Once a Dawg...

I like to wait a little while before voicing any opinions after a loss. I hope that enough time has elapsed.

First of all, I am a huge Georgia homer. They are my team. They always have been and always will be. But I am pragmatic and realistic.

That being said, we got beat. They had a great game plan and they beat us. We had some shots to pillage a victory from a certain defeat, but we did not grasp those opportunities. Now… we must move on. Georgia fans are typically very pragmatic until the season actually starts, then they are emotional, unrealistic, passionate, and frankly a little bit crazy. This season is adding additional evidence to this assumption. Most who don the red and black tried to be realistic about this season before it commenced. We were looking at a very young offensive line, a very inexperienced front seven on defense, and a play-caller who had never really called-plays before. That adds up to some growing pains. We are now in the midst of those pains. We knew that we could be vulnerable at the beginning until our O and D lines figured everything out. Yesterday, a brilliant coach and a minion of the Anti-Christ figured out how to exploit that vulnerability in a way that a lesser coach from a lesser program in a lesser conference could not figure out last week. These are not Georgia’s darkest hours. Those hours have already past. The upside is huge; we have tons of talent and depth. We are very young at most positions and we are going to be a pre-season top ten team next season. However, I will not take the standard South Carolina route and say, “wait till next year”. But do! Just wait, it is going to be special.


Attention Georgia fans: I too, am not happy with every coaching decision that occurred yesterday. But this is my pet peeve: Fans that say I love _________ one day and say I hate __________ when times get tough. You can plug “Georgia” in the blank. Or “Mark Rich+” or “Matt St@fford” or “Mike Bob0” or “Willie M@rtinez”. The bottom line is this: A Fair-weathered Fan is a Fair-weathered Fan. It doesn’t matter if it is of an individual or the whole team. If you have ever uttered the phrase, “I love Coach Richt and all that he has done with this program”, then you are committed to him and this program until it is time to make a change. Do you think that time is now? I do not. I was a Dawg during the dark ages of Ray G0ff (Goof?) and Jim Donn@n. I have seen a once proud institution reduced to insignificance. I lived it. We are now in the best shape that we have been in as a program in twenty years. If you want a new coach, then stand up proud and declare it today and stand by that statement the next time we are headed to the Georgia Dome and raising another banner high above Sanford. If not, then be supportive. If you want the team to be consistent, then be a consistent fan (or anti-fan). If you choose to complain about the coaches when we lose, then you don’t get to praise them when we win.
It is time for Georgia’s fans to be fans when it isn’t easy. Don’t be delusional like our opponent yesterday and make up a history that never happened. But do take an example from them and learn to support your team when times are difficult. They have but one conference championship in the history of their school. They have won fewer than ten bowl games… EVER! They have one former Heisman winner and another as their head coach. They have a terrible stadium in the middle of a parking lot. No history… no tradition… very little success. That is the plight of Carolina Football. Yet, their fans (although in denial about said lack of tradition) are some of the best in the nation because they love every little bit of success. They have simply lived through so little. Georgia fans are spoiled and we have simply not won enough to be spoiled. We, as fans, should learn from the Cocks. Let our football team continue to build on so much great tradition. We have a 100-year head start on USC. We have actually accomplished something. They haven’t. Hold your heads high in good times and in bad and think about all those Cocks who have held their heads high and filled their God-awful stadium even during the worst times (which have been plentiful) in Columbia.
We are better, now we need to act like it. Go Dawgs!