College football

Friday, September 2, 2011

Arkansas Razorbacks

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

Based in Fayetteville. Gateway to Dogpatch.

Fayetteville is located in the Ozark Mountains in the extreme northwest corner of the state. Legendary Georgia announcer Larry Munson used to bemoan the long trip there saying it took two weeks by plane, train and horse buggy.

The razorback is the ugliest mascot this side of Stanford’s buck-toothed tree. It’s a giant, ferocious, red pig with tusks. Arkansas is the only fan base that enjoys wearing swine on their heads. More on this pervasive pig later.

They may have the best chant/yell in college football. Since the 1920s every time Arkansas kicks off the entire crowd screams “Wooo, Pig, Sooie!” It’s known as the Hog Call and it’s enough to make you swear off ham. The fans are very good at it and they should be since for half of them it’s their vocation the rest of the week.

The entire call is a finely-tuned and coordinated act between vocal cord and body. You slowly raise your arms from the knees to above the head during the Woo part, no less than 8 seconds for each Woo. Also, the fingers must wiggle and the Woo should build in volume and pitch as the arms rise.

When the Woo is finished, the arms are quickly brought down with fists clenched as if performing a chin-up as you yell “Pig!”

Then, in a move only Generalissimo Francisco Franco could love, the right arm is extended up and out away from the body as you scream “Sooie!”

And if the team wins, you do all of this three times then yell “Razorbacks!” whilst pumping your right arm like a prisoner watching the Playboy channel.

But if the team loses you must do these chants and genuflections backwards while at the same time bowing to the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and Cathouse in Little Rock.

Their colors are cardinal and white, the same as bacon.

Razorbacks are known for their bad temper and worse hygiene. And the pig is no prize either. Introduced into America in the 1500s by Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto, they took to their new freedom like, well, pigs to slop. I believe Slop is located between Forrest City and Stuttgart.

Arkansas has a live mascot named Tusk, but he is not a real razorback since they were hunted to death locally for their meat, the ivory in their tusks, and the dilithium crystals in their hooves. Tusk is a Russian boar, not to be confused with Vlad Putin, who is merely a Russian bore. Razorbacks are mainly found today in the Australian Outback feasting on dingoes and bloomin’ onions.

Not all of Tusk’s predecessors had sterling careers as mascot. The following paragraph is a direct quotation from Arkansasrazorbacks.com:

“Big Red III escaped from an exhibit near Eureka Springs in the summer of 1977 and ravaged the countryside before being gunned down by an irate farmer. Another live mascot, Ragnar, was a wild hog captured in south Arkansas by Leola farmer Bill Robinson. Before Ragnar’s spree was done, the mighty animal had killed a coyote, a 450-pound domestic pig and seven rattlesnakes. Ragnar died in 1978 of unknown causes.”

Unknown causes?! Do you think Ragnar’s untimely passing might have had something to do with indigestion brought on by an over-indulgence of rattlensnake?


This is a Rubens painting of Saint Tebow taming a razorback.

If you like what you've read so far just wait until you see the rest about Ole Miss and all the other SEC schools, as well as Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. It's all in 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis and available for the price of a Whopper Jr. on Kindle at: Amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

Ole Miss Rebels

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

OLE MISS REBELS

Based in Oxford, where Miss Americas are redshirted.

This is the university the bluebloods of Mississippi attend. Those are the folks who can afford the white paint to color the half-buried tires in their front yards.

Oxford is also the home of Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner. If you visit his home, Rowan Oak, you can still see the whiskey bottle he was drinking when he died. Every time the Rebels won a national title he would drink from it and when he passed in 1962 his family planned on finishing the bottle. In 1982 they amended their pact to settle for a conference title. It’s still sitting in the kitchen. Waiting.

After getting rid of their Colonel Reb mascot it took years to find another one. They even thought about Admiral Akbar, a fictional character in the ‘Star Wars’ movies who led the Rebel Alliance and was famous for his line “It’s a trap!” But George Lucas said the Admiral was in a galaxy far, far away fighting the Empire. Finally in October of 2010 they chose Rebel Black Bear. To the unwise, this would seem strange, but Mississippi is actually home to two subspecies of bears and one of those runs a successful line of Thai restaurants. ‘The Bear’ is also a famous short story by native son Faulkner. The Teddy Bear doll was inspired by a black bear President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot during a hunt in Mississippi in 1902. And Bear Bryant lived next door.

It’s so obvious a mascot you wonder why it took them 162 years to think of it.

It beat out the Rebel Land Shark which is a shame since it would have become the first mascot named after a beer and a Saturday Night Live skit from the 70s.

Some people say the Rebel name should be dropped because of its ties to the War Between the States. Then LSU would need to drop their Tigers moniker since their team was named after an actual Confederate rifle squad. Those who throw stones will soon hit a Cajun.

In 1935 they played in their first bowl game losing to Catholic University 20 to 19 in the Orange Bowl. They blame the embarrassing loss on the shock of seeing Catholics for the first time.

Actually their first bowl game was in 1921 at the Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba. They were shutout 14-0 by the University of Havana Habaneros. When wire reports on the telegraph came back to Mississippi most fans thought it was a typo. Then they asked what a telegraph was. A habanero is a very spicy chili pepper that gave the Rebels many an upset stomach that day and still does since you can search high and low and not find an official record at the school of that bowl ever being played. That information is sleeping with Colonel Reb at the bottom of Sardis Lake. The bowl was also called the Cigar Bowl and Rhumba Bowl at various times, changing its name to avoid the communist insurgents.

Their best coach was Johnny Vaught, who won six SEC titles and three national championships, 1959, ’60 and ’62. Vaught refused to recruit dumb players (a boon to Auburn recruiting) or married players (a boon to BYU), saying they were too much of a distraction. He refused to leave despite getting job offers at other colleges for more money. In 1960 he was making less than 20,000 dollars a year. Bear Bryant was pulling in around 80,000, but a dollar goes a long way when there’s little to buy. Vaught coached for 24 years and had just one losing campaign.

In the 1950s they were second only to Oklahoma in wins, and were fourth-best in victories during the 1960s. Vaught lost only six times in Oxford. At one point they played in 15 straight bowl games, a record at that time.

QB Charlie Conerly and Head Coach John Vaught attracting redbugs in 1947.

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

Auburn Tigers

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

AUBURN TIGERS

Based in the plainest little city on the plains.

A quick internet search shows that Auburn really had won a national championship before 2011, although you may be surprised to find out ‘Field and Stream’ magazine actually handed out such an award.

After their win over the Ducks in the national title game they now have just as many championships in football as Vanderbilt. And they did it with less than half the IQ.

The Tigers pride themselves on finding the best coach available with no stone left unturned. Their searches take them to every campus and airport tarmac in America.

The time spent searching for coaches is made up by their rather unique and quick way of choosing a school president. The title is merely given to the booster who gave the most money that season.

There is much confusion around the rest of the country about what exactly the mascot is, a Tiger or a War Eagle. But this is at least one subject that Auburn fans are not confused about. The mascot is a tiger. War Eagle is their salute, their holler, their shout-out, their battle cry for help. But as anyone who has ever driven the back roads to Auburn knows, and they’re ALL back roads, the real mascot is a roadkill opossum.

Legend has it a War of Northern Aggression soldier found an injured eagle on an old battlefield and somehow managed to sneak it into the first football game in 1892 with Georgia at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. At some point the eagle escaped his owner and flew around the field as the Tigers went on to score and win 10-0. At the end of the game the eagle crashed into the turf and died, possibly out of sheer boredom, or it being downtown Atlanta, might have been caught in the crossfire of a horse and buggy drive-by. For some reason the fans have taken this as a good omen and continue the tradition of shouting “War Eagle” at games, gatherings, church, christenings and honeymoon beds. It also began the tradition of bringing an animal as a date to Auburn games.

Eagle VII, or Nova, flies around the field before every home game, frightening the local livestock both in and out of the stadium.

The games with Georgia are called the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry,” and “A Damn Good Reason to Drink PBR On Saturday.”

A meeting of the Auburn Booster Club.

In 1896 before a game with Georgia Tech, Auburn students greased or soaped the railroad tracks so the train bringing the Yellowjackets slid past the depot and the players had to walk the five miles back to town. That used up a lot of soap, but it wasn’t like it was seeing any use anyway at Auburn. This may have caused the 45-0 whupping put on the Jackets that day. Georgia Tech got its revenge by having the Auburn grads call them “boss” at work every day since.

Nowadays students put on pajamas and ride floats in honor of the Wreck Tech Parade. The PJs are a nice break from their overalls.

If you like what you've read so far just wait until you see the rest about Auburn and all the other SEC schools, as well as Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. It's all in 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis and available for the price of a Whopper Jr. on Kindle at: Amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

Tennessee Volunteers

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Based in Knoxville, Gateway to Pigeon Forge.

Knoxville once held a World’s Fair. Really. Never heard about that? Don’t worry nobody else did either. It was in 1982 and its greatest legacy to the region is paved roads.

The only people who actually attended were folks from Nashville and Atlanta who thought another Six Flags had opened up. The biggest attraction was Deliverance World, in which unsuspecting sausage-fed Germans were led to their doom.

Nearby Pigeon Forge actually does have an amusement park and is home to a national monument, Dolly Parton. The area is known for its mountains. She is also the most popular ride.

After crying babies on transatlantic flights and Celine Dion singing the theme from ‘Titanic’the University of Tennessee’s band is infamous for making the third-most annoying sound in Western Civilization---the incessant playing of ‘Rocky Top’ after every big play, score, sneeze, and breath taken on the field. When the groundskeeper chalks the lines the band strikes up the tune.

It is the only song they can remember and despite playing it over and over ad nauseam it never seems to grow old with UT fans, much like incest and moonshine stills. It’s one of 7000 official state songs.

For some inexplicable reason several artists have covered the tune, including Ms. Parton, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Phish. Columbia Records pressured Frank Sinatra to sing it but he chose to die instead.

Felice and Boudleaux Bryant took only ten minutes to write the damn thing in the Gatlinburg Inn in 1967. I guess they got bored playing Tic-Tac-Toe with the live chicken in a box that town is famous for. Ten minutes to create a lifetime of musical misery. In a recent survey folks were asked what they would do with a time machine. The top answer was to go back in time and meet Jesus. The second was to stop the JFK assassination. The third was to go back in time and kill Felice and Boudleaux Bryant.

Proving the FBI has a sense of humor, the crime-fighting group used the title as a code name for an operation in the 1980s in which they caught several Tennessee politicians with their hands in the cookie jar. The NCAA should take a cue from this action.

The official fight song is ‘Down the Field’. No one ever remembers hearing that one because it is a fine tune with a lovely medley, thus making it sound harsh to the average Vols fan.

The nickname Volunteers comes from the fact Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State. In the War of 1812 they gained that reputation, especially during the Battle of New Orleans, which was actually fought after the peace treaty had been signed. It was the first example of Vols piling on after a play was over.

Their colors are orange and white. Not the vibrant, alive orange of Clemson, but a sickly, pale cousin, much like their own ‘human’ cousins.

Take some Push-up ice cream, leave it out in the sun until it melts, and you’ll get a color akin to Volunteer orange.


The color scheme came from daisies growing near the classrooms in 1891. If that idea was followed today the school colors might be the green of a marijuana leaf.

If you like what you've read so far just wait until you see the rest about Tennessee and all the other SEC schools, as well as Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. It's all in 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis and available for the price of a Whopper Jr. on Kindle at: Amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Kentucky Wildcats. Blue grass, blue fans.

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

KENTUCKY WILDCATS

Based in Lexington. No, Frankfurt. Or Frankfort. No, that’s not right, it’s Louisville. Nope, uh, Lexington! Yes, Lexington. I was right the first time. Maybe. Who cares until basketball season anyway?

Wherever it is the University of Kentucky is the forgotten member of the Southeastern Conference mainly because it should be. First of all it’s not in the Southeast. And it sided with the Yankees in that border dispute. So it ought to be glad it’s even allowed to play with the big boys of the SEC when it comes to football. They’re lucky the rest of us even talk to them.

The two main reasons they’re allowed in the SEC is to use them as punching bags in football and make the conference look good in basketball against those stuck-up snobs from Duke.

Their greatest football coach was Adolph Rupp and he was their basketball coach. Here was a man so mean it’s mystifying why he didn’t coach a man’s sport instead of wasting his genius on that round ball fad.

Their second best football coach was Bear Bryant and he only stayed there eight weeks. Why? This is a state and college that prefers basketball and horse racing to football. I’ll let you digest that a second or two. But what do you expect from a state that thinks their grass is blue. Yeah, maybe if you’re smoking it. I’ve driven through Kentucky twice and the damn grass is green. Green I say. Quit looking at the lawn through the prism of a mint julep glass and sober up. The only thing blue is the mood there after every Wildcat football game.


Top of 2011 recruiting class.

Football season in Lexington brings more suicides than a three-month-long winter solar eclipse in Finland. These folk haven’t seen a national title since Harry Truman was President. For you Auburn grads that was in 1950. Harry. Truman. Prez-e-dent. Oh I give up.

Their school colors are blue and white, luckily already giving them half of what you need for a flag of surrender.

They chose this color scheme in 1892, but for the 1891 season they had another color too. Yellow. Not just any Yella. Like their collective backbone or lack of it, light yella. Blue and light yella. Now there’s a combo that’s guaranteed to put fear into the hearts of your opponents. The colors of depression and cowardice.

Even Kentuckians could see where this was a mistake so they dropped the yella for the white, preferring a sad surrender without the running-away-screaming part.

When it came time to decide what shade of blue to use the school president Richard Stoll pulled off his tie and held it up for a vote. The students voted to get him a valet to choose his ties for him.

If you like what you've read so far just wait until you see the rest about Kentucky and all the other SEC schools, as well as Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. It's all in 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis and available for the price of a Whopper Jr. on Kindle at: Amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

Mississippi State Bulldogs. Why?

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

Based in Starkville. Otherwise known as Starkvegas, Starkpatch, or just plain stark.

The natives here would like you to believe the town is named after some dude named Stark, maybe someone cool like Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man. The reality is the name comes from the one-word description given the place by the first settler. He quickly became an ex-settler and kept moving.

Starkville is the place mullets went to live. It’s original name, and this is the gospel truth, was Boardtown. Boredtown is more apt.

This is the place that arrested American icon Johnny Cash for picking flowers, which he immortalized in his song ‘Starkville City Jail’. Johnny failed to mention he was three sheets to the wind at the time he was plucking the posies.

Cash is not the most infamous felon to walk these streets. That ‘honor’ goes to George Kelly Barnes. You may know him by his nickname Machine Gun Kelly. Machine Gun matriculated at Mississippi State for two years while studying agriculture. He was asked to leave when his unique and bullet-based method for eradicating the boll weevil destroyed the entire cotton crop in 1919.

MSU’s most famous and successful student, Machine Gun Kelly.

Charles Lindbergh landed here once. Once.

Supposedly the sport of tee ball was invented here when local youths were slow to pick up the nuances of baseball. Complicated maneuvers like throwing the ball and hitting the ball. This was a source of endless shame to Starkville native Cool Papa Bell, one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

They play at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Or is it Scott Wade Stadium at Davis Field? Or Scott Davis Stadium at Wade Field?

It was built in 1914, the same year Mississippi rejoined the Union. The Holly plant lines the sideline fence forming a prickly barrier, but it’s not a problem since Bulldog fans never have a reason to storm the field.

The Holly produces berries that are toxic to humans but not to the larva of the Double-striped Pug moth, which is a big booster of the program.

Starkville is where Christopher Walken goes for more cowbell. Every fan brings one and rings it incessantly despite an SEC ban on the damn things. They’re only supposed to ring them in between plays, but the average State fan can’t even read the rule much less follow it so they ring them all the time. The use of so many cowbells has led to a massive problem of lost cattle roaming the state during football games.

It is the second-most annoying tradition in the Southeastern Conference, surpassed only by the Volunteers’ obsession with the song ‘Rocky Top’. The song is more annoying because more people care about Tennessee football so more people have to hear it.

The origin of the cowbell tradition is nebulous, but most agree it started in the 1930s when a cow wandered onto the field during a game against Mississippi. Why this one instance among many of cow-wandering at the cow college would garner attention in Starkville is a mystery, but since State won the game the students took a Hindu-like reverence to the cow as a good luck charm. But unlike the Hindus these fans continued to eat their lucky charms.

For awhile students would bring cows to the games, but they kept confusing them with their dates, so they brought only the cowbells.

It took decades before two professors in the 1960s got the idea to weld handles onto the bells, making them louder and easier to use. Students make them on campus and sell them through the bookstore, which has plenty of room since it’s not cluttered up with any books.

The noise got so bad that in 1974 the conference passed a rule against artificial noisemakers at football and basketball games. It was a 9 to 1 vote. Ironically, State got confused and voted to ban the cowbell while Auburn mistakenly voted to keep it, believing at the time the vote they were casting was for more cows.

If you like what you've read so far just wait until you see the rest about LSU and all the other SEC schools, as well as Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. It's all in 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis and available for the price of a Whopper Jr. on Kindle at: Amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

Georgia Tech Yellowjackets get stung.

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at: amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

GEORGIA TECH YELLOWJACKETS

Based in Atlanta for the sole purpose of giving Thursday night ESPN games a nice skyline shot.

The 1893 Georgia Tech team pictured here in the beautiful heart of the main campus. I swear the first man lying down on the right is the late Graham Chapman from Monty Python. The late Herve’ Villechaize, better known as Tattoo, is third from the right top row. Stand up, Herve’. Oh, sorry.

Tech has the best fight song in college football, ‘I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech', despite the fact its melody was stolen from a Lithuanian vomiting ballad. It’s the only fight song ever used to bridge a diplomatic gap in international relations.

During the famous 1958 Kitchen Debate in Moscow, then-Vice President Richard Nixon got into an argument with Soviet head Nikita Khrushchev. In order to find common ground the two world leaders sang the only song they both knew, ‘I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck'. Nikita had heard the song sung by the Tech Glee Club on the Ed Sullivan Show, although the prudish Sullivan made them sing “heck” instead of “hell.”

The incident solidified belief on the Georgia campus that the Atlanta school was full of pinkos. Here are the lyrics:

“I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer.

Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,

I’m Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I’d dress her in White and Gold.

And put her on the campus to cheer the brave and bold.

And if I had a son, sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do,

He would yell “TO HELL WITH GEORGIA’ like his daddy used to do.

I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,

A college bell to put it in, and a clapper to stir it round.

I’d drink to all the good fellows who come from far and near,
I’m a ramblin, gamblin’ hell of an engineer. Hey!”

It’s based on an old tune called ‘The Son of a Gambolier.’ Gambolier is Gaelic for “one who gambols.” Or is it gambles? Here is the original song:

“I’m a rambling rake of poverty

From Tiprery town I came.

‘Twas poverty compelled me first,

To go out in the rain;

In all sorts of weather,

Be it wet or be it dry,

I’m bound to get my livelihood

Or lay me down and die.

Then combine your humble ditties

As from inn to tavern we steer,

Like every honest fellow

I takes my whiskey clear,

For I’m a rambling rake of poverty

And the son of a gambolier.

I once was tall and handsome,

And was so very neat,

They though I was too good to live,

Most good enough to eat;

But now I’m old, my coat is torn,

And poverty holds me fast,

And every girl turns up her nose,

As I go wandering past.

I’m a rambling rake of poverty,

From Tippery town I came,

My coat I bought from an old Jew shop,

Way down in Maiden Lane;

My hat I got from a sailor lad

Just eighteen years ago,

And my shoes I picked from an old dust heap

Which everyone shunned but me.”

Not exactly a ditty you’ll hear being hummed down at the Anti-Defamation League office.

The song has actually been used by many colleges with different lyrics, but it’s the Tech version that holds sway.

Name another college fight song sung by the likes of John Wayne in the movie ‘The High and the Mighty’, which was the movie spoofed by ‘Airplane’, and Gregory Peck in ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’, and Daffy Duck in a cartoon. It’s even been sung in space and on boats crossing the English Channel on D-Day.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney bought up the copyrights for one version of the song. Some idiots on a Diversity Task Force at Tech tried to screw with the lyrics in the 1990s to make the song more politically correct. They were told to suck it by the students and the song remains the same with apologies to Led Zeppelin for that last line.

Their other fight song is ‘Up with the White and Gold’. Kind of pales in comparison although it does have one memorable line: “We’ll drop our battle axe on Georgia’s head.”

The official Ramblin’ Wreck car was unveiled in 1961. It was a 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe restored in grand fashion. There had been several cars around campus over the years that had been called the Wreck and the first one anyone can remember was actually traded in for another jalopy.

Some claim the name comes from Tech grads that plied their living in South America around 1900 and engineered machines to traverse the jungles of that wild continent. The contrivances were called rambling wrecks by the natives.

There used to be a race between Atlanta and Athens every year beginning in 1929 called the Flying Flivver, but the cows on the road got thicker the closer they came to UGA, which made it too dangerous. The Ramblin’ Wreck Parade took its place every Homecoming Week in which students design and build wrecks to drive. Or they just find a GM product. Many of these devices have exploded and burned on the parade route.

Dean of Students James Dull decided sometime before ’61 that the school needed an official wreck so he began a statewide search. The search ended when he walked out of his apartment and found the 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe sitting in front of the building. A little pleading with the owner and the car was theirs.

The Wreck has seen its share of trouble. It’s been borrowed unexpectedly and without permission twice. In other words, UGA fans purloined it. It was painted orange by Volunteer fans in that sickly color they’re fond of. And it’s even been shot. An Auburn fan was suspected of the gunplay, but residing in downtown Atlanta it’s amazing it hasn’t been shot more than once.

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1