DEL.ICIO.USDogs will break out black jerseys for Alabama
Richt asks fans to wear the color too Saturday in Athens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, September 21, 2008
If the teams’ records and rankings don’t sufficiently establish the magnitude of this week’s Georgia-Alabama game, the Bulldogs and ESPN left no doubt Sunday.
Georgia coach Mark Richt deemed the game worthy of a “blackout” of Sanford Stadium, and ESPN deemed it worthy of the sports giant’s popular “College GameDay” show.
Pouya Dianat / AJC
QB Matthew Stafford and the Bulldogs were 2-0 in their black jerseys last season.
Richt, at the behest of his senior players, said the Bulldogs will wear black jerseys for the game, rather than their traditional red home jerseys. And he called on Georgia fans to wear black clothing to the game as a show of support.
It’s a reprise of a psychological ploy the Bulldogs used last year for a big win over Auburn in Athens and a Sugar Bowl win over Hawaii in New Orleans.
When the Dogs wore black jerseys against Auburn on Nov. 10, it was the first time in modern history they had done so.
Richt said the team’s seniors approached him about the possibility of wearing black for Alabama on the flight back from this past Saturday’s win at Arizona State. He also said he was asked by fans, “in every Bulldog Club I went to” during the offseason, when the next blackout would be.
“Fans were writing letters trying to say which one it should be,” Richt said. “You wouldn’t think it’s that big of a deal, but it really is.”
Also Sunday, the Georgia-Alabama game gained added luster when ESPN said its “College GameDay” show will air from Athens on Saturday morning for the first time in a decade. The last time “GameDay” visited Athens was Oct. 10, 1998, when Georgia lost to Tennessee.
The two-hour pregame show — with host Chris Fowler and analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard — travels around the country, giving a sort of signature to each week’s big game.
And Georgia-Alabama is big.
Both teams are unbeaten, both ranked in the nation’s top 10 and both coming off impressive victories — Georgia’s 27-10 win at Arizona State and Alabama’s 49-14 win at Arkansas.
ESPN spokesman Michael Humes said Sunday that details aren’t available yet about where the GameDay set will be located in Athens. ESPN generally prefers the stadium as the backdrop, but construction around Sanford Stadium has led Georgia to suggest other campus sites.
The show, sponsored by Atlanta-based Home Depot, will air from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
As previously announced, ESPN also will televise the game, which was moved last week to a 7:45 p.m. kickoff.
Richt said the senior players first asked him in the summer about possibly wearing black for the Alabama game, but he rejected the idea at the time because of concern about September weather. “You don’t want to wear black jerseys in the middle of a hot sunny day,” he said.
But when the players approached Richt about the idea again on the flight back from Arizona, noting the game had been moved to night, he agreed.
“I don’t think you do it too much, but our fans really enjoyed it [and] our players certainly enjoyed it [last year],” Richt said. “I thought of the outstanding success as far as the fans buying into the request of the seniors [to wear black] and the fans just having a ball with it. I would think they would get excited about the blackout again.”
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