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
Glory Glory
May 26th, 2010
5:08 pm
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!
REMOVE. TEBOW. PIC.!!!!!!!
Yarballs Droog
May 26th, 2010
5:08 pm
Viddy this me little brothers, how about before every game, they play the Tebow, “Nobody will work harder,” video on a giant telly. That’d be real horror show.
Glory Glory
May 26th, 2010
5:15 pm
Our AJC UGA page should spend more time talking about the Dawgs, and less time posting pictures of Lane Kiffin and Tim Tearbow on the home page that never go away.
Mike T.
May 26th, 2010
5:20 pm
Take Tebows pic down and put up that Tech QB who couldn’t count to four. He has a great help to Georgia’s defense.
Chicago Dawg
May 26th, 2010
5:23 pm
Challenge some of the local bands to come up with a 4th quarter song and vote on it with the student body. Add 10,000 seats for day of game sales so we are louder than Autzen Stadium.
JLC
May 26th, 2010
5:24 pm
…by setting multiple bombs off at kickoff to get rid of 90,000 rednecks at once.
BuLLdawg
May 26th, 2010
5:31 pm
How about we ACTUALLY WIN THE SEC GAMES at HOME ?
Home Wins SEC 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era :
26 Home SEC Wins 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era LSU
24 Home SEC Wins 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era Florida
24 Home SEC Wins 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era Auburn
23 Home SEC Wins 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era Tennessee
22 Home SEC Wins 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era Alabama
22 Home SEC Wins 2001-2009 Coach Richt Era Georgia
GT Robber
May 26th, 2010
5:35 pm
Cut down on the robberies before and after the game….ooopppss. I thought this was the North Avenue Trade School page and their game day traditions….
Chicago Dawg
May 26th, 2010
5:42 pm
The reason Tech plays games on Thursdays is that the administration knows students will still be in class on Friday. They don’t play Thursday games in the SEC because they know no one will be in class on Friday.
chazzo
May 26th, 2010
5:54 pm
Matt from Suwannee,
FSU fans are lame. Everybody stopped coming when they stopped winning. When they were hot, nobody went to most of the games except Miami and UF anyway. Who wanted to see FSU beat the snot out of DUKE. Boring!
Don’t change anything. Get into the tradition. But, Golfman, why in the hell is a band playing “Sweet Caroline” at a football game? Zepplin good…. Neil Diamond bad. Got it? Nothing against Neil. Just not football music.
mcdawghna
May 26th, 2010
6:00 pm
Fans need to get off their lazy a$$e$ and make noise throughout the games…..Not just on 3rd down and we need a big stop!……..The band could play some more upbeat tunes instead of the same ole….The younger crowd gets it, the older crowd is still stuck 30 yrs back…….but for all those who want to critisize Sanford Stadium, look it up……Its considered one of the, if not THE best spectator stadiums of any kind in this country
UGAc/o2012
May 26th, 2010
6:04 pm
Everything in the Pre-Game of the Redcoats needs to be changed. The run on is absolutely uninspiring. The student band master needs to be the first one on the field, high stepping with something other than that tiny UGA flag.
Then, when the Redcoats do run on, they need to change this. From when they run on to when they run off, it is completely uninspiring and just looks like a mess.
I have always felt that the Redcoats should march on to the field playing “The British Grenadiers”, this version specifically. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDKn3nl9FeY. Just wait for the drums to kick in and you’ll know what I mean. The second those drums start, the Redcoats would march out in precision formation and form the arch (kind of how tOSU marches out and forms Script Ohio). After the Arch is formed, the entire band pivots on precision to the where the trumpeter is and either salutes or points to him. Again, precision and crispness is key. From there, and I haven’t found anything for this yet, the band forms up from where the players run out and they either have another inspiring song to play that gets the blood pumping or they play a more inspiring, energetic, and adrenaline fueled song over the PA system.
Obviously, there is room to tweak this but it is a rough idea I’ve had for a long time. The Redcoats are simply just uninspiring with their pre-game and I put that on the director, not my fellow students who are in the band.
Really though, just listen to the song in that link and tell me that the blood would not start pumping if the Redcoat drumline just played the percussion in this song as loud as possible. Add that with altered lyrics tailored for UGA and you have something that will really get people going.
Also, the Redcoats need a microphone set up for when they are in the stands. This is what they have @ Bama and it is why the MDMB can be heard all throughout the stadium. It gives them a little bit of an extra boost to ensure that every instrument and every note is heard in order to get the fans fired up.
tl;dr Our pre-game is pathetic
If they lyrics were altered to fit UGA and if
BuLLdawg
May 26th, 2010
6:10 pm
Fans make a LOT of NOISE at Home games at Sanford Stadium
we ALL
BOO
the play calls
Way Down South Dawg
May 26th, 2010
6:15 pm
I’m with Bob—Let the Band play Dixie—Argue all you want—Dixie is a tradition in these parts and
Old Times Here are not forgotten!
UGAc/o2012
May 26th, 2010
6:17 pm
Oh hell yes! I found what the Redcoats would need to play when they form up to greet the players.
Here is a recording of “1812 Overture” by the Redcoats themselves.
If they put a little more juice behind this and had fireworks shooting off in the stadium or steam and sparks flying by the players entrance (like Auburn) and then went straight into Glory Glory to cue the players to run on, it’d be perfect!
http://www.myspace.com/universityofgeorgiaredcoatmarchingband
*Note: It is the 5th song on the list*
UGAc/o2012
May 26th, 2010
6:20 pm
Actually better yet…The Redcoats sync it to where they move from the Arch formation to formation by the players entrance to the Overture. They should be fully in form at the grand end of the song and as the song is ending, the fireworks shoot off, the smoke shoots up, and the Dawgs come running out.
Am I the only one who thinks this would be a good idea? I’m seeing all of this in my head right now and can picture myself going NUTS in the student section for a pre-game like that.
BuLLdawg
May 26th, 2010
6:21 pm
It would help if the 1 game that matters each year were not always played in JAX.
Change the Redcoat Style
May 26th, 2010
6:25 pm
I get it, I really do…the Redcoat band has won numerous band competitions and has always gone for some sort of tradition in band lore. However, 95,000 people in that stadium weren’t in the band or if they were, could care less anymore about how our band will honor “Trumpet Rock Classics from 76 & 77!!!!” Honest to God that was last year’s “theme” the Redcoat leaders came up with. We have to be the MOST BORING BAND IN AMERICA! The Redcoats have to stop playing to their band geek traditions and get something more exciting.
And how come they can’t do any complex formations?? Why do we still spell Georgia with the “running around like crazy style?” Why can’t we spell Georgia from some complex band formation? And why the slow march ALL THE TIME? God it’s awful. I’ve seen so many other bands do much, much better things, and we have the same stupid show sinnce I can remember, which is about when those trumpet rock classics were on AM radio.
Bride of Chucky Knapp
May 26th, 2010
6:34 pm
Win.
Yaz
May 26th, 2010
6:39 pm
Having a meteorite hit the middle of the field at halftime would improve the game day experience enormously.
For everyone more than ten miles from Sanford Stadium, that is.
BuLLdawg
May 26th, 2010
6:40 pm
I told them that already Chucky
middleschoolteacher
May 26th, 2010
6:44 pm
I love the video highlight reel done before the game starts; however, I would like to hear part of a song/music played literally right BEFORE the players come out of the tunnel to get the fans fired up and LOUD. South Carolina plays 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it really gets their fans going. Something like the beginning guitar part of “Machinehead” by Bush would be good……
Murray County Mystic
May 26th, 2010
6:48 pm
Sanford is a joke; go to a night game in Baton Rouge; nuff said
Murray County Mystic
May 26th, 2010
6:50 pm
PS: you guys have some of thelamest traditions; first and foremost, this cult-like worship of Dooley and Walker…1980 was a long, long time ago…
Current Redcoat
May 26th, 2010
6:57 pm
For all of the comments about what the Redcoats “should” do. Each year we take a look at all of the music that we have in our folders and we choose songs that should be cut or kept based on the band’s and fans reaction to it. As far as the music that we choose there are many different things that we look at. Sanford has a large variety of fans from the alums from the 80s all the way to the younger generation. We put on multiple shows each year in order to try and please a large fan base. While you might not like Sweet Caroline another fan might not appreciate AC/DC Back in Black. Plus some of these songs that have been suggested by you guys are not possible to play due to copyright privileges which also limits some of the shows that we can perform. If bands don’t give us copyrights the music cant legally be arranged and played. And one more thing this is getting kind of long. A lot of fans and people in the band for that matter don’t quite realize how much control the Athletic Association has over Redcoats. Every time you hear “The Hey Song” that is a call coming from up above. We get a “script” every game day that tells us a general layout of award presentations, TV timeouts etc. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that many people don’t take into account. We are an athletic organization therefore funded by them, not all things are easy to change when dealing with that much power. If Krypton was not played at the beginning of the fourth quarter someone from the AA would be on the line. And one last point. There are plenty of “call and response” tunes that we play the problem is that the fans don’t bother with responding to our calling with the exception of pregame. So with that Im done. Go Dawgs! Cant wait till game day!
30-24 We Run This State!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 26th, 2010
7:14 pm
I agree Hairy Dog is the best mascot in college football. We are SEC state region champions! I hate Tech!!
30-24 We Run This State!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 26th, 2010
7:17 pm
We should wear the black helmets again this year. It intimiadates our opponents. Go Hairy Dog! Go Hairy Dog. You are the best!! I hate Tech!!
minnesota dawg
May 26th, 2010
7:17 pm
Come on y’all, please come up with a better answer than “winning.” That already is a tradition. We win more than we lose! How about wearing the black jerseys more often? Please not the black helmets like they did against Florida. It didn’t even look like Georgia. Go DAWGS!
AltamahaDawg
May 26th, 2010
7:21 pm
No, we “all” don’t Boo. Only the classless few.
minnesota dawg
May 26th, 2010
7:22 pm
Enter your comments here
minnesota dawg
May 26th, 2010
7:25 pm
Murray Country Mystic, you being on this website means you revere the DAWG NATION. It’s great to be a GEORGIA BULLDOG!!!!
icedawg
May 26th, 2010
7:27 pm
What if in NZ Maori fashion the home crowd “mooned” the visiting team?
HOTDAWG
May 26th, 2010
7:31 pm
Our traditions and game-related ritual standards set the standard for the state and conference. Georigia Tech, by contrast, clings to the “old car” tradition.
I know newspaper columnists consider the number of interested readers in their choice of so-called news (actually uninvited opinion in most cases), but WHEN will the AJC report on such questions as:
“Is Paul Hewlett on the hotseat in 2010?” “Why aren’t more top-tier prospects attracted to Tech?”
“How does Tech compare to UGA in head-to-head match-ups over the past ten years?” “In an era when sporting games are intertainment, why does Tech cling to the boring triple-option offense?”
Truth
May 26th, 2010
7:40 pm
HOTDAWG – You may need to attend a real English class (not at ugag) in order to understand that it isn’t spelled “intertainment.”
AltamahaDawg
May 26th, 2010
7:57 pm
How about a rendition of the AC/DC remake of Sweet Caroline?
Me
May 26th, 2010
8:00 pm
How about a big dwarf tossing tent with an expose featuring Murray the Midget!
John Wells
May 26th, 2010
8:02 pm
How about … “Well I had a little rooster?”
What??
May 26th, 2010
8:15 pm
Remove Tebow from the UGA page!!
UGA needs to provide parking and facilities for tailgating and party atmosphere!
UGA doesn’t need to act like a prostitute being snobby! UGA gets millions from the party crowd! Give them some space!
Free Hotdogs
May 26th, 2010
8:16 pm
How about free hotdogs? Free coke?
Heck, we gotta have something good during a game – we don’t have a lot to cheer for on the field!
Coach Small Johnson
May 26th, 2010
8:21 pm
Whats the problem with Tailgaiting trash
Isnt that why we have hired the best JANITORIAL ENGINEERS FROM NORTH AVE to clean the mess up
You know the DRUNKEN WRECK FROM GA TECH
Cmon Adams let us have some fun watching the Techies pick up some trash and earn their degree credits!!!!!!!!!!!
AltamahaDawg
May 26th, 2010
9:14 pm
You have to give the tech admin credit. When they saw that trash was an issue after football games, they ordered all 5 trashcans be put out for thier fans.
boots
May 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
@ Arnie: It is Baba O’Reily, not Teenage Wasteland. Learn your Who songs…
For those Techies posting here, we could make it more like North Ave: Sell 4 tix, 4 hot dogs, 4 cokes, 4 programs and 1 parking space for $40. Then you could be mugged on the way in the stadium, sit next to a chinese guy and a 200 lbs. girl, and a guy wearing yellow hair. Then, at halftime, we could have a dude in the flag girl group, have an insect dance around the field and our 20,000 fans cheering for more triple option.
Yeah, that would be great..,
HOTDAWG
May 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
Hey, Truth!
Thanks for running spell check on my earlier post. Tech graduates are usually good proof readers, an important but menial skill. Please monitor future posts for spelling errors.
chazzo
May 26th, 2010
9:31 pm
The main thing is a fan should never give up. When the other team scores a touch down, it’s like everybody gets a collective punch in the gut and starts talking about benching and firing people. You gotta love Wisconsin. Georgia was spankin’ the Badgers in the Outback Bowl, and in the fourth quarter, their entire fan base started jumping up and down. It was amazing, and their team staged a comeback and made it respectable. Back when Clemson was bloody awful, the orange fans were on their feet the entire game.
Keith Taylor
May 26th, 2010
9:55 pm
Block Broad Street downtown and not allow traffic thru Broad on game day. Start the Dawgwalk right there! The players could be let off the bus right in front of the arches. I can see fans lined up all the way to the stadium. That would be awesome! Face it. Downtown Athens is where it’s at now!
CrackDaddy
May 26th, 2010
10:01 pm
Another example as to why UGa is all form over substance. This kind of thing is all UGa people think about. Such shallow minds.
Florida Dawg
May 26th, 2010
10:03 pm
#1- Take Tebow’s pic off of the Georgia page.
#2- Win football games
#3- Do something about the parking
#4- I agree with a poster above, the Red Coat Band needs to get with the times….break out of those dated style uniforms. It’s 2010 not 1970.
The only half time show that I can remember was when they came out with Beach Boy attire and played their songs at the Ga-Fl game 20 or so years ago. That was creative but it was two decades ago.
#5 – Did I mention taking Tim Tebows mug off the UGA page?
The Best Thing
May 26th, 2010
10:14 pm
The best thing that should be done in Athens is to fold up the football program. Ugag football has become a major embarrassment to the entire State of GA.
Truth
May 26th, 2010
10:16 pm
HOTDAWG – If you need spell check to know that “intertainment” is not correct, you really must have graduated from ugag.
beatdowns galore
May 26th, 2010
10:22 pm
Start administering beat downs to teams that are supposed to receive them ie South Carolina, Vandy and KY.