Athens, Ga. — University of Georgia supporters are enraged after learning that a wealthy University of Alabama fan plans to build what many are calling an “insensitive and inflammatory” statue on Broad Street directly across from the famed University of Georgia Arches.

The statue will commemorate a sore subject for Georgia fans ... the humiliating 41-30 beating by Alabama in the opening game of the 2008 season.

Hoping to recapture the “Black Magic” that had struck a season earlier when the UGA team donned never-before-seen black jerseys just before kickoff and rolled to an emotional victory over Auburn, UGA coaches announced they would wear the black jerseys again for the Bama game.

The Crimson Tide wasn’t impressed with the Bulldogs’ wardrobe and raced to a 31-0 halftime lead before coasting through the rest of a 41-30 rout.

Bulldog fans are still smarting from the defeat. Bama fans remain jubilant over the nationally televised beatdown, which they claim set the tone for that season and the next, which saw Bama crowned as BCS National Champs.

Georgia supporters have vowed to do everything in their power to stop construction of the statue, but that is unlikely. The property is owned by Bama fan Eddie Bubba Hogwaller and is zoned for commercial use. Hogwaller says the parcel will house a small restaurant selling beer and so-called Bama Burgers.

The 13-foot-high statue, which will stand in front of the restaurant, is not only allowed, but embraced by an Athens zoning code that encourages just about anything that can remotely be called “art” in the name of expanding downtown’s cultural offerings.

The cast iron statue depicts the beloved Bulldog mascot, Uga, wearing a black jersey and being crushed beneath the huge foot of an elephant wearing a Bama jersey. Red Elephants is another nickname for the Alabama football team.

Hogwaller said he didn’t care if Georgia fans were upset. “They can jump in a cesspool and not come up for air,” he said. “Football is war, and after a big win, the victor marks his territory. That’s what I’m doing, and I don’t give two hoots whether them Dawgs like it or not.”

Hogwaller said he was inspired by a similar situation that occurred several years ago when an Auburn fan purchased private property directly across from Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus and erected a huge fiberglass statue depicting a tiger wearing an Auburn sweater lifting its leg against a likeness of beloved Alabama football coach the late Paul “Bear” Bryant.

“They had whupped us the year before, and they was just rubbin’ it in,” Hogwaller said. “Some Auburn people tried to tell me the statue was a tribute to the rivalry, and I almost threw up.”

The Tuscaloosa statue was destroyed by fire just weeks after it was erected. Two Klansmen convicted of arson in the incident said it was all a mistake. At trial, they claimed they were so drunk they mistook the statue for a cross that was scheduled to be torched that night.

Hogwaller denied any knowledge of the arson, but said he was glad to see the statue burn.

“They were just stickin’ it to us,” he said, “but that’s the name of the game. That’s why I’m building that statue in Athens. To remind them Bulldogs of the day we kicked their mangy butts back to the dog pound.”

In other news, a Muslim group recently announced intentions to build a mosque two blocks from the former World Trade Center, which was destroyed on September 11, 2001, when hijacked airplanes flown by Muslim terrorists flew into the twin towers, killing almost 3,000 innocents.

A Muslim spokesman said the mosque was a gesture of goodwill intended to expand cultural outreach between Islam and the West. (Send your e-mail comments to: alex@newnan.com.)