Of the many things I’m thankful for (or will be, as soon as this rib-cracking cough goes away) is the “decisive” victory of UGA over GaTech yesterday. 42-10.
Dawg fans just love those salty tears of bitterness. Now comes another year of “Nanny-nanny-boo-boo, We’re smarter than you” shouts as they run away…
Anybody with about a grand laying around, would you mind sending it my way? The cheapest seats for the SEC Championship game are running around $450 each, plus it will be at least $40 to park.
Little Brother, this one’s for you… Go Dawgs!
Oh, and big surprise. Gene Chizik is out at Auburn. Maybe he can iron Cammie’s shirts for him.
Kickoff tomorrow just after noon AKA The Harmonic Convergence of the Bulldawg Nation. Get The Picture.
While we count the minutes down until our karma is whole and complete again, here’s a nice pictorial history of beloved UGAs. Of which we now have an Official IX.
While waiting for the polls to close, I was planning on a quick post about the comedic Clayton Country Sheriff run-off here in GA, but the siren call of college football is just too strong to resist.
Kellogg’s has come out with college team themed Pop-Tarts. There are five teams: North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, Arkansas and Georgia. Note there is NO Georgia Tech.
I suggest that the ones with GT and Oklahoma logos be eaten on a plate. They tend to fall apart in bowls.
Boom.
17 days.
P.S. In honor of Trog, I’d say the second place comment involves the Packers:
This particular product will be a huge success in Green Bay before the cheese heads have their coffee and/or schnapps in the mornings and then realize it isn’t about them.
Larry Munson, the legendary voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, passed away overnight due to complications from his earlier bout with pneumonia. He was 89.
If you’re not a Bulldawg, you wonder why all hoopla… well, take a listen here, and when the goosebumps rise, head back here. That’s ok. I’ll wait. Listening to Larry is a joy.
Larry was always a part of my Dawg experience. When you weren’t there, he was, and boy, could he make you feel like you were sitting right beside him. Georgia fans would turn down the TV broadcasters (unbiased, my foot. And don’t get me started about about Kirk Herbstreit!) and listen to Larry.
Georgia Sports Blog has several goodround-ups, including how the 1978 Kentucky game sealed Tyler’s destiny as a Dawg. Funny, but that my memory of that game in particular always raises the hair on my neck. I was in the Redcoats, Kentucky was away that year. Those days, the band didn’t travel as much as it does now. The game was winding down. The Dawgs were behind, driving down the field, hoping to get into field goal range. Larry was about to melt the radio. The clock. The clock was killing us. My mom and I were pacing around the kitchen table like nervous dads in hospital waiting rooms. When Rex Robinson made the field goal, we jumped and hollered so much, something broke in the china cabinet. Such was the effect of Larry.
Three years ago, Larry retired. UGA released this video tribute. (via SBNation)
Sweet dear Larry, scratch the UGA’s bellies for me, rub Erk’s shiny head and ask to see Lewis’ tattoo. Can you imagine the three of them, together on their cloud and the stories that will be told for eternity?
There will be more linkage as the tributes roll in. It’s a sad day for the Bulldawg Nation. And yet just another reason to beat the ever-livin’-stuffin’ out of Georgia Tech. This one will be for you, Larry.
UPDATE: At Peach Pundit, fellow Dawg Charlie said, “In a region of the country where college football is a way of life, he was the pied piper to those who wear red and black.
Amen to that!
UPDATE II: Here’s a wonderful eulogy by Joe Posnanski.
There were people who didn’t like Munson, of course, but it seems most people did, even those who despised Georgia or biased announcers. The bias wasn’t the point. He just made it fun. He was over-the-top. He was literary and wacky and unpredictable. He was both intensely cynical (“We have no chance today,” was pretty much how he approached every game) and starry eyed. He brought the same energy and wonderment and ferocity to every game. When the Bulldogs were losing, he was sure they would lose. When they were winning, he was warning about disasters lingering just around the corner (Hunker down!). And when Georgia actually won cherokee roses bloomed, Ray Charles sang, moonlight slipped through the pines.
And like the rest of us, Munson was the voice inside Tommy Tomlinson’s head. One day back in 1980…
I happened to be in Athens on the day of the Georgia-Florida game in 1980. I was on my high-school debate team, and we had been in a tournament, and we gathered in an auditorium on campus waiting for the results. Some kids in the back had a radio and were listening to the game down in Jacksonville. I couldn’t hear the words, but I could hear the tone of Larry’s voice. Georgia was done. Third-and-forever on their own 8.
And then Larry’s voice rose, and I looked over my shoulder and the kids in the back had jumped out of their seats. I know this next part didn’t happen, but it’s what I remember: The radio was dancing off the floor and the words were flying out of it, like you see in cartoons.
We ran outside. You could hear hollering from the dorms, and car horns honking, and people just stood there on the sidewalk and screamed. This went on for hours. I was 16, and it was the most spontaneous joy I had ever been a part of.
Well, after a week of non-planned-mental-absence, nothing much has changed. While I gather what is left of my thoughts, amuse yourself with the following:
Those watching the UGA/Mississippi State game Saturday saw the MSU team run out on the field and stomp on the big G at the fifty yard line. Stellar sportsmanship on display before the first whistle even blew. What those of us watching on TV didn’t see was MSU DB Nickoe Whitley taking a whiz on The Hedge. Public urination, no less. As most UGA frosh know, in Athens, that’ll get you arrested pretty quick.
…after a wonderful weekend away. A little disappointed, though, I didn’t snag a sighting of the Iranian Navy. I did see an abundance of shrimp boats, of which I consumed mass quantities of their wares. Nothing like fresh shrimp cooked in a beach house. Yum, yum!
Many things happened while I was away, so let’s dive in, shall we?
Our Imperial Government is pushing it’s way into religious matters, much to the detriment of all. What atheists don’t get is that while they may be cheering for some type of regulation of religious practices, the time will come when they feel government’s hot breath on their necks. The Anchoress notes:
This is not, as someone rather snottily mischaracterized it in another combox, about the loss of a “religious entitlement” — this is about the destruction of a fundamental (and founding) right within our constitution.
If this administration is not stopped, this assault will not affect only Catholics. This will create a precedent that is going to affect all believers, all religions.
The Leftist Media Machine tries to macaca candidate Rick Perry about some rock, that was painted and turned over years ago, on some property his family is somehow connected to. Must have been a slow news weekend.
However, photos have surfaced of Barack Obama, prior to his election, campaigning with Black Panthers in Selma, AL. But, of course, the White House Mouthpieces will never even notice it. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.
Here’s a guy with time on his hands. Personally, I like Clint, Bruce and of course, Patrick (although he does look a touch too benevolent).
And then we come to the game. What? You think just because I was at a beautiful beach house at my favorite beach in the whole, mostest widest world, I’d miss the game? UGA beat Mississippi State on a glorious fall afternoon. For just a minute, I had that feeling that the Junkyard Dawgs were back to stay. The Senator felt it as well:
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment for you, but at some time during the second quarter, I noticed the return of a curious sensation. I found myself anticipating the defense getting back on the field. It’s been a long time since I felt that way. Damn, have I missed that.
I’m not giving in to any illusions of greatness, but I will admit that the element of hope has crept its way back into my withered heart. After what we’ve suffered through in the previous two seasons, that’s as good a place as any to start.
Twitter was abuzz this morning that Larry Munson, retired legendary radio announcer of the Georgia Bulldogs, was gravely ill. UGA just released an announcement that Larry is recovering from a respiratory infection and is in stable condition.
I mean really Lord, how much more can a Dawg take this season? Those ugly uniforms, then the two disappointing losses. No, you can’t have Larry just yet. He has a birthday at the end of this month that is shaping up for as much celebration as the day Sherman made his final exit of our fair state. Not yet. Not yet.
Hunker Down Larry – you are in our thoughts and prayers.
After a wonderful night of music, I’m speniding the day in one of my favorite Georgia towns. Plans include, but are not limited to: a late breakfast at my favorite morning spot, a visit to my favorite yarn shop, a stroll on my favorite campus, acquisition of the yearly bling, then dinner at my favorite restaurant.
…college athletics is not ABOUT the players. College athletics is FOR the players, but that’s a different thing, and that’s a distinction we don’t often make. College football only works on this grand scale, I believe, because it’s about the colleges. The alumni connect to it. The people in the town connect to it. The people in the state connect to it. People are proud of their connection to the University of South Carolina and Clemson, they are inspired by Alabama and Auburn, Penn State and Notre Dame and Stanford, they identify themselves through Missouri and Wisconsin and Florida and Texas A&M. The players matter because they chose those schools, they play for those schools, they win for those schools and they lose for those schools too. Everyone, of course, wants them to be the best players available, and some are willing to cheat the current system to get those players. But soon the players move on, and the love affair continues, just as strong, just as vital. The CONNECTION is what drives college football.
Otherwise, without that connection, it’s just football that isn’t nearly as well-played as the NFL.
Big-time college football … big-time college basketball … these are about the schools that play them. They are about the institutions, the campuses, the landmarks, being young — the front of the jersey and not the back, as coaches love to say. This connection — fan to college — is at its strongest with sports. People might get irritated when the alumni fundraisers find them at their new address (how do they always find me?). They might not want to send in money to build a better library. But they’ll buy sweatshirts, and they’ll buy tickets, and they’ll travel to bowl games, and they’ll pay for pay-per-view, and they’ll take a chartered bus to a subregional in Tulsa. This direct line to sports is how they support — and how they love — their school.
"The issue is now clear. It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side." G.K. Chesterton
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill
"The women of this country learned long ago, those without swords can still die upon them. I fear neither death nor pain." Eowyn, LOTR
The Force, Southern Style. Here we discuss politics, families, bad manners, food and the vanishing South of childhood memories. Anything is fair game, but keep it clean, please.
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