The Red and Black

Issue date: 7/3/08 Section: Opinions

THOMAS BEUSSE

This past Friday the Bulldog Nation bore witness to a sad event, one that has occurred only five other times, and unfortunately will happen again in the (hopefully distant) future.

Our beloved mascot, UGA VI the majestically ferocious English Bulldog, passed away to that big air-conditioned kennel in the sky.

He was nine years old. He will be missed.

But there was and is something special about UGA VI, more than his physical size and his outstanding record, which for those who don't already know he was the most successful UGA in the that noble ancestral line.

UGA VI was special to me. UGA VI was my UGA. You can say what you will about all of the others, I-V, and what "damn good dawgs" they were, but UGA VI was mine.

I can hardly remember a time in my life, from my earliest days going to games with my parents, to days watching games aboard ships in the Navy, that I did not see UGA.

But UGA VI was different; UGA VI and I were at the University together.

He was the one I would look to from the student section to see just exactly how we were doing or what his opinions were of the previous play.

He was the one whose regal stature I would seek out at each game, and I know I am not alone when I say that his presence on the sideline is one which would always reassure us students, alumni and fans, that all was going to be all right, no matter what score hung at in east end zone at the end of the day.

I will miss him greatly. I may have even shed a private tear.

But we cannot rest. He would not have wanted that.

I have the ultimate faith in his successor here in this very exciting year for our team and our school.

We are special here at the University, special because of our unique sense of tradition. We are also special because we have people, from this year's incoming freshmen class, who will learn the arts and nuances, the sights and sounds, of a fall Saturday in Athens, to good folks like the Seilers who have been magnanimous in their guardianship of the heraldry of such a fine lineage of animals.

From Athletes to Scholars, We are all Georgia, We are all the red and the black, and we should all be, as they say on Saturdays: "justifiably proud."

- Thomas Beusse is a senior from Danielsville, majoring in political science.

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