, we had never been to Athens. We've been wanting to go ever since we moved to Atlanta, especially since it's only an hour away and we love visiting other college campuses. Our football seasons haven't lined up so that we could make it for a football game, so last fall we decided that we would go to the FL/GA basketball game since it was on a Saturday this year.

We went with a bunch of friends from Atlanta - a good mixed crowd of both Florida and Georgia alum. We got there in time for lunch at the Transmetropolitan to grab some pizza and a few beers before the game. After lunch, they gave us a mini-tour through campus on our way to the arena. We passed the football stadium, and since it's an open stadium with a view from the passenger bridge, we got to check it out - just in case we don't ever make it for an actual game. I was not too impressed. Ben Hill Griffin is hands-down superior.

We got to the arena just before tip-off. Our seats weren't great but we got free tickets so I'm not complaining! Sadly we lost - again (which seems to be a theme for us recently). It was a terrible, pathetic game, and we never even had the lead. In fact, we were losing 2-0 before the game even started since Prather got a technical foul for dunking during warm-ups. Seriously?? It was pretty much all downhill from there. Good thing none of us are huge basketball fans, so it didn't ruin the fun that night...but no one likes to watch their team lose.

After the game we had dinner at Last Resort Grill and then headed out to the bars.

the whole gang

We did a bar crawl through Athens: Trappeze, Magnolia's, Bourbon Street, 80s bar and 90s bar - the signs for these last two cracked me up.....

We definitely felt old. Awkwardly old, though - definitely not yet old enough to be parents of students, but we are clearly not students anymore. I'm pretty sure that when we went to the 80s bar, we were the only people there who were actually born in the 80s.  We embraced it and had a blast! I only took a few pictures on my phone from the night. Too many former cameras of mine have died in bars so I don't even bother trying anymore.

I would say Athens is pretty similar to Gainesville. Of course I am biased, but I think our campus is better and prettier :) I will admit that their bar scene/setup is better - no split between downtown and university (or "midtown" as the kids these days call it). Literally street after street of bars, and none of them were crowded since there are so many. And just like Gainesville, you can get some kind of drink for just a dollar at any bar. It was by far our cheapest Gator loss yet! And true to our theme, despite the loss we had an awesome time. We will definitely be going back to Athens - hopefully for a WIN!  Until then, we'll just keep going to games and having fun and hoping that one of these days our Gators will turn around for us.