No. 5 - Bulldawg Illustrated V: UGA vs. Vanderbilt, 10/16/10

Bagpipes, Kilts, and iPhone Updates

While most of you spent Saturday afternoon listening to the Redcoats in Athens, I spent it listening to the angelic sound of bagpipes at the 38th Annual Highland Games in Stone Mountain. For those who are not familiar with delicacies such as haggis (a Scottish dish containing sheep’s “pluck”—heart, liver, lungs) or the caber toss (throwing 20-foot-long, 195-pound logs around), the Highland Games are a combination of the Olympics and Bonnaroo for people of Scottish ancestry.

Originally, my plan was to see the Vanderbilt game, but between another early kickoff and a prior commitment to volunteer in the kids’ section at the Games, it wasn’t in the cards.

And even though most of the young boys I was teaching the caber toss to wore kilts (a handsome look, in my opinion), some of them knew the score of the game. So while I usually get my scores from the radio when I’m not in front of a television, Saturday’s information came by way of nine-year-old Scots with iPhones.

During my college days at UGA, the Highland Games were usually held on the Kentucky weekend. With the exception of last year’s game in Athens—when my boss gave me a few tickets—I manage to regularly miss this game. But, come Saturday, I am looking forward to an early afternoon in a pumpkin patch with my daughter and a late kickoff in Lexington (watching it on television, of course).

We beat the Commodores as expected, but wait a minute—didn’t UK hand Spurrier a loss?! All of a sudden, this weekend’s game has become more interesting. I still believe we’ve got a leg up on these guys, but it should make for a good old-fashioned SEC battle, as UK usually plays us hard. No doubt both teams are coming into Commonwealth Stadium with an air of confidence that was nonexistent a few weeks ago.

I wish I could write more, but it’s difficult when the day is spent in the company of kilts and haggis (not to mention we’ve apparently secured our place in the 12:30 time slot).

Almost forgot—I wore a tie to the Highland Games (not a UGA tie, but one of my family tartans… see the photo).

So that makes the tie 2–4, and the polo 1–0—still undefeated, but the tie is making a comeback.

Here’s to a 7:30 kickoff and UGA VIII keeping his undefeated streak alive! Go Dawgs!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth in a periodic series of online journal entries from a suburban dad who, every weekend, longs to be in Athens—but more often than not ends up watching the game from home. He’s dressed in a red and black bow tie, bourbon in one hand, cigar in the other, seated beside his Auburn-grad wife and their daughter, who’s about to receive her first cheerleader uniform: half UGA, half AU, stitched right up the middle.