The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party Head To Head Beyond The Football Field
In this School Spirit(s) Rivalry Edition, PubClub puts the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators a head-to-head competition that matches the culture of each team down to the mascots and legendary broadcaster calls to drinks for what is known as The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
By Kevin Wilkerson, Editor & Publisher, PubClub.com
A lot of rivalry games have nickhames. The Iron Bowl for Alabama-Auburn, the Red River Rivalry for Oklahoma-Texas Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State, the Cross-Town rivalry between USC and UCLA, The Game for Michigan-Ohio State, for example. But only one has a nickname based on the pre-game scene and that is Georgia-Florida.
That game is known as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail party” and it lives up to that name. PubClub.com dives into that name, the rivalry and the schools for this side-by-side comparison that has nothing to do with offense vs. defense but everything to do with the spirit(s), traditions and culture of this rivlary.
The teams have played since 1933 and dislike each other so much they can’t even agree on how many times the game has been played. Georgia lists 104 meetings (with the Bulldogs having 58-44-2 advantage) while Florida states 103 games (57-44-2 in favor of the Dawgs). The game in question was in 1904 but Florida says it doesn’t count because it did not officially sanction footballl until 1906. How’s that for a bitter rivlary!?
Note, while this rivalry is played annually in Jacksonville, FL, it will move to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta this year and to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa next year while the stadium in Jax undergoes a rennovation. Despite some wanting to make it a home-and-home series ‘tween the Hedges and in the Swamp, a contract extension has been signed that wlll keep it in Jacksonville through 2031.
Drink
• Georgia: The Cherry Bomb or Bourbon/Sweet Tea. Since UGA fans love their tailgate classics, a sweet tea bourbon mix or a vibrant red cherry-flavored shot hits the spot.
• Florida: The Gatorade Cocktail (The “Swamp Water”). Florida fans love mixing vodka or coconut rum with classic blue or green Gatorade—a literal nod to the sports drink invented right on campus in Gainesville.
• Winner: Florida. You can’t talk about a “Cocktail Party” without highlighting the school that practically weaponized a drink mixer for tailgates.
Winner: Florida
Tailgating Tradition
Georgia: Frat Beach (St. Simons Island). The massive, legendary beach party on the coast where thousands of Georgia students and alumni camp out and day-drink before heading to the game.
• Florida: RV City. The sprawling, temporary village of mega-RVs that pops up days before kickoff, transforming stadium parking lots into “condos on wheels” full of massive sound systems and open bars.
Winner: Florida. Sorry Dawg fans, but “destoying property” is not the proper way to act whether you win or lose.
Mascot
Mascot: Uga vs. Albert & Alberta. (Winner: Georgia)
Georgia: Uga. The line of purebred white English Bulldogs who get their own air-conditioned dog houses on the sidelines.
• Florida: Albert and Alberta. The adorable, dual-alligator mascot couple.
• Winner: Georgia. Uga is widely considered college football royalty.
Fight Song
Glory Hail To Georgia vs. Orange and Blue.
Florida has an awesome fight song; it just sounds like an old-school collegiate song. When I hear it, I can see cheerleaders in those long skirts jumping in the air kicking out their legs, the way they apparently did in the 1950s and 60s. Georgia’s well, doesn’t the University of Texas play the same thing? (Actually yes, in a way. Georgia’s “Glory, Glory” uses the melody associated with “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which is also the basis of Texas’s “The Eyes of Texas.”)
Winner: Florida
Cheer
Dog Bark vs. Chomp, Chomp
Really, fans barking like a dog? While Gator fans stretching out their arms and moving them up and down in clappjng fashion to simulate a gator’s jaw closing isn’t exactly steller, it sure beats barking.
Winner: Florida
Legendary Broadcaster’s Call
It’s Larry Munson’s “Run Lindsey Run” in 1980 vs. Mike Hubert’s “Oh My, Oh My, Oh My” in 2014.
Munson, an unashamed homer as the voice of Georgia radio, went nealy insane wit emotions when quarterback Buck Belue hit wide reciver Lindsay Scott over the miiddle on a forth-quater pass from deep into Bulldogs territory and turned it into an improvable 92-yard game-winning touchdown. He was so exited he broke the chair he was sitting in during the call: “Buck back, third down on the eight. In trouble, got a block behind him… Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott, Lindsay Scott!” “I broke my chair. A metal steel chair with about a five-inch cusion. I broke it. The booth came apart. Now they WILL have rennovate this place.”
Hubert, Florida’s long-time radio announcer, had his moment in the rivalry. The Gators came into that game unranked and a huge underdogs. Then Florida’s walk-on holder, Michael McNeeley, ran a fake field goal 21 yards for a game-tying touchdown and Hubert went absolutely bonkers on the air, screaming through a handful of his signature “Oh Mys!” Florida went on to shock Georgia 38-20.
Winner: Georgia. Munson’s call is one of the greatest ever in college football. I mean who breaks a chair broadcasting a play!?
School Nickname
Georgia’s is the Bulldog, which has more to do with Yale – yes, Yale – than anything in the state of Georgia. Florida’s is a gator and the Sunshine State is full of them. This category clearly goes to the Gators.
Winner: Florida
Kevin Wilkerson is the founder of PubClub.com, an award-winning journalist and nightlife expert who has covered destinations, events and nightlife for more than two decades. While working as a newspaper reporter at the Savannah News-Press, he received an Associated Press award for investigative journalism.
Next Stops On The School Spirit(s) Party Bus
• School Spirits Rivalry: Alabama-Tennessee
• School Spirits: The University of Alabama
• School Spirits: Texas A&M University
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