Memories. Hazy, hazy memories, but memories nonetheless.
Many a dollar, and I mean very little dollars, which made it even better, were spent here sitting on the railings outside on a Tuesday Friday after classes were done.
Happy Friday, Refugees. I hope you have a nice little place to spend your Friday afternoon at, and while away the hours with friends or family while you’re at it.
If this doesn’t make your soul leap this morning, check your pulse.
Ms. Jean, you’re a DGD! Happy retirement to you!
There are people all over campus in Athens whose job it is to make a student’s life a little bit better when someone’s daughter or son is away from home for the first time. Thanks to all of you (same goes for the staff at Furman, too).
If there was someone on campus who was special to you or to one of your kids, give them a shout-out here. Mine was Tom Cochran … he was our fraternity advisor and my daughter loved talking to him when he would visit Arch Society meetings in retirement.
The annual G-Day game is tomorrow, so this serves as a quick reminder that kickoff is at 1 pm. It’ll be clear, hot, and a beautiful day to be in Athens…which, honestly, is just about any day.
It will also be broadcast on ESPN+, so there’s that.
Quick poll…anyone going to head to the game tomorrow?
Go ‘Dawgs.
This popped up last night on Twix. I have to say, as a former student and a person who’s maintained a relatively clean nose, the number of times I experienced being pulled over from police in Athens in a five-year span of time eclipses the number of times I’ve been pulled over anywhere else (once outside of Gainesville/Rabbit Town where the I-75 speed rapidly declined to the I-575 speed, and once in Panama City where you hit the bridge and the speed drops to, say, 18 miles per hour).
You have to click through the replies to see his whole thread, but the other replies that follows is worth a read.
Do we have a speeding problem in Athens, or an Athens problem in speeding? I think I already know EE’s response, but the word is starting to spread.
Interesting sound bite from a Dawg here:
For today’s Wondering, tell me about something you had to work hard to perfect, through practice or patience, that made you excellent. I’ll start:
I’m a natural introvert. It’s baked in my DNA. One hallmark of introverts is their inability to express themselves, they’re corner huggers at parties, they’re quiet. One thing I’ll say is that beer and UGA broke me out of that. A public speaking class at UGA helped me a lot, and helped me more when the GA who taught it asked me out for a date. And my public speaking project was on the 2nd Amendment and why it was important for us to have the Right to Bear Arms.
In retrospect, I shoulda asked for a second date instead of stumping for the Amendment, but I digress. No, I don’t digress, she was as hot as a South Georgia summer under a clear blue sky beating down on rich, ripe watermelons, and I shoulda had more confidence. Ah, choices. And the life we lead. But, to this day, my remedial English class at UGA along with this fateful class has turned me into the man I am today. I wouldn’t be writing this prose without it.
Discuss, scamps.
After the ripple that was created around the news that Legion Pool was to be no more, one Red and Black columnist offers their two-cents on how to right the wrongs that have been purportedly taking place there for years now:
In March 2026, the University of Georgia began demolition on the historic Legion Pool. A working group tasked on Jan. 15, 2025 by President Jere Morehead, Vice President for Student Affairs Michelle Cook, and Vice President for Finance and Administration Ryan Nesbit, and chaired by Dean of Students Eric Atkinson determined that the pool leaks, would require costly repairs and attracts less and less visitors. The working group decided that the only feasible way forward was to demolish the Legion Pool entirely, replacing it with parking lots and extending the neighboring Legion Field, which will be upgraded into a central meeting place for students.
The planned demolition was met with opposition both at UGA and in Athens. A main contra argument was that demolishing Legion Pool, a recreational facility of some historic value, to add, what was, 70 parking spots to UGA’s existing approximate 21,000 regular spots is a bad deal. The West Campus Parking Deck II, located about 750 feet from Legion Pool, opened in 2025 and provides more than 1,100 spots. Several nearby green spaces would have offered ample opportunity to build additional parking. In contrast, Legion Pool, with its shaded terrasse, historic bath house and multi-usage pool open to the public, erases not just greenery but a community source with rich history. Future students might regret UGA’s rushed decision to demolish an outdoor pool and wonder why nearly all of UGA’s peer institutions, the other colleges in the SEC, and almost all state-flagship institutions in warm-weather U.S. states have outdoor pools for student use. Oddly, the demolition of Legion Pool and the other nearby outdoor sport facilities on campus is communicated to the UGA community as student wellness measures and an effort to increase sustainability.
Regardless, with Legion Pool demolished, this debate can stop, as now is the time to look forward and ensure this central piece of campus will indeed serve our students best. It was later announced that some of the area will be used for sand volleyball courts and less of it for parking. This is good news and a first step to correct the often bleak appearance of UGA’s campus. In other good news, UGA agreed to provide an appropriately-sized temporary, or mobile, stage for student usage and events since the new Legion Field will no longer have a permanent stage.
Further, UGA committed to reserve the initial 70 parking spaces at Legion Field for our students. Since the revised plans will add just 20 new spaces, an additional 50 parking spaces of the current Legion Lot should be reassigned for student usage.
Students should receive top priority reservation rights for the new Legion Field complex, including on game day weekends. In correspondence provided to by the Tate Student Center, from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5, 2025 UGA’s more than 850 student organizations combined used it for 12 events, all UGA departments together for four events, and the UGA Athletic Association, or the UGAAA, for five multiday events around home game weekends.
It is difficult to comprehend how the new Legion Field will serve the students when they are barred from using it during the most important events on UGA’s calendar. In the past, I remember student organizations who regularly used the field on Fridays before home games for music events. However, in recent years, student organizations have been effectively booted out by the UGAAA, which uses the field for multi-day stretches around game weekends to host pre-game events for VIPs and corporate sponsors. These events often involve alcohol advertised on widely visible banners right in the middle of UGA’s main undergraduate housing area. To remain convincing with its strict stance on alcohol consumption on campus, President Morehead should ban all advertisements for alcoholic beverages on campus, but for Sanford Stadium and select UGAAA facilities.
UGA’s guidelines for the usage of student activity fees are clear: “Students are the only beneficiaries of this fee.” Nevertheless, UGA used several hundred thousands of dollars in these fees to operate a pool that students by-and-large were prevented from enjoying since the administration kept it closed but for a few weeks during the summer.
One starts to wonder whether this entire maneuver of letting students pay for, but not use, the pool, and the subsequent indignation about this unfairness, was a smoke screen to demolish Legion Pool. It ostensibly gives over this piece of our campus to the UGAAA as a zone for alcohol-fueled parties and corporate donor events, all while stripping UGA and the community of a beautiful outdoor aquatic facility.
The core of Athens disappearing to corporate greed? It’s not just Athens, it’s college football, it’s the world we know, it’s everywhere…remember when…
Memories…
Here’s another throwback picture from the Hargrett Library:
There’s a really good chance that the place hasn’t been cleaned since this picture was taken, either, based on the condition it was in when I last visited it years ago.
Still great feta cheese and fries, though.
I recall many of you mentioning Guthrie’s from a previous post, and thought I’d give you something wistful for a Saturday morning.
I was definitely a fan and visited many times myself, recalling that we were always bringing a penny to watch the special sauce wash away years of aging while we sat and ate.
Memmorriieess….
Memories….hazy ones, at least.
Waffle House. When you absolutely, positively, without a doubt, are about to either puke, are trying to wash away the taste of puke, or are willing to eat something close to puke, it’s there. Depending on your opinion of the establishment.
Me? My teeth were cut on late nights in Athens, say, around 3 am in the morning, right by the exit to the Loop, downing my usual favorite late night meal:
Bacon, egg, and cheese sammich. Double order of hash browns, scattered, smothered, and covered. With a vanilla coke.
Now, in the days right after COVID, Waffle House became our family sanctuary. The girls and I had nothing else to do, so I’d take them to the school gym where I was a principal and we’d play in there, and we’d go out to eat at the one place in town that was open…Waffle House.
The kids would have their waffles, bacon, sausage, and cokes. I’d still stand by my standard, listed above. Waffle House is dear to me for that, from hazy memories in college to cherished memories in a horrible period of time. I’m indebted to a greasy spoon whose founding involves Tech people. That says a lot about the place.
Now, my other memory…the jukebox. They had one and we’d run a few Drivin’ and Cryin’, Allman Brothers songs, but would insist on playing Elvis’s American Trilogy. It’s why we still play it as the last song at a tailgate before going in to a game or listening to it right before the game starts. Those songs were special, and still persist 30 years later.
American Trilogy is no longer on the jukeboxes in Waffle House, but they do still have the music machine.
So, for today’s Foodie post…what’s your go-to Waffle House order…and if you liked to play a tune on the jukebox, what was or is it?
Discuss.
Saw this and thought it would make for a good Roundtable (maybe Friday Foodie) post for today:
I liked DePalmas, but I can’t say I’m as heartbroken to see it go as I was the original Mellow Mushroom go (so many hazy memories), Chow Goldstein’s, Harry Bisset’s, The Mean Bean, The Grit, or a host of other great Athens eateries disappear.
So for today’s Roundtable, for those of you who frequented “ancient” Athens, which Athens restaurant from days gone by do you miss the most?
Have at it in the comments.