History UsefulNotes / Florida

* AmericanFootball: Has ''very'' good college level programs, notably UF and FSU. Miami has some good history as well, and USF and UCF are developing. Jacksonville hosts the annual rivalry game between Florida and Georgia, unofficially referred to as the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party". Also, the state hosts a number of postseason bowl games; the most prominent is the Orange Bowl, one of the four BCS bowls.

* ProfessionalWrestling: While the top two companies in the US both have their corporate headquarters elsewhere (WWE in Stamford, Connecticut and TNA in Nashville, Tennessee,) both have strong ties to the state. TNA previous held all of their weekly shows at the "Impact Zone," a soundstage at Universal Studios in Orlando before taking the show on the road. WWE's developmental program, NXT, recently opened a new performance center in Orlando, after having it previously under the title of Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa (this is especially interesting as the two companies categorically do '''NOT''' get along.) Also, because of this, a large number of wrestlers: current, former, and upcoming, now call Florida home.
** From the 1950s to 1987, there was a major Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance territory in Florida, with such names as Wrestling/DustyRhodes, Wrestling/KevinSullivan, Wrestling/GordonSolie, Wrestling/TheFabulousOnes, Wrestling/SirOliverHumperdink, Wrestling/KingCurtisIaukea, Wrestling/MarkLewin, Wrestling/TerryFunk, Wrestling/LunaVachon, Wrestling/TheSheepherders and MANY OTHERS all either making their names in Florida or otherwise spending time there.

* {{Baseball}}: The Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays and Miami (Florida) Marlins call the state home. Do ''not'' mention Jeffrey Loria around Miami if you want the conversation to stay civil. Together with UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, the state is also the site of spring training for many MLB teams.
* {{Basketball}}: The Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. Miami follows the Florida tradition of excellent professional sports teams. Orlando follows the other Florida tradition of having utterly clueless management for professional sports teams.

* IceHockey: Yep. Some suspect that at least half the fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning are less interested in the sport than they are in the nice, cool stadium.

** And of course, one can't forget about the [[IncrediblyLamePun Solar Bears]], which will be returning to the sport soon enough.

* ProfessionalWrestling of all things. While the top two companies in the US both have their corporate headquarters elsewhere (WWE in Stamford, Connecticut and TNA in Nashville, Tennessee,) both have strong ties to the state. TNA previous held all of their weekly shows at the "Impact Zone," a soundstage at Universal Studios in Orlando before taking the show on the road. WWE's developmental program, NXT, recently opened a new performance center in Orlando, after having it previously under the title of Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa (this is especially interesting as the two companies categorically do '''NOT''' get along.) Also, because of this, a large number of wrestlers: current, former, and upcoming, now call Florida home.

* YanksWithTanks: [=MacDill=] Air Force Base, among other military bases in the state.

* The Keys: Technically part of Florida, but really, the Keys are the northern edge of the Caribbean and Old Florida does not acknowledge the Keys as part of the state proper. The government does, though, and it's a good thing - the Keys are one of the big summer tourist destinations in the United States despite their tendency to get obliterated by hurricanes every couple of years. This is not an exaggeration: most of the Keys are for the most part sandbars with delusions of grandeur and can be wiped off the map by a hurricane.[[hottip:*:Well, that's not exactly true, as the Keys proper are a mostly submerged limestone ridge, but still low enough that everything, aside from the NighInvulnerable Hemingway House, can get blown or washed off. Including those nice beaches installed on Key West at such expense.]]

* North Florida: It's the oldest and most historic part of Florida, home to Jacksonville (the largest and most populous city in the state and, surprisingly, the ''second'' largest city in the United States... by land area, that is[[note]]The largest city by land area in the US is Juneau, UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}, which isn't even the largest city by population in ''Alaska'' (that title goes to Anchorage), to give you an idea of what this statistic means[[/note]]), Saint Augustine (the oldest continuously inhabited city in the country), and... not much else. Pretty much still the DeepSouth, but with a couple of 16th and 17th century Spanish forts.

** The Tampa Bay area (which includes both Tampa itself and St. Petersburg across the bay) is normally spun off into its own region, Western Florida, along with Ft. Myers and Sarasota further south. This is the part with the really nice, "world's best" competition winning beaches, not that anyone remembers it. The Northerners in this area are also more likely to be from the Midwest than the Northeast, due to Interstate 75 connecting it with Michigan.

Today, there are three distinct Floridas within the state's borders. Old Florida, a proud part of the DeepSouth, is in fact alive and well -- it just occupies inland and northern Florida, i.e. the parts of the state tourists don't see. Coastal Florida exchanged its man card and Southern credibility for lots of money, lots of sprawling suburbia, and lots of northerners. Southern Florida, especially around {{Miami}}, has a distinctly Latin tinge and a working knowledge of Spanish can be a big help. YouShouldKnowThisAlready, but tourism is Florida's biggest industry these days (but only just ahead of agriculture) and is, along with UsefulNotes/{{California}}, one of the classic spring break and summer vacation destinations in the United States. Agriculture and phosphate mining are also common, but again are parts of the state that tourists usually don't see.

* AmericanFootball: Has ''very'' good college level programs, notably UF and FSU. Miami has some good history as well, and USF and UCF are developing.

* DeepSouth: Parts of Florida still adhere to it.

* {{NASCAR}}: Daytona Beach is home of the Daytona 500.

Not to be confused with the hip-hop artist Flo Rida ("Low", "Club Can't Handle Me"), although the state's name is the origin of his stage name. (He's from Miami, BTW.)

* The Panhandle: So called for reasons obvious to anyone looking at a map of the state, the Panhandle is home to Tallahassee, Florida's largely forgettable capital city, with little else of note besides being the home of Florida State University (and also the historically-black Florida A&M University). Some nice Gulf beaches up here and...not much else. Peculiarly, much of the Panhandle is in a different time zone (Central) than the rest of the state, due the time line being a continuation of the Alabama/Georgia border. It's sometimes grouped with...
* North Florida: Southern Alabama/Georgia. It's the oldest and most historic part of Florida, home to Jacksonville (the largest and most populous city in the state and, surprisingly, the ''second'' largest city in the United States... by land area, that is[[note]]The largest city by land area in the US is Juneau, UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}, which isn't even the largest city by population in ''Alaska'' (that title goes to Anchorage), to give you an idea of what this statistic means[[/note]]), Saint Augustine (the oldest continuously inhabited city in the country), and... not much else. Pretty much still the DeepSouth, but with a couple of 16th and 17th century Spanish forts.

* NativeAmericanCasino: They're operated by the Seminole tribe.
* NeverLiveItDown: The last two presidential elections. Short version: although the Republican Party has the state government on lockdown, when the time comes for actual popular voting, Florida is increasingly the big purple state, very evenly divided between the parties.

** The Tampa Bay area (which includes both Tampa itself and St. Petersburg across the bay) is normally spun off into its own region, Western Florida, along with Ft. Myers and Sarasota further south. This is the part with the really nice, "world's best" competition winning beaches, not that anyone remembers it.

** South Florida also had the third-largest Jewish population in the world, coming right after the BigApplesauce and Israel. Not all of them are {{Alter Kocker}}s, but some are.

* AmericanFootball: Has ''very'' good college level programs, notably Florida and FSU. Miami has some good history as well, and USF and UCF are developing.

* {{Baseball}}: The Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays and Miami (Florida) Marlins call the state home. Do ''not'' mention Jeffrey Loria around Miami if you want the conversation to stay civil.

Today, there are three distinct Floridas within the state's borders. Old Florida, a proud part of the DeepSouth, is in fact alive and well -- it just occupies inland and northern Florida, i.e. the parts of the state tourists don't see. Coastal Florida exchanged its man card and Southern credibility for lots of money, lots of sprawling suburbia, and lots of northerners. Southern Florida, especially around {{Miami}}, has a distinctly Latin tinge and a working knowledge of Spanish can be a big help. YouShouldKnowThisAlready, but tourism is Florida's biggest industry these days (but only just ahead of agriculture) and is, along with {{California}}, one of the classic spring break and summer vacation destinations in the United States. Agriculture and phosphate mining are also common, but again are parts of the state that tourists usually don't see.

* North Florida: Southern Alabama/Georgia. It's the oldest and most historic part of Florida, home to Jacksonville (the largest and most populous city in the state and, surprisingly, the ''second'' largest city in the United States... by land area, that is[[note]]The largest city by land area in the US is Juneau, {{Alaska}}, which isn't even the largest city by population in ''Alaska'' (that title goes to Anchorage), to give you an idea of what this statistic means[[/note]]), Saint Augustine (the oldest continuously inhabited city in the country), and... not much else. Pretty much still the DeepSouth, but with a couple of 16th and 17th century Spanish forts.

* AmusementPark: Lots, a few of the most notable being Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World.

*** The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the league's ButtMonkey their first two decades (with a fluke NFC title game appearance in 1979), but a rebranding in 1997 (replacing "Creamcicle Orange" with "Red and Pewter") brought long-term success and a Super Bowl win. They fell off in recent years as well.

*** The Jacksonville Jaguars were surprisingly successful in their first several years. They've come off as the league's ButtMonkey in regards to attendance, even though they outdraw both the Dolphins and Bucs.[[note]]This is due to their enormous stadium, EverBank Field, which has a full capacity of 84,000. Its 2012 average home attendance, 64,984, is larger than the capacity of some NFL stadia.[[/note]] A new owner with local connections has brought the team new hope.

* AmericanFootball: Has ''very'' good college level programs, notably the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the rising star of the University of South Florida.

** South Florida also had the third larges Jewish population in the world, coming right after the BigApplesauce and Israel. Not all of them are {{Alter Kocker}}s, but a lot of them are Alter Kockers.

One unusual feature is the presence of pools in almost every middle-class and above house. This is partly because it's nigh-impossible to have a basement in Florida -- once you dig fifteen feet, you hit groundwater. Instead, patios with small pools are almost a necessity if you want to re-sell your home, and these help attract out-of-state buyers thanks to the novelty factor.

The Sunshine State and primary WeirdnessMagnet for the United States, Florida is mainly known for a few things: weird stuff that happens OnlyInFlorida, lots of beaches, illegal immigrants (primarily Caribbean rather than Mexican), and lots and lots of elderly northerners.