Florida and Georgia no longer want to be known for throwing the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
The annual football game in Jacksonville between the Southeastern Conference rivals has been called the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party by fans and the media since the 1950s. But the deaths of two students in the past two years, and an emphasis on responsible alcohol use, has prompted the universities to ask television networks to stop using the moniker.
CBS Sports, ESPN and Jefferson Pilot were contacted by SEC commissioner Mike Slive in January asking them to consider dropping the use of the slogan during the Oct. 28 game.
“We would appreciate any initiatives you might take to avoid using the cocktail party reference. This is a great college football game which highlights a traditional rivalry full of the passion of football in the southeast. Our hope is to keep the focus on the game,” Slive wrote in a letter to Mike Aresco, vice president of programming for CBS Sports.
They have to admit, “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” rolls off the tongue much easier than “The Greatest Concentration Of Date Rapists, Illiterates & Guys With A Creepy Sense Of Entitlement In One Space (And That’s Just The Players)”.
Two dumb asses aren’t going to ruin a half century of tradition. They need to take a step back and have respect for all the people who have enjoyed this event over the years and what it’s meant to all of them. Taking away the name is not going to take away what it represents. Unless you stop having the game, then it is over. But it will still be the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party as long as the game is played each year. These people need to get help and leave the rest of us alone. We are going to have a party regardless of what a couple dumb asses do and regardless of what some wanker at the SEC can say about it. They’ll have to close every bar in Athens and every bar in Gainsville and stop selling charcoal at the grocery to stop us. It is outrageous. This kind of lip service and conflicting signal is kind of what leads dumb asses to go over the deep end inthe first place. You say “let’s play football” and then say we’re not going to party. We’re either playing football or we’re not. There’s no gray area here between the hatred against these two teams and the battle and the tradition that is right there. In the very old days it was civil war. Thank god we can play football now instead. You better not tell us not to or there could be another civil war as we’ve seen in Hawaii multiple times.
They have to admit, “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party†rolls off the tongue much easier than “The Greatest Concentration Of Date Rapists, Illiterates & Guys With A Creepy Sense Of Entitlement In One Space (And That’s Just The Players)â€.
I’m sure you’ve been to so many of these games, that much is clear.
I suppose in your world, ignorance is bliss. Stereotyping as well. Whatever gets you off, bozo.
Bozo?
there’s a lot of things I could say about you based on your tiresome correspondence, pokerJ, but let’s just say I won’t be referring to you as “Oscar Wilde” any time in the near future.
But seriously, you do an excellent job of pointing out the rich, cultural mosiac that is the Florida/Georgia derby, an effort only slightly topped by Mowaw’s above entry.
I apologize for perpetuating negative stereotypes. I pledge in the future, I’ll try to leave that to the experts.
its true, but all the rednecks pull for georgia 😉
As tragic as the two students dying is, I will continue to refer to The Florida-Georgia Football Game as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. The vast majority of fans on both sides conduct themselves with class. Since 1904 this game has been special to College Football. After 84 meetings UGA has won 46 games, UF has won 36 games and there has been 2 ties. However since 1989 UF has a 14-3 edge. The Dawgs and Gators will be major players in determining who will win The SEC Championship in 2006. Good luck to both teams against that fat rat phillp fulmer at that little orange schoolhouse in knoxville.