It may be Friday the 13th, but this is your lucky day, because G-Day is on Saturday, and Friday is the first day of the rest of your weekend, so here is what you need to know about the coming festivities this G-Day eve, with all times given being Eastern:
The weekend really gets underway today, as shown on the schedule posted a GeorgiaDogs.com. First and foremost, today is Charley Trippi Day, as the Georgia Bulldogs great will be honored by the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Athens during a luncheon held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. At 5:30 p.m. today, the Tate Center will host the Circle of Honor gala, which is pricey at $150.00 a pop, but which features such notables as Litterial Green, Courtney Kupets, Billy Payne, and Matt Stinchcomb. At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, you can "lunch with the legends" at Legion Field to benefit the Kasyn Cares Fund. The Sanford Stadium gates will open at 12:45 p.m., a quarter-hour before kickoff of the lettermen’s flag football game, which will be followed two hours later by the G-Day game. The spring scrimmage is set to be televised on ESPN3.com.
As vineyarddawg noted, other sporting events are taking place in Athens, as well. The Spec Towns Track Meet gets underway at 2:00 p.m. today. Admission is free, and the location is duh! The first pitch of the second game of the Diamond Dogs’ three-game weekend set with Ole Miss is scheduled to be hurled toward home plate at 7:00 p.m. this evening. G-Day proper commences at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, the scheduled start time for both the Bulldog Heptathlon and the women’s soccer team’s alumnae game, with women’s tennis---also at no cost to you, the attendee---to follow at noon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The concluding contest of the Georgia-Mississippi baseball series begins at 1:00 p.m., so it’s going to be a tight schedule in the Classic City. Beyond the boundaries of Clarke County, the men’s lacrosse team will square off with Georgia Tech in Milton, the men’s tennis team will tussle with Tennessee in Knoxville, the women’s lacrosse team will cross paths with South Carolina in Marietta, and the women’s softball team will face Kentucky in Lexington.
The weekend isn’t just fun and games, though. In addition to the aforementioned Kasyn Cares Fund benefit, fans have been asked to participate in a food drive to benefit the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, and the University of Georgia’s Undergraduate Neuroscience Organization will be hosting its second annual “Pancakes for Parkinson’s” fundraiser in the Memorial Hall ballroom from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As the event’s name implies, the group is raising money for Parkinson’s disease awareness and research. Tickets are $5.00 for everyone over the age of four, which covers an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, plus toppings and beverages. Children four years old or younger eat for free. For more information, check out the group’s website and Facebook page. If you can’t attend, you may send a donation (payable to “Wilkins Parkinson’s Foundation,” with “Pancakes for Parkinson’s” in the memo line) to:
Wilkins Parkinson's Foundation
8010 Roswell Road, Suite 120
Atlanta, Georgia 30350
If you want to track down the Dawg Sports crew, it will be best to look for us, first, at the women’s tennis match; then, in the general admission section at Foley Field for the baseball game (except for fancy-pants vineyarddawg, who purchased reserved seat tickets); then, in Sanford Stadium, though our precise location remains to be seen. If you want to try to connect with us, leave us a comment below, and I’ll e-mail you privately.
Beyond that, I have but to ask, “Are you ready for some football?” That’s a rhetorical question, really, but, just in case, here’s SB Nation’s NFL Draft profile of Cordy Glenn to get you going:
Go ‘Dawgs!