The War

There is a certain comfort in the idea of a dynasty. One team dominates for years on end, and you know who's going to be there at the end of the year. You feel comfortable in the fact that you know who's going to win. You may not be powerful, but you know your place, and there is a certain comfort in that. As Georgia fans, we know our place, don't we? Second or third in the SEC East, playing in the Peach or the Music City Bowl every year, suffering defeat after defeat to Tennessee and Florida, which after all are much better programs.

The problem with a lot of Georgia fans is, of course, these past few fluke years. All of a sudden a new coach comes in, gets a lot of inherited talent and gets in contention for the SEC every year. They beat Florida once, and Tennessee five out of six years. All of a sudden they feel entitled to winning, but really it's not all that impressive, is it? I mean, come on, even Mississippi State can win the West. Every Dawg has a couple of days in the sun.

Thank goodness for 2006, right? Those damn Dawgs finally got put back in their place. And judging by the way Georgia has been playing this season, everyone in the SEC can return to their sense of comfort, because the Dawgs are back in their rightful place. Tennessee has beaten Georgia two years running, finally snapping their drought in Knoxville, and of course Florida will crush Georgia in Jacksonville and all will be right with the world. After all, 15 out of 17 games doesn't lie, does it? They're a dynasty, and the sooner Georgia fans get used to that idea, the better.

Except that there are those of us who remember a time before Ray Goff, before Steve Spurrier. There are those of us who REMEMBER.

There are those of us who know the stats, who know that Georgia leads the series with Florida by double digits. There are those of us who KNOW that we can beat Florida, if only our coaches and players knew it. There are those of us who believe every year, every single close game, just knowing that we're going to see another long pass play, Belue to Scott, Appleby to Washington, Greene to Gibson, just knowing that we're going to see KnoMo go for big yardage against that inexperienced and crippled up defense, who know that it's going to be 24-21 Dawgs. There are even those of us who hate Florida more than we hate Tennessee, more than we hate Auburn, even more than we hate Georgia Tech. There are those of us, like me, who hate Florida now even more than we hate Steve Spurrier; it is no longer the Evil Genius, it is the Evil Institution, and we must bring it down.

This game has always been called The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, but it ain't a party for the true Dawg. A documentary came out recently on the Florida-Georgia Rivalry, entitled The War. I think that's a much more appropriate title. It is a war. When you have an evil institution to the south, threatening to take over the country as it did last year, you have to do something. You must stand up to that evil. You must take it to its limits, must destroy its ability to spread. They keep coming back, you know that as well as I do, every year they come back, and we have done a poor job recently of keeping them contained. This year we MUST contain them, or the first three paragraphs of this post need be the only ones you read.

DON'T GIVE UP!

I couldn't have worded this any better, dapolla. Great post! And I may still be the baby on the forum, but I CHOOSE to remember those days and hold on to the belief that is embedded deep into my soul. We can win this war. I BELIEVE!!!!

Because....I AM GEORGIA!!!

thanks dapolla,
as a lifelong dawgs fan,(i'm now 43 yrs old), i know exactley where you are coming from... and oh, yes, i believe....every year, every game. the first ga/ fla i attended featured superman( aka emment smith for the gators, and they were heavily favored. but we had our own super heroes, as rodney hampton out rushed smith, and bill goldberg ignited the defense and the crowd. i,ll never forget that, as it was my first live experience at the then called gator bowl.
but i approach every game, and every season believing that we can, and will win. it matters not what happened last year , last week...every sat is mine for the taking, and i dont care who we are playing....... go dawgs sic 'em

Very, very well said dapolla. I think it amazing that I am in complete agreement on every point you made. I would simply hasten to add that as in any war, we have a duty, a responsibility to ensure that the seething encroachment of evil from Gainsville is stopped. Wherever great evil is found, it must be confronted and defeated. Can anything be more obvious? Others have assisted, i.e. two sets of Tigers, but it is for us to deal the death blow. The creature still lives and thrives on adulation. We all know inherently within ourselves that it must be stopped. It will not be pretty, but war never is.

Can we abandon our duty? Will we abdicate our seat of responsibility to others? We cannot; for if we do, we risk not only our own demise to oblivion but the joy and happiness of the entire free (sports) world. \"Let every good fan know, that we will assist any friend, oppose any foe, meet any challenge, pay any price, and answer any whistle to ensure that evil is conquered and that free fans of all teams across this nation and throughout the world are not subjected to the tyranny that is sought to be imposed by the scaly lizzard people.\"

Such terror and suffering is too much for good men to endure. We will not suffer it for ourselves or for others. Therefore we say again as we have said in the past, \"Ask not what the Dawgs can do for you, ask what the Dawgs will do to the Evil Institution.\"

Well said, dapolla, I believe we shake the cobwebs out of our brains and dominate this game. I think our problems are MENTAL! We have always had the talent and I don't buy into this Fla. curse. Of course, the coaches must coach, the players must play. We know the Dawg family will be there 100%. Bring em on. Get it done. Go Dawgs!

I truly enjoyed the first half of your post, but you had to go ahead and destroy a well versed piece of literature by rambling on about all that \"war\" jargon, didn't ya...