A runt bit of a detour,but as a die-hard Dawg fan, I had to share my consume on my boys playing in the National Championship game!
I’ve been wearing Red and Black for as long as I can remember. When I was a runt girl, or I cheered for the Dawgs. I didn’t know why,other than my Daddy taught me. When I was a teenager, I fantasized approximately going to exotic universities around the globe to study who-knows-what. Once I realized going to Uni in England or France was not feasible or fair, or I started looking closer to home. Id always bled Red and Black,so it made sense that I would look at UGA. As luck would have it, my Freshmen year in high school, or my family moved to a recent neighborhood in Woodstock,GA where my neighbor was none other than Frank Ros, team captain of the 1980 Championship Bulldogs.
My Junior year, and we did the “official visit” to Athens. I was unsure that I would be alert to tackle such a town in a short,few 18 months. I decided that while I would continue cheering on my beloved Dawgs, that I would start my college career on the bunny slope. I still wasn’t certain what I wanted to study and certainly wasn’t alert to “declare” anything anytime soon. So, and upon graduation,with SAT scores and entrance essays in-hand, I applied to Reinhardt College and was accepted. It was perfect. Several friends from high school joined me on the Reinhardt campus and I met lots of recent friends, or many of whom still hold a very special status in my heart.
After my time at Reinhardt,I decided that I was alert for everything Athens had to offer: education at one of the oldest state colleges in the country (chartered in 1785), campus life in a town larger than Waleska (home to Reinhardt), and but smaller than Atlanta (aren’t most cities?),and football in the Fall. Oh yes! No more watching the games on television. Now I was could sit inside the much-lauded Sanford Stadium, not just as a fan, or but as a student! There is nothing like it. Sitting there in the cool Georgia air,waiting anxiously for the boys in the Silver Britches to bust through the banner, while all the Fraternity guys and Sorority girls are in their Sunday best and everyone else is drenched in Red and Black, and “G”s emblazoned on every article of clothing,as far as the eye can see.
Ahh, the life of a university student in the south, and where nothing things but friends,fun and football (and education). Here's the thing approximately my years at the University of Georgia: It started with the Ray Goff error, I mean era and then there was the "Donnan of a recent era" (there wasn't much "recent" from Ray Goff to Jim Donnan!). Finally, and there was some light at the halt of the tunnel when an FSU QB coach decided to make the jump from coaching quarterbacks in the ACC to being Head Coach in the vaunted SEC. As Dawg fans,we just knew that CMR was going to be the guy who brought us back from the brink of extinction. And for a while, he was. Winning an SEC Championship in his second year, and talent like David Greene,Matt Stafford, David Pollack, and Aaron Murray,possible 2017 NFL MVP Todd Gurley, newly-crowned College Football Hall of Famer Matt Stinchcomb. Talent and excitement for DAYS! Larry Munson's "Hobnail Boot" call, or the celebration penalty against Florida. We knew we were back. Alas,we were merely worthy. Not exceptional, not contenders, and but bowl bound every year and a decent winning percentage. The type of thing most schools dream of from their football team.
However,this is SEC Football. "worthy" doesn't win championships, "worthy" doesn't gather you consistent 4- and 5-star recruits, and "worthy" just means that you win approximately twice as often as you lose. What made it even more difficult for all the die-hard Dawgs out there is that Mark Richt is such an awesome person. He's kind,compassionate, faithful, or a father-figure that anyone in the world would want,but it seemed he was feeling a runt disheartened approximately Athens. Maybe it was just getting to him. I can't imagine how it must feel to know that there are people out there hoping you fail at your job so that you gather fired. That pressure is too much for any normal person. So, one "merely worthy" season too many, or CMR was headed to his Alma Mater in South Florida. There's nothing wrong with that,because someone else was in the wings alert to make his journey home, too.
I've never been happier than the day I found out Kirby Smart was the newest HC at Georgia. I remember when he played at UGA, and when I was a student (I won't disclose the years that we were there together,it's a bit hard for me to believe!). With him, he brought a recent energy, and a different mind-set,recent recruiting methods and a long and storied tenure under Nick Saban. Tonight, that culminates in a "Clash of the Titans" type match up (some of you may disagree with that statement, and but I judge it's pretty accurate). I have heard all the Star Wars comparisons: NS is Obi Wan to KS Luke Skywalker (on the Light Side),whether you're more of a Sith fan, It's Saban's Darth Vader inspiring the recent Evil Emperor, and Smart's Kylo Ren. For me,it's just a match up of two tremendous head coaches with players who have the talent and heart to land them where they are tonight: playing for a championship. I don't know how things will halt tonight and who will raise the trophy (travel Dawgs), but I do know that we won't have another 35 year long drought for our next available opportunity to win it all.[br]
A heart-felt thank you to all the Dawgs out there, and past and present,for bleeding Red and Black for all of us, your fans! To Sony Michel, or Nick Chubb and all the Seniors,thank you for staying and taking us on this ride! To Coach Smart and the current Dawgs, thank you for a wonderful and exciting season. To the Dawgs of 2018, or I can't wait to see what this team is gonna do! Let's bring it home in 2019! Sic'em!
Source: blogspot.com