If Kirby ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
News broke this week that Georgia will be allowed to provide tickets for recruits to attend the neutral-site game against Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., where the SEC rivalry has been played for all but two years since 1933. Kirby Smart noted that this option has been available for a decade, even if it has never been utilized by either program.
“We’ve always been able to do that,” Smart told reporters on Saturday following Georgia’s first scrimmage of fall camp. “You make an independent decision that each university can decide how they want to do their tickets. For the first time, we are able to allot tickets, which we do on every neutral site game. We do it with Clemson. We do it with Oregon. We do it all the time.
“Per NCAA rules we are not allowed to see them or talk to them,” Smart said. “We can’t do anything with them, so it’s really a moot point. They get to go, but what good does that do in terms of recruiting that you don’t get to spend time with them and host them? It doesn’t change the official visit they are on.”
Hardly surprising, but it does raise a question for me.
… Last month Smart told Tim Tebow on SEC Network he would prefer to play the game in Atlanta than in Jacksonville.
“I will tell you what, you tell Florida, you call the AD, ask him to come to Atlanta and come play us,” Smart said. “We will play in Atlanta as many times as you want. You will get your 50/50.”
If this is all about being able to host recruits, what difference does playing the game in Atlanta make?
Gee, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Kirby is full of shit about this.
Get The Picture 
The only thing that I can see is that recruits would be hosted in Athens and then bussed down to the Stadium.
But that requires a question: IF this were to occur, would they bus from Athens gameday or stay in Atlanta that Friday night?
If the latter, I agree it’s not ideal but more of the traditional travel challenges performed by UGA;
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By that logic, they could host them in Athens and fly them to Jax.
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Perhaps, but the cost of flying 100 people versus 3 busses is significantly different.
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So, in one breath some of y’all assure me that B-M’s has no problem giving up the extra revenue from Jax because of the new TV money and in the next, they wouldn’t spend money on recruits’ airfare.
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That’s really the question, isn’t it? It would be a new precedent for Recruiting Coverage (intentionally capitalized). Flying recruits from all over the country to see a game.
Not that it isn’t done NOW for games in Athens, but it would be new for an “away” game, so to speak. It would get a lot of coverage and would take a good bit of the recruiting staff to coordinate and operate something local to the event.
I don’t speak for the rest here but if Kirby ain’t going to win this argument (not saying he won’t) then having a slightly better advantage in the Benz, is better than what he has now from a recruiting standpoint.
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Look, I wouldn’t be happy if they pulled the game from Jax, but I could live with a home-and-home (although I’ll never set foot in the Swamp).
But moving the game from Jax to Atlanta makes absolutely zero sense and I suspect Smart knows that. Which is why I think he’s FOS for bringing it up as an option.
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why not buy a 767, trick it out like the stones tour jet and fly them in and out on that. if the kirby kopter is a hit then a jet would be mo better, amirite?
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LOL. Make Jacksonville pay for it. Problem solved and you’re offering something nobody else can.
Fucking Atlanta. My God y’all.
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I think this quip about having the games in Atlanta was Kirby testing Florida (Tebow) to see if he thought the site (Jax vs Atl) was an advantage or not. IOW, he was playing up to the other reason Georgia has complained about the WLOCP. I don’t think he cares as much about that as he does the recruiting angle.
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He went on to say in the next sentence to Tebow that there’s no location advantage.
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Right. Why would that be his very next verbalized thought?
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Because he’s emphasizing that it’s all about recruiting for him… which gets back to my question about why mention Atlanta.
For that matter, why play at any neutral game site (something Smart’s embraced, by the way)?
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He believes the GA-FL game is the biggest game every year for Georgia and wants to be able to fully recruit at that game. I can’t speak for other neutral site games, but maybe he likes them for national exposure like the Oregon game. My first Cocktail Party was ’97, so that should tell you about my preferences.
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We’re going around in circles here. I agree with you about Kirby’s stance on the UGA-UF game. So why mention Atlanta?
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I can’t know for sure, but like I mentioned above, I think he was testing Tebow to see whether or not Florida would give up Jax every other year for Atlanta. Kirby being Kirby answered his own question, or maybe he didn’t want to dilute his main point about recruiting. That was the visceral feeling I had when I first saw this video.
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Maybe it’s a “muddy the water” negotiating tactic. He says “Atlanta” and then his opponents say “good God ! ! No ! I can live with on campus, but Atlanta just makes no sense.” Now he’s Overton Windowed you into accepting a move to campus.
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Not sure if you’ve ever done this, Senator, but I’d be interested in a reader poll on the matter. To paraphrase The Clash: Jacksonville – should I (we) stay or should I (we) go?
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I believe the AJC tried this a few weeks ago, but paywalled the poll (and presumably the results)!
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The Georgia Way may help preserve the Jacksonville game, at least until the conference expansion money grab ruins the good parts of the schedule. At least if the AU game ceases to be an annual thing, we’ve had a historic run of dominance. Also expecting all these trumpeted home and homes the next few years to vaporize, which would make the 2d time I’ve gotten screwed out of a trip to UCLA.
I can’t believe we’d leave millions on the table for a marginal recruiting boost. Even Kirby hasn’t got that much pull.
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I’ve been assured by several readers that there will be so much more new money coming in from ESPN once Texas & Oklahoma join the conference that it will be easy for UGA to forgo the Jax payout.
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“why, after the new TV deal comes in, I wouldn’t bend over to pick up 14 million bucks over 5 years if I found it on the sidewalk.”
How many non revenue sports can you fund with that “unnecessary” cash? We aren’t talking about lunch money here. Some folks don’t understand how money works, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that at all.
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It’s always easy to give away somebody else’s money.
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If only more people understood that very basic economic fact. 🙂
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And spend it…
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No organization ever voluntarily gives up revenue, and no way will the suits in the football building allow that money to disappear. It will be passed on to season ticket holders to make the move revenue neutral.
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That’s why it doesn’t make sense. Even if they jack up the prices on those of us in the rabble, they’re leaving all the Jax money on the table. Why would they not do both? 🙂
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Don’t give them any ideas, 81.
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Pretty sure they’re way ahead of me on that one. Czar Mike Adams made squeezing every possible dime out of every possible income stream such a basic tenet of his leadership (sic) you’d have thought he was a suit at Disney. He’s gone, but the money lingers. 🙂
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I was planning to make that trip in 1984, as well.
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The irony in his view is the reason the GA/FL game is the number 1 came is because it is in Jax and grew that way take it out of Jax and it is just another SEC game.
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Well, hell, let’s move the Vandy game to Atlanta and see if we can spice up that rivalry!
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How much less would the SEC TV deal be worth if the game was played on the campuses instead of Jax? When does Sankey call Brooks and tell him where the game will be played?
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I think he believes that either before or after the game he could get some of the recruits to make the drive to Athens if it were in Atlanta..
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Again, nothing stopping him from doing that before any neutral site match.
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What I wish some reporter would ask Kirby is why the value of having the recruits in Athens every other year isn’t canceled out by giving your rival that same opportunity every other year?
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Well any one in Atlanta maybe. But most families aren’t going to dive to Athens before or after going to Gainesville FL.
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I seriously doubt UF would allow Georgia to host recruits at the Swamp.
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Any time Kirby opens his mouth on this topic he pisses me off.
1) If being able to spend time with recruits is the goal, why play these neutral site openers?
2) If doing it for recruiting is the reason to play in Atlanta, that doesn’t make sense either. The coaches would never be able to focus on the game because they would be in Athens on Saturday morning and bus in for the game.
I’ll restate what I wrote last week on this topic. If the game leaves Jacksonville by what appears to be a choice by UGA, I will officially cross over to the “championship or bust” dark side. If he doesn’t win the national or SEC championship every year, the season is a failure. A great team gets beaten by an equal in Atlanta? Failure. An excellent team wins a couple of expanded playoff games before falling in the CFP championship game? Failure.
Our only hope is that the deep pockets who will be looked at to fund this new capital campaigns pretty much say my pledge depends on the Florida game staying in Jacksonville. Past that, I just don’t see Morehead or Brooks holding the line. They’ll decide the lost revenue will be made up for by season ticket holders in increased prices.
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Kirby has stated and the administration is now working on scheduling these out of conference games home and home instead of at neutral sites.
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We are about to have 4 big gaping holes in our schedule with the admission of Texas and Oklahoma (we still don’t know if the OU game in Norman will happen next year unless there’s already an agreement that OU will visit Athens in their first year). I’ll believe we aren’t going to schedule neutral site games when those 4 spots get filled.
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I think this conversation will be a moot point after Texas and OU join the conference. It’s a great get away weekend for Dawg fans when we are winning. Not so much when we’re losing. Been on both sides of that fence,
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Home game weekends suck when we lose. I was in Sanford in 1995. The only reason that day isn’t the most painful day as a sports fan is the Braves’ World Series championship that night.
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Curious, but what do OU and Texas joining the conference have to do with the game staying in Jacksonville?
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He’s said the same thing repeatedly about why he wants to move to home and home. I’m not sure why you’d state he’s full of shit based on a comment in an interview without any context. It’s not like he’s been arguing in bad faith, however much you disagree with him.
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For the umpteenth time, I get why he wants the series to go home and home.
The question is, why bring up Atlanta as an option?
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I don’t know. Maybe Tebow asked him about competitive advantage and he was being snarky.
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Gosh, you mean he might have been full of shit when he said that?
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Ah, the ol’ goalpost move. You write as if he’s generally full of shit on the topic then move to the specific statement as if you were only talking about the one statement.
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Ah, the old move of putting words in my mouth that I didn’t write. Well played.
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I don’t think Kirby is full of it … I just think he’s flat wrong about it.
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Maybe some of y’all old farts should embrace the idea that sometimes traditions run their course. And it’s time to embrace a new tradition, like, maybe, an important game in Atlanta the first Saturday of every December and then games of consequence in late December/early January.
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I see. UGA stops playing in Jax = guaranteed trips to the SECCG and the CFP.
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Exactly why if he gets his way, we should expect a championship every year and deem him a failure every year it doesn’t.
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In a few years as you are well aware, a trip to the CFP won’t mean what it does today.
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Children should be seen and not heard. Hush up, the grown folks are talking. 🙂
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I don’t think they can bus recruits from campus to JAX ot ATL.
“During an official visit the college can pay for transportation to and from the college for the student-athlete, lodging and three meals per day for the student-athlete and his or her parents or guardians, as well as reasonable entertainment expenses including three tickets to a home sports event.:
“The only expenses a college-bound student-athlete may receive from a college during an unofficial visit are three tickets to a home sports event.”
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Thanks, dude, for putting up there. I don’t know where you stand on this topic, but it’s clear Kirby only cares about having 92,000 extras available for his recruiting commercial … which is exactly why I plan to allow my tickets to the first Florida home game to go unused.
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I will say, after losing the Cocktail Party tradition, me being asked to become an enthusiastic recruiting prop when the Gators come to Athens is gonna grate a little.
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I’m not going to go be a prop for him in exchange for him throwing out a 90 year tradition, and I don’t even go to Jacksonville. I’ve getting beyond being angry at him about this and how he decided to make it a big deal at media days. I’m disappointed in him as a Georgia alum that he thinks so little of tradition and what that game means to the people he grew up around in South Georgia.
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I’m like you. I am a season ticket holder, but rarely go to Jacksonville. I want the game to stay there though. Traditions are becoming more and more rare each college football season with conference realignment and the kill one of the great college football traditions would be sad to me.
I get the benefit of the home schedule and my season tickets improving every other year, but I would rather have the tradition of the WLOCP. So many big games that were once annual occurrences have disappeared. I looked forward to games like OU/Nebraska, ND/Michigan, Pitt/Penn St., WVU/Pitt, Texas/TAMU, and others that have been killed due to conference realignment even though I had no dog in the fight.
OU/Texas is coming back with the new SEC soon, but I think it would further hurt college football to end the WLOCP being a neutral site game. One of the few slight positives of Texas and Oklahoma entering the SEC is the conference will now have the two traditional neutral site games with both the WLOCP and the Red River Shootout.
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I think you meant Teasips and the AgCult, but yes, on everything there. Good post as usual, 222.
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TAMU v Arky is in Texas Stadium, so there’s 3.
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That one is only played there because an Arkansas alumnus owns the stadium and the team that plays there on Sundays.
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I forgot that one even existed. I guess because while it is an old rivalry from the SWC days it is new being a neutral site game, right? Red River and WLOCP are known better nationally since they have been a fixture on TV for many years.
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What does the rule say about unofficial visits (if you know)? There are a lot of ways to skin the recruiting visit cat.
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It says you can only pay for tickets on unofficial visits, so I think busing them is a no-no. I’m guessing that – being better than the alternate – Kirby knows he can work around the transportation issue to Atlanta. You pay their travel to Athens, get them to and back from the Benz by hook or by crook (unofficial ride with other students, etc) , and still have them in Athens the remainder of the weekend. Now, if you argue that the same can be done in JAX, then you aren’t really being honest. No one wants to ride from Athens to JAX and back while on an official visit. Just my two cents, but I think some are letting their anger of the idea of losing the game in JAX cloud their logic when considering Kirby’s statements. I for one want the game to stay in JAX, but I can clearly see why he wants it moved to a home and home.
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I don’t think Kirby has an appreciation for tradition especially when it runs up against his “recruiting is the only thing that matters” approach. He doesn’t get or minimizes the recruiting impact of the game played in its current form.
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I agree with you. It’s not hard to get kids to drive to Athens after a game in Atlanta, and they can then hang out with them, show them downtown and the facilities the next day if they crash with a friend. Can’t do it for all recruits, but a good number of them you can.
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Thought about that myself…playin in the Benz won’t change a thing.
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How do we know he didn’t mean Mark Richt Field.
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Wow. Questioning Kirby on QB rotations when none of us are at practice is TOTALLY allowed.
But merely question his logic/reasoning at wanting to move the Cocktail party and “OH MY GOD, HE’S KIRBY SMART AND HE’S NEVER WRONG”.
Senator, I would tell you to explain it again, but it seems you already have several times.
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It warms my cold Red & Black heart to see Georgia fans so passionate about a Georgia tradition. Hopefully that passion isn’t limited to internet boards and the Ga-Fla game. There have been way too many Old Georgia traditions discarded like bacon striped tightie whities for my liking. From neutering tailgating to restricting alcohol in the stadium, banning of the Confederate battle flag and the Redcoats playing Dixie and Tara’s Theme, before long Georgia Football games will be just another generic carpetbagging sport’s event indistinguishable from an Ohio State game.
Get off my lawn.
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Kriby’s recruiting argument holds no water with me. Getting an opportunity to host recruits in Athens one game every other year is not going to fundamentally change the recruiting fortunes of Georgia football. I have never been on an official visit to any school but I have to wonder how much actual time is spent with recruits by the coaches during a home game weekend. Also, I cannot ever recall any player who signed with another team making any mention of not being able to go see Georgia play Florida in Athens as a factor in choosing another team. If not being able to host recruits was the big handicap Kirby claims it to be regarding the Georgia/Florida game, why does he agree to any neutral site games? Why didn’t he demand a home and home with Clemson and Oregon so he could get his coveted home game recruiting opportunity?
I don’t necessarily think Kirby is full of shit but I do think he is wrong and I think he is stubborn and now that he has taken a position he refuses to accept that he is wrong. The Atlanta comment shows that he knows it is not affecting recruiting and he has allowed himself to get sucked into an argument where he is now simply taking an anti-Jacksonville stance with no basis other than not wanting to admit he was wrong.
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JC, you and I have butted heads here a few times over the years.
You are right on the money on this. I couldn’t agree more.
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I think you’re both a couple of disloyal assholes and should get a room.
😉
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Hahahahaha!
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ee and I are speaking truth to power!
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Yeah, as long as we keep playing other neutral site games, I am calling bullshit on Kirby’s beef with Jacksonville. And for all you whining about the home schedule, how much better would it be with Oregon in Athens?
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The only reason this isn’t a home and home is we didn’t want to go to Eugene. ESPN set this up.
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Not to be dramatic, and I think Kirby may be thinking of the Ls he took there as a player, but this could end up being a sticking point that sends him to Alabama post-saban or Texas post-Sark. It would suck, and I can’t believe this is something he’s spending so much energy on, but here we are, right?
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Georgia football existed pre-Kirby and it will post-Kirby. If he’s so shallow, stubborn and insecure after getting literally everything else he has asked for since he arrived in Athens, the door can hit him on the ass on the way out.
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He knew where the game was played when he took the Georgia job. Also, if he is going to get his lip poked out over this bad enough to quit and go somewhere else, I’d be fine with him going ahead and leaving now and not trying to hold us hostage to his move the game demand. In spite of how well Kirby has done at Georgia, the program is really bigger than just Kirby Smart.
I wonder how a similar tantrum over the Red River Shootout would play in Austin? Of course, he probably wouldn’t take the Texas job since recruiting would be so handicapped by that game.
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Adding a quality home game is a big deal. Keeping a huge tradition is a big deal. Both statements are true and irreconcilable. The fact that Kirby biases to having the extra home game is pretty logical from his POV. The world has changed significantly and will continue to do so. Kirby is paid a lot to get that. He’s going to argue for what he thinks is best for his goal…win championships. He’s not the AD who needs to factor in all of the other valid considerations. I don’t have a problem with him bringing this up. It does need to be discussed. If we want to keep 90 year traditions, then there should be equal pressure on keeping other aspects of the game that current decision makers are all too willing to change. The Jax argument is about all of what’s happening. And because it’s a sign of the times, I expect it to be changed in the next 5 years, like it or not. But don’t blame Kirby…he didn’t create this mess, he’s just been tasked with navigating it.
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He wants to piss on 90 years of tradition? He better win a championship every year if he gets this. My point of view is you break it, you bought it.
Kirby has gotten literally everything he has asked for. He has gotten out over his skis on this one. This was not the hornet’s nest to kick over. He got suckered by Tebow on TV and now can’t back away from his position.
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You miss my point if you don’t see my last sentence. Kirby’s argument is the symptom not the cause IMHO.
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It feels like you are saying it isn’t Kirby’s fault that he wants to move the game. I admit I don’t understand.
He never says anything about the benefits of playing in Jacksonville and that he likes the tradition. He went scorched earth on it.
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I would like to know the early 1930s thought processes about this game. How did we go from a shiny new stadium in 1929, built in part because of the need to have the biggest games on campus (i.e. Tech) and bring alumni back to campus, to locking in on Jacksonville by 1933. If my research is accurate, the gators played in Sanford Stadium in 1931.
Dr. Sanford died in 1945, so maybe it wasn’t enough time to see that this was permanent, but everything I’ve read about the guy, it would seem he would want this to move to campus. I’m a Jacksonville guy, FWIW.
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1932 actually. So we brought the gators to our gem of a new stadium 1 time and then said, nahhhh, we’ll do Jacksonville every year. It is strange to me. Surely the site of this game has to have been the subject of debate the entire time.
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Only took one visit from those jort-wearing, trailer park rejects for our predecessors to decide they didn’t want that trash in Athens again? Sounds about right to me… #FTMF
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First, I’d like the game to stay put.
Second, its pretty interesting to see how different our fan’s attitudes are towards Jax compared to Auburn’s attitude towards playing in Birmingham. Night and day.
I wonder if deep down Kirby just doesn’t believe its really a “neutral” site but doesn’t want the bs of being accused of making excuses like Richt was.
Focusing on recruiting and not the other intangibles makes sense thru that lens.
Kirby probably knows at this point his best bet is to beat their asses until THEY want to move it. If nothing else his current arguments pressure Jax into paying more money and I don’t think anyone at UGA is going to complain.
Finally, Kirby probably wants to scream FTMF! at least once in an empty swamp before he wriggles off the mortal coil.
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I have to admit, part of me wonders if some of it is looking for an opportunity to return the favor of, I think, 94 or 95, when they dropped 50-something in Athens.
The problem, though, is once you let those gators come to your campus, you got that stink too close to home.
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I agree. The no. 1 reason I’m for Jax is keeping gators out of Georgia and especially out of Athens.
My supposition is that CKS sees the current set up as net plus to florida and he isn’t much into noticing such things, or forgoing controlling them.
My guess is that if we were in his shoes, we’d see his point of view, but we ain’t so we don’t.
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Move the damn game to home & home. The cost of attendance & tix at the Benz Atlanta is already exhorbitant. We already go there enough, besides we could wind up playing in ATL 4 times a year in some years. No want wants to spend $3,000 in 1 fall season on the city of ATL. It needs to go back to Athens.
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Ill give you one thing Senator, you didn’t want to move even in the midst of all the ass whoopings we were taking. I can understand you digging your heels in.
My stance hasnt changed either, Jacksonville is a shit hole. Its probably worse now that the landing is closed.
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A small percentage of UGA fans actually stay in Jax proper.
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It’s all bullshit. Seems like Kirby isn’t doesn’t like going down there every year. Figuring out a way to host recruits doesn’t seem like much of an obstacle with today’s weakened NCAA.
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I’ve been vocal in my support of the game staying in Jacksonville. I am season ticket holder and have been to every game in Jax since 1982 (Covid exception), but it’s not just my current participation in this unique tradition that I want to preserve. I want it to continue for today’s and tomorrow’s UGA students. Games in Athens as a student are special, but there is nothing like that road trip to the WLOCP. I remember certain games in Sanford as a student (Butler’s 60-yard field goal for one), but not in the detail that I remember every single trip to Jacksonville as a student. I couldn’t tell you who were my seat mates for most any game in the student section in Sanford, but the friends that I traveled to Jax with and I still reminisce about those trips, and it’s the away game that more students can attend than any other. It’s not just the column of tickets available to alums that will change, but the number for students that will plummet if the game goes home and home. The UGA student experience has changed (some good, some bad) over the last 35+ years since I graduated, but you will never convince me that this is one that should.
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If the administration is serious about it being a $ issue to keep the game in Jax, then open up the bidding. Let Atlanta make an offer to host the game. See which host city is willing to pony up the bigger bucks. I would bet if Atlanta topped Jax’s bid UF would be in favor of a home and home.
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Atlanta tried to bid for the series a few years ago and couldn’t match Jax’ offer.
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