Sometimes, you just want to scream...

Yeah, there has been a lot of this going on lately. Apparently I'm either stupid, a puss, an Alice, or unable to support my argument that UGA should go home and home with Florida. Too bad, I was starting to feel better about myself.

Cocktail talk

I'm sure most of you have seen this, but if not, Kyle had a good post up regarding why he feels GA/FL should stay in Jax. I took the opportunity to voice my disagreement under UgaMatt.

Chin up Dawgs

Yeah, it blows to lose to Florida in yet another contest. But seriously, did anyone really expect Felton's bricklayers to pull off the upset. It's been a rough year, but let's keep perspective. Last year, the football team finished #2, the basketball team won the SEC tournament, the Gym Dogs won another national title, tennis won a national title, and the baseball team made it to the finals of College World Series and were looking to win it before a HORRIBLE called 3rd strike resulted in a rally-killing double play.

Florida's on a roll right now, but we were on one just a year ago. Ride out the storm, it won't last forever.

We just want what's most beneficial for Georgia...

I lifted this from a 1982 SI article I found this morning. The crux of my post is that in 1982, UF was looking for a way out of its annual game with Miami and essentially was being called vaginas for it:

But the insults that most enraged the Gators were cries of "Chicken!" from Miami fans. Florida has indicated that its quest for greatness calls for a review of its schedule. That schedule, which includes six opponents from the Southeastern Conference as well as the state's other big-time football school, Florida State, might not have a spot for independent and private Miami next season, or ever after. It's not that Florida's afraid of Miami, y'understand. Florida wants to play Miami, but it prefers to do what, say,Alabama has always done. That is, load up the non-conference part of the schedule with cream puffs. No, no, not cream puffs, say the Gators. We just want to do what's most beneficial for Florida. Which is why Miami is calling Florida chicken. The Florida game is the biggest by far for UM, while Florida's opinion of the Hurricanes, though no Gator official would be caught dead saying it publicly, is "Who needs these guys?"

Now of course, Miami turned this back around on UF, playing the tried-and-true
tradition card:

Before this year's game, Schnellenberger said, "It's inconceivable in a series like this, that's gone 44 years with a one-year interruption for a major war, that suddenly there's a scheduling problem."

To which UF countered with "we don't really give a damn what you think because YOU are not looking out for OUR best interests":

At which Pell snapped, "Howard has never discussed it with me, and I don't like anybody telling anybody else what I think 'cause I'm quite capable of doing that myself." After that retort, Pell deferred all questions on scheduling to Athletic Director Bill Garr, who said, "We traditionally have played six conference games plus two intrastate rivals, and in 48 years we've never won an SEC title. Now, we're doing something wrong, am I right?"

Now, here's where I find this analagous to UGA's program. At this point, with 20 years of evidence at our disposal, I'd argue that playing Flordia in Jax every year isn't working anymore. While it would disappoint the people that go down to Jax for a weeklong drunkfest, it is in the best interest of our program to go home and home. Naturally, Florida and the national media, will give us hell if this happens. But, as was the case with Florida playing Miami every year when it already had a tough enough schedule, it doesn't really matter what people outside the program think. Go home and home, beat Florida roughly 50% of the time, and win a national championship after beating Florida either at home or on the road, and NO ONE will give a damn about having left Jax.

Boomer Freaking Sooner!!

While I truly believe that Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer are running visor and hair gel with Steve Spurrier for the biggest asshole alive, their is no doubt who I'll be pulling for tonight. I'm hoping for a lot of Gator bitching and crying after the game. For anyone that's forgotten what that looks like, let me refresh your memory:

My open letter to Damon Evans

November 3, 2008



University of Georgia Athletic Association
Attn: Damon Evans, Director of Athletics
1 Selig Cir.
Athens, GA 30602


Re: UGA/Florida game in Jacksonville


Mr. Evans,

I wish to begin this by commending you on the outstanding job you have done since accepting the position of Athletic Director at the University of Georgia. From the athletic results, to the continued academic development of the student athletes, and also to the incredible financial success of the Athletic Association, there is no other athletic department in the country that should not be envious of yours.

The purpose of this letter is to state my vehement opposition to allowing the annual football game with Florida to remain in Jacksonville. It is my understanding that the University’s contractual obligation with the City of Jacksonville expires in 2010 and that currently negotiations have begun for extending the neutral site game into 2011 and beyond. As an alumnus and loyal Bulldog supporter (my family’s season tickets are Section 117, Row 49, Seats 1-4), I strongly believe that this is one tradition that has run its course and needs to end.

My opposition to the game remaining in Jacksonville is twofold. First, from a competitive perspective, Jacksonville is no longer a neutral site. I realize our historical success there. However, as I am sure you can attest to, the Florida Athletic Department of the 1980’s and before is gone and is not coming back. In the last 30 years, the state of Florida experienced a huge population boom, and incredible economic growth. This can be expected to continue given the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. They are now a university with over 50,000 students, great facilities, a good athletic director and coaches, and the largest instate talent base east of Texas. Playing their most hated conference rival 75 miles from their campus in a stadium formally known as the Gator Bowl is frankly an advantage Florida no longer needs.

I understand the importance of the game to the South Georgia fan base and am sympathetic to what the loss of this game would mean to them. However, a home and home series with Florida would open up scheduling flexibility. As witnessed by the Alabama-Clemson game to open the year, neutral site games are in vogue right now, so I see no reason why we could not maintain a yearly presence in Jacksonville, just not against our most important conference rival.

The second reason I believe the Jacksonville agreement should end is to prevent an inevitable disaster. In 1992, Lewis Grizzard wrote an article for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stating: “The universities of Georgia and Florida, both fine schools, need to make an immediate decision to move their annual football out of [Jacksonville’s] Gator Bowl before somebody gets killed.” He went on to add: “Jacksonville can’t handle this thing anymore. No city could….The taunting never stops. Some of it is fun, but most of it is not. This rivalry has become so intense, it’s primed for a riot.”

As I am sure you are aware, this rivalry has not mellowed with age. That was 16 years ago and rings even truer today. The behavior that takes place on both sides of the aisles in Jacksonville has a name in other parts of the world: hooliganism. Fortunately a European style soccer riot has not occurred in Jacksonville yet, but is there any reason to believe it could not?

I do not envy your position in making this decision. I have no doubt the backlash from breaking the Jacksonville tradition would be the most intense of your tenure. The Florida contingent and national media will criticize you harshly. They reacted similarly when Auburn refused to continue playing their annual game with Alabama an hour from Tuscaloosa 20 years ago. Considering that Auburn has a winning record versus the Tide since that decision, the media story has died down considerably.

I have no doubt that you will make the decision you feel is in the best interest of the program. For this supporter however, the right decision is perfectly clear.

Go Dawgs!!


Matt R.
B.B.A. Finance and Risk Management, 2004