My Five: Jeff Dantzler ‘The voice of the Dawgs’

You haven’t met a truer Georgia Bulldogs fan than Jeff Dantzler. He lives, breathes, and eats UGA football. (That’s not a joke, because you can find him every Sunday morning at Hilltop Grille in Athens talking about the previous night’s game.) Dantzler is a walking encyclopedia of Georgia sports. He’s also the “voice of the Dawgs.”

Dantzler has an extensive background covering sports and University of Georgia athletics, from play-by-play announcing to calling College World Series games to Olympic events around the world. He has trained his whole life for what he calls a “dream job.”

But before his next college football announcing gig on Oct. 31, when the Florida Gators take on the Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, we asked Dantzler for his top five “must-dos” before, during, and after the annual rivalry game.

1. Before the big game: I never sleep much the night before a game. I usually get to the stadium four to five hours before kickoff. I never like to be rushed, just to make sure that everything’s set. I like to take in the sights, scenes, smells and the noises. I like listening to the band warm up; it brings back a lot of memories. It’ll bring me back to when I was ten years old coming to Georgia games. 
2. A superstitious man: I can’t even tell you the number of things I’ve worn or taken off, if we’re doing good or bad. This is how superstitious I am: if I’m doing the cruise control or the temperature for my air conditioner, it has to be on a number that corresponds to a year we beat [Georgia] Tech. It’s gotta be 68 or 71. 
3. Winning traditions: I always have a victory cigar. I love a good cigar, and I used to smoke one before every game as well. Two of my all-time heroes, Erk Russell and Larry Munson loved to smoke cigars, so I guess that’s where I got it from. 
4. Doesn’t take losing lightly: I am like a petulant little child when we lose. You would think that at 54 I’d be more mature, but it just ruins everything. Food and drink don’t taste as good. The air doesn’t smell well. It’s like you got this weight, like a Wile E. Coyote anvil over your head. I still think about the damn Pitt and Penn State games from 1981 and 1982 every day. I hate it when we lose. 
5. Sunday brunch: Sunday morning, 10 a.m. to noon, “The Bulldog Brunch” show at Hilltop Grill with Kevin Butler, Eric Zeier, and “the road dog,” Adam Gillespie. That’s a very famous show on the Bulldog Network. I’ll get the bacon-wrapped shrimp for the appetizer, probably the crab cake Benedict or the Creole omelette. No onions. I hate onions and Tech. And I’ll get the Red Mule Grits. They’ve got a crab bisque and gumbo. It’s delightful, especially if there’s a little chill in the air.