I love my wife. Beautiful woman, smart, very good at keeping me grounded. I realize how lucky and truly fortunate I am to have her in my life and bless the road that brought us together. That's not to say that all things are perfect. There are times (thankfully few) where I would rather be anywhere than in the same house as her(she can be wicked), and those times leave me wondering if my love might somehow be misplaced.
It never is, because I always arrive back at my sanity via the same reasoning, namely that sometimes even the best of friends disagree, even loudly. Yet, if the friendship, if the love, is true, they always see it through.
I love my Dawgs. There isn't another team in another sport I would rather follow than the Georgia Football Dawgs. I sport the oval g in the midst of the jort-jocked home of mullet wearing swamp monkeys known as SW Florida, and I do it with pride. I'll never trade the red and black for any color combination, and Sinkwich, Walker and Knowshon are the names of my heroes. I don't care how many national championships USC, Alabammer or Meechigan have won, I only care that the Dawgs have won two. I could go on, but the fact is that despite all this love, me and my dawgs are going through a rough patch.
It's true of any relationship that the act of being in one creates expectations, and expectations are the mother of disappointment. I expect to win every game. My Dawgs expect my undying loyalty. When only half of that equation is right, the whole is out of balance. This is why I've growled--loudly, as the disappointment I feel in my dawgs. I imagine, too, that the Dawgs are justified in feeling that my loyalty is fleeting. But, just like all relationships, there is a salve for wounds, a patch for broken hearts, a warm hand on a lonely shoulder.
It's called forgiveness.
I might feel this is one of the worst teams we've fielded in a long time (based on play, not talent, I might add.) They might feel this is the worst display of disloyalty any fan base has shown. We're each only half right.
Despite what has transpired, what might transpire through the rest of the year, I will not, absolutely WILL NOT, turn my back on the Dawgs. Oh, for sure I'm going to say my piece, but I've got a lot invested in this relationship. I might not be at the stadium, but I'm here, prisoner of war in SW Florida, cheering like I just left half a bottle of Jack in a Lipscomb second floor room while taking the other half with me, hoping and knowing that this team can and should beat anybody who stands before them. I'm hoping they will understand this, and forgive me if I growl if they don't.
Disappointment is to be expected in relationships. So is forgiveness. So, to my Dawgs I say this: despite everything that has happened this year, I'll be there for you Saturday. All I ask is that you return the favor.
Win or lose.
"The freedom of individuals to verbally to oppose or to challenge police actions without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state."