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Okay, the sign man might be a little strange. And he'll never be accused of being subtle. But he's no coward.
He knew the corner at University Avenue and Buckman Street across from the University of Florida campus is critical if you want to be seen, what with all the bars and T-shirt shops drawing tens of thousands of football fans.
So he stood his ground when the little man who looked like Paul Simon tried to pressure him into moving. Paul Simon was trying to find two tickets to the Florida-Florida State football game a few blocks away, and here's this guy carrying a 12-foot banner, yelling "Wake up!" and scaring all the potential sellers away.
The sign didn't help. It read: "Please Seek Jesus Christ . . . YOU Are Headed For Hell."
Two men on a mission. One street corner. Something had to give.
Sensing growing hostilities, the sign man moved across the street - which was even worse, because waiting for him there was a man grilling hamburgers and trying to get people to come into The Swamp, a restaurant and bar.
"This is my corner!" yelled the hamburger man. "Don't be f------ up my corner."
The sign man tried to ignore him, but seconds later, a few feet away in the street, a young man in a Gator sweat shirt ran up to a Honda Accord that had FSU stickers on it, dropped his pants and mooned the driver.
The crowd went wild, and the sign man apparently decided that this corner wasn't meant to be his. So he moved on up the street to find a more receptive audience.
"It won't always be funny," he said to no one in particular.
There are other great intrastate rivalries in college football; USC-UCLA and Auburn-Alabama for instance.
But there is something special about the Florida-Florida State rivalry, especially...