5 sure signs you’re the ultimate fan
It’s finally here. Granted, you’ll have to wait until the very last day of the month, but it’s finally football time in Georgia again. Hallelujah!
On Aug. 31, the Bulldog loyal will pack the interstates early to arrive at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the 11 a.m. kickoff of the season’s first gridiron throwdown. A week later they’ll venture eastward to Athens and enjoy some stellar tailgating before crowding into Sanford Stadium for 2024’s home opener.
Enter to win the Walton Gas Ultimate Fan Experience for tickets, accommodations and travel to the
Georgia-Florida game on Nov. 2.
But being a UGA fan is about more than going to games on Saturdays. From a survey of Walton Gas employees, here are the five signs you’re the ULTIMATE Georgia Bulldogs fan.
You know you’re the ultimate fan if …
You know it’s spelled D-A-W-G. You know how to spell and say the team’s name correctly: Dawgs not Dogs with a heavy accent on the “aaawwww.”
You KNOW Uga is the greatest mascot in college football — maybe in all sports. In 2019, Sports Illustrated designated Uga as The Greatest Mascot in College Football History —a fact the ultimate fan already knew. The line of pure white English bulldogs, now on number 11, has been owned by the Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler family of Savannah since Uga I first prowled the field in 1956. You were there to see the current Uga accept the collar at G-Day in 2023. And you shed a tear when word came that Uga X, the dog who patrolled the sideline for the most successful run in the school’s football history, died in January. He was a “Damn Good Dawg.”
Wearing red and black is a fashion statement. Sure, there’s game day dress. Anybody can throw on a jersey and call themselves a fan. But the diehard supporter has a closet full of clothes to proclaim his or her allegiance. From church on Sunday to school PTA meetings, there’s an outfit for every occasion. We don’t need to see the underwear, but we KNOW what you have on.
You regard the hedges as hallowed ground. The ultimate fan can recite the history and lore regarding the iconic privet hedges ringing Dooley Field. The newest chapter of the story occurred earlier this year. The hedges, which cover about 5,000 square feet around the playing field, were uprooted and replanted in February with the same lineage of plants that have been in place at the stadium for 95 years. Hedges typically have a 20- to 40-year lifespan, and the recently removed ones had been there since the 1996 Olympics. When replacements are needed, cuttings are taken to propagate new plants, linking new growth to the original hedges.
You’ve already entered the Walton Gas Ultimate Fan Experience. And you’re feeling really good about your chances of being the name drawn as this year’s winner of a prize package to attend the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 2. The Walton Gas customer who wins the Ultimate Fan Experience receives game tickets (they’re really good seats!), hotel accommodations and airfare for two plus a $150 gift card for a rental car. Walton Gas customers in good standing can enter now. Entry deadline is Sept. 19, 2024.