Miami has lost two consecutive games after storming out of the gates undefeated in coach Mark Richt’s first season at the helm. At the end of The U’s first loss, to Florida State, the cameras found Mackenzie Mayhew in the crowd. Her emotions summed up what quite a few Canes fans were feeling.
Meet ‘South Beach Sansa,’ the Miami fan who was sad on ESPN 2 weeks in a row
Her name is Mackenzie Mayhew, and she loves her Canes.
She’s a junior neuroscience major from Lakeland, Fla., and she plans on going to medical school to become a neurosurgeon.
“I was just like ‘wow.’ I really thought that we were gonna win this year, and then when we scored [making the game 20-19], I figured we could go to overtime,” Mayhew told SB Nation. “But then we missed the point after.“
During Miami’s loss to UNC on Saturday, the cameras found her again, a look of similar forlorn etched on her face.
It’s not just the second time she’s been spotted on camera at a Miami game.
It’s not even the third or the fourth. It turns out Mayhew found her way on screen in every Miami home game last season.
She’s made it on camera at a UM basketball game, as well.
But when we set that Vine above to Game of Thrones music, a meme was born.
FSU fans dubbed her #SouthBeachSansa because of her striking resemblance to Sansa Stark, a character from the popular HBO show (Mayhew says she sees it a little bit).
She first saw our Vine when her friends at Florida State began retweeting it last weekend. Mayhew says she doesn’t watch the show, but a friend showed her some pictures of the character, so she could get in on the joke.
She’s an RA at UM, and her floor full of freshman girls now call her “Mackenzie the meme.” She hasn’t been spotted on campus yet by strangers, but she thinks she will be after this.
Oddly enough, she didn’t grow up a Miami fan
Mayhew grew up rooting for the Florida Gators. But as her senior year of high school wound down, she traded in the orange and blue for orange and green. Her intro to the Canes was the Al Golden era.
“I was not an Al Golden fan,” she said. “I’m really glad that we have Mark Richt. I think that we have a young team, so inevitably there’s room to grow. I like where the program is going, and I like Mark Richt and what he’s doing. I like that we’re trying to get an indoor practice facility. I think overall the team is headed in the right direction, but it might be awhile. … I have some patience, I’ll stick with em.”
She enjoys her screen time and whatever modicum of notoriety it brings, but she hopes that the next time the cameras find her she’ll be celebrating happy times for her Hurricanes.
“Hopefully that’s the end of sad Sansa.”
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