The Back Alley Archives

My mother taught me that “hate” is a strong word. However, it isn’t quite strong enough to convey my feelings towards the University of Georgia. Every October those hairy Dawgs get all uppity and think they can come into our state and win a football game. Then they’ll celebrate like they just won the super bowl after the few times they’ve actually won recently (we probably would too if it only happened four times since 1990). In recent years, the rivalry has gotten even bigger. Why you ask? Because it is now the “War for the Oar.”

This rivalry game week is usually my least productive week of the year. In my opinion, there are bigger fish to fry than work, school and being a fully functioning member of society. Now understand, I grew up with this rivalry being called one thing and one thing only -”The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” If you’ve ever been, you know that name is precisely accurate. In 2006, both schools decided we needed to change the name for the sake of political correctness – the Southeastern Conference agreed. So the name was dropped and most entities have been content in just calling it either the “Georgia-Florida game” or the “Florida-Georgia game” (I prefer the latter, the winning team should always come first).

The Florida/Georgia rivalry committee wasn’t content in sitting back and letting this heated rivalry game go without an official name. In 2009, they did something about it:

The UF and UGA Student Governments, in conjunction with both universities’ athletic associations, will present the traveling trophy to the winner of the long-time football rivalry. The Florida Gators’ victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in 2009 marked the first contest for the Okefenokee Oar. Now, being awarded for the third year, the ten-foot long Oar has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most impressive trophies in college football.

The Okefenokee Swamp is a region shared by Florida and Georgia. Florida and Georgia claimed this “Land of the Trembling Earth” as their own; and after a long history of boundary disputes, settlers traveled into the swamp and navigated the St. Mary’s river to establish the border between the states. The game is a battle reminiscent of the struggle for the land in the days of old.

The trophy, carved from a 1000-year-old cypress tree felled from the Okefenokee Swamp, is symbolic of the tenacity and determination used by settlers to guide themselves through the swamp’s treacherous waters. The Okefenokee Oar is exchanged annually at the Florida-Georgia game with the winner capturing the trophy for their team’s courageous effort in guiding their university to victory.

A joint “rivalry committee” has been established between the two schools to facilitate the handling and display of the trophy. Both schools have made arrangements to have the Oar displayed in their respective student unions following a victory in Jacksonville. Additionally, both the UF and UGA Student Senates have passed resolutions recognizing the Okefenokee Oar as the official rivalry trophy between the two schools.

On Saturday, Everbank Field will be split down the middle in one of the greatest scenes in all of college football, with Orange and Blue on one side, and Red and Black on the other. As the seconds tick off the clock one team will get to take home what is truly a piece of history, and we’ll wait another 364 days to do battle on the banks of the St. Johns river once more.