There was a time, not too long ago, when going to a UGA game was more than a game. It was more than a crowd, or an event, or a win. It was an EXPERIENCE. An experience that was uniquely Georgia. An experience that was not only entertaining, but (In my opinion) was an experience that rivaled every other SEC Stadium’s experience bar none.
Sitting in Sanford Stadium on last Saturday night, looking at our field and listening to whale-squeeze for music, longing for 2005 didn’t just extend to our record. That poor pitiful field (grass and hedges not included). It has been stripped down to a vanilla, pathetic, former version of what we all want it to be. In 2008, they removed the red outline. In 2009, they removed the red outline from the numbers on the field. In 2010, they made the field numbers and hash marks thinner. In 2011, THEY REMOVED THE ‘G’ SYMBOL on the goal line! I know I wasn’t the only one to notice this because I heard the bitching from every corner of the stadium.
The red outlines, the larger lines, and for God’s sake the ‘G’ goal line symbol were all pieces of a sacred and ultimate game experience. Now they are gone. Chipping away at all of these things have left me and my game going buddies I sit with not only yearning for the past, but also lamenting the present and dreading the future.
Where does it stop? Does it even stop. This all may sound trivial to some of you, but it really strikes a chord with me. If you take away all of the things that make that Stadium and our football team uniquely Georgia, then what do we become? Answer: Another mediocre team, with mediocre fans, playing and sobbing together in a mediocre stadium.
Please write, as I have Greg McGarity on this issue. Maybe some traction can be gained, who knows. Mark my words, if McGarity ever comes to speak at any of the East Metro Bulldog Club meetings, I will ask him this question. In the meantime, please email or write the athletic office if you are as concerned as I am.
*I will be posting a Part II on the horid bullshit Zombie Nation trash, music played before kickoffs.
Please feel free to opine in the comments section…
-Inspector G