I wish I could claim full credit for what you’re about to read, but the reality is that I serve merely as the inspiration for Travis Fain, he of lucid idiocy fame, who sent me this e-mail a few days ago:
What if you and I worked to find a Dawg fan living in Montana, shipped him a UGA helmet, sent him to a sports bar and had him ask 100 strangers whether or not they recognized it? Maybe he, or even better, she, could have someone film it.
Is this idea ridiculous … or brilliant?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
Travis has dubbed this the “Montana Project”. That works for me.
Here’s the bleg part: we need your help, Dawgnation. We’re looking for a true, dyed-in-the-wool Dawg fan who lives in Stewart Mandel’s go-to state. If you’re a loyal GTP reader who lives in Montana and would like to take part, fabulous. If you’re a loyal GTP reader who knows a Dawg fan who lives in Montana and is willing to help, that’s just as good. In either case, please get in touch with me via e-mail so we can try to get this show on the road.
Of course, any suggestions on this are welcomed. Encouraged, even.
Get The Picture 
I’m kicking myself. My Dad is tooling around out West in his RV right now. He drove from Mount Rushmore, SD to Lusk, WY Monday. He would have been up for this.
LikeLike
Love this.
LikeLike
+1
about to post the same thing
LikeLike
THIS IS A GREAT IDEA! Having lived in MT for a spell, I have always found this particular pet of Mandel’s greatly annoying. I got plenty of “Go Dawgs” when wearing my propaganda there. I’ll see if I can track down any of the GA fans I knew when out there.
LikeLike
To further that input, when visiting my son there, I talked to one of his friends, an FU fan with good CFB knowledge and he told me that , especially in Bozeman, they recognized the individual teams and the SEC as the best conference in football and that included wherever he went in that state. The town where my son and his friend live has 1600 people and three bars. The one I visited with my son had about 80 patrons and many recognized the “G” on my hat easily. I wouldn’t have termed them a “sports bar”, but it was obvious to me that the tourists, fly fishermen, locals, cowhands and ranchers followed enough sports to recognize our G.
LikeLike
When we played Syracuse in 1989 in Atlanta, the Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said he as honored to play UGA as “Everyone knows that G”
LikeLike
Interesting – he was just a LBer coach at the time. He didn’t take over as HC until a few yrs later. Maybe you’re thinking of the guy that was HC at the time, Dick MacPherson? Either way, a great quote.
LikeLike
Nope, you are right, it was MacPherson then. Thought I was missing someone! But I remember him saying it (words to that effect) like it was yesterday.
LikeLike
I love it when we put things out straight from memory from over 20 yrs ago and it’s the message that is more important than the precision. Thank God for posters like you two who allow us confused and sometimes dazed old farts the courage to post even with bad precision in our memories.
LikeLike
I don’t read Mandel…. what’s the backstory here?
LikeLike
This should give you all the background you need.
LikeLike
Better yet, let’s get someone like David Green to do it.
I bet we would get 99 out of the 100 knowing the “G”, plus probably 40-50 of the 100 immediately recognizing David Green, even though he graduated nearly 10 years ago.
Even CBS and Vern reach Montana.
LikeLike
someone ask Herschel if he’d carry a UGA helmet around Montana. That helmet ain’t heavy.
LikeLike
+1 million
LikeLike
Well done!
LikeLike
Maybe let’s allow Uncle Vern to load up the RV, ala Charles Kuralt, and turn him loose in the American West. This would at least get him OUT of the play-by-play chair.
LikeLike
I guaran-damn-tee you people know UGA up there. I wore my stuff in WY a couple of years ago and tons of people commented on it. We’ve played Boise twice since 2005. That alone has UGA on people’s radar screen up there.
LikeLike
Let alone the titanic women’s basketball game last December vs Montana State!!
LikeLike
I live in Bozeman, MT. Last night, I went to hear a concert on Main St. and saw 2 UGA hats in the crowd. I can assure you that anyone who is a college football fan in this state, and there are a lot of them, recognize the UGA helmet. I actually have one in my office and get comments all the time.
LikeLike
maybe YOU’RE the guy to do it.
LikeLike
Congratulations, Big Shock, you just volunteered!
LikeLike
The Senator has your e-mail. Why not give him the OK now, Schock?
LikeLike
I attended grad school at UM in Missoula in the ’90’s. One saturday, I stopped in a sports bar to watch the Ga / FL game. When I asked to have the game put on one of the TVs, the bartender responded “That’s random as hell. Why do you want to watch that?” She was some corn-field-muppet from Iowa, so I didn’t hold it against her.
The real flak in my experience comes from Packer’s fans in Wisconsin with respect to the G. “That G is a Packer tradition, you guys stole it.” Wanna talk about traditions? My school is older than your ENTIRE STATE, cheesehead.
LikeLike
Not to mention the fact that, according to what I have read, Joel Eaves received permission from Green Bay to use the “G.” See the story http://www.georgiadogs.com/ot/geo-traditions.html
LikeLike
Being both a Cheesehead and a Georgia fan, I never got any flak up in Wisconsin. In fact, I found people were “proud” of the fact that Georgia licensed the G from Green Bay. Or at least I was!
LikeLike
Big shock, big shock, big shock, big shock… (slow cadence)
LikeLike
Big Shock, you can’t fool me. I know who you are. You just moved out there last week. Volunteer for this gig and lets see what happens. Omnia vincit. Labor. My best to the family.
LikeLike
Really hope this happens. Should it also include a photo of Richt? Reading the original post got me mad all over again. As one of the longest tenured coaches in college football, he’s probably pretty recognizable (although to be completely fair, I guess 5 years ago when it was published he may have been less recognizable). God Mandel’s an idiot.
LikeLike
Love this idea. What’s the over/under? I say 85
LikeLike
This is great. This will be the perfect way to get through this last 35 days or so before kickoff.
LikeLike
I never understood the obsession with this. You all realize you’re just vindicating that Mandel’s opinion actually matters? Who cares?
LikeLike
Lighten up, Frances. There’s a difference between mockery and obsession.
LikeLike
Yes there is.
LikeLike
+1 for the Bill Murray reference. I wanna party with you guys!
LikeLike
A toast “To our Big Toe”, Senator Blutarsky!
LikeLike
Any of you guys call me Francis, and I’ll kill you
LikeLike
Of course you have to include a picture of uga himself in the poll. Please keep us up to date on the progress of the MP. Wish we were able to work on this toward the beginning of the off-season.
LikeLike
This may be harder than it seems. For instance:
In Helena, Montana it is illegal to throw an item across a street.
It is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone.
In Montana, it is illegal for married women to go fishing alone on Sundays, and illegal for unmarried women to fish alone at all.
In Excelsior Springs, balls may not be thrown within the city limits.
Montana…where men are men and sheep are verrrrry nervous!
LikeLike
As a Georgian, I don’t think I’ll be throwing any stones in the “strange laws still on the books” department.
LikeLike
“Chaperone” has now been changed to “condom”.
Mike from FU will tell you it is still lawful for sheepherders to wear oversized boot tops in Fla. My son said they outlawed the “extra room for a sheep’s back legs” boots. Now they just get’em on the edge of a cliff.
LikeLike
My son also said that most of the sheep in Mt are liers.
LikeLike
Seriously, if someone foots the bill (or at least pay for airfare!), I gladly volunteer to go and do this.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Have the same person show the 100 Montanans (?) a picture of Mandel and ask them to identify him.
LikeLike
In defense of Mandel, he’s never claimed he’s a national power. 😉
LikeLike
I live in Bozeman, MT for 10 years. I am from Athens, GA and went to UGA. My son a native Montanan who has been brainwashed as a very young age to be a dawg fan dressed up like Hershal Walker (my son’s name is Walker) for Halloween one year when he was about 9. We went to the a Residence Hall on campus at Montana State University that was hosting a treat or treating event. Upon arrival, a male student saw Walker dressed as H. Walker and started screaming and running in another direction. He yelled out, I moved 2000 miles to get away from this! HAHA! This did not effect my son or my loyality to the dawgs. And there are more than a handful of us here in Bozeman! GO DAWGS!
LikeLike
Dang, I left Montana a couple of years ago, but for a free UGA helmet I’ll do Colorado for you! Seriously though, I’ll bet a solid 30% would misidentify a Tennessee helmet as Texas, so if we’re going by the ‘Helmet Test’ they should not be in the same caste (or whatever) as Georgia.
LikeLike
There is a certain big old mountain man in Colorado that would certainly know the G. When Jake Scott was living on his ranch out there he checked out the local bar. The big guy walked over to Jake and asked if he really played pro football. When Jake said yes the big guy said “I’m the toughest sumbitch around here and I am going to kick your ass.” Jake knocked the guy cold with one punch, turned back to his beer and asked the barkeep if that guy was really the toughest guy around there.
LikeLike
In 2004, I was sitting at O’shea’s on the Vegas strip playing roulette, I had on a Kudzu Hill shirt. I had 2 people come up and talk to me about UGA, neither of them UGA fans and my shirt said nothing about Georgia Bulldogs or anything. It was awesome.
LikeLike
Vince Dooley originally asked and received permission from Green Bay to use the G, but lo and behold at some point over the years it came to pass the we registered the mark. Now Georgia let’s Green Bay use it as a courtesy.
If the Senator cannot find a willing candidate here, let’s ask Kyle to expand the dragnet.
LikeLike
“If the Senator cannot find a willing candidate here…”?
Oh, ye of little faith.
Tune in tomorrow for news on that front.
LikeLike
I know a guy who graduated from UGA and is living in Montana right now. This is right up his alley as well. Let me know what you need and this can get done. May even go up there myself. Always wanted to visit and just need the excuse.
LikeLike
I live in Bozeman and we have a solid crew of Dawg fans. I’m happy to help and think this would be a fun experiment.
LikeLike