Georgia: "Time to tee it up between the hedges" (continued)
Sanford Stadium sits in the middle of campus in the rolling hills of northeast Georgia. (Photo: UGA Sports Communications)
• Photo gallery: Sanford Stadium
Uga VII had stolen the show to that point on opening day, but the cast of characters at Sanford Stadium runs deep. Just before kickoff, a lone trumpeter stood in the stadium's southwest corner playing "Glory to Old Georgia" while the crowd sang along to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" -- and the crowd sang along as if its very freedom were at stake.
Upstairs, legendary Georgia play-by-play announcer Larry Munson stood behind a microphone for one of the last times before his retirement the following month, while quarterback Matthew Stafford led the top-ranked Bulldogs onto the field.
If you hear echoes of Keith Jackson's drawl at Sanford Stadium, it could be because he called memorable names like Buck Belue, Herschel Walker and Lindsay Scott, who played in memorable games here. Or maybe it's because the voice that became synonymous with college football was first heard 100 or so miles away in Carrollton, Ga., where Jackson was born and raised.
By game's end, Stafford would complete 13 of 21 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. But for this day, at least, the Bulldog with the No. 7 under his name would play second fiddle to the bulldog with a VII after his.
While Stafford led the Bulldogs down the field, Uga VII cavorted along the northeast sideline, where he regularly stopped to pose for photos with students, cheerleaders and band members.
On the field, Heisman Trophy candidate Knowshon Moreno gave Georgia a 24-0 halftime lead, scoring his second rushing touchdown of the game with 24 seconds left before intermission.
At the half, the searing heat began to take its toll; fans poured out of the stadium to seek shelter in the air-conditioned comfort of the nearby bookstore. Uga VII took cover in the shade beneath the seats of the east end zone, posing for more photos en route.
By the third quarter, the fans weren't the only ones feeling the heat. Forty-six seconds into the second half, Moreno suffered a heat cramp while breaking free for a 24-yard touchdown; his afternoon was over with 59 yards on eight carries.
Moreno has drawn comparisons to Walker, who led Georgia to the national title in 1980, then won the Heisman Trophy in 1982 while doing pretty much everything but selling popcorn. These days, Walker actually does sell popcorn as Sanford Stadium's official concessionaire.
Sweet deal. Coke was invented just 73 miles down the road in Atlanta, and on this day in Athens, spectators were drinking it like it was going out of style.
Early into the third quarter the game was on ice, and so was Uga VII. With the Bulldogs in command, opening up a 38-0 lead on Georgia Southern, Georgia coach Mark Richt was afforded the luxury of calling on his bench.
Uga VII, however, has no backup and failed to pace himself. The debutante dog tends to crash hard, and on this grueling afternoon he settled into his custom-made, air-conditioned doghouse along the northeast sideline. Moreno and his teammates had to settle for a spot on the bench in front of large misting fans.
The big screen revealed Uga VII taking a nap alongside a 20-pound bag of ice and suddenly the most watched Bulldog in a stadium full of them was the most envied, too.
"He just didn't know what he was in for," said Charles Seiler, Uga's sideline handler for more than three decades.
Before long, the Bulldog Nation would follow Uga VII's lead, beating the heat in the bars of Athens, where they would down frosty-cold postgame libations. Undergrads seem to favor the Broad Street Bar, while alumni congregate around the corner at the Globe -- one of Esquire magazine's top-rated bars -- for locally brewed Terrapin Rye Pale Ale.
Over at The Varsity, the Bulldogs' win would be celebrated with a burger and malt, much the same way Georgia victories were celebrated when Fran Tarkenton, who attended Athens High School, was leading the Dawgs to the 1959 SEC title.
The Varsity has had a presence in Athens since 1932, and the current outpost on Milledge Avenue and Broad Street looks much as it did when it first opened in 1963, with one concession: It now has flat-screen televisions mounted throughout the place to monitor Georgia football.
Wherever you end up, it's hard to lose sight of the fact that you are in Bulldog country.
Around town bulldogs are everywhere, and we're not talking about T-shirts and caps. Three dozen larger-than-life fiberglass bulldog statues stand strategically around town. Along South Milledge Avenue, bulldog likenesses stand in for the customary lions in front of antebellum-style fraternity and sorority houses.
Athens is known as the Classic City, but this is really a classic college town. The early 1980s television series "Breaking Away" shot Athens for Bloomington, and if the place ever grew tired of actually being the quintessential college town, it could certainly play one on TV.
Athens is the kind of free-spirited, freewheeling place where you find yourself exchanging a high-five with an overserved undergrad with the one hand while the other hand deposits spare change into a busker's guitar case.
The music scene is legendary, but on fall Saturdays it takes a back seat to Bulldog football. At the Georgia Theater, where the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the bands that have performed, this nonconference tilt was being piped in on closed-circuit television as if it were a heavyweight title fight.
Athens is famous as the launching pad for R.E.M., the B-52s and the Indigo Girls, but amid the postgame merriment, the sweetest sounds in town surely are the bells from the University Chapel -- symbolic of a Georgia win -- as they ring through the packed downtown streets.
But before all that postgame jocularity could begin, there was a contest to finish.
Back at sweltering Sanford Stadium, the final gun sounded after a 45-21 victory, and the Redcoat Band reprised "Glory to Old Georgia." On his way to the locker room, Stafford stopped to acquaint himself with Uga VII.
In Hollywood, this is what's known as a pet-the-dog-scene -- a screenwriter's trick that lets the audience know the quarterback with the matinee-idol looks and golden arm has a big heart, too.
Here in Athens, however, there's no need to write those scenes in because they happen, over and over again, without contrivance. Cheerleaders, band members, fans, players and even the university president all want a little face time with the iconic canine.
After his meet-and-greet with Uga VII, Stafford, the shaggy-haired Bulldog, disappeared into a tunnel. And with his first day on the job complete, the white English bulldog made his way through an adoring mob to a waiting red SUV -- replete with UGA VII personalized license plates, no less -- for the trip back to Savannah.
Maybe there's something to what Gandhi said about being able to judge a society by the way it treats its animals. The late afternoon sun was still hellish in Athens, but as I watched Uga VII get the rockstar treatment on his way out of Sanford Stadium, I got the feeling I just might be spending a Saturday afternoon in college football heaven.
Doug Ward is a Southern California-based freelance writer.
