GOLDEN GATOR AND THE WORLD'S LARGEST OUTDOOR COCKTAIL PARTY
This Saturday the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs meet again in one of college football's greatest rivalries in a unique get-together known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Played in Jacksonville on the banks of the St. Johns River, this little foray is the setting for a whole lotta drinking and a little Southern football and has been home to some pretty big games along the way.

To help us better understand this game and Florida football, we've invited a bull gator that has seen it all and done it all when it comes to pigskin happenings in Gainesville. I had the opportunity to first meet Golden Gator 25 years ago when he decided to return to the Southeast after a long and distinguished marketing and advertising career on the West Coast. When he wasn't launching innovative service concepts with Atlantic Richfield, he was helping guide the creative efforts for a little computer company in Cupertino, Apple. He also perfected the 'hang ten' surfing technique and became known as the Golden Surfer Dude on the Venice Beach scene.

Before we get to Golden Gator's thoughts on the game, first a little Question & Answer.

Golden Gator with his pet lizard, 'Spurrier'

Time for Q& A with Golden Gator

WWW:   So, what exactly does it mean to be a Golden Gator?
Golden Gator:   Mostly it means I'm old!  It also means I've been a Gator for over 50 years. Actually, it's now 56 years since I arrived on the Florida campus in 1959.

WWW:   Wow. You've seen a lot then.
Golden Gator:  It was a different world then...imagine going to college in Florida with NO air conditioning! Only the student union building had air conditioning. I spent my entire freshman year in an old barrack built for returning veterans. And it was still the segregation era which fortunately ended my second year.

WWW:  Times have certainly changed, huh? 
Golden Gator:  Most certainly. From a football perspective, 1959 was the end of the Bob Woodruff era and the beginning of the Ray Graves era. Graves was the first modern coach to teach the Gators that winning was not only okay BUT expected. He was helped, of course, by having a kid named Steve Spurrier as his quarterback during his tenture (editor's note: Spurrier was born and raised in East Tennessee but spurned Knoxville since they were still running the single wing).

WWW:  So what's the ride been like these past fifty years? 
Golden Gator:  It's been a bumpy ride with lots of potholes. We came to know just how great it was to be a Gator during the Spurrier coaching era. He not only made us champions, he made Gator football fun! But we also had to endure Ron Zook and other mediocre periods. Even though Urban Meyer enjoyed success, he got it at a cost (think Aaron Hernandez). He damn near killed the program before running away.

WWW:  Any specific great memories from a Florida game or season? 
Golden Gator:  The highlight of my Gator fandom was being at the national championship game in the Sugar Bowl in 1996.  Danny Woerffel lead the Gators over FSU.

WWW:  You’ve seen your share of Florida coaches – good and bad – at the Swamp. Any favorites? 
Golden Gator: Steve Spurrier is by far the best coach the Gators have ever had. Highly innovative, a very fun approach to the game, all while running a clean program. All Gators are proud of what he accomplished.

WWW:  Can Will Muschamp survive the 2014 season?   If not, who would you like to see come to Gainesville?

Head gonna roll?

Golden Gator:  Muschamp is done. He falls short on many key dimensions; bad judge of talent (think Driscoll); can't motivate the team to play to their potential; hires poorly( think Charlie Weiss). He should never have been given the job. He will be moving on.  I'd love to see Charlie Strong come back. And given Texas's horrible year, it could happen. Obviously Dan Mullen would be a great choice. No way Mississippi State will let him get away. Spurrier will not and should not come back. As Thomas Wolfe said, you can never go home again. 
WWW:  The SEC East is down this year. When do you think it returns to prominence? 
Golden Gator: The East is two years, maybe three, from returning to dominance. Tennessee needs more time with its new coach. The Gators need three years at least. S.Carolina will remain good, never great. They just can't get top players into S. Carolina. Georgia under their current regime will be top 20, never top 4. 

WWW:  You and your wife are both Florida alumni. But your son is a UGA grad. Any friction? Friendly wager?
Golden Gator:  No friction. My son is smart enough to not rub in the recent Bulldawg dominance. He knows the pendulum always swings back. And, yes, we always have a wager...a bottle of our favorite booze each year.

GOLDEN GATOR'S TAKE ON THE GAME....

First, I have to say, what a helluva fun game this has always been! Both teams gear up more for this game than any other ... Well FSU gets our attention too. But in Jacksonville, every one juices up, even the coaches..hell, the anal Richt has even been know to pull surprises.

And don't believe the rumors about this years game...the Gators will show up! They tried to substitute The Gainesville High School team but they said pretending to be this years Gator team would ruin any hopes for scholarships.

So the Gators will play nice. With UGA suspending sales of autographed jerseys, the Gator alums will have a booth with all the bull puppy players autographed jerseys. Of course, no money has changed hands...wink wink.

So, who's going to win?

Regardless of which team wins on the field, the Gators can't lose! If we win the game, we can hold our heads up again...but if we lose the game, it's bye-bye Coach Boom and hello Coach Busted. Everyone knows Muschamp has only a thin thread holding him up. The long term Gator in me will give up the win in Jacksonville if it means a coaching change. It's time to move on. Let Muschamp go to a small school and figure out what being a head coach means. I'll chip in for the flight out of town! Not only are we looking the worst I've ever seen the Gators look, we're also getting clobbered in the recruiting wars. Commitments are being cancelled; 5 star recruits are saying, "no way Florida."

With my son being a Bulldog, this is a tough decision. Obviously Georgia is the better team but strange things happen in this game. Biggest question mark is Treon Harris. Can he be the man to turn the team around? Sadly, no one man can. The problems are much deeper than the QB position.

Take the Bulldogs and give the Gators the 16 pt spread. Bulldogs will win by 24 (choking up as I say this).

Be sure to check back for an exclusive featurette by a lady WWW follower, Gurley Girl.

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