The gesture represents rivalry. It represents the passion of college football fans. It represents the (usually) faux hatred. The excitement. The adrenaline rush brought on by few events outside watching your team emerge from the tunnel and crack helmets with its nemesis.
But for Florida defensive back Chauncey Gardner, the gesture — a Tennessee fan leaving a creamsicle-and-white Tennessee flag perched atop Steve Spurrier’s Heisman statue outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium earlier this week — represents something else.
“I don’t know about other guys,” he said, “but to me it’s a sign of disrespect.”
He said regardless of rivalry, defacing anything — even with an easily removable flag — is unacceptable.