Okay, full disclosure, I am definitely not a sports writer, and I have been called out in the past for being way too critical of my alma mater UGA football team, but even in light of those shortcomings I still cannot control my overzealous, unbridled, and annoying insistence on greeting everybody I see this week with “HOW BOUT THEM DAWGS”! If you saw last Saturday’s romp against SEC newcomer, Texas Longhorns, you understand what that game meant, and what it said about Georgia football. I’m walking on shaky ground here, right now, but that victory was almost akin to some stories from the Good Book in terms of good, evil, doubt, faith, hope and redemption. I will just put it like this, if I had been in the pulpit last Sunday morning even with all my considerable disqualifications, I believe I could have brought a few lost souls out of the desert using that game as a lesson on life and good old-fashioned righteousness. This UGA football season has been a mystery wrapped around a dry spell interrupted by a hurricane. Following the loss to Alabama, most of the national media and a lot of the Bulldog faithful were going into this “Welcome Texas, to the SEC” game just holding their breath to the point of purple asphyxiation. Even into the first half, Carson Beck’s passing was still creating a bunch of head-scratching among the red and black. But slowly the Georgia offense and defense started pulling momentum to our side. Soon, it was undeniable, there was a force at work here, and the ground was definitely trembling. From there on it was a game of skill, raw physical dominance but mostly it was the overpowering determination and will of a Georgia team that would not be deprived of what it knew it deserved. Texas, the number 1 rated team in the country could not stand against the Dawg’s onslaught, and as the immortal poet laureate of Georgia football, Clisby Clarke loved to sing, it was time to ”Let the Big Dawg Eat”. The extra added attractions of conspiratorial referees as well as the bottle and trash throwing contest of some thin-skinned Texas folks brought a little more drama to the evening clash, but I think that was just what we needed to complete the job and to show ESPN it doesn’t understand SEC. Most of all it helped us underdogs turn the Texas Longhorns into the Texas Spikehorns. If you are a long-time Dawg fan or new to the pack, you realize that this game will forever be part of the collection of legendary Bulldog contests. Finally let me say to all preachers who may read this and to everyone else everywhere, I sincerely apologize for creating the image of me in a church pulpit. I know how upsetting that could be and I don’t want to be responsible for any sort of long term trauma inflicted on anyone, (except maybe Tennessee fans). I will also remind Alabama, that there is such a thing as retribution.
GO DAWGS!
