Downtown came away from the Georgia-Florida game in reasonably intact fashion.
According to Sgt. Jim Suber and his staff with the sheriff’s office of special events, there were almost no incidents over the weekend.
“Everyone had a good time and no one got hurt,” said Sgt. Bill David. “Except that the Gators lost.”
Florida lost 31-24 before a record crowd at Alltel Stadium to cap a long weekend of parties, concerts and official gatherings.
Here’s a look at some of the weekend’s events:
The Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame luncheon Friday was marked with direct comments to Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans, who had publicly stated that perhaps the game should be played in Georgia every other year.
None was more direct than former Georgia defensive coach Erk Russell, a Hall inductee, who turned to Evans during his acceptance speech and said, “This is the best site for it, Damon. I don’t known about budgets, but take it from an old guy who has been here a lot. This is the best game and let’s keep it here.”
The talk of a move comes out of Georgia every few years, particularly when the contract with Jacksonville is almost up for renewal . . . as it will be after next year’s game.
Evans, in his first year as the school’s top athletic official, was noncommittal at the luncheon but that evening reportedly told a gathering of wealthy Bulldog supporters that he wasn’t going to make any drastic changes.
• • •
If you were cold at Friday night’s Barry Manilow concert, blame Manilow. He was described by an Arena official as being “awfully finicky” and among his demands were lowering the temperature. Even the elevator operators, who were well away from the performance area, were shivering.
The Arena managers make an effort to please their skybox holders and came up with a timely idea for the Manilow concert: a pumpkin carving contest which pitted the boxes against each other.
• • •
The Landing was party central Friday night and the crowd spilled up across Bay Street. Not everything was unscathed — the sea cow statue at the corner of Independent Drive and Laura Street lost its sunglasses.
• • •
The Georgia T-shirt industry was busy printing up shirts derogatory to Florida’s firing of Coach Ron Zook. Most were profane but one that can be related here was “Coachless and hopeless.”
There was at least one in support of Zook. One of his best friends is Gainesville car dealer Rick Rundle and he was passing around shirts saying “I’m a Zooker” and, on the back, taking a slap at UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley with a near-obscenity.
• • •
More than a few in-the-know Gators said that Steve Spurrier is so sure of being Florida’s next coach that he’s already assembling a staff. His prize so far is claimed to be Bo Pellini, currently on the Oklahoma staff of Spurrier pal Bob Stoops.
• • •
There were more seats this year and the attendance reflects it with a record 84,753. The extra seats were in various places, notably the deck outside the Bud Zone.
• • • There are many differences between the college and pro games in Alltel but probably none as dramatic as the Bud Zone. It’s packed during Jaguars games when the beer flows but it was almost deserted Saturday when nothing stronger than Pepsi was served. There’s no alcohol sold in the stadium concession stands for college games.
An estimated 2,000 were at the stadium but not inside — the hospitality area outside the South end zone was open to the public and there was an enormous screen showing the game. It was a lively crowd, too; because it wasn’t inside, beer could be sold.
* * *
It’s a good bet that the Georgia football team will fly over Duval County again next year. In recent years they’ve stayed at the Southpoint Marriott but this year decided a change in venue might help break the losing of recent years.
They stayed in a St. Augustine hotel this time.
While Coach Mark Richt said
it was just to do something
different, there also was a
secondary reason: fewer of
the avid Georgia fans drove that far to distract the team.
–by Fred Seely