Austin Misiura - A Passionate Miami Hurricanes Fan
For a new series on the Tributize blog, we will be talking to some passionate superfans to find out what they love and why.
In our first interview we talk to Austin Misiura from Miami, FL.
Tributize: What are you passionate about?
Austin: As an entrepreneur I’m lucky to be able to afford season tickets to the Miami Hurricanes football team every year
Tributize: Why are you passionate about them?
Austin: A lot of Miami fans are either bandwagon from when they used to be good in the 80s and 90s, or they are people that are born and raised in Miami. Being from New Jersey and being only 30 years old, I am neither one of those things. I have always had a passion for football but I never had a team to root for or reason to root for them until I went to grad school at the University of Miami.
Being a smaller private school we really don’t have that many students and alumni to make up our Fanbase compared to most major college teams. So I think that makes the fans that we do have extra fanatic — excuse the pun. When I was in school there a few years ago the tailgate lots before a football game would essentially be a club in the middle of the street. It was one of the craziest things you’ll ever see with people standing on top of their trucks holding up giant speakers spraying alcohol everywhere and being about as reckless as possible. The craziest part of it is that everyone who was here before me when the team was really good told me about the Orange bowl (our old stadium) which was one of the loudest and craziest stadiums to ever play in.
We won something like 55 games in a row in that stadium during the winning streak that still stands to this day. I wasn’t a fan then because I hadn’t come to the school yet but the history and close-knit relationships with all the people that were fans made me like the team even more. So even though I recently I’ve had to endure a lot of subpar seasons I still go to every game and cheer as loud as I can for them on every play. We were all enduring the struggle together whether we had been through the good times or not
Tributize: How much time and money do you spend each year on your passion?
Austin: Because I’m a little bit spoiled we get club level tickets which means we get air conditioning and can go inside during the hot summer days. The club level tickets are about $750 each and I buy a pair of them
Tributize: How long have you been a fan?
Austin: Since the day that I arrived on campus eight years ago. The first game I ever saw was against our rival Florida State and I’ll never forget jumping up-and-down on the couch screaming as loud as I could for a win for a team that I had never cheered for before in my life. I think at that moment I definitely knew that I was going to be a hurricanes fan forever
Tributize: What is the craziest thing that you have done to show your passion?
Austin: Me and my brother did paint our “U” logo, in its full orange and green glory, on our chests so that when we stood next to each other it formed the full image. My brother was feeling the love so much he had nothing to do with the University of Miami and just wanted to join me and get in on the action! We lost that one unfortunately.
Tributize: Thanks for talking to us today and all the best for the Miami Hurricanes!
Austin Misiura, DPT, OCS, CSCS is the owner of Pure Physical Therapy, a rehab and movement retraining center in Miami, FL. He is a Board Certified Orthopedic Physical Therapist with extensive experience in manual therapy and rehabilitation of athletes. Austin Misiura, DPT, OCS, CSCSBoard Certified Orthopedic Physical Therapist Owner: Pure Physical Therapy Miami, FL
Are you a passionate fan? Contact the Tributize Team. We would love to feature your story on our blog.
And if you haven't written a fan tribute page already, then get started now!