Remember when I revisited my Program Pecking Order this summer? It apparently stirred up a pair of Georgia bloggers, Senator Blutarsky and Travis Fain, the Dawgbone. They took such umbrage with my 2007 premise that 100 average college football fans in Montana would not recognize a Georgia football helmet as universally as they would a Michigan one that they sought out a volunteer to literally conduct the experiment. “Hoppy” Hopkins, a 35-year-old freshmen English teacher at Great Falls (Mont.) High and a diehard Georgia fan, heeded the call to undertake what became known as “The Montana Project.”
I’m in awe of the passion and energy it took for that online community to put that thing together.
And graciously finishes with this.
Stewart: Well — in the end, was it worth it?
Hoppy: Oh, absolutely it was worth it. I had no idea people would take to it, no idea it would get so many hits on YouTube, but mainly, it made people smile. The best quote I saw on one of the blogs was, “This is reason 1,750,000 I love college football right there.” That’s why we do these things. Absolutely, unequivocally, it was worth it in so many ways I never expected. Amazing.
And it’s amazing to me that one seemingly innocuous Mailbag passage could inspire such initiative. Kudos to everybody involved.
Agreed. I had a blast organizing this. Hope y’all enjoyed it as much as we did.
The folks behind the 1980 Dawgs DVD are back and want you to come see them this weekend. It’s not like you won’t have time before the 7:45 game start.
Members of the 1980 National Championship Bulldogs will be joining Filmmaker/Director, Lenny Daniel, in Athens this weekend to promote the “1980 Dawgs” Documentary Film project. They will be talking with fans and signing autographs at the Red Zone in downtown Athens, Saturday, 1pm – 4pm.
So far, confirmed are 2-time All American, Rex Robinson #5 and All American Freddie Gilbert # 90, one of the best UGA defensive players of all time. Other members of the 1980 Dawgs team have also been invited.
Fans, their families and kids really enjoy these events. The former players from this special group show a humble graciousness about their past and enjoy meeting fans, talking football and joking around. The 1980 players are now at the age where remember their playing years well and they don’t mind “letting their hair down” and talking with fans about what it was really like to be part of that special team. They will also give their views on current Bulldogs football.
Where: The Red Zone, 155 E. Clayton Street, downtown Athens
When: 1pm – 4pm, This Saturday
And Hoppy, our man in Montana, needs your help with another matter.
There is a Facebook page pushing ESPN’s College GameDay to come to Missoula, MT for the annual Cat/Griz game in November. College Game Day has never been to Montana. The Cats (Montana State) are currently #2 in the FCS poll and the Griz have a storied tradition as well.
If I can engage in some brief horn-tooting, it would be an understatement to say that yesterday’s Montana Project post went over well. GTP drew a record 31,468 site views of which nearly 20,000 were attributed to that post. After one day, it’s already the third most visited post in the history of the blog. The post also got plenty of attention on Twitter and at the SI.com site.
Needless to say, we are all gratified. It’s always nice to see a labor of love appreciated by a wider audience. So thank you all very much. And, again, if it’s not too much trouble, please check out Travis’ post and see what you can do.
Some thank yous are in order for a finished product that turned out better than I could have hoped:
The biggest, of course, goes to Hoppy. How many of you would have been willing to shlep around to a bunch of sports bars, helmet and camera in tow, bugging a bunch of strangers? (Most people I know go to bars to avoid being asked questions.) That Hoppy did it, did it with such good nature and turned out a more than watchable finished product… well, as far as I’m concerned, he’s got a special place reserved for him in Dawg Heaven. As I told him, if he ever comes to Athens for a game, he’ll never have to buy a beer.
Kudos to all who helped Hoppy with the production support. You folks did great work.
Let’s not forget Big Shock, who was close to the scene and graciously supplied a very good looking helmet. That made the logistics a lot easier (and a lot cheaper, too).
Travis Fain, the spark for all this. I really didn’t do much more than direct traffic. Travis is the one who planted the seed and got everything going.
Lastly, all of you who offered financial support, thanks. It worked out where the help wasn’t needed, but the offers were appreciated. Just make sure you’re around to help pick up Hoppy’s bar tab if he ever shows up for game day.
Next, a few words from our man in Montana:
Obviously a lot of people knew the “G”. However, it was hard to count people who said either “Georgia State” or “Georgia Tech” as a no, because they knew the “G” belonged to a-Georgia-team. That said, it was hard not jack slap the people who said Gators.
The “control questions we asked were”:
1. Are you a college football fan?
2. What does the University of Michigan helmet look like?
3. Do you know the official title of the USC cheerleaders? NO ONE KNEW THE ANSWER!! NO ONE–I REPEAT NOT ONE–HAD HEARD OF THEM REFERRED TO AS THE SONG GIRLS!
4. Can you tell me something, anything about college football.
5. Do you know what team this helmet is affiliated with.
We didn’t ask everyone all of those questions, but that is pool we chose from.
The bars we went to had casinos, so some people were wary about being filmed in a casino. Some people were really genuine, chatted, wanted to know how we were doing and wished us luck. I didn’t meet any Dawgs fans though, which I was a little surprised about.
Honestly, I expected higher numbers, but that’s what we go out of three weekends.
Thanks for this opportunity–it was a fun ride!
A few observations on my part:
To the gentleman who answered “Grambling” – did you see the fake juice helmets from the ’09 Cocktail Party?
Speaking of which, those folks whose answers included a Gator reference need to turn in their college football fan cards at the front desk.
There were fewer Packers answers than I expected.
By Mandel’s standards, Georgia fell short. Still, I was pretty impressed with recognition from about three-quarters of those who responded. And if that means Georgia isn’t a national power, what do we say about Mandel’s assurance that Southern Cal is, based on (supposed) universal recognition of the Song Girls?
I’m also going to assume that Florida would flunk Mandel’s national power test, given the helmet mis-identifications.
According to Hoppy, those who were asked to describe the Michigan helmet nailed it for the most part. And pretty much everyone who could do that could also identify the “G”. So maybe that’s our real tell for national powerdom.
I’m waiting to hear back from Travis this morning. If he’s got something to add, whether here or at Lucid Idiocy, I’ll update for you. In the meantime, enjoy. And comment, of course.
UPDATE: Travis adds his thoughts about the Project here, including a worthy suggestion for those of you who generously offered to make a financial contribution to the cause.
To bring everyone up to speed, Hoppy was able to find the 100th sports fan from Montana last weekend. His work is in post-production, so to speak, and we should have a finished product on display soon.
Congrats to monteithdawg, who managed to win the week one pool on the tiebreaker. Yours truly is squarely in the middle of the pack with a mediocre 4-point week. Which again is a good illustration of why I don’t bet on college football.
Week 2 picks are up, by the way. All of this week’s games are on Saturday, so you’ve got plenty of time.
Just thought I’d mention that the pick ‘em pool for the Fabris Invitational is open. Two of this week’s games are on Thursday, so you have to make those two picks earlier.
UPDATE: Just so you know, the pick ‘em site sends out two reminders – one on Thursday, if there are any Thursday night games in the pool, and one on Friday. So if you are the kind of person who needs that, don’t turn off your e-mail option.
@Mengus22 @sbnation @790TheZone As apologies go, "we took a shot, it backfired. Live and learn..." leaves something to be desired. published 2 days ago
