How could game day in Athens be improved?
Would the Dawg Walk be even greater if more fans could experience it? (AJC staff)
Game-day traditions are a big part of college football. Even though fans of rival schools like to trade trash talk about each others’ traditions, there’s an overall appeal to the colorful spectacle and sometimes heart-pumping excitement of the various rituals. You don’t have to be a fan of Ohio State to appreciate their band’s dotting of the “i” or the many quirky traditions of Texas A&M.
The Sporting News’ Dave Curtis and Matt Hayes have each listed their top 10 game-day traditions, and UGA mascot Uga placed high on Hayes’ list, coming in at No. 2 behind the Saturday night atmosphere at Death Valley in Baton Rouge.
I must admit, I never really thought of Uga as a game-day tradition — more like a 365-days-a-year tradition — but I can see how a visitor to Sanford Stadium would come away most impressed with what many outside the Bulldog Nation consider the best mascot in college football.
We discussed UGA game-day traditions last summer, and I noted out of the many things I get a kick out of on fall Saturdays in Athens — from the kids waving at the team buses rolling by on Lumpkin to the ringing of the chapel bell after a win — my particular favorites are the Dogs walking toward the east end zone while the Redcoats play “Krypton Fanfare” during the warm-ups, and, most of all, the spine-tingling solo from the trumpeter in the southwest corner of the upper level stands before kickoff.
At the time, I asked in a poll what your favorite game-day tradition was, and the solo trumpeter finished first, with 49 percent of the votes, followed by the Larry Munson pre-game video, the team’s Dawg Walk, ringing the chapel bell and the Krypton Fanfare.
Ah, yes. Just thinking about all of that has me hankering for September.
Of course, that doesn’t mean some game-day traditions in Athens couldn’t stand some tweaking.
The one that immediately comes to mind is tailgating, which has become an increasingly troubled proposition in recent years and stands to get even hairier, pardon the pun, this season with the severe limitations on when and how and with what fans can set up on the North Campus quads. It’s unfortunate, but the pig sty that fans were turning the campus into pretty much has quashed attempts to have a tailgating atmosphere along the lines of the Grove at Ole Miss. I’m not sure what the solution is there, but I have a feeling making folks pay to tailgate in the quads might be where we’re headed.
And as I noted last year, the problematic physical layout and very limited sight lines of the Dawg Walk in the Tate Center parking lot keep it from being a must for many fans. I realize the coaches probably wouldn’t be too thrilled about a lengthy walk for the team on its way to the stadium, but if there was a way to have the Dawg Walk wind through a more open area of the campus than that rather cramped parking lot, I’m sure many more fans would enjoy the chance to see the players up close before a game.
Got any ideas along those lines or concerning improving tailgating? Or are there any other game-day traditions you think could be improved? Anything new you’d like to see established as a tradition in Athens? Is there something you’d like the Redcoats to add to their game routine? Feel free to share your ideas. …
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282 comments Add your comment
Russman
May 26th, 2010
1:42 pm
Put the electric guitars and drum set back on sidelines in front of the student section. Those were the days! HBTDs
Will
May 26th, 2010
1:43 pm
Hope and pray that The Junkyard Dawg Defense is back in 2010!!!!!!!!
SouthSide Dawg
May 26th, 2010
1:43 pm
The 2007 season with Knowshon, Bailey, Black Jerseys, and Soulja Boy was unforgettable. I think that might have been the first year of the Munson Pre-Game Videos too. Mojo was rockin’ that year.
WonderDawg
May 26th, 2010
1:43 pm
Wish Stafford was still following Hairy Dawg to the stadium!! (see photo)
Paul (You doesn't have to call me Johnson).
May 26th, 2010
1:44 pm
The Grove at Ole Miss is by far the best tailgating experience in college football. There is no way that any school could duplicate that atmosphere.
The City of Athens, being in close proximity to the stadium, would be an ideal location to host some type of tailgating functions.
GT3O
May 26th, 2010
1:44 pm
How about not 10 tons of TRASH on gameday! Well….besides the fans they can’t help it. Trash will be trash!
Portland Dawg
May 26th, 2010
1:49 pm
“Paint it Black” is probably my favorite redcoat (Stones) tune…..I agree it would be cool to have something people like to sing along to though.
athdog
May 26th, 2010
1:49 pm
Trumpeter and ‘Saturday in Athens’ video are fantastic. Munson video is, of course, also fantastic. A weekly updating of the Munson video using a highlight or two from the previous game would give it more ‘oomph’. The fourth quarter finger wave, which is straight from the ‘Tiger Paw’ at Clemson, is lame. Because it is a Tiger Paw takeoff, I refuse to do it. The postgame ‘mini concert’ by the Redcoats is awesome, also. If we start beating Fla, Tn, Auburn and Tech in the same year, every year or at least most years, the game day experience will take care of itself.
CF Smith
May 26th, 2010
1:49 pm
watching georgia tech run the triple option down georgia’s throat, then ringing the chapel bell after TECH’S victory.
CF Smith
May 26th, 2010
1:50 pm
mark richt’s tan
yellow jacket
May 26th, 2010
1:51 pm
bulldog funerals on gameday
Beat downs Galore
May 26th, 2010
1:52 pm
How about stopping those Georgia urchins from relieving themselves from the upper deck. This surely would make gameday more pleasant and without the stench on hot days.
Portland Dawg
May 26th, 2010
1:52 pm
“Saturday night’s allright for fightin’!! Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!…..”
Maybe the band could play that to hype things up a bit.
ugadawg2002
May 26th, 2010
1:52 pm
Rebo,
are you kidding? Have you been to other college stadiums? Try going to Notre Dame’s for starters (my other childhood favorite). It’s twice as bad as Sanford. You are pretty much sitting on someone else’s knee. ATM complaints? Getting cash the morning of a game is not asking a fan to cure cancer and we’re sorry you had bad popcorn there once. It sounds like you’re one of those old cyncial fans that need to stop coming to the games if you don’t like the accomadations.
Oh-and we need newer songs on the P.A and from the band if we want to get the crowd louder at times. Think of the stands during Soulja Boy with Moreno as much as I hate rap
yellow jacket
May 26th, 2010
1:54 pm
watching the uga students bury themselves in trash, like that couple in chicago.
Portland Dawg
May 26th, 2010
1:54 pm
the “4-finger wave” is played out and every stadium in the nation does that. that cant even be called a UGA tradition.
K
May 26th, 2010
1:56 pm
Call the stadium the pound, call it the kennel, call it the dawg house; anything to get people up and crazy. We could also do with a lot more noise. More synchronized barking; it can be heard for miles.
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. Release the hounds!
Timmy Dog
May 26th, 2010
1:58 pm
I enjoy and am thankful for Bill King volunteering his time so we can actually see and pet the gopher from CaddyShack during pregame!
ken
May 26th, 2010
2:00 pm
CF , tech needs to win a few games in this series before talking any smack, 30-24 ring any bells.
Waycross Dawg
May 26th, 2010
2:02 pm
I say get to the point that we smack our opponents in the mouth in a big-time way and let them go back and tell the world how tough it is to walk into Sanford Stadium and have any confidence that you’re going to walk out in one piece. Beyond that, the traditions will take care of themselves.
Rebo
May 26th, 2010
2:03 pm
ugadawg2002: Just because there may be some examples of worse stadiums, doesn’t make Sanford better. The ATM anecdote was to illustrate how poorly the facility is maintained. Try to keep up, son.
Bob
May 26th, 2010
2:04 pm
I wish the band would play “Dixie.”
Irked erk
May 26th, 2010
2:06 pm
Play more of Clisby Clarkes “Bulldog Bite”. Play “Saturday nights allright for fighting” and throw in “Back in Black”. Band needs to really get the stadium rockin. No more piped in rap music.no dancing on the side lines during tight games. Sanford needs to get loud and get that intimidation factor back which has not been in or on a consistent basis for a long while now.
Top Dawg
May 26th, 2010
2:08 pm
Tell the Redcoats to learn some different songs! Tired of hearing the same thing late in the game over and over again.
Diamond Dave
May 26th, 2010
2:09 pm
Just block and tackle.
One, two, free, fo, fi, dem der Gator don't take no jive!
May 26th, 2010
2:10 pm
I’ve only been there once. The 1995 game. The day SOS’s boys hung “half a hundred between the hedges”! I’ll always remember it fondly. Perfect gameday experience. Don’t change a thing!
Top Dawg
May 26th, 2010
2:12 pm
/also, we need to do the “Go Dawgs” cheer more to get some loud cheer that EVEYONE will say together. I hate hearing fla do their similar cheer and it is always much louder than ours. Let’s change that. And all you fair weather fans, learn the chants we do have.
SSIDawg
May 26th, 2010
2:13 pm
I wish we would lose the “Now Georgia fans get ready for one of the greatest traditions in all of college football…the spell Georgia cheer.” I mean the spell Georgia cheer at halftime is fine, but do we really think that is one of the GREATEST traditions in ALL of college football as the announcer exclaims every game home and away(when the band is there)????
Brad
May 26th, 2010
2:13 pm
Rebo…stay home if you don’t like it
as far as the DawgWalk is concerned. Start it a couple blocks up Sanford drive from the stadium walk down the hill onto the bridge. They could build a small “bridge” from the bridge into the west stands. Players could then walk across…down the west stands and across the field.
Glory Glory
May 26th, 2010
2:17 pm
*****GREAT NEWS*****
101 Days until kickoff!!!!
oh…. and {{{{{30-24}}}}}!!!
82 dawg
May 26th, 2010
2:17 pm
Yeah bring back the electric guitar and drum set and play Super Freak………
y
May 26th, 2010
2:20 pm
Have a nascar race at halftime? Perfect spectacle for the majority of our fan base…smh.
Hand sittin Dawg
May 26th, 2010
2:22 pm
Get Brooke Whitmire “stadium announcer” to really get the fans involved more on 3rd and short or long for that matter.
Glory Glory
May 26th, 2010
2:26 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF9FGAeZH6g&NR=1
If that doesn’t give you chills…… get off this blawg!!!
Tim Rupert
May 26th, 2010
2:26 pm
Do a better job of informing the fans about the time the Dawg walk starts.
Do a better job of incouraging the fans to support the Dawgwalk, talk it up more. Go Dawgs!
Stan
May 26th, 2010
2:29 pm
I agree with Matthew 6:1…….Get Tebow off of our home page!!!!
Snoopy
May 26th, 2010
2:35 pm
Tim R… Dawg Walk is 2 hrs BEFORE kickoff… CMR says it after his call in show & encourages all fans to support it..
How2fish
May 26th, 2010
2:37 pm
Bob me too!
Here is one
May 26th, 2010
2:37 pm
Allow only the hot collegiate aged girls to attend the games topless
Scott W.
May 26th, 2010
2:39 pm
Love how the Tech fans chime in. They’ve only seen tailgating at other schools because they sure aren’t doing it.
Matthew 6:1
May 26th, 2010
2:42 pm
Thank you. It has been almost a month now that we have had to look at Tebow’s stupid grin based on a column for the 2010 season. HE DOESN”T PLAY HERE ANYMORE!! Wake up AJC, put some Georgia players up there; current Georgia players….I am sure that you have some pictures on file.
As for game day traditions, most are fine. The biggest problem is that the fan base is old. I sit in the alumni section (132), there is virtually no cheering or energy. Update the music and join the 21st century.
Scott W.
May 26th, 2010
2:46 pm
The minimum required donation is $10,000 for season tickets and the fan base is old. Wonder if there is a correlation?
Don
May 26th, 2010
2:55 pm
The song that FSU plays to start the 4th quarter is pretty cool and really gets their fans going:
http://www.entertonement.com/clips/gkvjtwxfsv–4th-Quarter-FanfareCollege-Marching-Bands-Florida-State-Marching-Band-Florida-State-Seminoles-
The Redcoats need to come up with something better than the theme to Superman.
MiketheUGAAlum
May 26th, 2010
3:02 pm
My favorite tradition is watching the frat guys in formal tiewear passing out from dehydration on the student side of the stadium. For a more civilized experience I hit the alumni section.
chazzo
May 26th, 2010
3:04 pm
Game day tradition was Screwdrivers and Maries starting at 10am with my date who would smuggle in a flask of another game day tradtion. Yet another tradition, my date and I trying to find each other in the crowd after the game. Sleeping off the Gerogia sun and Bourbon. Then, locating said date at the party and later both passing out from exhaution. Repeat weekly throughout the Fall until a general apathy and numbness result only slightly relieved by the not so surprising defeat of the Yellow Jackets. Then cram for finals, get the Christmas haircut, and get up for the bowl game. Have things changed since I was there?
Not a fan of the band
May 26th, 2010
3:05 pm
I’m a UGA alum (2000) and have been a fan since I was 8 years old but the Redcoat Band sucks. They don’t play anything that gets the crowd going other than the lone trumpet before the game (and even that is somewhat weak). And they’re usually drowned out by the other team’s band. Much too quiet.
Gbal
May 26th, 2010
3:09 pm
Enter your comments here
FLA DAWG
May 26th, 2010
3:09 pm
Here’s an idea – Win More Often!
Frank Lane
May 26th, 2010
3:10 pm
Love the idea of renamed the stadium the Dawg House.
MiketheUGAAlum
May 26th, 2010
3:10 pm
The band should concentrate more on the music and less on the sideways walking and Michael Jackson uniforms. What’s the whole military deal anyway? Let’s get them in short sleeve shirts and something comfortable so they can rock. Does anybody really watch them walk sideways and form letters during halftime? I mean, having the music is great (yes, new songs please–some Athens songs like Love Shack, etc.) but the whole American Revolution uniforms is a bit old fashioned.