Hey guys. I hope you all are doing well, and lookin forward to this afternoon, at 3:30, in Jacksonville, for the pretty much annual, Gator chompin up on a dern Georgia Bulldog, sporting event.
I’ll try to have my post this morning just as impartial as I can make it. With that said, let me say this…GO GATORS!
Both teams are capable of winning their rivalry game today and personally, I never take this game lightly, no matter either team’s record. History shows us this literally has no bearing on the outcome.
Not only do the teams, their coaching staffs, and the student bodies dislike each other, but the fans do as well. Actually, the term “hate” may not be too strong in expressing each State’s feelings towards one another on this particular Saturday.
As for me, I just love Georgia, their fans, and even “kinda” like their football program 364 days outta the year. Today though, this sentiment gets tossed out the window! Again…Go Gators!
Man, it’s so hard discussing today’s game from an impartial perspective, but, there’s times in life you just gotta do what you gotta do!
Oh…
*How ya get a Georgia graduate off your porch?
Ya pay him for the pizza!
*How can ya normally tell a Georgia fan when ya see one?
They normally can [play the Georgia fight song with just their armpit!
*What does a Georgia fan do after his team has won a National Championship?
He turns off the PlayStation 3!
I LOVE this game! It brings out the best in me!
Both teams have had their heyday during this series, and the wins and losses kinda run in streaks.
For those who know of Vince Dooley, you all also know that he was…good night I hate to say this…a great coach. For those who don’t know who Vince Dooley is…ya should! He was a legendary football coach at the University of Georgia. He stayed there FAR too long to suit me!
To be honest, I’ve never…EVER…been so elated as when I heard the news that Vince Dooley…had retired! YES!!!
This man…OWNED the Gators. He was 15 out of 20 against Florida. Like I said…I was glad to see him go!
I watched for years those dern Bulldogs beatin up on Florida. There were times Florida would have the superior team, but somehow, someway those dad-gum Dogs would end up winnin the game. Under Dooley, as you’ve already seen, it was almost as if they just COULDN’T lose!
I watched in agony for three consecutive seasons over some feller named Herschel Walker ran roughshod over my Gators. He ran past, threw, over, and around anyone wearin Orange and blue.
The only time I ever saw him without any facial covering, I gotta tell ya…the man looked A LOT like Jim Brown…spittin image!
I wonder why that’s why Coach Dooley would NEVER let the man take off his helmet?? They’d get off the team bus wearin suits, walk into the stadium, and this “Walker” fellow always had a helmet on! Hmmm…
I know his stats against Florida were in fact, Jim Brown like!
I think his rushing stats those years were something like 238, 192 and 219! It was incredible. Then instead of playing his senior season, he opted to turn pro. This too, was another VERY happy time in my life!
The man ran for 649 yards in THREE games against the Gators, for an average yardage per game of, ya ready for this…over 216 yards per game??Bye-Bye Herschel! (Or was it really…Jim? Didn’t matter at that point…just so long as he WAS GONE!)
In Georgia football lore there’s something or other known to Georgia fans as… “The Play!”
Ya ever heard a such? “The Play?” What in the world was this… “The Play??”
Unfortunately, this too is but one other BAD memory in regards to this rivalry…at least in the hearts of Florida fans! Good night a livin, I’ll never forget it!
The year was 1980, #1 Georgia was undefeated and in the driver’s seat in the National title hunt. Georgia has the ball own their own 8 yard line, 3rd down, one timeout, a minute left…Florida HAS the game won, just hold the Dogs for two more plays.
Then the unthinkable…
That dern Buck Belue, Georgia’s quarterback, scrambles out of the pocket, under pressure, and throws a pass caught by Lindsay Scott at Georgia’s 25 yard line…the rest is history.
Larry Munson, Georgia’s play by play announcer for 42 years, was in the booth for the game, and as the play unfolded, his excitement over what was taking place on the field was quite evident racing across the radio airwaves.
What was to become “The Play” to Georgia fans turned into “The Nightmare” for Florida fans. 92 yards and a touchdown later, once again, “Dooley’s Dogs” had snatched a certain win away from Florida, on their way to the National title.
I can hear Munson now, screaming into the radio… “Run Lindsay Run!” Makes me wanta throw up! LOL!
His play by play during the games was so descriptive, that through the years there were Georgia fans who when the Bulldogs were playing on National TV, they’d mute their sets, and watch the game, but all the while listening to Larry Munson on the radio at the same time.
He called his final game on September 6, 2008.
Mr. Munson passed away, I believe, on November 20, 2011. Even the diehard Florida fan I am, I have to say, that when Mr. Munson passed, so did a piece of Georgia Bulldog history! He was a good un!
Here’s a video of “The Play.”
Years ago, I was a salesman for the Coors company. I had a stop at a liquor store near the Florida- Georgia line.
The owner of the store was, ya wanna venture a guess? Yep, a Georgia fan. He knew my loyalty lay with the Gators, and there sure were some heated exchanges between he and I. For those who don’t know much about the Fla-Ga. game…it IS INTENSE!
Anyway, that dern man had a recording of “The Play.” Every time I pulled up, that scoundrel would start loadin up the tape. By the time I hit the door…Larry Munson would be in rare form, “Caught by Scott on the 25…Lindsay Scott …Lindsay Scott…Lindsay Scott…RUN, LINDSAY RUN!!
I swear…he did this to me EVERY TIME I started in his door. Grinnin like a jackass in a briar patch the whole time! He…was in his environment!!
I…was nauseated!
But, that’s the way it was…the seventies and eighties Georgia was dominant in every sense of the word!
A Bama fan, a Florida fan and a Georgia fan were captured by Indians who informed this unfortunate trio that they’d be killed, and their skins would be used to make a canoe.
The Indians did though, grant these men a last request.
The Bama fan asked for a knife, said “Roll Tide,” then cut his throat.
The Florida fan grabs the knife, hollers, “Go Gators,” then cuts his throat as well!
At this point the Georgia fan asks for a fork, then starts stabbing hisself repeatedly with it and declaring, “You guys sure ain’t gonna be makin no dern canoe outta me, ha!”
Then “the Ole Ball Coach” came to Florida in 1990 and things changed…dramatically! His name…Steve Spurrier.
Coach Spurrier was 12-1 against Georgia. The tables were turned and I was in hog heaven! Life was good.
Spurrier even came up with a nickname for Georgia’s head coach who replaced Coach Dooley, Ray Goff. He became to Coach Spurrier AND the Florida fans as…Ray Goof.
Spurrier stepped down after the 2001 season, and Georgia fans must have felt the very same relief that I had felt when Coach Dooley retired.
A new day was dawnin.
We went through some lean years with Coach Zook, then Urban Meyer came to town, and things looked up once more. Florida won two National Championships under him.
Coach Meyer left us, and today we have Coach Muschamp. He lost to those those dern Dogs last year, but hopefully today, he and the Gator Nation get us a “little payback!” That’s what I’m talkin about!
Go Gators!
*What do you call a Georgia Bulldog in a BCS Bowl Game?
Ref
*Two Georgia buddies were attending a friend’s funeral service.
Steppin up to the casket during the viewin, one turns to the other and says, “Ya know, ole Billy Bob actually looks pretty dern good, don’t he?”
To which the other replies, “Well, HE SHOULD! He just got outta the hospital yesterday!”
*What do you call a female Georgia fan who takes birth control pills?
A Humanitarian!
*Hear bout the Georgia fan whose wife had just givin birth to twins?
Guy wanted to know who the other man was?
Well, I know where I’ll be bout 3:15 today…how bout ya’ll?
‘Scuse me just a sec…got a Georgia fan askin me a question. Dad-gum, the man’s askin why I told all the jokes with Georgia on the… “receiving end?”
Shoot, let me look back in the post, I didn’t realize I had. It sure wasn’t my intention, this bein impartial and all!
Yep, the guys right. The dern things were all told about Georgia. I must apologize to each and every Georgia fan oput there today. This surely wasn’t what I’d had in mind. Sorry!
Here, let me tell a couple in regards to the Gators.
Oh shoot, looks like I’m just not gonna have time for that today. Gotta get this post up just here directly.
Maybe next year! I promise! LOL!
Let me leave you guys today with another jab or two at them dern Dogs!
*Ya hear bout the Georgia athlete winnin the Gold Medal at the Olympics?
He was so proud of it…he had it bronzed!
*What’s 100 yards long and has 3 teeth?
The front row at a Georgia home game!
You guys have a GREAT day, and God Bless. Be sure and keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
GO GATORS!
Dub
I was sittin’ in the recliner covered in puppies with a brewski and a bag of chips…
Lost a lot of chips while hollerin’…
What a game!!!
Love ya buddy,
Gary