The third round of the FA Cup is still one of the most eagerly anticipated weekends in English football, even though the appeal of the competition may have waned over the years.
It's the time the heavyweight clubs enter the competition and traditionally the story which grabs the headlines is the possibility of a footballing giant being upset by a much smaller club. This year the draw has come up trumps with several intriguing ties to whet the appetite of those who enjoy David and Goliath confrontations.
Catching the eye in particular are AFC Wimbledon at home to Liverpool, former FA Cup giant-killers Yeovil Town hosting mighty Manchester United, Conference side Dover Athletic entertaining a vulnerable Crystal Palace and non-league Blyth Spartans hosting Championship outfit Birmingham.
The interest in the Wimbledon clash with Liverpool dates back to one of the biggest upsets of all time, when the original Wimbledon FC, mainly consisting of misfits rejected by other clubs and dubbed 'The Crazy Gang', beat high-flying Liverpool in the 1988 Cup Final.
The Dons triumphed 1-0, thanks to a header by Lawrie Sanchez. No one had given Wimbledon a chance and at the final whistle, BBC commentator John Motson blurted out: "The Crazy Gang have beaten the CuIlture Club."
The next day brought the inevitable headline "Game, Set and Match to Wimbledon". Dons player Alan Cork later claimed the entire team spent the night before the final in a pub.
The present AFC Wimbledon emerged from the ashes of the old Wimbledon which expired in 2002.
Wimbledon fans were left without a club when, in a rare example of an American-style franchise situation, the former Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes and became known as MK Dons.
To their credit, the abandoned fans left set up their own club and entered it in the lowly Combined Counties League. Although they lost their first match to Sutton United 4-0, a crowd of 4,657 showed up to cheer them and AFC Wimbledon was born.
They proceeded to rise through the ranks of England's football pyramid in spectacular fashion. For the last three seasons they have been playing in League Two.
Yeovil, the only team in the English league playing in green and white hoops, will relish taking on Manchester United at their Huish Park ground despite currently being bottom of League One.
Although they only won promotion to the Football League in 2003, Yeovil are a familiar name for most English football followers owing to their impressive exploits over the years in the FA Cup as a non-league team.
The Glovers were by far the most successful non-league club in the FA Cup, reaching the third round a record 13 times, beating more than 20 league teams in the process.
Their most famous scalp came in 1949 with a 2-1 fourth round victory over Sunderland, a star-studded side in those days, featuring the gifted Len Shackleton. It is still regarded as the biggest FA Cup shock ever.
Yeovil went on to the fifth round where they were defeated by Manchester United in front of an 81,000 crowd at Maine Road. Old Trafford was still under repair after war damage.
At the time, Yeovil's success was attributed to their special diet of glucose tablets, eggs and sherry, concocted by player-manager Alec Stock.
Visitors used to complain that the notorious 'Yeovil Slope' at the original Huish ground was a factor in the club's success and there may have been an element of truth in that — "Land of Slope and Glory'' became a popular headline.
But the ground is no longer a factor since moving to Huish Park in 1990. The old sloping ground became a Tesco supermarket, so these days it's trolleys that roll down the hill rather than footballs.
One unusual claim to fame is that the Yeovil players' recording of Yeovil True reached 36th in the UK singles charts in 2004, marking their FA Cup third round showdown against Liverpool.
The lyrics, sung with a strong West Country accent, include the immortal lines: "Day and Night, I'm green and white — we are Yeovil Town. Ooh Arr!"
Dover is probably better known as the location of Vera Lynn's World War II hit The White Cliffs Of Dover rather than a bastion of football.
Nicknamed the Whites, they are currently mid-table in the Conference league and reached the third round of the cup once before, in the 2010-11 season.
Another non-league team worth watching are Blyth Spartans, currently playing in the Northern Premier League. Named after the Greek Spartan army, like Yeovil, Blyth have a terrific FA Cup record and reached the fifth round in 1978, eventually losing to Wrexham in a replay.
Blyth will fancy their chances at home to Birmingham, although it is not quite the glamour draw they had been hoping for.
One Spartans player: "It was bit of an anti-climax to be honest, because we were hoping for Manchester United or a team like that."
Another non-league side from the Northeast, Gateshead, find themselves away to West Bromwich Albion.
Cold, wet and windy January afternoons are as good a time as any to take on a top team. Also, following a tough Christmas schedule, Premier League clubs often take the FA Cup third round as a good opportunity to rest key players.
Will there be any major upsets this weekend? Probably not, but the small clubs can dream, and after all, that's what the FA Cup is all about.