SUH-WEEET!!!

Ok, so I di’ant immediately race here and celebrate my Dawgs victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Living in the land of the Hokies should have been enough for me to go shout from the mountain tops (I considered it). But what goes around comes around. So I’m silently joyous. Plus I have a whole year of listening to this from people who see my license plate (BULDWGZ), my UGA bumper sticker, my UGA cell phone case (with Glory Glory ring tone), my UGA golf club head covers, my stockpiles of t-shirts (as well as my daughters’):

“Dawgs fan, huh? You guys played well”

“You a Georgia fan? What a comeback”

“Hokies GAVE you guys that game”

To be clear, I can’t take credit for the win. I did my part, though. I took my wife and girls to our UVA friend’s house and I passed out buttons, t-shirts, pompoms………and because they all HATE Virginia Tech, well, let’s just say it was easy to have them pull for Georgia. Was it uncomfortable when they showed the replays of Georgia beating UVA in the 1998 Peach Bowl? Sure, but they’ve long gotten past that.

So even though I brought my own cheering section, I didn’t really come up with the game plan, or defensive alignments or special teams scheme. No, that credit goes to the coaches. And really, that game was indicative of the entire season. We started out strong and got on the board with a whimper, went sleepwalking through the middle of the game, then finished extremely strong. Kudos to my buddy Benny, who, when we were down 21-3 at halftime (and I was planning my concession speech) said, “Dude, I saw your team play – this game ain’t over, not by a long shot.” Now he might have been thinking wishfully, lamenting the LONG off-season that was about to be. But when the Dawgs came back he was the LEAST surprised. “Hey, man”, he calmly said, “I told ya.”

For those of you who don’t follow football………….I bet you’re asking, “So what does a college football fan do in the off-season?” Well, here’s the thing. There is no off-season. Oh, sure I’ll watch the basketball games. Rather, I listen to Georgia games on the internet. But February 7^th is National Signing Day. For us, there’s Labor Day (official start of season), Thanksgiving (usually last weekend of regular season and when you play your rival), and Signing Day. Grown men have been sniffing around the lockers of hundreds of 17 and 18 year old boys, hoping they will sign their LOI’s (letter of intent) to play with Georgia. We crown them “the real deal” and “the next stud” and as silly as it sounds, we love it. March and April brings us spring practices, ending with the intrasquad scrimmage (which, even though meaningless, whets our appetites enough for conversation on blogs and message boards). During the summer, we keep an eye on the police blotter, to find out who got arrested for what, and more importantly, what that means to the depth chart.

So you see, there is no time to take off, not for the seriously rabid fan (read: loser like myself).

For those of you who DO follow football. We lost Allen Bailey today. I’m not panicking, but not having a lot of action in the weeks leading up to signing day is like…….opening your Christmas presents all on Christmas Eve. The big day comes and you already know what you got, you’re just hoping for a few more surprises. Even if you already got a LOT of good stuff. Sure, you’ve had some of your stuff for quite a while, but MAN, wouldn’t it be great to have ONE MORE GIFT?

One quick note on the basketball team. Wednesday win over Kentucky really helped in the way of getting over being screwed the Alabama loss. Other SEC teams are fearful of playing us, and rightfully so.

Go Dawgs!!!

Double backlash

Please understand that I know I’m petty. I know that I think things I shouldn’t, but here’s the deal. So do you. Yes, you do.

I’m ready for double backlash. Backlash has passed us by, and I’m tired of it. A backlasher is someone who antagonizes popular notions, people and hotbed stories by degrading them. You know the guy I’m talking about. He buys the newest form of technology as soon as it’s available, then when the next generation comes out he’s trashing the first thing he bought. He points out how bad the #1 song on the Billboard chart is. He wants you to understand just how hip he is, how anti-culture he is. He should have a t-shirt that says, “Please listen to me, I’m lonely.”
Understand that this is not an indictment of someone who doesn’t like everything popular, but of those who go out of their way to ruin it for everyone else.

Examples of backlash:
Hating the hot new TV show (Friends, Desperate Housewives, etc)
Parents hating that their kids love Barney
Making fun of Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, or any cute pop singer
Complaining about Mexicans taking all of our jobs in the US
Stating that you knew Lance Bass of NSync was gay
Repeating the story you heard about a guy who bought some groceries with food stamps and then got into his brand new Mercedes Benz.
Shouting above the music that Van Halen was better with David Lee Roth
People who complain about children in restaurants and airplanes.
White, male Christians who are “persecuted”.

You know what the problem is? Backlash people generally have more than a few mean bones in their body. Nice people don’t spend time on double backlash. I’d like to be that spokesperson.

So here’s a few things I’D like to see:
Barney pimp-slapping a soccer mom and leaving a dent in her minivan.
Britney Spears telling Kid Rock “You know what? You’re right. I lip sync cutesy pop songs and you’re ugly. But I can always write different songs, you skank”
Someone using food stamps at the grocery store, then turning around to everyone who was staring at them in line to say, “Don’t worry. I’m walking home, bitch!”
A three year old taking a dump on the lap top of the business traveler who insists on taking up three chairs at the Airport.

That’s double backlash and I’m ready for it.

Regular season wrap up

Ok, so we ended up 8-4. Many Dawg fans predicted as such, but probably had our losses dispersed differently. Me, I'm not sure I'm over losing to Vandy AND Kentucky in the same year. I will say that QB Matt Stafford has finally come around. The future looks pretty bright for the next few years (Holy crap, I sound like a South Carolina Gamecock fan!!!). But we laid an ass-whoopin on Auburn (who was ranked #5 at the time) and game back and beat the Nerds for the 6th straight time.

Anywho, we play Virginia Tech in the Chick Fil A Peach Bowl on 12/30 in Atlanta. This is, of course, God's way of getting back at me. You see, I live in Roanoke, Va - about 30 minutes from Blacksburg (home of the Virginia Tech Hokies). Believe it or not, Roanoke is the biggest town around Blacksburg. They have to come HERE to get their freak on. Anyway, I have to listen to these nitwits day in and day out talk about their Hokies. Don't get me wrong, they have a terrific football team now, but their glorious football tradition is about 10 minutes old. They had this QB named Michael Vick in 1999 and EVER since then, they've acted like they are perennial contenders. I just think they are Johnny-come-latelys. I mean, they didn't know how to tailgate until LSU showed them how back in 2002. Seriously. If you are a fan of a particular team, but you live in the heartland of another team, you know what I mean when I say I CAN'T STAND IT ANY MORE.

Now, I'm not making a prediction on the game. I could see it going either way. Both teams are on an upswing. But if we lose to VA Tech ........well, I think I'm going to have to move. My car, my house, my clothes, my cell phone ringtone - all Georgia Bulldog tinted. I guess I set myself up for that, huh?

Sidenote: QB race rerevisited

I am completely alone. I realize that. I must be the only person who thinks that Matthew Stafford is not the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Even opposing fans are saying, "Whoa, that guy's going to be great one day." Granted I'm not a football guru, but I have yet to see what everyone else sees. But he's the starter now, so let's update:

Game Five vs Ole Miss - Another game we should have lost. Joe Cox started, but Stafford finished. I think we all knew that would happen. Also, I remember reading from some pretty smart Dawg fans that we were in real trouble for the year.

Game Six vs Tennessee - Though we were up 24-7 with about two minutes to go in the 1st half, we wound up losing 51-33. Second biggest ASS-whoopin ever laid on the Dawgs at Sanford Stadium. Joe Tereshinski started this game (back fresh from his ankle injury), however it wouldn't have mattered if Brett Favre was the QB - we just could not stop them from moving the ball. Erik Ainge had his coming out party. Matthew Stafford was given some mop up duty their at the end ( 2 of 5 for 11 yards, 1 int), but I'm not sure why. Joe T wasn't awful, but it became apparent that even his great senior leadership was not going to do special things for this team.

Game Seven vs Vanderbilt - this is the game when things stated to get ugly. Joe T started and had (again) DECENT numbers (11of 17, 151 yards, 1 TD), but lacking the ability to have sustained drives has really started to expose some weaknesses in our defense, mainly because they are out there on the field way too long. This loss must have stuck in Richt's head because he named Stafford the starter two days later.

Game Eight vs Mississippi State - Another game, more mediocre play against an inferior opponent. I guess Richt has decided to stick with Stafford from here on out. Maybe Cox is just not cutting it in practice, maybe he sees that Stafford is really going to be da bomb one day ('cause he sure ain't now), but he's it for the rest of the year. Stafford still slings the ball around (20 of 32, 267 yards, 2 TD, 3 int) and though everybody says he has a lively arm, that "gun" doesn't seem to have any control.

Game Nine vs Florida - I was lucky enough to attend this in person. I thought we would get taken to the woodshed, but it was a close game until the last minute. Stafford was 13 of 33, 151 yards and 2 INT. These are the stats of the greatest Georgia recruit since Hershel Walker. Now I will tell you that I distinctly remember Mohamed Massaquoi having one drop and Martrez Milner having THREE drops. But take those away and he's still 13 of 29. Wonderboy, huh?

Game Ten vs Kentucky - We just lost this hours ago. I'm surprised I'm not back on the wagon. Stafford was 16 of 28, 230 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT. Last year right after the SEC Championship game, Coach Richt made mention that rebuilding this year would be harder than rebuilding last year. We just didn't believe him, did we?
For the year, Stafford is 96 of 186 for 1230 yards with 4 TD's and 12 INT's. Any questions as to who's heading up the turnover brigade?

Well, it doesn't matter, Stafford is it for the rest of the year. My only hope is that playing so much this year benefits him, and by him I mean US, next year. Blake Barnes has gone awol, maybe Joe Cox will give him a run in the spring.
I just gotta say it one more time - Joe Tereshinski, III was and is a DAMN GOOD DAWG!!!

Game Twelve: Revenge of the Nerds?

November 25^th

Vs Georgia Tech

Ask a Georgia fan to say one word about the Georgia Institute of Technology and you’ll likely get one word – Nerds. Or NATS (North Avenue Trade School). Or Yechs. Ok, so there’s no shortage of names to call those guys. What makes the last few years so interesting about this in-state rivalry is not that the Dawgs have won the past five. It’s that the Nerds, er, the Yellowjackets had won the previous three before then, yet had to “vacate” the wins because they played ineligible players. So truly, the last time Tech beat us was in 1990. That was the year they won the National Champ………I’m sorry, that was the year they won the CO-National Championship.

This year the game could go either way. Seems like Coach Chan Gailey over there has figured out how to win some big games. Well actually, he’s already done that (Auburn, Miami), but now he’s figured out how not to lose the ones he shouldn’t. Tech has an all-world receiver in Calvin Johnson. Even the sorriest of quarterbacks can get the ball to this guy. He’ll be playing on Sunday next year. But their defense keeps getting better and better and better. The only reason I like the Dawgs this year is that the game is at home and we have our only open date before this game. Two weeks to heal and strategize. Or, two weeks to lay around and get stale.

I’ll tell you one thing. Georgia fans sure will miss Tech QB Reggie Ball. He’s basically GIVEN us two games and was ineffective in the other. Does being a senior allow him to finally develop his leadership on the field? Does being a senior give him the experience to not make the mistakes that he’s made in the past? Who knows, but I’d rather stick 3 guys on Calvin than 2 guys on Reggie.

Am I optimistic? Yes. But the Dawgs have lost quite a few games that they shouldn’t have because the other team wanted it more. I just feel like it’s our turn. I’m sure Tech feels like it’s their turn, too. But to quote Bernie Casey in “Revenge Of The Nerds”:

“…..but I feel that I must tell you, you have very little chance. I mean, after all……you’re nerds”