There has always been a certain degree of inequity that the so-called neutral site of the annual Georgia-Florida football game is anything but. Next fall's Cocktail Party, however, might be located on a Florida field, but Georgia will be protecting its own turf at Alltel Stadium - literally.
On Thursday, experts started harvesting and hauling 2 acres of Georgia sod from a farm near Sandersville to the stadium 200 miles away in Jacksonville.
In one month, that piece of the Peach State will be center stage for the biggest sports event of the year - Super Bowl XXXIX.
So even if the Atlanta Falcons don't make it there, Georgia will be represented in the NFL championship game by something they call Princess 77.
"This stadium down there will have a little patch of Georgia," said Ronnie Stapp, the executive vice president of Madison-based Pennington Seed and a 1971 Georgia graduate.
This is the third consecutive Super Bowl that Pennington Seed has provided the turf in the variety of this Princess 77 hybrid of Bermuda grass - a three-peat that makes the company a dynasty of sorts. But this is the first time the Georgia seed and the Georgia soil have come together for the biggest event in football.
For logistical reasons, the fields for the previous two Super Bowls in San Diego and Houston were harvested in Palm Desert, Calif., and Casa Grande, Ariz., respectively.
To say that Georgia officials are proud of this grass-roots connection is an understatement. Gov. Sonny Perdue flew in on a helicopter
(landing on an adjacent field, of course) for a ceremony to kick off the harvesting project Thursday morning, joining various other local and national dignitaries on a walkabout of the 100,000 square feet of pristine turf. Media and guests were sent home with chunks of the stuff to establish their own office or back yard shrines to a grass that will be available for the first time in over-the-counter bags in the spring.
It seems like a lot of fuss over a lawn, but then again Janet Jackson doesn't orchestrate her wardrobe malfunctions in just anyone's back yard.
This year's Super Bowl field was planted in July 2003 at Phillip Jennings' Turf Farms - former peanut and corn fields about 10 miles east of the prep football factory known as Washington County High School.
It has been coddled more than a pampered quarterback ever since. They actually have blankets large enough to cover three playing fields if it gets too cold.
"We treat it like royalty," Stapp said of the aptly named Princess.
Starting in September, the turf really hit the training table.
It was 'roided up with advanced fertilization to thicken the Bermuda base before it was overseeded with two varieties of Kentucky Blue Grass and three types of rye grasses for a lush, plush and brilliant green playing surface.
This field of dreams requires its own dream team of turf aficionados to make it worthy of being super.
One is turf legend George Toma, the "retired" Kansas City groundskeeper who has been working the grass for 61 years. The "Nitty, Gritty Dirt Man" has been the NFL's main man at every single Super Bowl and Pro Bowl.
Another is Ed Mangan, the Atlanta Braves' field director of 15 years, who Toma calls the "miracle man of Turner Field."
Mangan can't grow hair on his head, but he's got a comb in his pocket in case a blade of grass gets out of line.
"Ed is the best," Toma declared. "He's a perfectionist. If it passes Ed's test, it will pass any test."
These are men who take grass and weed more seriously than Woody Harrelson and Ricky Williams.
These are men inclined to leap off their sofas and hurl profanities and beer cans at the television set when they see horrifying images of sod coming up in clumps, as it did in December's NCAA Division I-AA championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn.
"That's the best advertisement for artificial turf," Toma says disgustedly.
On the most expensive advertising Sunday of the year, the NFL cannot afford any turf malfunctions.
That's why Mangan, Toma and Alltel Stadium field director Mary Clay were all in Sandersville again Thursday to oversee the handling of the 44-inch-by-40-feet rolls of turf that will head down south in 40 truckloads.
The production is all kind of amazing to Toma, who readied the field for Super Bowl I himself with only a small trunk of equipment. Now they have three tractor trailers full of equipment and 30 men who have the next month to make the surface of Alltel Stadium look like it's been there forever and personally manicured by Martha Stewart.
"The cheapest insurance for athletes is a good, safe playing field," Toma said of his primary role. "Number two is to have a field of beauty for the fans in the stands and on TV."
It's a nice story for Sandersville, which has long been ground zero in the football foundation business and came so close to registering a fourth state championship last month, falling in the title game to LaGrange.
Georgia's football program has tapped the Washington County market plenty times before - for the pro football-destined Edwards brothers (Robert and Terrence) and current Bulldogs lineman Seth Watts.
Now Georgia might have recruited a key tool in its annual grudge match with the Gators.
When the Super Bowl is over and done with, the most important football real estate in the Sunshine State will be deeply rooted in Georgia.
"Way to stir the pot," Mangan said.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
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