This weekend marks one of the greatest rivalries in college football: the annual contest between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the University of Florida Gators. It’s a heated rivalry, and I’m sure you already know which side I’m on.
But in this column, I’m not writing about the game itself so much as a cool commemorative item that has just debuted to mark this historic and storied rivalry. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum recognizes that there’s something special about what we used to call “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” — some of us still call it that — and is releasing a limited edition commemorative bobblehead to honor the rivalry.
You can see it in the featured image, and it looks cool.* It features a football field with one end zone representing the Gators and the other representing the Bulldogs. Albert, the Gators’ mascot, and Hairy Dawg, the Bulldogs’ mascot, stand side by side, confident in who’s number one.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum is only producing 2,025 of the bobbleheads (see what they did there?), and they’re $50 plus $8 flat-rate shipping. Customers can order them exclusively through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum online store.
“We’re excited to unveil this bobblehead commemorating the Florida vs. Georgia Football Rivalry ahead of Saturday’s game in Jacksonville,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “This bobblehead will be the perfect way for Florida and Georgia fans, alumni, students, faculty, and staff to show off their school pride!”
Related: A Bulldog in Big Orange Country: Knoxville Weekend Tales
Bobbleheads are big business. Bobbleheads.com says it produces over a quarter of a million units a year, while Bobble Factory claims to make 500,000 a year. The museum features hundreds of designs in its store — its Georgia Bulldogs selections are impressive and fun — and ESPN even featured it in a heartwarming story last year.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has been open in Milwaukee since 2019, and it’s a bargain at $5 per person (plus tax); it also offers memberships. It’s open seven days a week, and if I get up to Milwaukee anytime soon, you bet I’ll pay it a visit.
But why is the Georgia-Florida rivalry worth commemorating? As I wrote in Neon Crosses:
There’s just something about the Georgia-Florida rivalry that has inspired deep passion and hatred in both teams’ fans since 1904 – or is it 1915?
In 1904, there wasn’t really a University of Florida, but the Bulldogs trounced Florida Agricultural College in a 52-0 rout in Macon. Georgia claims this game is the start of the rivalry. The state of Florida established the University of Florida in 1905, and those two teams met for the first time in 1915, where Georgia won 37-0.
What makes the rivalry so intense? It could be because it’s one of the few neutral site rivalries, with the two teams meeting in Jacksonville every year except for two since 1933, and at various other neutral sites in the years prior to that. Or maybe it’s that the unique atmosphere of the series – infamously known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” because of the raucous partying and free-flowing alcohol – lends itself to strong feeling.
The annual game has been a fixture of Jacksonville, Fla., life since 1933, with the exception of two years, and it will move to Atlanta in 2026 and Tampa in 2027 to accommodate renovations to EverBank Stadium. The fifth-ranked Bulldogs face a Gators team that is hungry for a win after firing head coach Billy Napier. The game will air on ABC at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on November 1.
*“Well, one side of it is cool,” says the dyed-in-the-wool Dawg.
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