| 24 November 2009
UT Head Coach Lane Kiffin angered a certain faction of Vols fans twice this season by altering school traditions. First, UT wore black uniform jerseys for their Halloween game against South Carolina. The second time, which did not happen, Kiffin was willing to allow Junior Safety Eric Berry to run through the Senior's Power T during Senior Day activities.
To many fans in the SEC, traditions are everything.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; or in Southern Slang: People Eat Tasty Animals) has urged the administration at the University of Georgia in Athens to no longer user live animals as a mascot.
In a letter dated November 24th, 2009 PETA urged the UGA athletic administration to:
In his memory, we are asking you today to honor Uga VII by choosing
an animatronic or solely use a costumed mascot to represent the Georgia Bulldogs in the future.
PETA further includes 'pet data' on the Bulldog breed in the letter.
OK, where do we even begin? To paraphrase what we believe to be UGA's answer:
Uh .... thanks ... no.
What do you think? Personally, of the three available options ... the two that PETA suggests simply will not work in my humble opinion.
An animatronic UGA VIII? I shudder to even think of this one ... even if it were to be a cordless version .... nevermind.
A costumed mascot ... has PETA watched a University of Georgia game? This exists ... so, basically, PETA has asked the University to simply ditch the live mascot all together ... not going to work.
The best part of the letter is found in the closing paragraph:
By choosing a humane alternative to live animals for a Georgia Bulldogs mascot, you can show that traditions can be modified and celebrated to reflect the sentiments of the present day.
OK, now PETA is really showing their ignorance ... what about the University of Tennessee's use of a Hound dog? Face it, PETA fired this letter off to get into the news ... no other reason.
Let me sum this up for you (again) PETA:
Uh ... thanks ... no.
What's next? Modify our Thanksgiving Day traditions by only eating Tofurkey? After all, what's a little tradition modification?
Not going to happen in the South.
