Gameday Experiences: Georgia

By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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SouthernPigskin.com Columnist Mark Martin, who has been to all 12 SEC venues, shares his opinion on Sanford Stadium and Georgia.

By Mark Martin
SouthernPigskin.com Columnist

SouthernPigskin.com Columnist Mark Martin, who has been to all 12 SEC venues, shares his opinion on Sanford Stadium and Georgia.

Like most college football fans, Mark Martin loves the atmosphere of being in a stadium for a game.  Recently, Martin made his dreams a reality and attended games at each SEC football venue and numerous other national sites.  He has stories and tales from just about every city in the south and experiences that any fan would envy.  A new addition to the SouthernPigskin.com staff, Martin will spend the next few weeks telling stories of where he has been and what he has done.  He will continue his quest this fall and will share his experiences in his columns.  We are pleased welcome Mark to the SouthernPigskin.com family.  You can read Mark’s first column Here.

Many college football experiences that I’ve had over the last three years have made a lasting impression on me, but only a select few made me drive home still in awe.  Athens and the University of the Georgia will provide a true college football fan with an unforgettable experience.  If you attend a big game “Between the Hedges” and you put aside your biases toward the Bulldogs (if you have any) and you are honest with yourself, it will be in your top ranked college football atmospheres.  On November 12th, 2005, I saw one of the greatest college football games in my young life as the Auburn Tigers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 31-30 and delayed the eventual SEC Champions from clinching the SEC East.http://cache.secsports.com/image_lib/fbc_uga_knowshon_moreno_102707_164w.jpg 

Athens is a typical southern college football town.  It’s small but nowhere as small as Oxford or Starkville.  It is a true college town that centers around the Bulldogs and turning each fall Saturday into an epic event.  If you want bars and restaurants, Athens has it.  If you like to tour campuses, Georgia has a top flight, extraordinary campus that has excellent scenery and academic buildings.  If you want a party that starts early and carries into the wee hours of the morning, then Athens is your type of place.  If you are like many college football fans and like tailgating, then Georgia is where you need to be.
When it comes to the tailgating scene Georgia receives a nine from me on a scale of 1 to 10.  I can only think of two 10’s that I have witnessed so far in my trips, so a nine is about as good as it gets.  Jerry, known as the “Mountain Man” by many SEC fans that we encounter, accompanied me on this trip and shared in the solid tailgating experience.  We had a parking pass inside a nearby parking structure, and as we took out our tailgating equipment, we noticed many other fans tailgating below us.  We set up our tailgating accessories as we cooked our chili and brat salads (will explain recipe in future article).  We were invited to a tailgate and watched some early games as ours was not set to start until later that night.  I found that the fans there were very helpful and informative. 

When viewing the campus, the tailgating scene is a little different than an Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU or Kentucky.  You will have some tailgates that will be bigger, but you have to search campus to actually realize that everywhere you walk there is tailgating – it just may occur on the backside of a parking structure or on both ends of an academic building.  On one end of the stadium where alumni and some of the higher ups of the university tailgate and party, it can get rather lively throughout the day.  If you have been to Alabama where the POD is the main area of tailgating, and a good one at that, you need to think of Georgia as the complete opposite.  The tailgating is right there with Alabama but in a more spread out fashion.  I have never seen so many TV’s at a tailgate as I did in Athens, more than any other school I’d been to.

Many schools have now instituted a team walk-in two hours before kickoff where the fans can greet the players as they come into the stadium.  Georgia has such an entrance known as the “Dawg Walk”.  I have seen Georgia play twice, both in 2005 – on campus for the Auburn game and then weeks later for the SEC Championship Game against LSU.  I can tell you that when it comes to fan support and the reactions that occur when the players come through, Georgia has the best walk through I have experienced yet, and yes, that does include Auburn.  While at the Florida at LSU game in October in 2007 I witnessed more fans, but it was a walk on a blocked street whereas at the “Dawg Walk” there was about three to four feet separating the fans when making a pathway for police officers and Georgia players.  I was curious as to why coach Mark Richt did not come through the walk and one Bulldog fan informed me that it makes coach too emotional when coming through.  It is an electrifying gameday event that I have not witnessed at such a level from any other fan base. 

Not enough positive comments can be said about Sanford Stadium.  I have been to twenty college football stadiums and fourteen NFL stadiums, which does not include the new University of Phoenix stadium and Lambeau Field, and I can say with no hesitation that Sanford Stadium is my favorite football stadium.  The design of the stadium is second to none inside and outside of the venue.  The bridge and scoreboard on I believe the West end of the stadium serve as a good backdrop when entering the facility and give it a unique scene from inside when the stadium is at capacity. 

I have always heard of the hedges that surround the field and it was impressive.  What I did not know was that you could watch the game from there if you chose to.  I decided I would be able to see better from my seat, but to actually get that close to the field at my own initiative and take pictures beside the hedges was an unexpected thrill that the Mountain Man and I enjoyed.  The UGA statue that resides beside the tunnel where the team runs out of looked great and was not just your ordinary entrance tunnel you see at many venues.  The Bulldog band is an above average band which, yet again, makes the in game atmosphere even better. 

When you pack 92,000 into any one stadium, it’s going to be loud.  When they are rabid passionate SEC fans like the Bulldog fan base is, you are going to be in an elite game atmosphere that will be hard to surpass or even match.  I was thoroughly impressed with the crowd noise generated inside the stadium and how it was consistent throughout the game.  You can question me by saying that I saw a big game against rival Auburn, but that is why I go to the big games to see each experience at its greatest potential.  I had heard some mixed opinions from other SEC fans about Georgia and the crowd noise there, but I can confirm those allegations as false as Sanford Stadium is right up there with the heavyweights of college football in crowd noise.  With that being said, I do not think Georgia is the loudest stadium in the SEC, but it is much better than some individuals give it credit for.  There are only two stadiums in the SEC that I feel can be considered louder.http://cache.secsports.com/image_lib/fbc_uga_matt_stafford_092207_164w.jpg 

There have been very few moments while watching a game where the crowd noise was deafening.  I have only had a handful of instances at a Tennessee, LSU, Florida or Clemson where I truly felt I could not make out what my neighboring fan was saying.  Down 30-28 and facing 4th and 11, the Auburn Tigers were on the rope with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.  With an opportunity to clinch the SEC on the line, the Georgia fans brought Sanford Stadium to a level that cannot be reached by stadiums when it comes to noise.  As I stated before, it was one of the loudest stadiums at that point in time that I have ever been too.  Despite the effort of the crowd, Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox connected with Devin Aromashodu for a sixty yard gain setting up the eventual game-winning field goal.  That night I had never heard such a loud stadium go silent as quickly as it did in Sanford.
I will never forget as that game ended the many women and even men who were so disgusted and torn up just sitting in their seats in shock.  After getting back home to watch the game that I had recorded, I noticed the ESPN cameras catching a young Georgia coed in tears as her team had victory snatched away from them.  All fan bases have fans that care about their university and football team, but very few fan bases live through their team such as the Bulldog faithful do.

If you have a similar interest as I do when it comes to experiencing the culture of college football and you are trying to plan future college football road trips with your friends and family, Athens needs to be on a short list of your top five schools.  The media sometimes blows up the atmospheres of Michigan or Penn State and chooses to overlook Georgia.  When gurus talk about the SEC venues they talk about Tennessee, Florida and LSU the most.  In my opinion, after being to all twelve SEC venues, I rank Georgia as the second best gameday atmosphere in the SEC.  When you add up pre-game traditions, tailgating, campus environment and the in-game atmosphere, it should be place at the top of the list.  Again, if you will go as an unbiased fan and are honest with yourself, you will be thoroughly impressed.  A Saturday in Sanford stadium is what college football should feel like.

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