Georgia vs. Florida: Reckoning with a very COVID Cocktail Party
In my 20-plus years of making late October/early November pilgrimages to Jacksonville to see a college football game, I’ve seen some strange Cocktail Parties.
I’ve seen Rex Grossman, playing with a sprained knee, take a 4-3 Florida team and throw for 339 yards to beat a top 5 Georgia team in 2002.
I’ve seen Urban Meyer and his offensive coordinator, some guy named Dan Mullen, tweak their offense in a bye week to get just enough out of a young Chris Leak to beat another top 5 Georgia team in 2005.
I’ve seen a whole football team in red and black go full flash mob in an end zone after scoring a first-quarter touchdown.
As you’d expect from a game named for its tailgating parties, the zaniness begins away from the football field.
I’ve been invited to eat game day brunch with Georgia coeds in cocktail dresses beneath elaborate party tents equipped with candelabras and served on what looked like wedding china. I’ve seen a Gators fan with a makeshift tiki bar serving bloody marys to any Georgia fan willing to bark like a dog on video. I’ve seen a young police officer peer over a struggling fan on the ground and after dutifully calling for help, announce loudly that she’s “going to chalk this one up to alcohol.” I’ve seen a jort-clad Gators fan with a foghorn hurl profanities while standing in the bed of a moving pickup truck. I’ve seen a Georgia fan walk a live alligator on a leash. And regrettably, I’ve seen couples regardless of collegiate allegiance disappear to talk big business together in a solitary port-a-potty.
I wrote about my late Uncle Chuck last year, and how he made the Cocktail Party his masterpiece. I’ve seen him offer a handkerchief to Georgia coeds so distraught over defeat their mascara was running from thick tears.
I’ve seen more than my fair share of wack-a-doodle fans on both sides in tailgate lots before games over the years, but I’ll never forget one boisterous Georgia fan who approached me and my Uncle Chuck before the 2008 game. He wore red pants with black suspenders and was making animal noises and when he reached Uncle Chuck, he leaned in close and made a sniffing sound.
“Just as I suspected,” the man sneered, as Uncle Chuck smiled. “Mothballs.”
We laughed and laughed and quickly offered the man a bourbon, because if there was one thing he seemed to need, it was another drink.
Somewhere, as you read this, some Georgia fan had a similar interaction with a well-lubricated Gator.
The Georgia-Florida game (it’s rightfully called Georgia-Florida or Florida-Georgia depending on who won the prior year, and no other explanation is correct or fair) is often weird.
It’s so weird a Florida punter once kicked a game-winning field goal. It’s so weird that Georgia forced 6 turnovers in 2012 but didn’t seal the game until Florida’s All-American tight end, Jordan Reed, fumbled at the goal line late. Heck, this game is so weird that Treon Harris not only started this game twice but beat Georgia twice, including one game where he attempted only 6 passes (it turns out it’s easy to win when you have 418 yards rushing).
Strange things are often afoot on the banks of the St. John’s.
I’ve seen a Florida head coach who couldn’t wait to resign coach the game and get humiliated, 42-7. I’ve seen Florida blame wristbands for a slow start on offense. And lately, I’ve seen Georgia hire their version of Steve Spurrier, a guy in Kirby Smart who understands how meaningful this rivalry is because he played in it and more often than not, lost in it. He refuses to do that as a head coach.
Come to enough Cocktail Parties and eventually, you’ll about see it all.
This year’s socially-distanced, tailgate-free Cocktail Party may be, at least away from the football field, the strangest yet. Certainly this very COVID Cocktail Party will be the most surreal.
Is it really a Georgia-Florida game without the Cocktail Party? How strange will the whole thing feel with only 18,000 fans?
A morning Saturday stroll through the JAX Fairgrounds lot will probably feel eerie and apocalyptic without the usual flood of RVs, Dawgs and Gators flags, grills cooking burgers and green eggs smoking briskets.
A few events pressed on.
As they have for four decades, Jekyll Island Golf Club hosted a Georgia-Florida golf tournament this week. A Florida-Georgia classic redfish tournament held annually near Green Cove Springs will go forward Friday morning. But too many events, from the Hall of Fame Luncheon, the Bold City Bash to the opening of RV City have all been shut down this season, all sober reminders of a year full of absence and far too much loss.
Will that make losing the Cocktail Party even harder on the team that fails this season? It may.
Someone will lose, of course. When they do, they and the select few fans fortunate enough to see it in person will trudge out of TIAA Bank Field and march sadly toward their socially-distanced parked cars. They will feel the heaviness of the humid, river autumn air in their bones. The night sky will feel darker and the landscape grayer, a grim cocktail of 2020’s general sadness and the specific pain of crushing Cocktail Party defeat. The loss will linger, a melancholy malaise that feels a bit like the 2nd day of January.
Maybe that’s why, more than ever, it’s the football game itself that matters so much this season.
Everyone knows the game’s likely stakes. Yet again, a top-10 matchuip. For both teams, a trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game and with it, a shot at the College Football Playoff. For Georgia, the chance to beat the hated Gators for a fourth consecutive time, which would mark the longest Georgia winning streak since the Dawgs won 6 in a row under Vince Dooley from 1978-1983. For Florida and Mullen, a chance to show that while Georgia may win recruiting national championships, the Gators will be a consistent foil to the seemingly inevitable march to an eventual national championship for the Dawgs under Smart.
The Cocktail Party has always been about more than football. It’s a part of the fabric of plenty of well-lived lives, on either side of this heated, magnificent rivalry. It’s forged friendships and fueled plenty of memorable family moments. We won’t forget that stuff even if it’s socially-distanced and subdued this week. We’ll just remember the football game a little more.
Great piece Neil I’m laughing because it sure conjures up the, “most stupid things I’ve seen.”
I started going to the WLOCP in the late 70s and went yearly thru the 90s. Some of the craziest memories I have from UF games were in Jacksonville. Quit fighting the crowds years ago now, but I know exactly what Neil is writing about. Should be a great game Saturday if both teams play to their potential.
I find it crazy that on UGAs roster they have a 5 star at every position on offense but TE and their offense is this bad
Nvm they have a 5 star TE too
Really? New OC, new offense, no spring ball and a former Walk-on QB. It shouldn’t be that surprising.
I expected UGA to struggle but with all that talent there is no way they should struggle this bad. With 8 5 star players on offenses. You should put more than 14 points on an Avg UK team
Maybe. UK had two 7 minute drives and we threw 6 passes in the first half, 1 of them was intercepted. This was never going to be a high scoring game for us.
No it wasn’t but scoring on only two of eight possessions is not good.
Especially with all that talent.
I mean 8 five star offensive players and could only put 14 points on UK
We only needed four points to win.
Maybe UGA didn’t want to show too much of the offense.
Lol ok however you want to spin it
Lol recruiting is a pretty big part of coaching.
Or do you think Saban has won natties by the handful with a bunch of scrappy 3-stars?
Sorry, responded to wrong post.
What offense??? I guess Kirby been hidding his offense since he became a head coach??? The great ones dont curl up in a ball and barely squeak by teams!!! Kirby will never be one of the great ones IMO!!! HE DOES LESS WITH MORE THAN ANY COACH I KNOW OF!!! BUT I GUESS IF BEATING FLORIDA AND RECRUITING NC IS YOUR CLAIM TO FAME HE IS BY FAR DOING HIS JOB!!! CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER!!! YAY KIRBY!!! 1980 IS ALONG TIME AGO… GEORGIA CAN BE A HIGHLIGHT ON SPORTS SHOWS AFTER THIS YEAR ON THE “THIS DAY IN SPORTS 40 YEARS (4 whole decades) AGO SEGMENTS” Should be a hit!!! Hahaha!!! Wonder what the hit song was way back then… you know back when everyone thought there would be flying cars in the year 2000!!!
I feel like we are reliving 2019. UGA came into the cocktail party after dismal offensive performances and played the best game of the season against 3rd and Grantham. It just might happen again.
I went to the WLOCP for the first time a few years ago with my aunt and uncle and it was a complete blast. Tailgated early and met all kinds of fans for 4 hours before the game started. A lot were dressed up for Halloween. Bulldog fans were high fiving me and offering some amazing foods, saw a lot of Gator and Bulldog couples having fun while wearing different colors. I can’t imagine a college football experience being any better.
Kirby is no version of Spurrier, in any sense. Maybe he’s Georgia’s version of Muschamp or Zook.
Lol
He owns the Gators. That’s the comparison
Owning is a stretch there bub
So is comparing Kirby to Muschamp… bub
Really you don’t see the comparison? Okay, Bub.
Zook was 2-1 vs Georgia. Sounds pretty comparable. Like a Zook plus.
Zook’s best season was 8-5. You’re an idiot.
Well to be fair, I wouldn’t have said he’s any version of a gator coach. When he starts winning SEC and NC championships and revolutionizing the game/conference, then throw out the Spurrier comps, instead of coaching football from 10 years ago.
GOW, hard for them to let facts pierce their delusion bubble. Don’t you know coach bangs walks on water? He even sprints on the beach against kids. He’s the ultimate competitor!
I’ll agree with you GOW on he’s not Spurrier. If you read the article the comparison is that they both played in the game and lost as players but won as coaches. No one is saying he’s had the kind of impact on CFB that Spurrier had. But he is still young and has a lot of time left to improve on his already impressive young career.
My point was comparing him to Zook is asinine. Zook was a failed coach fired after his 3rd season.
Kirby has won the East three years in a row, first coach do to that since Spurrier.
I means it’s not super hard when you have by far more talent than any team you play
Recruiting is a pretty big part of coaching.
Or do you think Saban has won natties by the handful with a bunch of scrappy 3-stars?
Less with more.
Kirby has consistently beaten the Gators. So does that mean the gators do less with less?
Recruiting and coaching are too separate things. They are both part of a coaches job and both part of being a successful coach imo but the are not the same thing
“Recruiting and coaching are too separate things”
Recruiting is absolutely a part of coaching in college football. It’s why Saban is the GOAT in college but failed in the NFL.
14-10 win in 2005 for Florida was due to DJ Shockley spraining his knee vs Arky the week before. Joe Tershinski III was forced into service as back up Qb. UGA’s only TD that game came on throw back pass to JT3.
That was also the year Florida wore the strange orange/blue fade uniforms that looked like something out of the Arena league.
Jax Bulldog Club is having a tailgate-only (no parking) party in the WJCT parking lot this year. Assume that’s due to city owned lots forbidding large scale parties and requiring everyone in the vehicle to have a game ticket.
Should be a good game. It is the 2nd best rivalry in the SEC.
Ehhhh ties for first but I’m sure we’re both biased
I’m sorry but it does not tie for first man. Research viewer ratings/rankings between the two rivalries and you’ll understand why. The Iron Bowl is THE marquee rivalry of the SEC and always will be.
All I know is I pull for auburn every time. It really is the David and Goliath game right now.
It’s still a matter of opinion. Ratings and rankings don’t measure passion, importance, gameday experience, etc. They’re both awesome traditions. That’s good enough.
The word best is subjective so you can’t really get mad at ben when he says its a tie for first.
@UGA2012, I can’t say his comment made me mad. I responded to a comment with relevant advice. Far from an “I’m mad” rant.
As for the rest, agree to disagree. Maybe I’m biased but I also know that the Iron Bowl is often referred to as the greatest CFB rivalry of all time. I don’t recall the Cocktail Party being referred to anything more than the impromptu SEC East Championship. (and I mean this with respect, not trying to be derivative or condescending)