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Athens, GA (Sept 27, 2008) - One of the traditions on ESPN College GameDay is for Lee Corso to wear the head of the mascot for the team he is picking to win the game where they set up shop. "The tradition started at an Ohio State game," Corso said. "I had been wearing the team hat bwhen I picked the winner, and wanted to do something different. I saw Brutus the Buckeye walking bye, and thought it would be neat if i could have put his head on." And the rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, being an Ohio State alum, I resisted the temptation to correct him: it is "Brutus Buckeye", not "Brutus the Buckeye". And it was good that Kirk Herbstreit was not there to hear the oops moment. Notwithstanding, a Georgia fan came this morning fearful that Corso would pick Alabama to win tonight, displaying this sign:


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But then some telling signs seemed to point to the fact that Corso would indeed pick Alabama to win. At about 11:45 AM or so, Hairy Dawg showed up in the background with his head on, and there is no back-up head:


Photograph Copyright 2008 by Eye on Sports Media/The Cayuga Group, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.

The next hint came when UGA VII made his ESPN debut when Kirk Herbstreit picked Georgia to win:


Photograph Copyright 2008 by Eye on Sports Media/The Cayuga Group, LLC.
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Since you cannot have television without some drama and controversy, it was inevitable that Corso would indeed pick Alabama to win, donning the elephant head:


Photograph Copyright 2008 by Eye on Sports Media/The Cayuga Group, LLC.
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And so it was that the dreams of the Georgia faithful who had been gathering for this moment since 7:00 AM were dashed:


Photograph Copyright 2008 by Eye on Sports Media/The Cayuga Group, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.

But the few Alabama fans in the crowd were indeed very happy to hear the prediction:


Photograph Copyright 2008 by Eye on Sports Media/The Cayuga Group, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.