Why I Despise Georgia And Why You Should Too

By FRANZ BEARD

A few thoughts to jump start your Saturday morning:

WHY I HATE GEORGIA AND WHY YOU SHOULD TOO

It is the day of the annual Florida-Georgia game. Georgia is the reigning national champion and ranked No. 1 in the country. Florida, struggling to keep its head above the water, is a 22.5-point underdog and there are some folks who believe it will be an upset if the Gators can keep it that close.

Whenever Florida and Georgia meet in any sport it is like tossing lit matches on open, 50-gallon cans of gasoline. You have no clue just how much I despise the Georgia Bulldogs. It is estimated that the temperature on the surface of the sun is 15 million degrees Celsius. That doesn’t begin to come close to how passionately I despise Georgia and how much I wish they lose every time they step on a playing field no matter the sport.

Recently, I was asked if I cheered for Georgia in last season’s College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan, won by Georgia, 34-11. My response, “There is only one reason to ever cheer for Georgia in anything and that is because Georgia winning helps the Florida Gators win a championship.”

With that in mind, I’ll share with you the reasons why I despise Georgia and why you should, too.

Reason No. 1: My dad was a freshman at the University of Florida in 1942, still too young to sign up to join the Navy to fight the Germans and Japanese in World War II. At UF, nearly every able-bodied athlete had signed up to fight for the US in the weeks following Pearl Harbor. Florida was expected to have an exceptional football team in 1942, but the decision to declare war unilaterally on Germany and Japan ended those hopes and dreams. When the 1942 season rolled around, the majority of Florida’s football team was made up of kids awaiting their 18th birthday or those who couldn’t pass the physical.

The University of Georgia had one of the pre-eminent ROTC programs in the country. Numerous star players from around the country were assigned the UGa, which already had a roster full of stars like Flatfoot Frankie Sinkwich, who would win the Heisman Trophy, George Porschner, Charlie Trippi and Gene Ellenson, who would later be the defensive coordinator at Florida from 1960-69.

It was Georgia’s men vs. Florida’s boys when the two teams squared off in Jacksonville on November 7. The game was all but over after the first quarter. By halftime it was carnage. Georgia coach Wally Butts could have shown some mercy but he chose not to. Sinkwich and Trippi were still in the game late in the fourth quarter. Georgia went on to win the national championship. Florida went 3-7 with wins over Randolph-Macon, Auburn and Villanova.

My dad never forgot what Wally Butts did. He went to his grave in 1986 despising Georgia because of that game.

Reason No. 2: The 1968 Gators were preseason picks to finish in the top five nationally while winning their first national championship, but things didn’t turn out exactly like they were planned. The Gators were 4-0 and ranked seventh nationally when they ventured to Chapel Hill. On a rainy October Saturday in which the field at Kenan Stadium turned into a quagmire, the Gators fumbled seven times and lost, 22-7, to the Tar Heels. By the time November 9 rolled around, Florida was 4-2-1 and a deeply divided football team both on and off the field.

At the heart of the divisions was a quarterback controversy between Larry Rentz and Jackie Eckdahl that divided the offense. The defensive players were angry that the offensive players put personal loyalties above the team. Call it a no-win situation.

In the week prior to the Georgia game, offensive play caller Fred Pancoast went to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Ray Graves saw this as a chance to shake things up with the team so he turned the offense over to defensive coordinator Gene Ellenson and offensive coordinator Ed Kensler took over the defense. Maybe Graves thought things had hit rock bottom and there was no way but up. Well, he was wrong.

On a cold, rainy, miserable day at the old Gator Bowl, 9th-ranked Georgia put a whipping on the Gators. It was 42-0 at halftime and 48-0 with seconds remaining in the game when Vince Dooley called time out so that his senior center who hadn’t kicked since high school could try a field goal. He made it, of course.

The final score was 51-0. That night Steve Spurrier, John Brodie’s backup quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers, spoke to Coach Ellenson to ask what had happened. Spurrier never has forgotten that Dooley called time out to run up the score, which has everything to do with what happened in Athens in 1995. Leading 45-17 late in the fourth quarter, Spurrier called five consecutive pass plays including one off a double reverse as the Gators marched down the field to score one final TD. The extra point made it 52-17.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That’s how Spurrier looked at it. He called Coach Ellenson after the game and told him, “This was for you, Coach.”

Reason No. 3: The Gators went into the NCAA jailhouse in 1984. Among Florida’s heinous crimes were a couple of T-shirts and gym shorts for Dale Dorminey, whose luggage was lost while flying to Gainesville, and buying Dorminey a pack of Juicy Fruit and a Sprite while waiting on the return flight at Gainesville Regional on Sunday. Oh, there were other violations that weren’t exactly petty, nearly everyone committed by Florida boosters, who were out of control. The Gators were caught and paid the price for their crimes against the NCAA, but it’s not like they were the only ones who were operating outside the law. Bobby Bowden and FSU got hit with illegal recruiting inducements, but the Seminoles got a slap on the wrist. Georgia’s recruitment of Herschel Walker wasn’t exactly on the up-and-up. The Bulldogs reportedly outbid Southern Cal allegedly because John Robinson was on the golf course and couldn’t counter the Georgia offer. Georgia stonewalled the NCAA and lost two scholarships. Vince Dooley lobbied the NCAA long and hard to keep Georgia out of trouble. He had the leverage of being chairman of the NCAA’s powerful television committee.

Charley Pell is vilified as the personification of all that was wrong with college football at the time. He was a saint compared to Dooley. While Dooley was the head coach Georgia went on probation for football three times (1965, 1978, 1982) and once more while he was athletic director (1997). Two basketball coaches he hired (Hugh Durham and Jim Harrick) put Georgia on probation.

Jan Kemp blew the whistle on a fraudulent academic support program of which Dooley was well aware. When she refused to give athletes passing grades for course work they either flunked or didn’t do, Kemp was fired. Kemp sued and was awarded more than $1 million by a jury.

Back to 1984. Florida got hit with some of the most severe sanctions in NCAA history. Included were serious scholarship reductions and two years of no television. Charley Pell lost his job. The Gators won the 1984 SEC title on the field, but after the season the SEC athletic directors and presidents voted to strip the Gators of the championship they earned on the field. Dooley led the charge.

I did an interview with Wilber Marshall a few years back. He told me some of the schools that voted to strip the Gators of the SEC in 1984 were among those who offered him big money to come to their schools when he was recruited out of Titusville Astronaut.

Reason No. 4: Galen Hall was informed he would be fired just prior to the LSU game on October 7, 1989. His crime was allegedly paying a month of child support for Jarvis Williams. Williams’ mom was said to reimburse him the next day. Hall denied he ever paid any money and the NCAA has never conclusively proved that he did, yet the Gators got slapped with a year of probation for something that happened before even one Florida player was on the roster.

The NCAA ruled the Gators ineligible for a bowl game in 1990, which happened to be Steve Spurrier’s first year. The Gators had the best record in the SEC and should have won the championship but the athletic directors and presidents voted to make the Gators ineligible for the title. Vince Dooley led the charge once again.

Add 1968 to 1990 and maybe you have a better understanding of why Steve Spurrier was so intent on sticking it to Georgia any and every chance he got.

Reason No. 5: October 27, 2007. Mark Richt had his team rush the field after scoring on their first possession of the game. After the game, won by Georgia, 42-30, Richt feigned shock that his team risked possibly starting a brawl. He piled on that story at SEC Media Days in July of 2008, claiming he was in total shock. Richt told the media that he saw the players rushing the field and said to himself, “Oh heck, you know … what’s going on?”

His nose grew.

A couple of days ago, former Georgia linebackers Marcus Howard and Marcus Washington came clean and admitted that Richt planned the whole thing.

Urban Meyer, like Spurrier, exacted his revenge. In the 2008 game, Meyer waited until there were 44 seconds to go in the game. Florida led, 49-10, when Meyer called time out. Richt was caught staring at the scoreboard. One play later, Meyer called time out again, this time with 30 seconds to go. It was pure torture for Richt.

By nature I am a forgiving person, but my forgiveness has its limits when it comes to the Georgia Bulldogs. Unless it helps the Gators in some way, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to wish a Georgia athletic team well.

I despise the Georgia Bulldogs. You should too.

The SEC Soothsayer

No. 1 Georgia (7-0, 4-0 SEC) vs. FLORIDA (4-3, 1-3 SEC) in Jacksonville: The spread is 22.5 points. I think the Gators will score some points. I believe Anthony Richardson is going to play well and that Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne will run effectively. I don’t know if the Gators can get enough stops but I think they cover the spread. The Sayer says sooth!: Georgia 31, Florida 21

No. 19 Kentucky (5-2, 2-2 SEC) at No. 3 Tennessee (7-0, 3-0 SEC): Kentucky has an excellent defense but unless the Wildcats play from the lead, they’ll probably be in deepest and darkest against the Vols. Close for a half. Maybe. The Sayer says sooth!: Tennessee 35, Kentucky 17

No. 15 Ole Miss (7-1, 3-1 SEC) at Texas A&M (3-4, 1-3 SEC): The wheels are coming off in Aggieland. The Aggies can’t score so the Ole Miss defense gets a break. The Sayer says sooth: Ole Miss 28, Texas A&M 13

Missouri (3-4, 1-3 SEC) at No. 25 South Carolina (5-2, 2-2 SEC): If this game were at Mizzou it would be easy to pick the Tigers. At Willie Brice, go with the Chickens. The Sayer says sooth!: South Carolina 24, Missouri 17

Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC) at Auburn (3-4, 1-3 SEC): Auburn has trouble scoring and Arkansas has trouble stopping anyone. Arkansas has a better quarterback. That will be the difference. The Sayer says sooth!: Arkansas 28, Auburn 30