For those of you, like me, who feel the folks in South Georgia are somewhat taken for granted in the “move the Cocktail Party from Jacksonville now!” conversation, here’s an impassioned take from the editor of The Clinch County News to fill in the gap.
Money plea:
The game is also an economic godsend to South Georgia and the Golden Isles. Pulling the game from Jacksonville would be financially disastrous for those areas of South Georgia. It’s South Georgia’s home game. Don’t take that away from us.
Read it all. If you’ve got a rebuttal more nuanced than “tough shit”, feel free to share in the comments.
Get The Picture 
What about the fans and businesses in Dalton? Don’t they deserve to have the GA-UT game played near them for all the same reasons? And Georgia used to play Auburn in Columbus—don’t the folks in SW GA deserve a game there too? The reality is you can’t build a stadium across the street from everyone’s house. Homerville is more than 100 miles from Jacksonville and I don’t think anyone is spending the night in motels there on the way to the game. What we really are talking about is convenience. It is 230 miles from Homerville to Athens. Sorry Mr. Editor. If the University of Georgia HC says he wants the premier Georgia rivalry game to be played in Athens every two years for recruiting reasons, rather than 60 miles away from FU’s campus every year, I side with the Georgia HC.
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I think this qualifies as “tough shit”. 😉
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Every one of the people you’re talking to — those hardy, stoic tillers of the soil and their spawn/descendants upon whose behalf you’re arguing — have employed “tough shit” as the default response to any argument they’ve ever encountered, about anything, their whole lives. About football and anything else you care to mention. I don’t understand why “tough shit” is an off-limits answer now.
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Go back to wherever you came from and eat some oatmeal you damn yankee troll.
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The 30577 in my name is the ZIP Code (look it up) for my town of birth and raising, I’m a second-generation UGA grad, and I hold two degrees from the place. Shove some oatmeal up your ass and then come back with a stronger argument.
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Ehh. I doubt it.
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I’m sure you do. I’m sure you doubt a lot of objectively factual things. Do us both a favor and let’s just not interact again here. I’ll ignore your bullshit if you ignore mine. Deal?
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First I’m going to need some examples of those “tough shit” responses which you say are the only ones South Georgia people are capable of making. You’ve been called out. Back it up. Enlighten us.
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“Build the wall!” vs. “OMG, I’ll never get my God Damn onions in if you actually implement that shit!”
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So you recently had a dispute with an Trump supporting onion farmer? Well, that’s pretty much all we have down here. Touché, you ignorant snob.
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Isn’t there a machine that harvests onions now?
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What is the reason for the negative reference to oatmeal?
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Oatmeal is delightful, but it is yankee food. Just fighting ignorance with a little ignorance over here. Want to piss off a yankee living down south pretending to be southern while simultaneously looking down his nose at southern people? Tell him to go eat some oatmeal. Works every time.
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I was born in Alabama and raised in Georgia. I have eaten oatmeal all of my life, and even drink, at times, oatmeal stout. In my 65 years on earth, living in the South, I never have been told oatmeal is “Yankee food” until I learned that today.
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Yeah I think someone is getting oatmeal confused with cream of wheat.
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Bingo. Nothing wrong with oatmeal. Son of the south and have eaten it all my life. Cream of wheat on the other hand shall never pass my lips.
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I’m not a fan of any breakfast carb, including grits.(Yeah, I said it.) But following Gaskill’s irrefutable logic, oatmeal is the first loser. I can’t see Cream-of -Wheat beer being a big hit.
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I wonder as well…I thought Yankees eat Cream of Wheat.
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This points out how absurd the non-traditionalists have become. Another description could be “dumber and dumber”. Following yesterday’s silliness, this swing and a miss closes the door for me on the subject. I guess if you cannot articulate a meaningful point you resort to this level of retort. Sorry Mayor, in several years of bantering back and forth on the WLOOCP debate, you never scored a point; but at least you didn’t get too far out in the weeds like this.
It was always just your opinion for whatever reason, and that is fine. I realize it was impossible to find solid ground to support your viewpoint against a dead-level neutral game, but don’t drop to this level of babbling. None of our opinions here will change the outcome, I feel rational thought will prevail and the game remains where it is the rest of my years. Mac out.
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You want rational thought? Every other year Georgia only gets 3 SEC home games because of the Florida game being played in Jacksonville. Overall, the Dawgs win over 80% of their games in Sanford and are undefeated there the last two years. Why wouldn’t any rational person choose to play as many games at Sanford Stadium as possible? It gives the Dawgs a better chance to win. Plus, Sanford Stadium seats 92,000 whereas JAX only seats 74,000. More Georgia fans get to see the Dawgs play FU home and home over a two year period than in JAX over a two year period. But you have no real arguments on your side so you just degenerate to name calling and personal attacks like you always do about this issue. Until you have something intelligent to say on this subject it would be wiser for you to just STFU instead of making yourself look like an idiot over and over again.
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I hate to interrupt a good rant, but for the Super Bowl, Florida–Georgia game, and occasionally the Gator Bowl, temporary bleachers are put up in the south end zone and the tarps are removed at TIAA Bank Field, raising capacity to over 84,000.
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Senator, I was enjoying the asshole-on-asshole rhetorical violence until you stepped in. Please recuse yourself and let them settle this like men.
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Weak sauce Senator. Last time I checked 92,000 was more than 84,000. No? It’s just a question of how many fewer UGA fans get to see their team play Florida if the game stays in Jacksonville.
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How many Georgia fans would get to see the game in Gainesville?
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More than if the game is played in Jacksonville since the Swamp seats about the same as Sanford Stadium.
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Wut
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This comments section is proving your point quite well, Senator.
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When UGA game is a UF home game UGA will get visitor’s allotment rather than half the stadium. I do not understand how UGA gets more tickets to Ben Hill than to TIAA Bank
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It’s an approximate wash. In Jax, we get half of about 84,000 every year. If it is home and home, we get most of 92k one year, then very few of whatever the swamp holds the next. Perhaps that math works out to slightly more Georgia fans being present over a two year period?
Either way, it’s a mere straw man as far as legitimate arguments to move the game out of Jax.
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Your analysis on the numbers of Georgia fans seeing the game being more over a two year period is correct. I thought that is what I was saying although I don’t understand why it has been so hard for some in this thread to understand that. My question to you is why do you think that is a straw man argument? No snark here—I really want to understand your thinking on this.
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Mayor, you did express a rational argument in favor of home and home.
How about odd numbered years. What percentage of its home games does UF win? How does playing in the Swamp disadvantage us half the time? Do we have a better chance of being 2-0 over a 2 year period in Jacksonville than we would playing home and home?
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Excellent question. FU has a high winning percentage in the Swamp. Statistically you would think that over a two year period the teams would go 1-1 over two years playing home and home. Of course since 1989 UGA is something like 8-21 against FU in Jacksonville.
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Since 1989, UGA is 0-2 in games played outside of Jax.
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Touché! 😉
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3-18 is what you’re really talking about there. Those were dark times…. but Spurrier and Meyer would have beaten our asses no matter where those games were played.
By the way, since then we’re 5-3 in Jax.
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Yep, Florida had ~15 years of relevancy in the 90’s and mid 00’s. Since then, they’ve returned to their historical mediocrity. Kirby is here to make sure that continues. Nothing about Jax changes that and the series record shows it.
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Just spent the weekend in Amelia and took a day trip down A1A to Jax Beach and through the outskirts of Jacksonville. That part of Florida is as heavily inundated with Georgia stuff as it has been in a long time. I think the effect we have on “marking our territory”, so to speak, by winning more than we lose in Jacksonville, more than makes up for one recruiting weekend a year. Lots of recruits down there who aren’t enveloped with Gators only but probably would be if the game went to home and home.
If the schools would just agree to allow official recruits (the league office would follow suit), all of this posturing is nullified. If I had to read the tea leaves, Kirby is setting the stage for the next contract to get the city of Jacksonville to cover the added costs of hosting official visits down there as opposed to in Athens.
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We South Ga peasants matter not. This is too far from Atlanta. We speak with those detestable Southern accents and do things like hunt and fish. We are the untouchables.
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For such a proud bunch, South Georgians sure love to feel sorry for themselves!
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A snowflake in a place where it never snows. How fitting.
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The retort that makes the most sense, if they’re gonna go economic impact, is the economic impact on Athens businesses from have one less home game than they should, and on season ticket holders on having one less home game than we should, and the added cost for season ticket holders that some of us can’t incur to pay for the extra tickets that should be part of our package every other year, pay for the hiked-up prices for lodging by these poor South Georgians and Golden Isle-rs.
It’s the same argument, turned around. It’s not tough shit, it’s valid. They have a valid argument, but so do we. What trumps it for me is Kirby. As someone mentioned yesterday, it’s so The Georgia Way to demand results with one arm tied behind his back and then giving him what he wants. Let’s try giving him what he wants and seeing what results he can produce. If the outcome is a national title or two, I have no problem sacrificing Jacksonville. If anyone disagrees, well, you should never bitch about not winning a national title again.
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LMAO. Ever seen what Athens hotels charge for game day rates?
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BINGO, Senator!
We South Georgians are living the debate. Jax is a day trip for us (if we want it to be). Corch and the North Georgians, Athens is a day trip.
What trumps all is our South Georgia Coach. I’ll acquiesce to home and home if Kirby demands it.
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Ding Ding Ding
Both sides have valid arguments. The biggest issue to me is giving up one huge home game every other year and the recruiting opportunities that go with it. And winning titles. I understand tradition and I don’t want it scrapped on a whim, but the S Georgia/Athens is too far away excuse doesn’t work. I think Kirby is from S GA and he understands tradition but he wants kids on campus one more big game.
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Yes, except the distance from Bainbridge and Sowega is equidistance from Athens and J’ville. We are not referencing all of South Ga here, rather Southeast Ga and particularly Savannah.
You always know when Bluto is invested emotionally by the strength of his argument going up two octaves in sound bites. All of this painful talk of not having the WLOCP with your Ga/Fu football game is to divert attention from what Kirby is stating. Stirring up everyone emotionally tends to keep the discussion away from the words Kirby has uttered.
Kirby is looking for mo bettuh ‘cruitin’ because that’s what he was hired for and has experience and vision of how he wants to get there. We either try to accommodate him or dismiss it as too painful a path to follow. While I don’t blame Kirby for wanting more recruiting events in Athens, I also feel those posters who disagree with the path taken to achieve his goals when it comes to cutting a cord of tradition.
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I’m paraphrasing Curt Schilling here, but I thought “Unique” and “Tradition” were stripper names.
At the end of the day, all it boils down to is half of the Georgia fans want to preserve tradition and the Georgia Way even if it means the coach isn’t able to maximize his every effort to bring in the kind of players that we need to win a title. We hire Kirby Smart to tell us what we need to do to win titles, he tells us, and then they throw a fit, or think he’s lying to negotiate with the city of Jacksonville (because that is something he’d lower himself to do, I guess).
You either listen to Kirby, who’s telling you what he needs or you remain selfish for a tradition that’s outlived it’s usefulness. For crying out loud, if the Iron Bowl can leave Birmingham, Georgia-Florida can leave Jacksonville.
I don’t want to hear ANYONE here in favor of keeping the game where it is complain about not winning a national title as long as this game remains in Jacksonville. You’ve cast your lot. Your three day vacation where you get to pretend you’re in your twenties again is more important than what the coach is telling you he needs to maximize our capabilities. Shine off all the flowery bullshit, and that’s exactly what “the remainers” are saying.
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I don’t say this lightly, but you can GFY with that nonsense.
And if you don’t want to hear it, maybe you should find another blog to read.
BTW, genius, Georgia’s managed to win a national title and play in Jacksonville.
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I can tell I touched a nerve, so I don’t take offense, but if everyone who wants to keep the game in Jacksonville is honest, that’s what all the arguments boil down to, Senator.
The coach is telling you what he needs to succeed. You and the others are saying no, that’s a bridge too far, because you want to preserve your three day beach vacation. It has nothing to do with anything else but that.
I may not be willing to shoot myself in the thigh to help Georgia win a ring, but moving Georgia-Florida to home and home, as someone who’s been to a couple of Cocktail Parties? If that’s what Kirby says he needs, then move it. Are my feelings impacted by the fact that I saw two lopsided losses and found the overall experience to be highly overrated? Perhaps. But our coach who we hired to win a national title has told us what he needs. You either take him at his word and agree or refuse, or you don’t take him at his word. Of those three choices, I take him at his word because he’s not a bullshitter, and I agree, because winning a title means more to me than keeping this game in Jacksonville.
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You take positions based on personal preference while arguing that you are the only voice of truth and reason. It’s obnoxious.
I don’t have a problem in the world with you wanting to move the game, just the way you present your argument.
Kirby came within a hair of winning a natty two seasons ago. You blaming that on Jax?
As far as Kirby not being a bullshitter, try again. Everybody bullshits now and then when it suits their purpose.
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It’s not personal, not for me, not really. Before Kirby stated he wants the game moved and why, I’d spent the last two decades arguing both for and against keeping the game in Jacksonville. However, now that Kirby is definitively telling us what he needs to squeeze every drop out of being able to recruit the kind of players he needs to win a title, I’m coming down 100% on moving to home and home. Why? Because this is what we hired Kirby to do. If we hired him to win titles, and he’s telling us what he needs to win titles, why are we arguing about it? Seriously. Think about it. Saban could host recruits to the Iron Bowl. Maybe Kirby was able to get guys like Mount Cody to sign with Bama specifically BECAUSE of that trip. I’m sure they signed a lot of difference makers because that trip to that game sealed the deal in their minds. THAT is what Kirby is missing here. What if we had been able to sign an amazing freshman safety because of the amazing atmosphere for GA-FL in Athens in 2016 even in a loss, and then that safety took Dominick Sanders’s spot before the end of the year, and he doesn’t get easily looked in the wrong direction on 2nd and 26? We are on the razor’s edge between us and Bama right now where literally one or two players can make all the difference in the world.
Your coach is telling you moving this game will help him get those one or two players that make a difference, and still there are people who say, “No, we prefer our beach vacation.” Senator, who’s making this argument personal while trying to pass off other reasons as to why they’re right? It’s not me.
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You have this bass-ackwards.
Of course this is an argument about personal preference. I have no problem with that.
You’re the one who’s trying to argue you’re taking a position above that and the rest of us are somehow diminished by not swallowing your wisdom wholeheartedly.
You make this sound like it’s an absolute choice between going to the beach and a guarantee that Kirby’s recruiting will improve. There are no guarantees in life, even if you argue in all caps. The idea that we can equate leaving Jax with a natty is a wish, not a fact.
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exactly, well said Senator. Frankly I think Kirby’s public stance is more about posturing for more money from Jax on the next contract and/or the ability to bring recruits to Jax. I don’t totally buy that he really wants the game to move to home and home.
For me personally, I see moving the game to home and home as just another move away from what makes college football so special: the traditions and rivalries. Change is inevitable, I get it. But dumping a tradition like the World’s Outdoor Cocktail Party because the coach wants an extra game every other year for recruiting? When we’re already recruiting at levels we’ve never seen before? Sorry, I just have a hard time buying it.
This isn’t just a “3-day beach weekend” for many/most of the UGA fans who go. It’s way more than that.
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We did have a 5 star recruit playing safety as a freshman in 2017 recruited after the 2016 season. He was the number 2 ranked safety in the country according to 247. He was unable to beat out the senior guy who is tied as the all-time interception leader in Georgia history.
You may wish to utilize a different “what if” next time you argue the point.
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Don’t let facts get in the way of a good screed, Gaskill.
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It was a what if. Not a was.
The point being, again, is that your coach is telling you what he needs to win a national title. You and others would rather not sacrifice this neutral site game to give him the weekend he needs to recruit players and families at the biggest game of the year.
Boil down all the arguments, and that’s what we’re left with here. Kirby says he wants the game in Athens, that the recruiting weekend he would gain would make the difference in getting more players to help us win a title. Half the fans say no, they don’t believe him when he says this recruiting weekend would make a difference, they’d rather keep the game in Jacksonville. That’s it.
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Jeez Senator, isn’t that a bit harsh? The guy is saying his opinion and it is one that is shared by many. You usually respond with logical arguments. As Spock would say, that’s not logical.
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If you didn’t read it before, Mayor, read my 10:27 comment.
To answer your question, no, it ain’t.
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As someone who doesn’t want the game to move for reasons of tradition, here’s a rebuttal.
Recruiting: We have no idea how it would impact recruiting if it went home and home, so the claim that because Smart has recruited well he couldn’t recruit better is dubious at best.
Financial: Where is he getting the $1.5 million figure? The only number I can find states that the two schools currently generate $3.3 million in profit from the game. I suspect a big home game generates more, but I can’t find anything that shows the profit of, say, a Georgia-Auburn game in Athens. If there is a definitive breakdown somewhere, then link to it, because I don’t trust that you (the original author) aren’t misrepresenting something otherwise. Beyond that, I don’t really care about the impact in south Georgia or Jacksonville. If you want to go down that road, then you could argue the game should be moved to an economically depressed part of Georgia or Florida to spark economic growth.
Personal: The problem with making a personal plea about what the game being in Jacksonville means to you is that it’s entirely subjective. What if some guy’s brother was beaten to death by Florida fans, and he can’t stand to be in the place? He’d love to watch a Georgia-Florida game, but the game’s location prevents that. Or in a less extreme example, maybe some guy simply lives within a couple of hours of Athens and could watch the game every other year if it was there, but he can’t take the time off to travel down to Jacksonville or doesn’t earn enough to pay for it. Should we just tell that guy, “Tough shit?”
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That’s essentially Mayor’s argument, too.
The difference is that nobody’s arguing to take another game out of Athens and move it somewhere new. The argument is not to take a game away from a venue that’s hosted it since 1933. It’s an apples and oranges argument.
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My point was that it’s as relevant to argue that the game should be moved to an economically depressed area, not that anyone is actually making that argument. I think the game should remain where it is, but if I didn’t, the surrounding communities benefiting financially from the location is a weak argument. It’s akin to arguing a factory should remain open to provide a community with jobs whether it’s benefiting a company or not.
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It’s not relevant, though — at least as long as there’s no stadium and infrastructure already in existence to support the game.
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Toomsboro, Georgia is an economically depressed area, but there is no stadium in Toomsboro in which for us to play. The Wilkinson County Development Authority cannot afford to build an 84,000 seat stadium and the infrastructure necessary for the construction, then fan and team ingress and egress.
There are only a few places with a stadium big enough to accommodate the game. So, there are no alternative “economically depressed area[s]” to move the game to.
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And what is YOUR argument, Senator? Because you and some South Georgia gentry like it the way it is? The appeal to “1933” is just as honest an argument as “tough shit.” Why not make the argument honestly and see who wins? This is the only time I remember you making a “traditionalist” argument. Otherwise, you’re out there on the bleeding edge of player pay, letting them make money on their own likenesses, transfer rules, etc.
You and your friends just like it in Jacksonville. That’s the core argument. The rest of this shit constitutes a bouquet of fig leaves.
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What is my argument?
What, you haven’t been reading the blog for any period of time? I’ve spent the better part of 13 years explaining my position.
Maybe you don’t like my stance, but to characterize it as dishonest is consummate bullshit. Not to mention that the idea somebody is going to “win” this argument is laughable. B-M calls the shots; we’re just interested observers, regardless of which side of the debate we fall on.
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I haven’t been reading the blog for 13 years, but I’ve been here for a good long while. I didn’t characterize your argument as dishonest, but I think I summed it up honestly. You and your friends enjoy going down there for the long weekend, as generations of relatively well-off fans have done before, and the South Georgia UGA landed gentry considers it their birthright. Can you tell me where I’ve erred?
And you’re right about B-M calling the shots. No argument here.
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Maybe I misunderstood “Why not make the argument honestly and see who wins?”. If so, I apologize.
As for my arguments, here’s a few things I’ve put forward here on occasion:
— Essentially, it’s a long tailgating weekend and, as I recently posted, I value the social aspect of college football greatly.
— It’s one of college football’s most unique events and it’s stupid to toss an asset like that away in the hopes that Smart can perhaps squeeze another recruit out of the move. (That’s just the latest justification.)
— Given the sheer physical size of the state, I don’t dismiss what the Cocktail Party brings to south Georgia as snidely as you do.
— It financially benefits the school to play in Jacksonville.
— I tire of college football routinely crapping on legitimately traditional matters.
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Thank you, Senator. It’s about continued sociability among fans, “uniqueness”, the po-ass hardscrabble South Georgia boosters needing one bone a year, the financial benefit (even if it the net of it all just bolsters the already-bloated-beyond-any-ethical-boundary Reserve Fund that you routinely mock), and your love of traditional matters. I concede that the recruiting-disadvantage argument is horseshit.
Carry on. I’ll hang up and listen to you all.
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Why is uniqueness in air quotes? It’s not unique?
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Hell, everything’s “unique.” As is the Iron Bowl, the Egg Bowl, the Red River Shootout, various archaic laws of Alabama and Mississippi, and a lot of other things I could either care less about or outright disagree with. Today is “unique” from yesterday and the day before that, and it is “unique” from tomorrow. It’s not air quotes. It’s an acknowledgement of the fact that “unique” is not an argument for preservation of a damn thing. What other kinds of “unique” traditions would you argue for just on the strength of you and some smallish affinity group’s affection for this “unique-ness?”
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I hardly know where to begin with this. You and I just need to agree to disagree, I’m afraid.
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You’re right. Sometimes you just need to understand that you and your interlocutor are just too far apart. Peace.
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BTW, there’s plenty of stuff out there on the financial terms. From the AB-H, for example:
The game is in Jacksonville only because of the money.
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And if that’s the case, the game will remain in Jacksonville indefinitely. Here’s one time where money-grubbing actually helps keep a tradition.
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And you’re the one that routinely points out how much money we have in our Reserve Fund. We have so much money it’s obscene, according to you and many others (including me). So you’re either undermining your own argument or utilizing an argument you don’t believe in because you just like playing it down there. Which is it?
Senator, the fate of the Jax game may just be a rational blind spot for you. Better acknowledge that and preface each argument with a disclaimer that you cannot be rational about the subject, or drop it altogether.
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So, I’m not dishonest, just irrational.
I think B-M could certainly spend its cash flow more wisely than it does, but I’m not sure how that translates into turning down $2 million a year. Maybe you could give me a rational explanation for refusing to accept the money.
But since you’ve brought up the standard, perhaps you can explain the rational argument for moving the game. The weather? Travel? Florida isn’t Georgia?
Or maybe you can explain the rational argument for accepting home and home games with top opponents, or Kickoff Classic games against the likes of Virginia instead of playing every possible game you can in Athens.
We’re all fans, ‘fer Crissakes. The idea that there is some factual basis for or against playing the Cocktail Party game in Jax is ludicrous. Unless you’re B-M, that is.
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Well, if that’s an acknowledgment that we’re not arguing factually, then I guess this is where our minds might finally meet. I just don’t understand where we go from here. Arguing against the economic benefit to Athens?
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This is a fan blog, not an academic journal. I don’t understand why our personal preferences in this matter are to be dismissed.
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When the Senator talks about how the CFP is ripping the soul out of the sport we all love, this is the epitome of it. On one side you have people who say, “Don’t mess with an almost 100 year tradition.” On the other are those who say, “Your 100 year old tradition is the problem. I want titles.”
As someone who would benefit from the game going to campus as a season ticket holder who doesn’t go to Jacksonville, I side with the tradition because there is recruiting value associated with Jacksonville. I also don’t want us to turn tail and run from the neutral site game like it’s 1996 and we’ve been beaten 47-7.
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1980, where are you? Please call home….
IMHO, college football as I know and love it is leaving town fast…
And get off my lawn with that damn rap music
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Maybe I didn’t understand your point about the UF game being a ticket that some current season ticket holders can’t afford, but if we go home and home UGA AA will charge us $95.00 more per season ticket package every other year to cover the UF game in Athens. We won’t get the UF ticket for free. I do not agree that you are currently suffering an economic loss from not having a UF in Athens ticket in your season ticket package since you have never paid for a ticket to UF in Athens (except 1995).
I agree that Athens businesses would make more from more home games. I draw a distinction between the Golden Isles economy, which depends upon that weekend and would lose money budgeted for and Athens businesses which have never budgeted for revenue from a game against UF in Athens.
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The Golden Isle economy…lol. They (looking at you St. Simon’s) are trying to desperately run off the tailgating crowd because they’re too rowdy and disruptive to the old money folks. Of course, they want you to leave your check at the bridge because your money’s still good, they just don’t want you. I have no sympathy for the south GA crowd (and I’m FROM Savannah), they’ve had it good for 100 years, move it.
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But, but….”Gator home game”….lost recruiting weekend….Spurrier….something something $3M something…
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For me it’s not so much moving the game itself but the loss of a that traditional October long weekend UGA beach party with the football game as the centerpiece. Going home and home will never replicate that. Shifting a game to Mercedes-Benz won’t replicate it. The WLOCP is what it is because of where it is and the 50-50 fan split and the singular thing that makes the Georgia-Florida rivalry unique and a national game. College football continues to sacrifice its soul at the expense of the bottom line. That lost recruiting weekend must be a very quantifiable thing to move it if it’s not a money thing. If I was a player, seems like the Cocktail Party would be something different that Kirby can use to his recruiting advantage.
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I like the idea of alternating between Jacksonville and the MB Dome in Atlanta. It remains a “neutral site” game, with each site being roughly equidistant to alternating schools each year.
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MBS is shit for the game. If the Cocktail Party moves, better home and home than Atlanta.
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Much nicer stadium that that dump down in Jacksonville. Much better environs, too. The expansive homeless encampment that is the half mile radius around the stadium in Jacksonville is not desirable for parking, tailgating, or even just driving through. The amenities at MBS are 1000x those in Jacksonville. And many regular fans prefer that to the trashy parking lot tailgates down in Duval county. Also, I take exception to the idea that the Golden Isles would somehow suffer. The islands are booked solid almost all year, and Georgia-Florida week/weekend does almost nothing for the bottom line of the islands’ economy. In fact, I’d imagine they’d much prefer there being LESS drunk college kids mobbing the beaches and triple bunking in hotels/rentals.
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Gosh, what a good point. I forgot how great the area around MBS is for that.
Sarcasm, in case you’re wondering…
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I’m able to intone sarcasm, thanks. My point is that the surrounding area and tailgating opportunities have been a cudgel for people to detract from hosting the game (any game, really) in Atlanta. In reality, the neighborhoods around MBS are nicer, safer and cleaner than anything near the river in Jacksonville. Not to mention the synergy that could be created with Spelman, Morehouse, Morris Brown and Clark Atlanta all within a few blocks. Add to that the plethora of hotels, Centennial Park, World of Coca Cola, College Football Hall of Fame, Georgia Aquarium, etc, and the fact that there is just as much parking possibilities nearby as in Jacksonville…..Atlanta and MBS are not “shit for the game” as you assert. I’m not advocating for the game to be moved or for it to stay where it is. But I will fight back against bad-faith arguments like Atlanta is not good for the game.
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I’m not making a bad faith argument. Jax has plenty of parking and tens of thousands tailgate every year without a problem. There simply isn’t the same amount of space available around MBS.
It’s a moot point, anyway, as the only way to make the numbers work here would be to jack up ticket prices to make up for the significant drop in seating. Also, I find it doubtful that Florida fans are ready to take a three-day vacation in Atlanta.
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This is a joke, right???
Sure, I can park in a parking deck in downtown Atlanta and walk to a restaurant or bar before going to the Benz, but I want to TAILGATE before the game, man! Wouldn’t even have to take my second driving glove off to count the number of tailgates (home or away) the past 30 years that would have topped even the worst WLOCP tailgate during that span…
“Tailgating”, such as it is, before our games in the Dome or the Benz have not been anything to write home about….
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I’ve lived on St. Simons for seven years. You may recall we attempted to clamp down on the underage drinking during GA/FL a few years back. That lasted exactly one year as local businesses howled about the lost revenue and bad publicity. Moving the game would cause massive wailing and gnashing of teeth. It may only be one week but that’s like saying Christmas is only one holiday. It’s a massive money making week I promise you. Residents try not to leave the house from Wednesday to Sunday.
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So we’d get the Cocktail Party in even years, and a pointless shitty neutral site game, in a terrible place for a pointless shitty neutral site game, in odd years? Sign me up!
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MBS looks great on TV though.
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Is anyone thinking of the south Georgia Boosters and their response to moving the game?
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Claim they’re victims and nobody loves them and they never get anything?
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As a 50 year fan, I’d like to go to Gainesville and kick the living S**T out of the gators AND witness their demise in Sanford. I can’t imagine a louder game than if they were to come to Athens again…revenge for ’95 and all. I also love CFB traditions and think they should be preserved, but don’t think JAX is all that accommodating to the UGA…YMMV on this.
I could live with, and would like to see, a rotation of Jax plus Home-and-Home just to mix up the tradition, but it’s not a hill worth dying on and I really don’t know what Kirby’s ultimate angle here is beyond the more obvious “money” and maybe recruiting.
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Kirby probably couldn’t give two shits about moving the game out of Jax. What they lose in a home recruiting weekend every two years, they gain in the national exposure for a “big unique rivalry game” that gets the 3:30 spot on CBS regardless of whether either team is even ranked.
He’s helping BM posture for the next negotiation with Jax.
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So much wrong to unpack here. Firstly, Kirby is not going to mention this multiple times to multiple media members if he didn’t care about it.
Secondly, the TV thing is the biggest bunch of b.s. ever. Firstly, there have been many times where the Cocktail Party wasn’t the 3:30 game. Even when one of the teams were ranked. Also, it’s Georgia-Florida. It’s the second biggest rivalry in the SEC regardless of where the game is played. If you think changing the location changes that fact, you’re just not very smart.
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Here’s my 2 cents. I go every year. No other Georgia game brings in 300,000 people for a stadium that only seats 84,000 with the added seats. It’s always a blast, even when we lose. I’ve yet to experience a tailgate experience that rivals that game.
But, the big argument I see from fans, and Kirby Smart, is that he’s losing a chance to host recruits. Fair enough. Let’s examine that. According to Rivals last 3 classes, which were Kirby’s first full 3 years to recruit, Georgia’s recruiting classes ranked 3rd in 2017, 1st in 2018, and 1st in 2019. What recruits are we losing that’s going to improve on those numbers? Is there a higher spot than number 1 someone failed to mention?
Now, for those who want a home and home, have y’all forgotten that the worse home loss in Georgia history came when Spurrier brought the Gators to Athens during the 2 years the Jacksonville Stadium was being renovated? Boy, that would’ve impressed the recruits.
We’re at no disadvantage in that stadium. The seats are split down the middle, and we own the record over Florida, despite losing all but 3 games in the 20 year span from 90-2010.
I love Georgia/Florida more than any game I attend every year. We aren’t losing any recruits. Look at the mass exodus in Gainesville. That’s panic time. We’re not there. Don’t take that tradition away. Go Dawgs!
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Once an ASS always an ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!
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To the tune of James River Blues by Old Crow Medicine Show (written in anticipation of the next poor decision by the masters of college football).
Broad River blues
I just heard the awful news
I could steer around the pain
But they’re blowin’ up the game
Broad River blues
That cash came on through
And all they want is mo’
Now where’s an old Dawg to go
I think I’ll float on down
To Athens town
They don’t need us anymore
Haulin’ fam from door to door
That big Mouse hauls much more
Than we ever could before
I seen good games going wrong
I’ve seen bad ones gettin’ lights
As that river rolls along
I’ll be steppin’ out tonight
On the cool flow
Floatin’ down, down below
The bridge to my Sanford’s edge
From the bridge to the hedge
From the tracks to the G
I’ll become a memory
Broad River blues
Broad River blues
Broad River blues
Selah.
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So, moving the Florida game is all we need to do, to start winning national championships? Sounds great! Let’s do it! But I want that guarantee in writing. And notarized.
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It’s a good thing that they don’t have to deal with Belue to “Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!” every year because the “property destroyed” would sink any insurance company.
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It seems to me the parents being able to have one game that they do not have to drive the extra 5+ hours to Athens would help our recruiting Florida kids.
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