New Red Titleist to Start

Coach Richt says the decision was not his to make

From AP sources

In a move some see as controversial at best, Toom, one of Georgia's biggest fans, made a surprise announcement on Saturday morning, the day of the Mississippi State game. Old Faded Hat will be replaced by New Red Titleist Hat as his starting Hat for today's SEC matchup.

After back-to-back losses dropped Georgia out of the top 25 for the first time since 2001, New Red Titleist Hat is debuting as the hat of choice.

The highly-touted freshman will replace senior Old Faded Hat as starter Saturday against Mississippi State, coach Mark Richt said.

"To be honest, it's not my call to make. That old guy has been here as long as I have, and he's a gamer, believe me. He was in Knoxville in 2001 for the hobnail boot, there in Tuscaloosa when Billy kicked that wing-dinger, he was there in Auburn in 2002. I'm going to miss seeing him up there. I'm not going to say it's not the right call because, to be really honest, I think the old guy needs to sit it out today. I commend Toom for this difficult choice and I suggest we get behind New Red Titleist 100 percent."

Old Faded Hat said he was told that the change was made to give the team a spark.

"If I can be that, I'd love to be that," New Red Titleist Hat said. "I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to help the team win anyway I can. If that's go out and manage the game, hand it off or sling it around, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just trying to get a win for Georgia."

"Let's not get carried away", coach Richt said. It's not as if the hat is going to come out there and actually play for you. We're talking about a hat, here."

Nevertheless, New Red Titleist is in and the decision has done more than raise a few eyebrows. "He hasn't done great and he hasn't done terrible, how's that?" Richt said. "I'll tell you this, if they don't screw up and drop him on the ground and keep spelling it Tit-liest, I think his numbers are a lot better."

"Yeah, the Tit-liest debacle was pretty bad", said New Red Titleist. They've even started calling me, 'The Nip' (largely because of the spelling error and the black button on top of his hat). You just have to put that stuff behind you and move on. Besides, around here, you get people on the subject of breasts, and BANG! Suddenly I've got them in my face 24-7. Life could be worse for a new hat." (big grin).

As far as the veteran goes, the old guy had this to say. "I don't think it's hit me all the way yet," Old Faded Hat said. "It hurts. I was given the job and if I had made things happen and we would have won these past two ballgames, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. I've heard the criticism, sure. I've been called pink, nasty, brown, all that. I think the only thing that really bothered me was last week when Toom's wife said something about washing me. And to cap it off, Annie told Daddy to wear his orange hat. She was talking about me! If she weren't two years old, I might've socked her."

Georgia is 2-0 with New Red Titleist Hat as starter but redshirt freshman White Retro came off the bench to rally Georgia to a 14-13 win.

Old Faded Hat returned after missing three games with a strap injury to start against Tennessee and Vanderbilt, the first consecutive home losses for Georgia since 1995.

"When Old Faded Hat heard the news, he was disappointed," Richt said, "but after a couple of minutes, he asked (quarterbacks coach Mike) Bobo, 'Is there someplace else I can play to help us win? Is there anything I can do for the team?' That was pretty inspiring."

Richt addressed the rotating hat question this way. "My understanding is the old guy is staying in Atlanta. It'd be pretty darn tough to bring him in at some point in this ballgame when he's 60 miles away. Can we move on to another topic?"

"Unfortunatley, there really is nothing he can do, except for stay home with Heather and the kids", said Toom who is ultimately making the call. "Annie'll probably pick him up sometime today and spill something on it or get some drool on there. That's probably about it."