Maybe it’s because of the heat.
Or because crazy people live there.
Whatever the reason, Florida is forever the genesis of most things weird, odd, bizarre, and, of course, criminal.
The “Florida Man Chall enge” proves it.
A number of years ago, social media was consumed with the “Florida Man Challenge.” If you weren’t among the consumed, allow me to hallucinate: Folks went to the Google machine, and typed in “Florida man” and their birthdate (without year). Then they looked for the first “Florida man” headline that shows up. They would then post the results on social media.
For my birthday, it was: Florida man with no arms charged with stabbing Chicago tourist.
Actual headline. Really. Because a lot of strange stuff has happened in Florida since I last did the “Florida Man Challenge” – and I needed column fodder – I decided to give it another whirl, playing with the birthdates of friends and relatives. Here are my results: November 5 - Florida man charged with 27 counts for slashing tires, claims he’s being demonized
January 11 - Florida man with underwear around his neck accused of prowling in same yard as reported bonsai tree theft December 11 - Florida man who received ‘Waffle House’ tattoo arrested after refusing to pay for it April 17 - Florida man encases self in concrete at governor’s mansion September 24 - Naked Florida man chases couple around Chick-fil-A parking lot March 25 - Florida man steals alligator from golf course, tries ‘teaching it a lesson’ by throwing it on roof of bar February 21 - Florida man has 150 live bugs removed from his nose — and he didn’t even know they were there August 2 - Florida man jailed after dispute over hedgehog leads to armed confrontation May 6 - Shirtless Florida man with Wendy’s ‘beef’ caught on camera threatening to rob restaurant
June 4 - Florida Man Throws Baby At Deputy Following Wild High-Speed Chase April 30 - Florida man, woman pretended to be detectives to try to get friend out of jail July 30 - Florida Man Tries To Buy Rolex Watches With Check Printed From Home Computer
March 11 - Florida man strikes police horse, leads to wild horseback chase in crowd August 12 - Florida man sprays women with roach spray,
break out nunchucks over loud music, cops say September 2 - Florida man accused of killing iguana tried to use the ‘stand your ground law’ – judge says no October 21 - Naked Florida Man Accused Of Killing Suspected ‘Peeping Tom’ August 9 - Naked Florida man with machete accused of trying to steal another man’s clothes November 1 - Florida Man Destroys Car In Disney World Parking Lot, Leaves A Hundred Dollars And A Note “Sorry” March 30 - Florida Man In His Underwear Hits Deputy In Face With Bible February 2 - Florida man with Florida tattoo on forehead arrested for calling 911 to ask for ride home Doesn’t get much more Florida than that.
• Len Robbins is the editor of The Clinch County News. He can be reached at lrobbins@clinchcounty news
