Monday Morning Musings – Friend of the Devil

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Forward: Today’s musing – what Athens institution is most worthy of an in-game inspiration/homage? What would it look (or sound) like?

In case you’ve missed it, Oregon is doing something unique with their uniforms this weekend. That shouldn’t be surprising, but the uniform inspiration might be, a little.

As a fan of the Dead, but not the Ducks, I can appreciate the homage especially since they toured there and played numerous times in Eugene. Like all Grateful Dead music, it’s best live, and there are numerous bootlegs of their concerts there, so feel free to take a listen if you’d like.

Georgia just regrettably dropped the Delta logo on Dooley Field which has little to do at all with Athens, I’m sure to generate more cash and what not. But I’m reminded that ESPN trotted out Tennessee folks for an Athens College Gameday episode (they did allow in Rodrigo to kick a field goal for charity, there’s that), and someone mentioned in the comments “it’s almost like Athens never had any famous musicians come out of it”.

Consider the parallels, as ESPN wrote a while back, between REM and Georgia football:

1980: R.E.M. forms, introduces itself to the alt-rock world; Herschel Walker joins the Georgia football program, introduces himself to the college football world.

1981: R.E.M. records its first single, “Radio Free Europe”; Georgia wins its first Sugar Bowl since 1947.

1988: R.E.M. releases the single “Orange Crush”; Georgia beats Tennessee on opening day.

1991: After two non-winning years, Georgia returns to the better side of .500 with a 9-3 record — making Bulldogs fans into “Shiny Happy People” (also released that year).

1993: The Bulldogs again sink below .500; R.E.M. releases “Everybody Hurts.”

2008: Georgia wins the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2008, and finishes the season ranked No. 2; R.E.M. releases “Accelerate,” which debuts at No. 2 on the U.S. charts. The Bulldogs then open the 2008 season as No. 1 — mirroring the album’s spot on the U.K. chart (and several others in Europe).

2010: R.E.M. records “Collapse Into Now”; Georgia begins its own collapse, going 6-7 — its first losing season in 14 years.

2011: R.E.M. breaks up; Georgia starts 0-2, and the Mark Richt era might just reach the end. The end of the world as we know it, if you will.

Now I’m not saying we need an REM-inspired theme jersey, but, really, where is the homage on campus to an Athens legend? What about the B-52s? Widespread Panic?

Wait, come to think of it, maybe we are paying an homage to Panic each week by not starting up the defense until the 11th hour. I would prefer we quit paying tribute to that, and maybe move towards more of Gunner’s inspiration from the Auburn game:

Today’s musing – what Athens institution is most worthy of an in-game inspiration/homage? What would it look (or sound) like?

19 thoughts on “Monday Morning Musings – Friend of the Devil”

  1. I’m a huge fan of The Who. That said, I’ve never understood “Baba O’Reilly” (Teenage Wasteland) as our intro song. It’s sort of clever once, maybe 50 years ago, but not now.

    I’d rather feature Athens bands, B52s, REM, Panic, etc. Heck, even the Normaltown Flyers.

    I was sad to see that we stooped to putting ads on our field. I was giving the nerds shit about sullying up their (Mark Richt’s?) field earlier this season. Ads on the jerseys is coming soon.

  3. Too bad we can’t play Oregon when they wear those unis and blast this Athens gem at them.

    • Give me two and half minutes of snarled aggression over 18 minutes of noodling crunchy grooves every day!!

    • Love that song … I still sing the chorus whenever someone brings up the Dead.

  4. Widespread over REM…. But this would be even hokier than the striping…. Thanks to Oregon for all these “great” ideas!!!

  6. “Widespread Panic” is also the perfect description of our fan base during the first half on Saturday. At least it was for me. Damn.

    • Lol, I went with the R-E-L-A-X and nearly got (justerfied?) pummeled by my group.

  7. Straight up “Panic in the Streets” during the first halves the majority of the past 20 games. lol

    That article from ESPN is really entertaining but REM just doesn’t move the needle for me when it comes to football; and, living in Athens, REM is not a thing. Walking along Milledge before Sat’s game. Every frat house played Classic Rock and zero Athens bans. I pointed it out to a friend and he reminded me from ’87 to ’92 REM was one of the biggest bands in the world but the run feels like it’s over. I know I talked to one of the dudes at Allgood Bar several years ago and he talked about the connection and the good ol days. I get more comments for my Jittery Joes (people find it funny) cycling jersey (and Dickies Mechanics shirt) and Creature Comforts (thank you Avengers movies) shirts when I travel than anything other than my Bulldogs gear. Other than the Farmers Only dot com vibe, I don’t know what our identity is…

    Honestly, some sort of link to the Masters might be cool.

    • When we walked from Clarke Central the music I heard was Don Henley or Glen Frey (sorry but aren’t they the same person) playing across the street at one of the Frat Houses. Did any of you encounter that mentally ill person blowing their horn and hitting the roof of their car as they slowly drove down Milledge at say 2 PM?

  8. Never could get there with the Dead. Plenty of people that I like to listen to are at least casual fans and Sturgill Simpson even sang with the remaining members. I don’t know what it is. Their music isnt horrible to me but it’s one of those things you get or you don’t I guess. I understand because I was once a pretty big Panic fan but that was years ago and I never find myself wanting to listen to them now. It was a window of about three years that I was really into them. People would tell me they didn’t get it and I understood. Not for everybody.

  9. Did not have to bootleg the Dead. They willing let their concerts be taped. My son was a deadhead & followed them around the country taping songs and selling tie dye to shirts.
    As for uniforms. Saban said we have 2, one for home & one for the road. I am more concerned about the athletes in the uniform than the uniform.

  12. Play Government Mule every time Woodring kicks or Thorsen punts. If he ever had to punt again.

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