Tomorrow at 3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time the Georgia Bulldogs will do battle with the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, TN. At this point, it is the biggest game on Georgia’s schedule. Despite the game’s importance, many Dawg fans seem a little apathetic. Here in Athens, you can smell the apathy and all the previous energy from the fans seems to have disappeared. There just isn’t much talk or buzz around this game especially from the fans. Well I want to tell the fans to WAKE UP! Wake up and care again! Georgia lost 1 game to a good team, but there is still a lot of football left to play. Stay behind your team folks! Regardless of record, this game is always big. It is a rivalry game, an SEC game, and a divisional game. But if you still need a few more reasons to get excited about tomorrow here is a list to help you:
- ORANGE– Orange only looks good on fruit, and Tennessee is one of the hated teams that wear that awful orange. In fact, their shade of orange maybe the worst. Hard to decide between the Vols and Gators. In the end, I think the Gators still hold the title of worst orange. Nevertheless, Tennessee’s orange is awful.
- THE 90s– Do you remember the 90s? If so, you should recall the absolute a#$ whippings UGA received from Tennessee. I remember every one of them and they still hurt. Georgia was way down in the 90s and Tennessee took full advantage. They built their program with top notch athletes from Georgia. Back then Tennessee would come into Georgia year and year out and take great football players. Here is a rundown of this game from 1989 to 1998:
1989 17-14 VOLS WIN
1992 34-31 VOLS WIN
1993 38-6 VOLS WIN
1994 41-23 VOLS WIN
1995 30-27 VOLS WIN (Robert Edwards got hurt & they broke our hearts)
1996 29-17 VOLS WIN
1997 38-13 VOLS WIN
1998 22-3 VOLS WIN
1999 37-20 VOLS WIN
How do you feel about this game now? You outta be fired up.
- PEYTON MANNING– That’s right Peyton Manning. I don’t like him and you shouldn’t either if you bleed red & black. He can sell all the Papa John’s pizza he wants but I ain’t buying any. I’m a Dominos man. He should have gone to Ole Miss anyway.
- THAT DAMN SONG– If you have ever made the trip to Knoxville for a game than you understand. They play “that song” almost nonstop. It will drive you crazy. I don’t care how good a song is if you play it 100 times in a row it will get old. I love me some Steve Winwood, but even I need a break from the smooth tunes of Winwood every now and then.
- LANE KIFFIN– Yep that’s right Lane Kiffin. He coached there for 1 year and in that one year he beat the Dawgs. It still bothers me to this day.
- BUTCH JONES– I can’t decide if this guy is a football coach or just a cheerleader. I have never been to a Tennessee football practice but even I am tired of his microphone. Georgia better win tomorrow because losing to this clown is unacceptable.
I could keep on writing but I have to do some real work this afternoon. But now I hope you understand that this game matters every year. All my points above are of course valid, but this game is big for more pertinent reasons. Right now Georgia controls their destiny in the SEC East. If they lose tomorrow they don’t. Georgia can win out and still have a great year. Heck they may even have a chance at redemption against Alabama. I know, I know, that doesn’t seem very likely but you never know. I don’t think Georgia is as bad as they looked last Saturday and I’m not sure Alabama is as good as they looked. Revenge is a powerful motivator sometimes. In 3rd grade, I took a pretty good whipping from a 4th grader on the playground. Not sure why I kept getting up just to get beat up again. But I did until the teachers finally saw what was happening. I wound up in the principal’s office with a fat lip and tears in my eyes. But I never forgot about that kid, and years later I seized an opportunity to settle the score. That’s exactly what the Dawgs need to do. They just got hit the mouth and fell to the mat. It’s time to get back up and hit back. So let’s Go Dawgs!