Superfan Johnny Mac: The Animals of Section B & FSU Baseball

Baseball fandom has its legends, and few are as storied or impactful as Florida State University's "Animals of Section B." Johnny Mac pulls back the curtain on this 47-year tradition that's become the heartbeat of Seminole baseball.

From their strategic K-Time chants that rattle opposing batters to the mysteriously effective fifth-inning rendition of "O Canada" that began during the 1988 Winter Olympics, these superfans have created quantifiable home-field advantage. The NCAA has even verified that FSU players perform better and opponents struggle when the Animals are in full force – proof that passionate fans can literally change the game.

The Animals represent something increasingly rare in modern sports – an organic, authentic fan culture that transcends generations. They've traveled to Omaha for College World Series appearances, brought their energy to away games nationwide, and welcomed countless children into their section to create the next generation of superfans. As Johnny explains their philosophy: "It's only weird if it doesn't work."

Whether you're a baseball enthusiast, a student of fan culture, or simply appreciate the ways communities form around shared passions, this conversation captures the magic that happens when dedication meets tradition. Ready to experience it yourself? As Johnny assures listeners, all are welcome in Section B – just show up and join the fun.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Bring Joy Podcast
• 1:25 Meet Johnny Mac and The Animals
• 3:30 What Is a Zookeeper?
• 5:15 Creating Home Field Advantage
• 8:55 K-Time and Game Day Chants
• 13:10 Omaha World Series Memories
• 19:40 Regionals and Road to Omaha
• 24:10 Baseball Traditions and Fan Connections
• 25:40 Closing Thoughts and Invitations

Transcript

Joy: 0:03

Thanks for tuning in to the Bring Joy Podcast. We're in Season 5 and it's all about baseball, talking big leagues to the little leagues, yankees to the Conks and everything in between. I'll share my joy for the game with you and, whether you're a fan of baseball or good storytelling, you'll be entertained and each episode will bring a little joy to your day. So sit back and relax. Let's do this thing will bring a little joy to your day. So sit back and relax. Let's do this thing.

Joy: 0:33

Johnny Mack, welcome to the Bring Joy podcast. Thank you, joey. Glad to be on here. I mentioned to you earlier when we were getting set up for this. I'm really excited to be talking to you. I've been seeing you on TV for a few years now. I watch all the FSU baseball games and I've got a bucket list item to be part of the animals one day. So when I reached out and asked you if you'd be on the podcast, I was nervous, waiting to see what you say, and you answered back right away and said you were happy to do it. So thanks for being here.

Johnny Mac: 1:01

No thanks for having me on. Hey, anytime I get a chance to talk about Florida State baseball, the animals of Section B, I'm always ready to let people know all about us and how we support Florida State baseball. And just you know, especially with your bucket list man, you're welcome to Florida State Section B anytime you want to come up.

Joy: 1:18

Thank you, I'm going to take you up on that offer.

Johnny Mac: 1:26

So tell me about the animals and how long have you been part of the group? Okay, so this year we'll mark the 47th year of the animals and starting with just a bunch of people's love for Florida state baseball, when they would show up at games, you know, sit in a group and just create a competitive advantage for the, for the baseball team here, some of us just cheering the whole time coming up, you know, trying to get in the other team's head. You know trying to do it, you know, tastefully, but also trying to create a home field advantage for our for Florida State. And so I've been sitting up in section B on a regular basis now for probably about 15 years.

Joy: 1:57

That's awesome, that that's really cool, and so I'm. I'm here in Key West and there's quite a connection between Key West and FSU baseball, going back when I was a kid. The first guy that went to FSU was Brooks Carrier in the mid to late 70s, and then Jack and Randy Niles played for FSU in the 90s and then, more recently, stephen Wells around 2015, around that time. So I feel like there's a connection between Key West and FSU baseball.

Johnny Mac: 2:33

That's why.

Joy: 2:34

I'm always watching the games.

Johnny Mac: 2:36

No, that's good. Yeah, you know the good thing about the state of Florida. You know some of the best baseball players in the country live in the state of Florida and so when you can keep not just homegrown talent but also state-grown talent here in the state, especially at Florida State, you know it's better for everyone.

Joy: 2:51

Yeah, for sure. In fact there's a kid that just committed. He'll be a senior next year. He's up at Coral Shores, which is one of the keys closer to the mainland. His name is Donavan Thiery and I was going to tell you write his name down, because he'll be there not next year but the following year and he's quite a player. So we're lucky in Florida that our boys get to play ball year round and we have so many good schools. But you know something special about the Knowles.

Johnny Mac: 3:20

Yes, there definitely is. Well, we'll definitely keep his name written down and you know we'll start looking forward to him getting here.

Joy: 3:25

So I wanted to ask you what's a zookeeper?

Johnny Mac: 3:30

So a zookeeper is a person basically who is in charge of the animals. You know, making sure the ticket, the seating arrangements filled up, making sure that you know everybody gets to the games, making sure everybody is involved with the games. Just you know it's a lot to do. You know they obviously started before I became an animal. You basically, you know zookeepers just basically kind of who's in charge and just kind of getting everything together, keeping everybody together, especially with the seats we have 70 seats in our block and you know, just keeping everybody up to date, like where their seats are, making sure everybody, you know, gets their tickets paid for on time. It's a lot to deal with. So Shannon Thomas right now is our current zookeeper, in the line of the good zookeepers that we've had.

Joy: 4:15

Yeah, and I read that the animals have been around since the 70s.

Johnny Mac: 4:20

Yeah, so, like I say, this is 47 years of Section B. They started off as the animals and Section B came because back Hauser used to be, I say, numbered with letters and not numbers. Now we technically sit in Section 5, but basically wherever we sit is Section B.

Joy: 4:40

Right, and I thought that was pretty cool that when the stadium was redone and the sections are now numbered and not letters, they still have your section as section B. There's a big B there on the pylon to let everybody know that that's where the animals go. I thought that was a really cool nod to the fans.

Johnny Mac: 5:00

Yeah, it was. You know, they're just trying to keep traditions going, which this has been going for a long time. So yeah, it was nice to see them throw that B up there over the number five.

Joy: 5:09

That was really cool. And so you mentioned competitive advantage earlier, and the NCAA put out an article in May first week of May that talked about several teams D1 schools that have a home field advantage because of their fan base, and, of course, the animals were featured. So not only do you guys create an atmosphere that makes it fun and enjoyable to go to the game, but they literally put numbers to all the mayhem and show that FSU players perform better and, on the contrary, the opponents not so much.

Johnny Mac: 5:47

Yeah, I mean it definitely makes a competitive advantage because you know the way it starts for us is basically the first pitch of the game. We're up, we're ready until the last pitch of the game. You know, win or lose, we're there until the end of the game. And you know some teams coming in here that play in front of small crowds at home. You don't want to average game on a Tuesday night. You know we'll get three or four thousand people here where in some cities you go to you might get three or four hundred. So when you get up to bat and you know you got two strikes on you and you start hearing that K time ring throughout the stadium, you know it just it kind of gets to you and just, yeah, there, you go right there. That's awesome. I'm glad you got the hat man. That's supporting a great cause.

Joy: 6:27

It is, and I don't want to wear it until this weekend, the playoffs, and plus it's so clean I don't want to get it dirty, so I've been saving it for the playoffs, but yeah go ahead. That'll be a good time to break it out. Tell me about K-Time, because I've got a story for you.

Johnny Mac: 6:45

K-Time has been one of the cheers that's, you know, been around the animals way well before me and you know it's just one of those things. When you're up there, you know our pitchers love it. Our pitchers are used to it, I think when they come in as freshmen. And you know we try to keep it quiet as much as we can whenever we're on the mound. You's kind of like when your team was on offense in football. You don't want the stadium loud, you want your boys in concentrate and everything like that. But whenever you've got a one-two count on the batter man, it's coming. Somebody in our section is going to belt out a K as long as they can, and as soon as that's over we start it with the K time and we just keep it up until something happens with the batter Strike out, fly out, ground out base, hit base on balls, whatever it may be, but it keeps going through that same batter until an outcome is reached.

Joy: 7:31

So I have. I told you I have a story. So I'm part of a fan club here for our high school QS Conks and we're called the K crew and our big thing is that we hang Ks when our pitchers strike out batters. So we recently tried to emulate K time and we're doing pretty good. But our catcher is Jackie Niles Jack Niles' son, and he told us about the third game in. He said you guys need some work.

Johnny Mac: 8:02

So we're going to practice a little bit.

Johnny Mac: 8:05

Hey, that's okay. The fact that you're getting into it, man, means a lot because you know at that early age in high school you know you don't hear a lot of coordinated chants like that in a high school baseball game, but you know the softball team does it now, which sounds great coming out of that stadium. We have kids that come sit in this section that play baseball at other schools and they try to take it back to their schools. Like it's fun to see those traditions getting carried. That it means so much to people that they want to try to do it wherever they go.

Joy: 8:35

Yeah, they say that's the best form of flattery, right, imitation. That's right. I think it's really cool. You talked about softball. We also started doing it at the Lady Conks softball game. So, yeah, all the way from Tallahassee to Key West, we're doing K-Time.

Johnny Mac: 8:52

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Joy: 8:55

It is really cool. How many chance do you have during during the game? How, what?

Johnny Mac: 9:02

so some of our regular chance. Like you said, you have the k time whenever, um, whenever we get a 3-1 count on when we're there pitching and we're batting. If it gets to a 3-1 count, me and a couple guys, we lead off with a walkie-talkie and a walkie-talkie on rag arm and then the rest of the stadium follows up with get a hit, and that just keeps going until, I mean, there's been several times. You know somebody hits five or six foul balls in a row. That cheer can last for quite a while. So that and the K-time are two of the most prevalent. We also somebody makes an error for the opposing team. We makes an error and, um, for the opposing team.

Johnny Mac: 9:39

We have a circus theme song that we sing and point over to the circus uh, right on that rush, right outside right field of dick hauser have, uh, you know somebody's in there pitching and they start, um, you know, they start giving up three, four, five, six, seven runs. We start singing our own version. It's called take me out of this ball game, which you know when you're a pitcher. When you're a pitcher, you don't want to hear that coming from the crowd when you're already giving up a lot of runs, and then, of course, in the fifth inning, bottom of the fifth inning, when we're at home, top of the fifth on the road. That's when we break out our rendition of O Canada.

Johnny Mac: 10:09

Yes tell me about that. Okay, so you know. So back in 1988, the Winter Olympics were held in Canada, and you know, when you win a gold medal at the Olympics, they play your team's national anthem.

Johnny Mac: 10:23

Well with the, with the Olympics being there. Obviously Canadians are good at winter sports because you know they have a lot. You know, somebody from Florida is probably not going to win a skiing gold medal, so you know. So their, their Canadian national national anthem got, you know, sung more than once. So at a baseball game it was, you know, one afternoon florida state's playing. They're getting beat.

Johnny Mac: 10:43

A couple guys in the section up there's the bottom of the fifth. One of the guys just starts humming the canadian national anthem because he's heard it so much, and I think maybe one or two other guys going in. All of a sudden, fsu winds up rallying, they wind up winning the game. So you know, the next day they come out there, same thing happens. Man, we get down fifth inning. These guys are like, hey, man, we might as well give it another shot and sure enough, come back and win the game. And so since 1988, the Canadian national anthem. If any of us are in attendance at the games, we break out the flag and we sing the Canadian National Anthem. It's been done in away ballparks, we've done it in Omaha. Beware that an animal goes to a game, they usually try to carry a flag with them, and so that's one of the traditions that people come and ask me about after the game. Where did that come from, and why would you stand up and sing the Canadian national anthem in the middle of a baseball game?

Joy: 11:36

Right right.

Johnny Mac: 11:37

You know you'd be amazed at how many times it works in the fifth inning when that comes out.

Joy: 11:44

And then all of a sudden the bats start getting hot. Yeah, if it works, you know, don't change it. Right? That's part of baseball too, superstition, right? If something's working don't change it. We have a saying up there it's only weird if it doesn't work. So, speaking of weird, the other thing is you guys have a lot of props. I've seen you in a gold jacket, a duck hat on.

Johnny Mac: 12:03

Yeah, so the gold jacket was the only thing I wanted for Christmas three years ago. So my mom graciously got it for me Because obviously, you know, on Sunday we break out the gold uniforms, so that gold jacket goes with me every Sunday. Now a few other people in the section now have gold jackets. You know we look pretty good up there on Sundays. The ducks we started a cheer, you know, several years ago. Whenever we load the bases up, we started ducks on the pond cheer. So I bring an inflatable duck that I pick someone out every game that they have to wear it if we load the bases. And then people have started incorporating duck hats and duck beads. You know it's kind of taken over a life of its own.

Joy: 12:39

Yeah, that's really cool. We have something in the same scenario. When there's conks on the bases, instead of saying ducks on the pond, we say conks on the flats, like out in the ocean, the flats.

Johnny Mac: 12:51

I like that. That's good. That's good.

Joy: 12:53

Yeah, so in the flats, I like that. That's good, that's good, yeah, so, so, so, that's pretty cool. And you talked about the camera, and the camera definitely finds you guys, no matter if it's like a local broadcast or ESPN. First you start hearing the chants, you're watching the broadcast and you can hear the chants, and then the next thing, you know, the camera finds you guys, sure enough.

Johnny Mac: 13:14

Well, it's really cool because with that, the exposure that we get a lot of the ESPN commentators or whatever usually ESPN because ACC Network and ESPN do a lot of the games here, they do their homework, they put in the time and because it's been around for 47 years, it's one of those things like when some teams come in here and they don't know what's going on. When some teams come in here and they don't know what's going on, their fans will come and talk to us after the game and they will come tailgate with us after the game just to kind of, you know, how does this start? How do we get something going at this at our stadium? So the fact that it's been around for so long, but all the announcers even when we went to Omaha, the cameras were in our section most of the time last year, the games that we were there, because, because I mean, they know we stand up from the first pitch of the game and we stay up there until the last pitch of the game.

Joy: 14:00

Speaking of Omaha, I was going to ask you you did get to go to. Omaha Was last year, your first year.

Johnny Mac: 14:08

No, last year was the third year. My first year was 2017, when the team went out there, and I also went in 2019 when it was Mike Martin when it was 11s last year. And then that being our first year back last year, was really important to me to go out there with that team because the year before, you know, coming off the season we had the year before, was the first losing baseball season in base florida state baseball history. So for that team to do what they did, it was really special last year. The team was very special last year and, man, I just felt like, you know, I needed to go out there and be there and experience that with them.

Joy: 14:38

Yeah, I was looking up tickets to Omaha and that's an investment right there.

Johnny Mac: 14:46

Graciously. Last year, you know, my sister knew how bad I wanted to go and she started to go fund me to get me out there. And man, it was just overwhelming the responses that it got. You know, within 24 hours we had already reached more than the goal she had set for me to get out there, and so it was very humbling for people former players, former players, parents, you know, just friends that I've known for years all knew how, what it meant to me to get out there and my sister doing that for me and everybody contributing was very humbling and very amazing so do you have any favorite memories to share, since you've been an animal favorite?

Johnny Mac: 15:20

game there's several for me was 2017, when you know that was the first time that I was really that much involved with the animals and regionals.

Johnny Mac: 15:30

You know we lost our first game and battled back and won through the losers bracket and then won our super regional to go to omaha. My first trip out there was really special to me because that was the first time I'd ever been and just the way the team fought back after losing the first game of regionals to have to come through the loser's bracket that was probably one of my favorite ones. There's several that I would probably have to think about. I mean, Quincy Nieporte walking off the Gators in extra innings back in 2017 was probably one of the greatest moments that I've seen Last year in Super Regionals. James Tibbs, hitting three home runs in the second game of Super Regionals to help send us to Omaha that was one of those that I'll definitely never forget, and there's so many of them. You have to sit there and kind of think about well, remember this and this and this, but those are definitely a couple that stick out to me.

Joy: 16:17

Yeah, I remember that game. When Newport did that, they had a good team. That was a good team. I still got issues with LSU because they took us out.

Johnny Mac: 16:27

That was the year that LSU took us out of the tournament right, Well, yeah, 2017, we played LSU in the first game and we lost to them.

Joy: 16:37

2017, we played LSU in the first game and we lost to them. Talking about this year's team, the 2025 team is back in the bracket. We've got a chance out of 64 teams and we're hosting a tournament and I know that Coach Jarrett is scheming up strategies for the team and how they're going to perform. What are the animals doing to be ready for regionals?

Johnny Mac: 17:03

Just showing up and we always get together before the game and basically it's just bringing the energy. The regular season's over now None of that counts anymore. You know we're getting to regionals. Friday starts the road to Omaha, so what you're going to have is a little more energy out of the crowd. You know the season's a long season, but now you know you got to the postseason, you're getting to host regionals, so the energy's going to be there probably more than it has been all year.

Joy: 17:31

And I heard Coach Jarrett gave you guys a shout-out at his press conference.

Johnny Mac: 17:37

Yeah, you know what the one good thing about having him. Well, there's a lot of good things about having him coach here, but one of them is the fact that he played here, so he knows what kind of energy the animals bring, and he's very gracious in thanking us and all the fans. And we are baseball knowledgeable. We do pay attention to what's going on in the game. When a player from an opposing team makes a diving catch, you know we stand up and clap for that guy. That's a nice play, but we are very knowledgeable about the game and we're involved with the whole game. You know our stadium doesn't pipe in crowd noise to try to get us going. They don't need to.

Joy: 18:10

Right, right, y'all bring it. Like you said from the first pitch, you guys, you guys are on your feet, cheering to the last.

Johnny Mac: 18:17

That's right. I mean, we're involved the whole way, you know. So we come up with little chants and cheers that we do for each player and they'll tell you how much it means to them, especially when they're on the road and you know they're like man. I was sitting up here waiting on you guys, but I forget that. We're on the road now.

Joy: 18:32

Yeah, and you guys travel well in california.

Johnny Mac: 18:36

A couple weeks ago, when we were playing in california, there was a group sitting right up front, right behind home plate, and you could hear them really good yeah, we definitely have to give a shout out and props to the uh greater uh san francisco seminole club man, they were fully involved in going to that man. They they were stayed in contact with us to kind of get some ideas. But man, they were all in on going to that game and, luckily for them, they got to see softball out there and they got to see baseball. You know, just following them, listening to them on the TV, man was, you know, it felt like a home game almost for us. Yeah, we got to give them a shout-out, man, because they brought it that game and they brought the energy to the stadium.

Joy: 19:21

It is really cool. We um here in Key West, we we're baseball people too. We've got um winning traditions, um that go way back since, since the 50s, that we've had 11 state championships for our high school, which is which is pretty cool for a little island so far down here to have so many championships. We're obviously pretty proud of that. And, uh, we we travel well too, whether we're leaving from Key West and going following the boys or people that have left Key West and re, you know, relocated to other areas around the state. If the Conks are playing, you look around and and everybody shows up. So it's uh pretty cool when you, when you have a winning team for so many years, like the Knowles and the Conks, it makes it easier to cheer for them, that's for sure. You have big hopes for this season. What are you feeling with this team?

Johnny Mac: 20:11

Oh man, I mean we got just as good a shot as anybody. Being Omaha, you know like.

Johnny Mac: 20:15

I say the season's over with. You know, maybe there's a game or two here that you think about, that you could have done this and could have done that. Well, none of that matters anymore. What matters right now is Friday at 3 o'clock and going out there and starting the road to Omaha Friday at 3. Do you know if Jamie's pitching? I haven't heard who's pitching yet. That's usually the way the rotation is set up. You know the way we played last weekend with the ACC tournament. I know that. You know Jamie started a game, mendez started a game and then Bellini came in to pitch relief of the second game. So he's the one who had the smallest workload. So I know he's going to be ready to go. Anybody who starts is going to be ready to go. But going with what's going on all season, I would expect Jamie to be the starter on Friday afternoon, but it hadn't been listed for sure, so I'm not positive on that.

Joy: 21:07

Well, whoever gets a nod will be ready to step up, I'm sure, and I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a great tournament. There's some really cool teams. I got to give a great tournament. There's some really cool teams. I got to give a shout out. I do follow stetson also. Um, I've got family that recently moved to the land and got season tickets to the hatters, so, um, they play good baseball and I I follow them. We actually went up last year when Tallahassee, when the knolls had the regional tournament and stetson was in that bracket and we got to go up and what a great atmosphere.

Joy: 21:40

Yeah, yeah, it was a fun atmosphere.

Johnny Mac: 21:43

You know we played Bethune-Cookman here early in the year and they played us tough. It was a 9-7 win on a Tuesday night here during the season. You know Mississippi State they're going to have a good team. The one team I'm intrigued about that I don't know much about is Northeastern. Yeah, but I've been following them, man. I read some of their stuff after they're done. You know they've won, I believe, 27 games in a row, which is pretty hard to do in a game of baseball, and they have 192 stolen bases, which is pretty impressive for a baseball team. So I think we've got a pretty tough bracket to get through here.

Joy: 22:16

And that's any given day, right. That tough bracket to get through here, and that's any given day, right. That's why they play the game. But it's a double elimination right, correct.

Johnny Mac: 22:23

If you come out of the winner's bracket, you can win three games and you will win the regional.

Joy: 22:29

You know you lose that one game, man it turns into having to play about five more games. Well, hopefully it'll end up with the Noles back in Omaha and getting a national championship. I think that would be really cool and I'm sure you guys are already looking to see. You know you can't get too far ahead of yourselves, but if they get to Omaha you think you guys are going to make the trip.

Johnny Mac: 22:54

Oh yeah, I'm definitely going. I got a good friend of mine, ken, and he's the one who taught me into going the first time he had actually talked to me, trying to talk to me, to go back when it was at Rosenblatt which is the one thing I regret is never getting to see the World Series at that stadium but back in 2017, he's like look man, you never know how many chances you got to do this, and so I'm like you know what You're right, we're in. So I went. What you're right, we're just, we're in.

Joy: 23:20

So I went in 2017, 19 and I've made it at my mission now, anytime florida state goes to the world series, I'm gonna go. I love it. I love it. So listen, if, um, if I get up there next season and, um, I want to spend a weekend and see a whole series, can I? Can I get a ticket to sit with the animals? What? What's how anybody sit with the animals or what's the requirements?

Johnny Mac: 23:39

so the only requirement is that you just come up there and just join in. You know, the more the merrier. You know the one good thing the last several years a lot of kids are getting involved with it, which we really appreciate, you know, because sometimes kids get a little bit nervous about going up there and cheering and being the center of attention. But, man, when they get up there they love it. They want to help out, they want to do the cave time, they want to do all the cheers up there. And you know those, those are prospective future animals coming up there. One day they may be up there leading that whole section. We're going to have a spot waiting on you. Just just let me know when you're coming and we're going to, we're going to get it done for you.

Joy: 24:14

That sounds good and if you ever get to Key West you can sit with me and my crew right behind home plate we call the K crew and you can hang some K's with us, have you been to Key West.

Johnny Mac: 24:28

I've been to Key West once. It's probably been about the one and only time I ever went was about 15 years ago. Two of my best friends got married down there, so I made the trip down there for the wedding. But man, I'll tell you what. It's one of those things you're like, man, I can't wait to get back down here, but look how long it's been. I still haven't been, but it's one of those things, I'm gonna make it back down there again I wish you would come during baseball season.

Joy: 24:51

we, we, we play from march to may and hopefully late into may, and you're welcome to come and we play good baseball down here. We'd love to have you.

Johnny Mac: 25:00

Oh man, that'd be awesome. Thank you for the invite.

Joy: 25:03

Johnny, thanks for joining me on the podcast. I look forward to watching this tournament, seeing you and listening to you on TV. Tell all the animals that we got a southernmost fan club down here in Key West Go Noles.

Johnny Mac: 25:18

Go Knolls, Joey, thanks for having me on man, I really enjoyed this. Like I say anytime I get to talk about Florida State baseball and the animals, man, it just helps get our name out there and just helps show us the appreciation that we have for Florida State and Florida State baseball.

Joy: 25:30

Absolutely. You're a great ambassador for the game. Thank you, johnny. Have a good night. Yeah, thank you, you have a great night too. Okay, I'm joy newlish and I appreciate you tuning into my podcast. My purpose is to bring joy into my life and the lives of others. If you enjoyed this episode, drop a review, share and subscribe, because there's a lot of good stuff on tap. You can also follow bring joy on youtube and instagram, or check my website at joynewlishcom. Now go bring joy to the people in your world. Until next time, much love.