re: Like you, I consider myself a knowledgable SEC fan. I did not know this about Florida

It was the early 80s or so when the flag was claimed by hateful idiots as a badge of ignorance and intolerance. Prior to this it was mostly a symbol of either heritage or, in the 60s and 70s defiance of "the man". Hell, Richie Cunningham had a Darlington Motor Speedway poster in his bedroom and it had a confederate flag on it. No one thought the Cunninghams were white trash...even though Milwaukee was apparently all white in the 50s. In the early 80s we handed out confederate flags at pep rally's prior to home games and my high school was as integrated as Cobb County Georgia got in the early 80s....and everyone wanted in on handing out those flags or getting several. black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, Jewish kids...it was an event. Unfortunately that began to change shortly after and the good people of the south, who are wont to mind their own business and ignore the ignorant and feeble minded among us, allowed a small segment of such people to use the flag in ways we should have never stood for and here we are.