...I still have 27 years of Dawgdom under my belt. You see, my grandfather has taught at the University since 1969. My father went there, as did his two brothers. Also my youngest uncle's wife. Also my grandmother. Did I mention my mother's brother? Oh, and I got my master's in fine arts there in 2005. I remember my first game at age 4, although I don't remember who we played. I was in Sanford Stadium when we defeated Southern Miss and a talented guy named Brett Favre. I was there in '98 when we blew a 13-point lead in around 90 seconds against Tech. I remember the "Dump Ray Gump" years. We must, MUST be patient. It's really very phenomenal what we've done with two freshman quarterbacks. When you consider the talent that Goff had and squandered, when you consider that Donnan never took the talent he had to its full fruition, you look at what Richt has done with both excellent and average talent and you have to have faith and patience.
I'm taking an old family friend to the game Saturday; my mother's college roommate from Tennessee. That's right; I grew up in The House Divided. This woman and my father have a long-standing bet: if Tennessee wins, my father wears UT shorts the next day. If Georgia wins, it's red-and-black shorts for her. My father wore orange for nine straight years. Thanks to CMR, he had to blow dust off of them in '04...that's how much real estate we now OWN on Rocky Top. Let's be patient. We're 5-0. When Vandy went 4-0 last year, it was the first time they had done it since WWII. Things could be much worse. The Carolina game could - and should - have been much closer. We could have lost to CU and Ole Miss. 5-0 is prettier than 2-3, no matter how ugly the games themselves looked.
One more thing: I'm a Braves fan. There are those of us who got massively spoiled starting in 1991, but I remember going to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in the '80s when you could literally stroll over two sections to get a fly ball; that's how bad we were and that's how few people went to the games.
I guess what I'm saying is, let's not turn into Miami fans, who've been calling for Larry Coker's head since the '03 Fiesta Bowl. Let's not turn into Nebraska, who had the gall to fire Frank Solich after a 9-3 season, or Ole Miss, who fired Cutcliffe one year removed from Eli Manning. Above all, let's not turn into Florida fans, who put up a website calling for a coach to be fired immediately, all for the unforgiveable crime of not being Steve Spurrier.
I have a piece of clothing that helps define me as a Georgia fan and as a person. I own a white T-shirt. On the front of it I've written and drawn with paint pens the Georgia 'G' and the legend 'PLEASE DON'T MENTION THE GAME!' On the back, I have the dates and scores of every game we've lost since I began attending UGA in 2002. I add to that shirt immediately following every loss, and I wear the shirt the next day. Just under the collar on the back, I've written the phrase "RED AND BLACK, WIN OR LOSE."
Go Dawgs. Take it to the Big Pumpkin and his Rocky Top impostors. Because we're allowing less than a touchdown a game, and I know we can score seven.
GO DAWGS!!!
Red and Black, Win or Lose