The Junkyard Blawg has moved!
Along with the other ajc.com blogs, the Junkyard Blawg has moved over to WordPress, where the blogging and commenting experience promises to be better. Join us over at the new WordPress version of the Junkyard Blawg by clicking on the link below.
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2005 > August > 29
Monday, August 29, 2005
Growing up in Athens town …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s talk Georgia Bulldogs.
I’m a lifelong Dog. Literally.
Born and raised in Athens, I don’t remember a time when the Bulldogs weren’t an everyday part of my consciousness.
I grew up within earshot of Sanford Stadium — when I was too young to go to games, I remember being able to hear the distant sound of the Redcoat band from our back yard.
My earliest Bulldog memories include my Dad nervously devouring a bag of oranges while he listened to Ed Thilenius call games on the radio. Watching the game highlights on Sunday, along with a sportswriters roundtable show hosted by Furman Bisher. I woke up with mumps on New Year’s Day 1960, but that didn’t stop me from getting propped up with pillows in the den to watch Athens homeboy Fran Tarkenton and the Bulldogs on television — the first time we’d ever had that opportunity! — beating Missouri in the Orange Bowl. My memory is hazy (I was only 7 and sick, after all), but I seem to recall being disappointed the Dogs had to wear the white road jerseys instead of the beloved red ones.
Although I have vague recollections of being taken to a game when I was very young (I only recall the band), the first games I really remember were during the Johnny Griffith years, with Larry Rakestraw at quarterback. Still the era of the silver helmets as well as the silver britches. I can clearly recall listening to that 1963 game against Miami where Rakestraw set an NCAA passing record.
I began attending home games regularly with the advent of the Vince Dooley era. That was back when you could still show up at the stadium for most games and get “high school” tickets if you were under college age. To ensure I got into even the sold-out games, though, I started selling programs, and did that throughout junior high and high school.
Then came my four years at UGA — the years when my Athens High classmate Andy Johnson was our best running quarterback ever. By then, my devotion to the UGA even stood out amid my fellow students. I chose not to go the fraternity route but a friend who was a Kappa Sig once said to me, “Damn, you love those Dogs better than any Greek I know!”
And so it has continued. The past 30 years, I’ve been a Bulldog Club member and season ticket holder. I married a UGA grad, one of my brothers was a Redcoat and my son — who I brainwashed from the cradle — never wanted to go anywhere else. He’s now a UGA junior, and was practically christened at Sanford Stadium! (Well, OK, at the nearby Episcopal chapel.) My 11-year-old daughter got really excited seeing all the girls gathered for rush when we cut through the Tate Center recently on our way to the UGA bookstore (where she stocked up on official UGA notebooks and added to her growing Bulldog wardrobe).
Here at the AJC, my Bulldog mania is well established. A former news editor who was an ardent fan of the North Avenue Trade School used to sneeringly refer to me as “Mr. Bulldog.” Since I couldn’t think of anything polite to call him back, I used to just say, “woof woof!” (As much as I love UGA, I hate that other school. I don’t even like setting foot on their campus, so you know how much I love my daughter when I say I attended all her ballet recitals at the Ferst Center!)
So those are some of my Bulldog bona fides. That doesn’t mean I have nothing but good to say on the subject of Georgia football. I figure a lifetime of support has earned me the right to gripe when I think it’s warranted, as you’ll no doubt find out.
But when all is said and done, I’m Bulldog through and through.
And when that lone trumpeter up in the southwest corner of the upper deck of Sanford Stadium begins playing those opening notes of the battle hymn of the Bulldog Nation on Saturday, the chills will go up and down my spine like they always do.
Like I said, let’s talk Georgia Bulldogs!
