The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (Sorry, I'm un-reconstructed)has been played in Jacksonville for nigh on 70 years. In that time, the Bulldogs have put together some pretty fierce win streaks and ass whippings (including a 75-0 drubbing) on the Gators. It was barely a competitive series through the 60's and 70's - and no one complained about the game's location.
Cut to 1990. Spurrier revives his alma mater into a SEC killing machine. Along the way, the Gators stacked 11 wins against Georgia's 1. They recruited better, played harder and generally blew away most of their opponents. It wasn't the temperature, the travel, the accommodations or the outdoor stadium. None of these pathetic excuses can cover up the fact that Florida has become a better program. The trend survived Zook and has returned full force in Meyer. Neither Goff nor Donnan had the answer and now Richt has a losing record.
Moving the game will NOT solve the problems. We won in 2007 and nobody said anything. We get blown out in '08, and suddenly, it's an unfair game. Fuck that. Why don't we man up and try to be the better team for more than one season at a time. Did Spurrier take our dignity away, too? Dawgs shouldn't make excuses - we should play hard and leave it on the field; no matter where that field is. For, if we do that, the better team will win, and more often than not, that team will be us. Until we start living up to that potential, we need to stuff the excuses, Richt, strap on the helmets and go to work.
And, face it: The game's better in J'ville. It's outdoors, with the Landing and great tailgating. The fans are split and everyone has a good time. Moving it to ATL is an awful decision. Parking and tailgating sucks around the Dome and there's just no tradition there for this series. Period. If we win 7 in a row, then maybe we can start demanding change...but, my guess is we won't care then, will we?
Anyway, as Doc Saturday says, you can't have an outdoor party in a dome.
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UPDATE: By the way, I know there are those of you out there - some that even contribute to this blog - who disagree. Feel free to throw in your two cents either by posting or in the comments and let's get a real dia-blog going! I'm looking at you, H.Weezy...
This post was right on the mark. It's something I had to defend to people at work. I told them that changing the location would do nothing but make us look like children on the subject. However, I didn't have the foresight to point out that we weren't complaining in the 60s and 70s; that, my friend, is genius.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I've been drug into this one a few times myself. ATL is just a shitty locale vs. the Jax. experience.
ReplyDeleteGood point all around. Plus, Orson's faux-nterview with Richt was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteOk fine, yes the GA Dome would suck. It is just a totally different experience than Jax. I say just move it home and away. Each campus every other year. We may need to add some extra police force but thats ok. The purists are really correct I believe, I just want an edge back. And ponder this...why does the state of Florida get to reap most of the benefits from this series? I don't want a 3 year at Alltel and 1 year at GA dome, that would be worthless. If I had my druthers, I want the Gators "tween the hedges" and the Dawgs "in the swamp". Maybe unsuitable for some, but tell me, you wouldn't lose your mind yelling at the Gators in Athens? I know I would.
ReplyDeleteNice try, but going hone-and-home would cost each school a little over $1.5 million a season.
ReplyDeleteCheck it: Both schools get about $3.7 million a season now. Inter-conference home games reap about $2 million for the home team.
Now, the idea of Athens and Gainesville's local economies benefitting cannot be denied, but nobody worried about the "local economies" when we were winning. To hide behind that now is disingenuous, and frankly, shallow.
Keep the tradition alive!
source:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college_uf/2009/05/gators-brass-keeping-floridageorgia-game-in-jax-makes-financial-sense.html
Bitch.
Well I guess I've been owned. The tradition is what it is and I certainly go Dawgs every chance that I get. I really am fine with it staying in Jax, I just would enjoy it much more personally as a home at home series. I'm not complaining about being dominated since Spurrier took over and we certainly can win there, it is only for selfish reasons that I would want to move it to the campuses. Just so Gator fans could feel some sort of intimidation outside of their state.
ReplyDeleteYou've definitely got your shit together on this post. JOAJ. LAWYERED! I just wanted to say that.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, it makes sense why it might not be financially feasible to just shift it every year.
I remember how awful/awesome it was to have GA Tech fans gloating in AllGood last year, and I don't know if I could handle the FL crew.
The problem is that Florida just has a better program now. Nothing much a different stadium will do about that.
Too many people who were present for the on campus '95 debacle say that it's the worst experience of their sports lives; I don't want to see that repeated. But, God, could you imagine what it would be like to see Gators fans in downtown ATH if we WON?!?!
ReplyDelete