UGA Rivalry Review: Florida Gators traditions, rituals and more

Nov 9, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; A general view of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and a saying on the wall saying “It

Earlier this month, our friend and colleague at HailFloridaHail.com, Brett Kaplan, reviewed for the Florida Gator Nation our Georgia Bulldogs. Today, Dawn of the Dawg offers its rivalry review of the Florida Gators.

The University of Georgia recognizes three major rivals: Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech – The Big Three.

If you live south of the Fall Line, and particularly if you live south of the Florida state line, you may name Florida as Georgia’s biggest of the Big Three.

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If your Florida game memories are less than 20 years old and dominated by Gator Chomps, you want to beat Florida more than any other team on the schedule.

And if your blood runs red and black, you know that year after year, Florida will have the worst dressed fans of any team on the schedule.

The Florida rivalry is big.

The Florida rivalry is also unique. It is not about clashing of cultures, geographic proximity, or school similarity.  All do exist, but this rivalry is about one thing:

The Game.

The Game almost always has championship implications for both teams.

The Game is played on a neutral field in Jacksonville, half the stands donning red and black and shouting Go Dawgs, the other half donning jean shorts and shouting something unintelligible that resembles Orange – Blue.

The Game, held as part of The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, when played in the old Gator Bowl was a post-apocalyptic street rumble among rusting metropolis ruins. While the stadium and the city are now genteel, the party continues and the game has changed little.

Ninety-one games – stewed and stirred, salt and peppered with bizarre losing streaks, eerie football bounces, ludicrous comebacks and staggering upsets – is the special sauce that makes the Georgia – Florida rivalry like no other: hate, just hate.

They hate us.

We hate them.

We hate because of The Game.

Here’s the Dawn of the Dawg review of Florida and the things we love to hate about the Gators