The World's Largest Outdoor Something or Other

It was the fall of 1970 that I attended my first Georgia-Florida football game. I was a freshman at UGA and the draw of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" was more than I could bear. My sister and her husband lived in Waycross, Georgia so I had a good spend-the-night point to simplify matters ... and she would certainly feed me also! I piled in the car with some new friends of mine that just happened to hail from Waycross and away we went.

I had never seen anything like it! There was a difference in the attitude of the fans at this stadium in Jacksonville ( a neutral site for those who don't know) versus the attitude at home games in Athens. Fans from both sides came here to raise a little "Cain", eat a lot of seafood, drink some adult beverages and watch a little SEC football. Combine this with the fact that everyone was away from home and you had the makings of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"! And that is exactly what it was! The stadium has been upgraded to meet the increased demand, but the old stadium was known to rock back and forth with the weight of the Bulldog and Gator nations engaged in a Saturday afternoon ritual of good old fashioned hate.



I remember coach Erk Russell's bleeding forehead as he butted heads with Georgia players. I remember seeing people as drunk as one could possibly be and yet still manage to get to the game. I remember the gentle banter between Georgia fans and Florida fans. Yeah, Right!!! I remember the many "beach music" parties throughout Amelia Island, Jekyll Island, Brunswick and St. Simons Island. I even remember Emmeline and Hessie's restaurant. I cannot even remember how many times I have made the trip.

During the Georgia-Florida weeks, I have eaten untold amounts of fried shrimp and fried scallops and oysters. There was no place on earth where more drunks gathered, many having camped-out in vans, busses and trailers for days before the game. And the city of Jacksonville understood and let the festivities take place unless they really got out of hand.

The Georgia-Florida game has been the source of many pleasant memories (which are better made by younger folks) and just the mention of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" causes me to smile even to this day.



But things have changed! For one thing, the students of today don't listen to "beach music"! The crowds today are much larger and the traffic ... my goodness the traffic! It took our group 3 hours to get from our St. Simons condo to the stadium. There are not nearly enough port-a-toilets and the atmosphere is not that of a "cocktail party" but rather that of a public lynching. Cocktail parties I have attended in my life were fun ... there was food and beverage with lots of conversation. I don't think that the word "fun" was mentioned my anyone in our group.

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy getting together with my old friends and staying in a condo or hotel for 3 nights and I certainly enjoy the seafood and the beverages (if you can find a toilet)! But the experience of going to the game itself has lost its lustre. Maybe I'm just too old to have that much fun! Several years ago my friend Tom Lanier started the custom of Thursday night seafood on the trip down and then Friday morning golf. I love all of that and the excitement that goes with all of the fans gathering in St. Simons and other places for the game. But the actual experience of the game itself should no longer be considered the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

The city of Jacksonville, the University of Georgia and the University of Florida have been heavily quoted in all of the media that they collectively wish to shed this moniker, "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"!

Mission accomplished. It should officially be called "The World's Largest Outdoor Something or Other"!