A Memorial for UGA VII

by Nick Buchan

2009 has been a tough year to be a Georgia Bulldog. At 6 – 5, the football team does not look like what most have come to expect from the Dawgs. With losses to Kentucky and Tennessee, and what seems like the perennial slaughter at the Gator Bowl, this season has not left Georgia fans with much to hope for, other than its end.

In the midst of this turmoil, a tragedy much closer to the heart has now fallen upon our woe begotten football family. On November 19, 2009, Uga VII died of an apparent heart failure, as his father did just over a year ago. A wreath was placed in his house between the hedges of Sanford Stadium for the loss to Kentucky this past weekend, and he will most likely be represented by one of his brothers for the much anticipated clash with Georgia Tech on November 28. He will be laid to rest with his predecessors in the Uga Mausoleum, near the entrance to Sanford Stadium.

Uga VII came from a long line of English bulldogs descendant from Georgia’s original mascot, who in 1942 traveled with the team to its first Rose Bowl victory and National Championship. Since that time, Frank “Sonny” Seiler and his family have tended for the mascots of the Georgia football team. Sonny is also well known for the character based on him in John Berendt’s famous novel, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Over the years, the Seiler family bulldogs have taken on somewhat different characters. Georgia fans recall with delight the 1996 game in which an Auburn player ran out of bounds with the ball on Georgia’s sideline and was summarily bitten by UGA V. The pregame antics of UGA VI chasing people and inanimate objects alike were always a crowd pleaser. UGA VII was more subdued than his predecessors; he enjoyed lounging with cheerleaders and interacting with players on the sidelines. Unfortunately for Georgia fans and UGA VII, his tenure as Georgia’s mascot only lasted for less than two seasons.

The Seiler Family and the University of Georgia will, most likely, not crown UGA VIII until some time closer to the 2010-2011 season. Whichever Seiler family bulldog is crowned the new Uga, and whichever predecessor he resembles in character, Georgia fans need to be reminded of why our mascot is the bulldog. In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, when many people in America raised farms and cattle ranches, ranchers always faced a dilemma with bulls they needed to round up. Bulls, which weigh an average of 2000 pounds, were notoriously dangerous to control if they got loose of their pen. In this case, rather than risk impalement at the hands of a charging bull, cattle ranchers would send in a bulldog to bite the bull in the face, and hang on for dear life, distracting it long enough for them to ensnare it. Bulldogs get their reputation from being unwaveringly tough in the face of overwhelming adversity. As a longtime Georgia fan, I hope we can all remember this spirit in the days and weeks ahead, and give UGA VII the best memorial any UGA could ever hope for: beat Georgia Tech to a pulp.