Uga IX
The recent history of Georgia’s much-beloved mascot has been a sad one. After Uga VI ended his ten year tenure as the dog on the sideline, the Uga family pool has taken some turns for the worse. Uga VI reigned from 1999 to 2008, tallying 87 wins and sporting the best winning percentage of any Uga to date.
Uga VII took over in 2008, but he died of heart failure in November of 2009. His half-brother Russ took over the final two game of the 2009 campaign and the first six games of the 2010 season. That is when Russ was on hand, or paw, or something, for the “passing of the collar” ceremony, to introduce the former Big Bad Bruce as Uga VIII. Unfortunately, Uga VIII was sick soon after his reign started and he missed the bowl game in 2010…with Russ again filling in. I’m sure there are rules and regulations and maybe Russ is just a good assistant, but not a good leader, yet shouldn’t Russ just become Uga IX?
Rumor has it that a Bulldog puppy held up by running back Isaiah Crowell on national signing day to help pledge his allegiance to Georgia, may end up being Uga IX. But certainly that little puppy, named Magical Munson Woods…and I thought I had stupid pet names… could not be part of the Uga lineage you say? Well apparently he is and owner Mike Woods has the paperwork to prove it. The great Uga VI was, apparently, Magical Munson’s great uncle. Why there is paperwork for such things, I do not know. I couldn’t even figure out who my great uncles are if I tried.
But, in any event, Woods is offering the dog, I refuse to say Dawg, to the Seiler family, who has housed and trained and bred the Uga line since the inception of the idea in 1956. Magical Munson may be a distant relative, but after 50 plus years of breeding, it may not be a bad idea to look for a distant relative just to mix things up a little bit.
I may mock, but Uga is a great mascot and let us all hope that Uga IX, who should be introduced sometime during the 2011 campaign, has a long and successful reign as the king of mascots.
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