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Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Adams correct about ‘Cocktail Party’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Michael Adams has it right. (Yes, Michael Adams.) No self-respecting institution of higher learning should be part of a signature event billed, even unofficially, as The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. There was a time when colleges winked at alcohol and its effects, but that was before binge drinking became a societal concern, before colleges finally admitted they bear some responsibility for the actions of their students (and alumni).
The trouble with trying to proscribe TV networks from referring to Georgia-Florida as The World’s Largest You-Know-What is that, at this late date, it’s impossible to put the genie (to say nothing of the whiskey) back in the bottle. Even if TV goes along, Georgia-Florida will forever be known for alcoholic intake as much as for anything that happens in Alltel Stadium. Adams has it right, but he’s 40 or 50 years too late.
Greg McGarity graduated from Georgia in 1976 and has worked in both athletics departments. (Today he’s the senior associate AD for internal affairs at Florida.) Having seen Georgia-Florida from both sides, there was a time when he saw the annual game as scary. “Before [Jacksonville] became an NFL city, it was a matter of concern among game management,” he says. “You had an antiquated stadium … amateurs running a big-time event… . At that time, there was always the feeling it could get kind of ugly, and a couple of times it did with the field-rushing [in 1984 and 1985].
“But since then it’s taken a 180-degree turn, and the events of the last two years [one Florida student died in 2004, another in 2005] happened off-site. They happened downtown, where you get people who don’t usually go to the game. There’s always that element that comes in because they know there’s a party atmosphere.”
And how could anyone not know? When a game is advertised as The World’s Largest Et Cetera, we shouldn’t be surprised when those gathered bear little resemblance to the attendees at a quilting bee. And there is, as we know, the unmistakable belief that a college football game at any venue carries with it the license to guzzle.
That’s the mindset that Georgia and Florida and schools everywhere are trying to override — Adams speaks of changing the culture — but can any school alter something so ingrained? Says McGarity: “I know Georgia has changed its on-campus tailgating policy, and our on-campus enforcement has gotten stricter about the open-container law. Really, all we’re asking is that you conduct yourself in a proper manner. … As I get older, it’s important to me that I can go to a game and know I won’t be injured or cursed at or have a drink spilled on [me].”
Largely because of the death of the two students, Florida AD Jeremy Foley wrote to SEC commissioner Mike Slive in January making the request that Adams has made public — have the TV networks knock off that Cocktail Party jazz. But how much has Adams’ school contributed to the notion that what happens in Jax stays in Jax?
Since 2000, UGA has scheduled its fall break for the Thursday and Friday before Georgia-Florida. (Florida offers students no such pregame holiday.) When the game was moved to the respective campuses in 1994 and 1995 due to stadium renovation, Georgia fans were clearly the more disappointed. This is their annual autumn getaway — to play golf at St. Simon’s, to bark along The Landing, perhaps to sip an outdoor (or indoor) cocktail.
Says McGarity: “The Florida people are more likely to go in and out [the day of the game]. But there’s a special feeling to [the trip] on the Georgia side.”
Adams, who has gotten much wrong, has this one right. If he’s serious about curbing on-campus drinking, he cannot in good conscience turn a blind eye to the excesses inherent in the Georgia fan’s favorite road trip. But the networks will be the easy sell. Trying to convince Joe/Jane Bulldog that Jacksonville, Fla., isn’t simply The World’s Largest Watering Hole will be more difficult by far.
Permalink | Comments (37) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Nice try taking on the Cocktail Party mindset
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Nice try. It was an admirable try, in fact, when Georgia president Michael Adams told the AJC this week that he wished to rid the earth (especially the portion that encompasses Athens and Gainesville) of That Term surrounding the yearly Georgia-Florida football game in Jacksonville.
The thing is, the electronic media is going to do what it is going to do. Which means that if it has a chance to boost its ratings a bit, you’ll likely hear something like, oh, let’s see … “Welcome to the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” come October 28.
Not only that, the Georgia-Florida game already has been established in the minds of many as the time when fans of both schools are allowed to make fools of themselves by getting as drunk and disgusting as possible before, during and after the game. Seeking to ban the use of That Term won’t change that any time soon.
It’s a start, though.
It’s better than nothing.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
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