Go Dawgs! Sic ’em! Yes, college football is back, officially. Sure, technically it started last week, but that doesn’t count because Georgia wasn’t playing. Today? Today is real. Today is living. Today is the red helmets running out onto the field. (I almost bought a full-size Georgia helmet this week…but then I visited my financial planner…)
I’ve been a college football fan and, specifically, a Dawg fan a long time. One of my earliest football memories is possibly (maybe?) being on the sidelines of a Cornell Big Red game. Or maybe I dreamed that. False memories happen but if I imagined myself at five years old watching Ivy League football, that’s almost weirder than if it really happened.
But when my Dad moved us to Athens for the vet school, that’s when it all became real. He got season tickets, and suddenly my Saturdays were filled with Sanford Stadium, seeing the fans on the train tracks, I remember that Bulldog on the scoreboard who looked suspiciously like he’d just broken out of a chain gang (I think he had a pick-ax and was wearing a red and black shirt that looked like prison wear) and listening to Larry on my transistor radio.
My first hero? Buzzy Rosenberg. Punt returner. Short guy. He was something. I don’t know if he was really any good but he could return punts. Then there was Andy Johnson, Athens’ own, slinging it around. I have a memory of him against North Carolina in…I think…the Gator Bowl maybe in 1971. Jimmy Poulos. Horace King (also Athens’ own). Glenn Harrison. Terry Hogue. Scott Warner. Willie McClendon. Appleby to Washington as he ran out of his shoes thinking of Montreal and the Olympics. Kickers like Alan Levitt and Rex Robinson who convinced me maybe I could make the team—because let’s be honest, “undersized kicker” was the only realistic path forward for me.
And of course: 1980. Herschel, Buck and “Run, Lindsey, Run”. My sister was in the stadium, I was on the floor of the dining room, glued to the TV. Larry Munson begging and then breaking his “metal, steel chair.”
Amazing time…
On a side note…Every time I watch Rudy, I don’t get emotional when Rudy finally gets in the game. No, I get emotional when Rudy’s dad walks into Notre Dame Stadium for the first time and just sees it. That feeling? I know it. Walking into Sanford and seeing a sea of red and black…you can’t explain it. You just feel it in your chest. I can feel it right now as I am typing!
College football in the South isn’t just a pastime…it’s a weekly religion. The stadiums are our cathedrals, the uniforms our vestments, the traditions our hymns. And like any good church service, the pageantry makes you believe that something bigger than yourself is happening.
And here’s the connection: it’s about environment. Walking into Sanford, you believe success is possible, because the environment demands it. Create an environment that allows success to happen – whether in football, in work, or in life. (see what I did there wink, wink)
Georgia vs. Marshall today. Should be easy, should be fun. Next week, Austin Peay. Then the real season begins with Tennessee. But for today, it’s just good to be back. Not just good but…
It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog…
Tradition, red helmets, Larry Munson in the background of my brain.
What’s that coming down the tracks…?
MattMunnell.com 