Hims a good dawg.
God bless Uga. You just want to pick him up and love on him. Beautiful dog, not a great one for a pet because they overheat worse than your granddad’s Dodge pickup and they die even sooner. But, man, what a sight for Georgia fans eyes. Uga is a great mascot, and then we have the offshoots.
There’s Hairy Dawg:
Then there’s this basketball abomination:
Spike. He looks like a cartoon caricature of Uga but somehow stupider and doing stupider things during the game. Call me jaded, but I wished Spike didn’t exist. It feels like a slap on the paw to Uga, and basketball would likely be the best place for a real dog, if they didn’t have to drive up from Savannah twice a week from Savannah to attend games. And watch us lose in the first round of every tournament in which we participate.
The original Georgia mascot was a billy goat, and then a bulldog. Thank God.
There’s a memoriam to the mascots at the Georgiadogs page, well worth a read. But here’s the substantial ones:
Uga X: Que (2015-2022)
Oversaw the Kirby Smart resurrection of the program. Two National Championships, maybe two more shoulda couldas in 2017 and 2018. Damn good bulldogga. Winningest bullpup in Georgia history. DAMN GOOD DAWG.
Uga V: “UGA IV’s Magillicuddy II”. Epitaph: Defender of His Turf (1990-1999)
All us Gen Xers can relate, he was rode hard and put up wet and saw some hard ass times. He rode his bike until the lights came on to come home, and drank from a water hose. He saw the death of Atari and the birth of Nintendo. MTV was still a music video channel and shows like Roseanne, The Simpsons, and Beavis and Butthead brought to light that we’re not all Ozzie and Harriet.
He oversaw the most successful years for the collective athletics department, from 1998-1999 where women’s swimming and diving, gymnastics, men’s golf, and men’s tennis all won National Championships. He’s also named after Dan Magill. And he was in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Talk about a pet that represented the 1990s well, this dawg was it. It was directed by Clint Eastwood. I think he picked Uga V because he thought “Dirty Harry”, and the only person who could “make Clint’s day” would be a good boy like Uga V. And Uga V probably was packing heat, so bonus for that.
To make it worse for this dog-eat-dog world, this good boy oversaw the WTF era of Georgia football, from Goff’s and Donnan’s best and worst. From embarrassing losses, to pulling defeat from the jaws of victory over and over and over again, to inexplicable wins or ties (Auburn 1994, 1996, and Florida 1997), he encapsulates the jaded spirit of the 1990s. He could’ve worn a flannel shirt and grown his hair long, moved to Seattle and sang grunge or could’ve been the background vocals for REM, but he was too damned mad and might’ve participated in the Gulf War for all I know. But something in this DGD was triggered in 1996 and he exercised his PTSD when he was patrolling the sidelines in Auburn.
This Uga is best known for taking a bite out of crime, specifically, trying to bite Robert Baker (apologies for the error earlier this week, again) in the 1996 Auburn game where Bobo and Corey Allen brought us back from the dead with a Hail Mary to beat the Barners in Auburn. Poor guy, he saw us lose to a lot of Orange, but his attempted assault on an Auburn player is just what this blog is all about, and I bow to thee. LEGACY.
Daily reminder: Auburn Sucks. Even a dog agrees. Good boy.
Uga III: “Seiler’s Uga III”. Epitaph: How ‘Bout This Dawg, (1972-1980)
Que stands as the winningest Uga of all time, but Seiler’s Uga III was the second, and saw Herschel catapult the Irish line for the National Championship in 1980, and made it to the season opener of 1981 just to die weeks later. The good news: he saw us beat Tennessee 44-0. As was said in Little Big Man, that was a good day to die. What a happy Dawg, and deservedly so.
Darn, he was adorable. Just look at that face and tell me you don’t want to hold him by the ears and nuzzle with him. Say weird baby sounding words to him. Pet him, adore him, cherish him. Call him an emotional support dawg. Take him to work and attract the ladies. So damn cute, and so important.
Note to self: I’m lonely.
Uga I: “Hood’s Ole Dan”. Epitaph: Damn Good Dawg (1956-1966)
The one that started it all. Look at him. LOOK AT HIM. PET HIM. LOVE HIM. WALK TO THE TOP OF THE TEMPLE AND PRAISE HUITZLIOPOCTHLI. KALI MA, SHAKTI DE.
Seriously, he looks like what we want a Bulldawg to be…lean, strong, and mad as hell. He looks like he just got off work and came home for two things, to drink and beat the shit out of his neighbor, and he just ran out of bourbon. Lock your doors, hide your children. Uga I just drained the bottle and just took his work shirt off and is walking across the lawn in his wife beater. Go ahead and dial 9 and 1, and just wait. You’ll hit the last 1 real soon.
As Clisby said, hunker down hairy dawgs…hunker down for a fight. And Uga I is here for just that, and you can mute the music. He likes to hear the sound of tearing flesh and dripping blood.
Seriously, his epitaph likely gave birth to the term we all use so much today: Damn Good Dawg.
Woof.
Anyway, this went from Fodder to History Channel real quick, but was a fun trip down memory lane. Today’s Fodder is this, two parts:
- Who is your favorite Uga, and why?
- If we weren’t Bulldogs, what would you prefer we be? I can’t think of anything else, it’s burned into my brain. Billy goats just doesn’t work, and I can’t think of anything better. But if you can, have at it.
Discuss, scamps.
UGA 5 for me. Covered my college years, but more importantly, I worked at the Georgia Center and got to walk him when he arrived and help him up to his room numerous times. Fun experience being the 2nd most important living thing while posing him for pictures!
While staying at the World Gold Hotel the wife and I walk outside I see UGA out for a walk with a handler. My wife in full UGA dress walks up asks is it OK to pet the dawg remarking he looks just like UGA. The handler looks at me sadly and I respond she’s special god bless her. Then my wife understands the joke and says he’s out of uniform so don’t you dare tell anyone. Of course that was the opening story at tailgate in the morning.
I hate the ride home from Jacksonville after a loss. Reminding my wife of her UGA encounter still brings a smile to my face.
It’s Uga V for me, simply because of the Auburn incident. But I love all of them.
I don’t even wanna try to come up with a different mascot for UGA, Bulldogs/Dawgs is perfect.
And for the record, I love Spike. My daughter and I have created this narrative that Spike lives in Stegeman and never gets out. So when he gets events in his house, he gets overly excited and it comes across as creepy. He’s just misunderstood.
UGA 3. I have a picture of 5 year old me petting him on top of the Seiler’s red station wagon under the bridge by the west gate.
The second question is beyond my brain’s capabilities to process.
UGA V is a good looking dog and he was there when I was there. Tough sledding with those teams so I feel connected to him. I also like Vince Dooley’s feelings about Otto who wasn’t a UGA but stepped in when IV broke his leg. To quote Vince: “he had his day in the sun, and he will be remembered for generations to come because he stepped forward at a critical moment and performed like a champion.”
It’s V for me. The only mascot to grace the cover of SI when it was a magazine rather than click bait.
They’re all great in their own ways, but Hood’s Old Dan (Uga 1) is the best looking dog to me. Less in-breeding. I wish the later Ugas could be more like that.
It’s Uga III for me, simply because he’s the first one I remember, and nostalgia has become a bigger thing for me with every year. V was maybe the best of the bunch, though.
“Dawg of the Decade” Uga IV. Was in NYC for Herschel’s Heisman ceremony and introduced my freshman year. Traveled to NOLA and got to pet him at the hotel at the Sugar Bowls and each game in Jax.
Part 2 of the discussion makes no sense. We have the greatest mascot of all time…there can be no substitute.
What FPD said ^^^
I put a story in the memorabilia post about walking Uga IV at the Heisman before I scrolled down to this post. Damn Good Dawg.
I hate Spike; reminds me too much of the inflatable bee GT had in their endzone by where they used to put the Redcoats. Always somehow seemed to spring a leak; go figure…
Russ!
It’s Que for me, but damn if UGA I doesn’t look like a real junkyard dawg.
Agree on UGA I. Looks like he had to fight for his food.
Spike is a perfect mascot for BB. They need to earn even Hairy Dawg before UGA.
UGA 1 looks like a junk yard dawg who’ll get after your ass to his last breath. They all look good in uniform. UGA X is about perfect for modern media.
G
Didn’t Spike originate with the volleyball team?