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The Best Georgia Team You've Never Seen

Hey Jenny Slater's Doug Gillett occasionally risks public humiliation by asking his readers, "Is it bad that . . . ?"  

For instance, last week, Doug asked:  "Is it bad that . . . as a sports fan, I probably care more about, say, tomorrow night's figure-skating competition than the NBA?"  

I follow neither the winter Olympics nor professional basketball, so I am in no position to judge, but I am grateful for such questions as Doug's because it makes this posting easier to write.  

When Dawg Sports debuted, I promised that it would be about exactly that . . . Dawg Sports, not just limited to football.  

There's more to Georgia athletics than just this.  Yes, I found it hard to believe, as well.  

This brings me to women's gymnastics.  

I know what you're thinking.  Women's gymnastics?  

Here are a few good reasons why a Georgia fan ought to follow women's gymnastics.  

What, you needed a better reason?  

First of all, the Gym Dogs are good.  

Georgia's women's gymnastics team is 12-0 and ranked No. 1 in the N.C.A.A.  

For the fifth time since 1993, a Suzanne Yoculan-coached Bulldog squad has opened the season with nine straight wins.  

With a win against 19th-ranked Kentucky on Friday, the Gym Dogs would finish undefeated in conference meets for the seventh time in the last decade.  Over the course of the last 10 years, no other S.E.C. team has accomplished that feat even once.  

Georgia has scored over 197 in four different meets this season, including an N.C.A.A.-leading 197.525 in a win over U.C.L.A.  Third-ranked Utah is the only other team in the country to have scored above 197 this season.  

Since Coach Yoculan's arrival in Athens in 1984, Georgia's gymnastics squad has won 14 S.E.C. titles and six national championships, with four second-place finishes and seven third-place finishes in the national standings.  Not since 1995 has a Bulldog gymnastics squad finished as low as No. 4 in the N.C.A.A.  

The Gym Dogs' final regular season meet in the Classic City will take place at Stegeman Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. this Friday evening.  After that, Georgia travels to Salt Lake City to take on No. 3 Utah.  Between them, Georgia and Utah have won 15 national championships in women's gymnastics.  

If you're a Georgia sports fan and you have this Friday evening free, I would encourage you to head over to the Coliseum for the meet.  

It's family-friendly fun and, if you're a single male student at the University of Georgia, it's a good event to which to bring a date.  

Even women who don't follow sports will enjoy a gymnastics meet, which is just about the only place a fellow can go to watch women being rated on a scale that tops out at 10 without being thought a chauvinist.  

Dudley Moore, gymnastics enthusiast.  

Seriously, if you're a broke college student struggling to find an economical way to attain the happy medium between being a guy who would rather watch sports and wanting to go out with a girl who would rather see a chick flick or performance art, Coach Yoculan has a deal for you.  

Head on down to the Coliseum, where you can watch a top-ranked Bulldog squad with a distinct shot at a national title being coached by someone for whom red and black are good colors.  

Take my advice.  You'll be glad you did.  

Go 'Dawgs!