Gators in Georgia … who let ’em in?
(Jacksonville.com)
When a lot of people think of Florida Gators fans, images of guys sporting mullets and wearing jorts and women with skin like leather come to mind, and I know there are folks who fit that stereotype.
But that’s not how I’d describe the many, many University of Florida grads I’ve had to work with and have come to know over the years.
It certainly doesn’t describe my next door neighbor, whom my family fondly refers to as “Gator.” He’s a really nice guy with a lovely wife and a cute baby boy who I teasingly threaten to teach to say “Go Dogs!” Surprisingly, my neighbor just laughs and says if his son can attend UGA for free on the HOPE scholarship, then a Bulldog he’ll be.
Quite a statement for a guy who flies his orange and blue UF flag all year round.
Actually, many Florida grads I’ve known aren’t that different from UGA grads on the surface. They’re intelligent and hardworking enough to have gotten into a big state university. And they love SEC football.
The main difference between my neighbor and most Florida grads is the casual arrogance with which they view the world, as if matriculation in Gainesville puts them on a level above folks who’ve gone to school in, say, Athens, Tuscaloosa or Knoxville.
The funny thing is, they’ve always had this arrogance, even during the years when they really didn’t really have anything to be arrogant about. Let’s face it, before Steve Spurrier went back home to rescue the program, the most notable thing to come out of Gainesville involving college football was Gatorade. Despite all the talent that a campus in the Sunshine State could draw, they never quite got it done. The ability of great Gator teams to choke became something of an SEC joke.
That didn’t make the Florida grads I had to deal with any less arrogant. It just made them prime suckers for gridiron bets. Most years after I came to work at the AJC in 1974 I’d be approached by various Gators in the office who wanted to show their Gator pride by betting a six-pack of Heineken or something along those lines on the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville. With Vince Dooley as coach at Georgia, it was more often than not a safe bet. The Dogs were 13-3 against the Gators in those years, including winning six straight from 1978 through ’83.
I remember 1980 was the year I really did well. One Gator wanted to double the bet and a couple of others got in on it, too. I wound up with several six-packs (and then won a fifth of Black Jack off an Auburn grad the next week). Since I don’t drink much, the chief beneficiaries were the folks attending the Christmas party my wife and I threw.
And yet, still there was that arrogance, that attitude that somehow Florida was better than the rest of the conference, even if the record book didn’t reflect it. After all, the Gators didn’t win an SEC championship in football until 1984, and that was almost immediately vacated by the conference because of all the Charley Pell infractions that got the school on probation. That also made them ineligible for the SEC title again in 1985. Ditto 1990, when Spurrier’s first team still faced the Galen Hall probation problem.
Finally, in 1991 came the school’s first real SEC championship.
I thought I knew Gator arrogance before, but in the Spurrier era it grew exponentially. It was as if SEC football had not existed prior to 1990. It reminded me of the nouveau riche putting on airs. As if alligator wasn’t derived from the Spanish word for “lizard.”
And while that attitude tapered off just a tad during the Zook years, when Gator fans were apt to make bitter jokes about their own coach, it shot into the stratosphere with the arrival of Urban Meyer and the two BCS championships Tim Tebow has won him.
I have a confession to make. In a moment of delusion, I actually rooted for Florida in January 2007 when they played Ohio State for the BCS championship. I had grown tired of all the Big 10 hype I was hearing from ESPN and the rest of the national sports media and decided I really wanted an SEC team to show up the Buckeyes, even if it was the Gators.
My son tried to warn me. “You know how arrogant Gator fans are,” he said. “Imagine how they’ll be if they win the BCS. There’ll be no living with them.”
And he was right. They were worse then ever after that, especially when their basketball team also won a national title. Then came a second BCS title last year, and now they act like it’s a birthright or something.
But what it all boils down to is that in the long and illustrious history of SEC football, the Gators are still johnny-come-latelies.
In jorts, no less.
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137 comments Add your comment
GatorsNationalChamps
October 30th, 2009
10:43 am
Gators 31 UGA Leghumpers 10
Gator fans are not snobs
October 30th, 2009
10:45 am
THEY ARE JUST BETTER THAN YOU ARE!!
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
10:51 am
ATL:
You’re joking, right? UGA fans think college football started in 2002?
That doesn’t exactly jibe with all the folks who accuse us of living in the past by reliving the glory days under Dooley.
Does 1980 ring a bell?
Banyard Smith
October 30th, 2009
10:53 am
lets face it the demographics of both GA and UF have changed dramatically over the past 20 years-North Central Florida was complete and total redneck country-lovely oaks and big ranches mind you but a populace one step out of its sharecropper past-GAs rural towns were stable independent and prosperous made up of the fine scotch-irish stock that founded this great land-it bred a different kind of fan-now this has all changed with the “new south”-manners are more gruff, people less friendly and the civility and hospitality that at one time defined SEC games seems to have gone out the window-i for one still see this great spirit on display in Athens whether it is directed at our fine bretheren from Baton Rouge, a weary traveller from Tempe-or our friends from the front range in Boulder; but while the UF fan may have shaved the mullet and heemed his jean shorts they are still slithering around on their bellies with beady little eyes glazed over from huffing solvents they stole from the hardware store without dignity without class without the grace of God who will smite then down in final days-their false idols (Pope Urban) will come crashing down just like the great Orson Charles smashed their token devilry-tomorrow on the fields of Jacksonville on the day or all the great souls of UGAs past lighting will strike and dawgs will run wild and deliver us from this evil
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
10:56 am
cb:
No argument that Florida has plenty to be arrogant about these days.
But my point was that they were that way even when they DIDN’T have reason to be arrogant.
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
10:58 am
You’re right, Brock.
We shouldn’t talk about the past any more.
Gator fans, the slate is clean. No more bragging about how you’ve dominated since 1990. That’s in the past, after all.
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
10:59 am
Timely:
Atlanta has always been hip-deep in Gators.
Aren’t there any jobs down there?
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
11:00 am
Matthew:
Georgia legitimately has two national titles.
nemov
October 30th, 2009
11:10 am
Many Florida grads aren’t from the South. I live in Florida and there aren’t a lot of native Floridians. Many of them are transplanted Northerners. I went to a Florida game last season and it was a surprising mix. Many of the Florida fans who aren’t students/alumni are very rural. All those Floridians who live in the Northern interior of the state. These people don’t get out very much and show up in camo gator gear.
Dave
October 30th, 2009
11:30 am
It is amazing what Florida’s recent domination of Georgia has created amongst Georgia fans (and sportswriters)- an inferiority complex. This column reeks of a massive inferiority complex. Of course Bulldog fans label UF as a Johnny come lately because it is a hard pill to swallow when all of your glory is in the distant past. So Bill, I’ll enjoy my glory in the present generation and you will Dawgs will just have to learn to accept being an aging beauty.
Gator
October 30th, 2009
11:32 am
What a bunch of crap I am reading. UF fans do not have mullets, wear jorts or live up to any of the stereo types you say that they do. I have seen many UGA fans wearing jorts, sporting mullets and everything else you make fun of with Florida fans. Don’t even try to say it doesn’t happen. Both schools have the same types of fans from the same walks of life.
Most people hate the Gators because of their success over the past 20 years. They have dominated the SEC by winning 87% of their SEC games. That is a pretty good stat. They have dominated everyone from the east and most from the west.
I am sick of hearing about tradition. Everything in football is cyclical. UGA was once the best. They will be again one day. UF is having great success now, and eventually, they will find themselves back down. It’s the nature of the beast. Live with it. But to say that UF isn’t any good because they were bad in the 80’s is stupid. Just because UGA dominated in the 80’s doesn’t mean that they have greater tradition than any other school. Each school has tradition.
I can understand the hatred of UF by UGA. You have lost the 16 of the past 19 games. One of those was the year Zook was fired and then, you still had trouble winning.
Why don’t you hate TN? You lost to one of the worst teams in the SEC, and got spanked by them. They have owned you as of late, yet you don’t hate on them. I would be embarrassed to call myself a UGA fan after being bitch-slapped by TN.
Big Daddy Gator
October 30th, 2009
11:34 am
I stand by my default argument with Georgia fans who think the Florida Gators are Johnny-come-latelys:
Exactly what has Georgia done in football the past 20 years? Florida has 3 National Championships in that span, a substantial record of UGA, and a plethora of SEC Championships.
Meanwhile, Georgia struggles to beat Vanderbilt, and fails occasionally. They have to send the entire team out onto the field when they score a single measly touchdown to get psyched up.
And I remember being ranked fairly high at points in the 80s too.
The fact of the matter is that 20+ years of dominance is a long time. Students attending UGA now barely even knew Spurrier as a Gator. So get over it.
Atlanta Gator
October 30th, 2009
11:41 am
For the record, the Gators have been on probation twice (1984-1986 and 1988-1990) in their program history. No Gators sports team has been on probation since 1990; every other SEC athletic program has. The University of Georgia has committed major infractions twice since the Gators finished their last probation in the NCAA doghouse in 1990.
Since 1990, Alabama has been on probation 4 times, Auburn has been cited 3 times for major infractions, Arkansas once, Kentucky once, LSU once, Ole Miss once, Mississippi State once, South Carolina once, Tennessee once. Heck, even Vanderbilt was cited for major infractions in 1992. Since 1990, the University of Florida has the cleanest NCAA record in the SEC. In fact, the Gators are the only SEC team that has not been cited for a major infraction by the NCAA since 1990.
Georgia is next
October 30th, 2009
12:18 pm
Gator fans are winners. They love their Gators. Dawg fans are winners too. They love their Dawgs.
Billy
October 30th, 2009
12:19 pm
Good article Bill King! Ballsy!
Roman
October 30th, 2009
12:35 pm
I haven’t met very many intelligent grads from either Florida or Georgia. They’re both party schools with meaningless liberal arts degrees that aren’t worth the sheepskin they’re printed on. Even worse, look at the absurb degrees the athletes are supposedly working toward. Student-athletes? I don’t think so.
Brandon
October 30th, 2009
12:43 pm
So does this mean that its better to have success in the past than the future? Because according to your article we should have no reason to celebrate our success because its all new. Georgia had a great past while Florida is having a great present but according to you we have no reason rejoice because we have no history and this is like “no money” ! You really make no sense and I guess having the opportunity to win 2 national championships in basketball is like winning a free ticket on a $1 lottery scratch off since you think its arrogant to celebrate those wins either.
Kennesaw John
October 30th, 2009
12:43 pm
Good job Bill!!! You said exactly what most of us have been thinking for years.
Moley Russell's Wart
October 30th, 2009
12:50 pm
Gator fans aren’t bad. They are just different in a weird kind of way. They remind me of cousin Eddie in the Vacation movies.
You are kidding right?
October 30th, 2009
1:05 pm
Every, EVERY SEC fan is arrogant (excluding the obvious cellar dwellers) its what makes the SEC so exciting, the passion.
As for your timeline of Gator follies, are you writing an article in 1989 or 2009? Alot has changed since then, and Gators have won. They have the right to be “mouthy” until someone knocks them off their high chair, until then try to win in Jax or STFU.
Note to Editor
October 30th, 2009
1:14 pm
True arrogance (and stupidity) is to believe that “their” fans are rude, uneducated, profane and obnoxious, while “our” fans are classy, well-informed, polite and temperate. If you believe that literally millions of people can be divided so cleanly into “good fans” and “bad fans,” then you indeed are a dim bulb.
Fans are often provincial in their outlook, but a writer (yes, even a blogger) for a purportedly major newspaper should be more urbane than your average yokel.
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
1:16 pm
Last 50 years Heisman winners: Florida 3 Georgia 1
National Champs Florida 3 Georgia 1
Last 20 years SEC Champions Florida 8 Georgia 2
Head to Head Florida 17 Georgia 3
2008 Football Graduation Rate Florida 68% Georgia 48%
Source: Rivals.com
Recent FOOTBALL GRADUATION RATES (2006)
University of Georgia Athletic Graduation Rates Appallingly Low
New stats released by the NCAA about SEC football and basketball graduation rates show the University of Georgia almost dead last in conference.
By Mark Hoerrner
Despite the University of Georgia’s outstanding performance in football this year, the team’s academic performance puts them dead last among the 12 schools in the Southeastern Conference, figures recently released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association reveal. The statistics indicate that of the approximately 100 players on the UGA football roster, nearly 60 percent won’t graduate within six years of their freshman entry to college.
“I am extremely disappointed,” UGA Athletics Director Damon Evans told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We will get better. Our primary focus is to graduate young people. It is an institution of higher learning so we have got to graduate our kids.”
But UGA football didn’t have the worst story to be told. The NCAA study listed grad rates for basketball as well. The NCAA studied freshman who entered college during 1996-1999 and would have graduated by 2005. Of the 318 Divison I schools, UGA was next to last with only nine percent of men’s basketball players graduating during the study period. Only the University of New Mexico had a worse record with just seven percent of its men’s basketball players receiving a degree.
The reason so many Gator graduates are working in upper corporate levels in Atlanta is th fact tha most former Georgia athletes are working in fast food restaurants and mowing lawns.
D-Dawg
October 30th, 2009
1:39 pm
How can jorts wearers be arrogant, freelepur? ROFL WOOF!!! WOOF!!! HUNKER DOWN, THE D-Dawwwwggg is in the HOUSE!!!!
mark
October 30th, 2009
2:05 pm
best thing to come out of athens? REM
mark
October 30th, 2009
2:11 pm
JORTS 45 DAWGS 7
Mo Gator Meat Please !
October 30th, 2009
2:11 pm
Bill are you saying that Florida fans , whether they win
or lose totally suck ? That’s just too easy.
There are at least a couple million sports fans in the
country who could have made that observation. You will
need to back up to the pay window after this one.
You will never make it off the bench for meaningful playing
time if you insist on concentrating on the layups.
GLW
October 30th, 2009
2:23 pm
Seven straight from 78 to 83? That would be six. Graduated from Georgia did you? With a math degree, minor in journalism?
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
2:53 pm
I remember Georgia in the 1950s: dirt roads, people living in shacks, lots of illiterate rednecks, inbred hicks waving from the roadside, segregated schools. Things have changed since then. Now the schools are integrated. 8>)
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
2:57 pm
I remember the speed trap in Ludiwici Georgia. Turns out they had a cop in an upstairs room who would flip a switch to change the light from green to red. Must have been a UGA graduate to get a good job like that!
99NC
October 30th, 2009
2:58 pm
I love it when people who wear red and black flannel with their black jeans and grey New Balances talk fashion smack. Since you now have been reduced to an afterthought in this series, you can only continue on the jorts bandwagon. Go buy some khakis yourselves, get a haircut and play your 2nd string…because as you always let us know, they’re better anyway.
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
2:59 pm
I remember when the moonshiners would deliver the shine from Tennesee down to Macon and hand it over to the Bibb county sherriff to sell out of the trunks of his deputies. Shore tasted good!
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:04 pm
Yes sir! All them folks was Bulldawg fans back then and they kids and grankids still is! Course they is way more classi then them Gators. Why aint that whar Lil Abner an Daisy Mae lived? Dogpatch!
D-Dawg
October 30th, 2009
3:09 pm
Billdawg, that heisman is jorts is great stuff!!! You make the D-Dawg hall of fame with that one!!! ROFL ROFL Woof!!! You ever think about writin for them blue colla comedy boys. Them guys are funny, specially that cable guy
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:12 pm
I remember when kids who wanted to get married would drive up to Folkston Georgia. from Florida. You could marry yore sister in Folkston by cracky iffen you had the $10.00 fer a licence.
99NC
October 30th, 2009
3:17 pm
Stats man…which SEC coach is in need of a win most this weekend?
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:18 pm
I remember when the local boys would catch them drunk airmen coming out of the bars on Front Street in Warner Robins and roll them for their cash then beat them up and leave them in the alley.
Yes sir, them folks in Georgia can really crow about bein’ superior to them Florida people.
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:20 pm
ummm I would say the Auburn Coach probly.
Georgia sux
October 30th, 2009
3:20 pm
What has the UGAY mutts done in the last 25 years or so? NOTHING
D-Dawg
October 30th, 2009
3:24 pm
That Awburn coach name is hard to say.. He from Poland or somethin
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:24 pm
I would say the Auburn head coach. Gene Chizik said. “We got exposed tonight in some areas. I think that was evident.” Auburn can’t afford not to play well on offense because their defense simply isn’t very good. The Tigers have given up 26.9 points per game. Saturday’s college football betting meeting is the 34th all-time between the two teams. Bet on Auburn +4.5 as they try not to lose their 4th straight game of the season in week 9
Evildawg
October 30th, 2009
3:30 pm
I adore CMR, but I wish he’d update his hairstyle from 1987.
BILL QUEEN @AJC
October 30th, 2009
3:32 pm
Guys I can’t make it to Jax again this year but I will be watching wearing my walmart camouflage jorts.go dawgs!
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:33 pm
Mark Richt is on the hotseat too. Dawgs could finish 6-6 or 5-7.
BILL QUEEN @AJC
October 30th, 2009
3:34 pm
ALSO GUYS CMR GOT A NEW SPRAY ON TAN TODAY IN JAX, LOOKS SWEET!
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
3:39 pm
It was a requirement of journalism school that you not be able to do math!
Gator in cobb county
October 30th, 2009
3:40 pm
Hey bill you got it all wrong about mullet hair and jorts. There’s plenty dawgs fans, grads here in the metro area that have mullets,wear jorts, cut off shorts, missing plenty teeth and most likely your neighbor, coworker and kin too.
Stats Man born and raised in Ga.
October 30th, 2009
3:41 pm
I used to deliver the AJC; also the Macon Telegraph & News when I was a kid. Couldn’t wait for the Sunday edition to read the sports pages; especially football. I read every word of football news, opinion and fan comments. Let me tell you folks; the Georgia fans were as arrogant as they come and the Florida fans were just waiting their turn. What goes around comes around.
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
3:42 pm
Mo Gator Meat:
No, that’s not at all what I said. Try reading again.
Evildawg
October 30th, 2009
3:43 pm
CMRs spray tan is SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET, though Kiffin’s is more glam.
Bill King
October 30th, 2009
3:46 pm
Note to: “Note to Editor”
One problem with your comments. I did not say any of those things about Florida fans that you cite.
I believe I said they were intelligent and hard-working.