Ross Hammonds Staff Writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ö Go back a week and a half and imagine RVs pulling onto the UA Mall Sunday before a home game, Wildcat banners and flags galore.

On the other side of the stadium, the exact same thing is taking place, but everything is covered in UCLA colors and emblems. Imagine the game being moved to San Diego, because a home-field advantage would be too much for one team to bear.

Now really use your imagination: pretend people from Arizona and California cared that these two teams played.

Every rationale that led to THIS football game getting the name "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" makes beyond-perfect sense. Putting words to what comes to pass in and around Alltel Stadium before, during and after the annual Georgia-Florida game is not feasible. Before actually going, I didn't have the nerve to even try.

Students leave Athens, Ga., and Gainsville, Fla., on Wednesday afternoon to travel to the neutral stadium in northeastern Florida. The Bulldog fans drive the six-plus hours in hordes of buses, RVs and beds of pickup trucks despite losing 12 of the last 13 to the Gators. The die-hards arrive early in the week to form ÎRV City.' It's a simple gathering of social extravagance roughly the size of every tailgater for an Arizona game. Ever. I actually ran into an ex-Arizona player from the Desert Swarm years sporting a Gator hat. His reason for being there was to see "a real college football game."

Do the locals care? There are no locals during this weekend; every person, vehicle and structure is covered in red/black or blue/orange. This game alone brings in an estimated $34 million for the city. It's even rumored Alltel Stadium was constructed for this bad-blood game alone and the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars are simply a front. This could not be confirmed or denied.

In recent years, all people remember is Steve Spurrier and his 12 wins over Georgia. Before that, Georgia's Vince Dooley went 14-4 against Florida from 1971 to 1988.

But throughout the streaks of winning and losing, the fans have always come, and will continue to. It's in their blood down here.

With game day arriving six hours before kickoff, there's the perfect amount of time for tailgating, cocktail-party style. Each car driving into the parking lot has telltale signs of what colors its driver bleeds. The whole parking lot resembles Roman infantry flags ÷ or maybe Greek, since they're from Athens.

There are rows of coolers that play "Glory, Glory" when they're opened, people dragging gators on leashes and throwing them under moving tires. When the Redcoat band arrived, it was on five buses and two trucks, amid swarming cheers and applause.

I can't say I've seen that in the Pac-10, and it's important to note that the same thing was happening in blue and orange on the West side of the stadium.

Last but absolutely not least, there are cocktails. Everyone has a cocktail of some sort, whether it's a Beast Light in a squeezy or just straight Jack and Jim. With last year's kickoff at 7 p.m., imagine how many never made it to the game. The 3:30 p.m. kick this year saw the cocktails starting to be served while the morning time was still only three digits. The port-o-toilet line inspired thoughts that free trips to the Bahamas were given away inside them.

Though 84,411 people attended the games, there were also another estimated 150,000 outside, just there for the experience.

At an Arizona game, showing up during the first quarter is on time. In the Southeastern Conference, an hour before is getting close to late. Contrary to popular belief, there are no alcohol sales inside the stadium of any NCAA football game. However, like many rules, there are ways around it. Ways I shall not disclose here. Let it be known most college students cannot survive four quarters of football on pretzels and Sprite.

Inside the uniquely divided stadium, two halves press together. Right down the endzone seats, in the middle of a section, is a line ÷ one side red, the other blue. In some places it may even be considered a piece of art. There is never a quiet moment between the two bands and two sides. I learned the words to more Georgia and Florida cheers before kickoff than there are students who know the words to "Bear Down." There is a main theme ÷ no sitting. Even the fans that could barely walk up the stairs stood the whole game. At every point during the game, one side of Alltel was cheering at the top of their lungs, one team was always doing something right. Both the ears and the voice were highly ineffective for hours after the game.

It came down to the wire, and the Gators' field goal with 0:33 left put them up 16-13. Bulldog Billy Bennett missed a 29-yard field goal in the second quarter, which would have left the game tied as Georgia drove in the final minutes. Thousands of fans were positive they would've made the 32-yarder. Georgia had first and goal at the four with four minutes left and was held to the game-tying kick. Chris Leak finally revitalized the Florida offense and drove down in the waning minutes.

After the game was simply round two of tailgating, as the cocktails didn't stop with the game. Now people had a reason to indulge: they were either celebrating for the 13th time in 14 years or they were dejected for the 13th time in 14 years.

But they will all be back next year, with even more fire inside to win this game.

Think of the biggest game every year in the Pac-10. The Big Game? The Apple Cup? Duel in the Desert?

That's every game ÷ for every team and their fans ÷ in the Southeastern Conference. It's something we aren't lucky enough to see that regularly out West.

It's a self-described religion, or a way of life, or maybe it's just like one big cocktail party.