Mike Orr sits in the seats during home games like the rest of the Bulldogs fans, but during the week he and his five-person crew are responsible for maintaining the hedges.

"We'll come in on Tuesday or Wednesday before the game and we will touch up the hedges," Orr said.

During the game, fans drop items into the hedges, lean over them, and cause damage that is routine for Orr to repair. The hedges have also become a way for a visiting team to remember its trip to Athens.

"In the past," Orr said, "quite often the visiting team members, if they happen to win the football game, they will take a piece of the hedge."

That might create more work for Orr, but he doesn't mind the tradition. It's what makes Sanford Stadium special.

"As long as it's like a twig or something," he said. "If they take half a bush I get upset about it."

The hedges have been there since 1929 and they are synonymous with Georgia football. Try taking them away and you'll get a lot of angry Bulldogs fans. That's what happened in 1996 when the Olympics came to town and Sanford Stadium had to extend the football field to accommodate for Olympic soccer. The hedges were removed, and many fans wrote letters and voiced their complaints. Eventually the hedges were brought back and the tradition was revived.

"I couldn't believe it," Mike "Big Dawg" Woods said.

Woods has certainly seen the hedges for quite some time. He hasn't missed a home Georgia game since he was six years old.

"I think they're beautiful," he said. "I think Sanford Stadium is one of the prettiest stadiums that I've been to."

If you've ever seen a Georgia football game on TV, then you've probably seen Mike Woods. He's the guy who wears the same thing on his head to every game, home and away. It's not a hat, it's a bulldog that his wife paints onto his shaved head.

Fans throughout the SEC recognize him since he attends just about every Georgia game, each time proudly displaying the bulldog. It's a family tradition that started with his father.

"(In) 1980 we went to the Sugar Bowl, and that's the first time he shaved his head," the Big Dawg said about his father. "All I'm doing is carrying it on."

The Big Dawg has been doing it since 1990, and eventually, Woods' son will take over for him and continue the legacy.

The visit to Woods' home put things in perspective for me. I thought I loved sports. I never miss the big game. I once drove 17 hours to see my team play.

But I'm no Mike Woods. Not even close.

This guy is the biggest fanatic that I've ever met. He has already made a Georgia-themed tombstone which sits in his house! On his left hand, Woods wears a bulldog ring with emeralds and diamonds in it. He walks with a cane. It has a bulldog handle. Woods has only missed one Georgia - Florida game in 34 years. That was because of back surgery.

"If they had let me out of the hospital," he said, "I would have made that."

Our crew was in awe when we visited Woods and his wife and saw his living room, decorated with Georgia memorabilia and autographed balls from Vince Dooley, Herschel Walker, etc. By then, we had already been ambushed, in a non-violent way, by his five British Bulldogs. One was wearing a Georgia jersey.

Then we got to see his wife paint his head.

Start out with the white paint. "Some things take a couple of coatings," she says. Then comes the black paint, followed by the red. After years of practice, it takes her only about 25 minutes now to finish the job.

"If I go to the game without it, something's wrong," he said.

Even the visiting fans have reached out to him and showed him respect. They frequently ask Woods for pictures and prove that you don't have to be a Georgia Bulldogs fan to admire a man's passion.

For Woods, it's all about honoring his father and worshipping the Georgia Bulldogs.

On Saturdays, you know where to find him. He'll be watching what happens between the hedges at Sanford Stadium.