Football down in Dixie
ATHENS, Ga. — We’re in the South, and if you don’t believe it, check out the wardrobe of all the sorority girls on the
Georgia campus. Dresses. Black, red and/or white. The coeds are decked out like they’re going to a formal, not a college football showdown.
The sorority girls spiced up the Georgia campus four hours before kickoff Saturday night, with tailgating all over the UGA campus. Georgia is not like Oklahoma. Section-line roads and 90-degree intersections do not exist. The roads twist and turn and meander around hills and creeks and forests. Even on campus, which means tailgating is spread all over campus. The university sits very close to downtown, and downtown is as bubbly as campus, with tailgating spilling over to a city park.
But sometimes, you stop and have to remind yourself you’re in the South. Like when Georgia plays its fight song. “Glory, Glory” is actually the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” So deep in Dixie, in the heart of the Confederacy, in an old-South town founded in 1806, the treasured song is the anthem of the North. Still, it’s a great song, and when a lone trumpeter from the Georgia band blares out a solo, it’s one of the spine-tingling moments in sports pageantry.
Sanford Stadium is a beautiful setting. A 92,000-seat stadium, but it’s not fully enclosed. The west end zone seats are not high; not much higher than the old west end zone at Lewis Field in Stillwater. So Sanford Stadium opens up to campus, showing magnificent trees and stately old buildings. The effect is like the new baseball parks that open to a city skyline; it brings the surrounding environs into the stadium and creates a splendid scene.
For a stadium so big, Sanford seems architecturally small. It doesn’t rise into the heavens like Nebraska or Texas A&M or
Tennessee. Some of that is because it’s built on the hills of Athens; the pressbox sits about midway up from the seats, but we walked in from ground level.
Southern football is hard to beat, especially when you get a weather break. At 4:17 p.m., the temperature was 84 degrees. That’s more than bearable, even in heavy humidity. Southern fans are passionate, Southern stadiums massive, Southern teams loaded and Southern girls stylish. And in Georgia, they top it off with a good old song from the North.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
I hope the fans of the Cowboys had a good time in Athens and left with nothing but positive things to say about the city and University. You guys played a good game and I wish you nothing but the best for the rest of the year.
Glad you were able to experience a day in Athens, GA. One of the greatest College Football Towns in America. Looking forward to our trip to Oklahoma. Good luck the rest of the season!
Thanks for the nice comments on Athens and Uga. Good luck to the Cowboys the rest of the season.