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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 05
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Meet the Bulldogs, past and present!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Picture Day has always been the main summer tradition for Georgia football fans, but it looks like the Stinchcomb brothers have established another one, as their Countdown to Kickoff marks its second year this weekend in a much expanded format.
Last year’s event, where fans got to meet and get autographs from Georgia players past and present at the Woodruff Practice Fields, was a big success, a brief but intense thundershower in the middle notwithstanding! This year, Matt and Jon Stinchcomb have added a golf tournament and a Dawg-themed auction on Friday to the Saturday session (which, like last year, will also feature kiddie attractions in addition to the meet-and-greet).
The event allows hundreds of Bulldog fans the opportunity to meet more than 50 current and former UGA players. All proceeds go to the UGA College of Education Pediatric Clinic for children with disabilities, Georgia Transplant Foundation, Children’s Tumor Foundation and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
I asked Matt for an updated rundown of which past Bulldog greats (many still playing in the NFL) that fans can expect to see Saturday, and he gave me this partial list:
Charles Grant (SaInts), Greg Blue (Vikings), Max Jean-Gilles (Eagles)Tim Jennings (Colts), Leonard Pope (Cardinals), Randy McMichael (Rams), Thomas Davis (Panthers), D.J. Shockley (Falcons), Nic Clemons (Falcons), Tony Taylor (Falcons), Martrez Milner (Falcons), Quentin Moses (Raiders), Dennis Roland (Bucs), Jon Stinchcomb (Saints), Matt Stinchcomb (Bucs, retired), Jeff Harper (1980 national champ starter), Tim Morrison (1980 national champ starter), Frank Ros (1980 captain), Pat McShea (1980 national champ starter), Jim Blakewood (1980 national champ starter), Nat Hudson (1980 national champ starter), Nick Jones (2006 captain), Tra Battle, David Jacobs, Dan Inman, Mario Raley and Danny Wheeler.
As Matt put it: “We got a lot of good ones, plus members of the current team and incoming freshmen (e.g. Rennie Curran) will also be in attendance.”
The players, past and present, will be on hand from 3 to 6 p.m. at the practice fields.
Matt also wants to make sure fans know about the golf tournament and reception for sponsors on Friday at the UGA golf course, where fans will be playing with former players and Coach Mark Richt (registration is at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 10 a.m.). Also Friday evening there’s a VIP reception at the Foundry Park Inn (www.foundryparkinn.com) at 7 p.m. for the sponsors and players (doors open at 7 p.m.).
Matt said some of the items up for auction at the reception include: a chance to be a Dawg for a Day (do everything with the team on game day except play), a chance to watch the Oklahoma State game in the press box and attend Richt’s post-game press conference, getting to spend a quarter of a game with Larry Munson and Scott Howard in the broadcast booth, a pre-game flyover in one of the Red Baron Squadron biplanes, a chance to climb the ladder and conduct the Redcoats when they do the spell-GEORGIA cheer at halftime, a trip to New Orleans for the Saints-Falcons game, the opportunity to attend a taping of Paula Deen’s Food Network show in Savannah and more.
As Matt put it, “I don’t know where else you could get to do some of this stuff we have to win.”
For ticket info on Countdown to Kickoff, go to www.ugakickoff.com and click on “Tickets and Sponsorship” in upper left-hand corner.
On and off the field, Matt and brother Jon have always been the kind of Dawgs the Bulldog Nation could be proud of. Here’s a chance to tell ’em so in person and to give the current players some words of encouragement as they endure summer drills.
AFTER MUNSON: I was interested to see a column Buck Belue wrote for the Savannah paper last week in which he talked about the need to shake up the UGA football broadcasts after Larry Munson switches off his microphone for the last time. Belue feels “Georgia broadcasts have grown stale” and thinks a strong color analyst is needed, preferably a former Dawg. He notes UGA is one of the few schools that doesn’t have a former player as part of the broadcast team. Besides himself (ahem), Belue offers up Mike Cavan, Eric Zeier, John Lastinger and Matt Robinson, all of whom have broadcast experience, as possibilities. I haven’t heard Cavan, Lastinger and Robinson work a game as a broadcaster, but I have heard Belue, and like I’ve said before, I think he’d be better off in the Loran Smith spot on the sideline. As for Zeier, his time on the “Fifth Quarter Show” a few seasons back was strictly snoozeville. He never said anything the least bit memorable. His replacement, Kevin Butler, is still my choice for a former player in the booth. What do you think?
