Thanks for setting me straight, Underdog. You know, until I got to UGA as a grad student in 2002, I hadn't been to a game since the Zeier years with the exception of that '98 game, so my knowledge of their personnel is a bit hazy. I actually know more about '62-'89 than I do about '90-'01; this is largely due to that fantastic home video "25 Years of Georgia Football," which my brother and I used to watch about four times in a row on weekend mornings. That's where I got acquainted with Vince Dooley and Erk Russell and Loren Smith and Larry Munson. Watch that movie and notice how incredibly young Kevin Butler, Buck Belue and John Lastinger look. Not to mention the Sack Machine himself, Richard Tardits, trying desperately to speak English.
And the two-point conversion against Alabama: "The only thing you think is, 'Oh please don't drop, you know, the one that's so simple.'"
And the Michigan game in The Big House: "I thought, There's no way that they're that fast, because I am not that slow. So I figured if there were two of them in front of me, there was no one behind me. I just reversed my field, and it was like a punt return."
And Vince Dooley on being hired away from Auburn and the Dawg fans' reaction: "Many of the fans were throwin' their hands in the ayuh, in despayuh."
And Erk Russell on Vince Dooley on the sideline: "...like a one-legged man trying to do the twist."
And the flea-flicker. And the shoestring play. And the end-around. And Belue-to-Scott. And sugar falling from the sky. That's where my "memories" are formed from, right up until the 2002 Music City Bowl -- I still harbor an unresolved hatred towards Boston College.
But let's face it; the Goff-Donnan years were hard to watch, and no one knew in 2001 how great Richt would turn out to be. I remember starting school in August of 2002 and we weren't even picked to win our first two games, against Clemson and Carolina. I went to two games that year, Northwestern Louisiana State and New Mexico State, both blowouts. I had to sell my Tennessee ticket...good thing I did, too, as we seem to lose to the Vols every time I attend that game. But David Pollack grabbed that interception in the end zone against the Cocks, and I think we'll all agree that it was at that moment that we knew something really great could possibly be in the mix. Then Pat Dye said we weren't Man Enough to beat Alabama, and we stomped both the Tide and Dye's Tiger War Eagle whatevers that year. And then the greatest blowout in the history of the Tech-UGA rivalry came. And then the 30-3 blowout of Them Hawgs. And the Sugar Bowl. Good Lord, and if 2002 isn't my favorite year, I'll never have one. Put us in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State or Miami that year, and we're the 2002 National Champs as well. 2002 may be the most magical sports year I've ever experienced, alongside the 1991 Braves season. And 2002 was even more incredible, because I was right there, in the mix, on campus, soaking it all in.
That was much longer than I intended it to be. All of this is basically to say that I don't remember anything at all about the Donnan years, and until UnderDog37 straightened me out, didn't think I had ever seen Quincy Carter play under center for anybody but the Cowboys.
It must be Thursday...I feel strangely optimistic about this weekend. Time to get let down again, folks.
GO DAWGS!!!!
Red and Black, Win or Lose