Today it occurred to me that the Georgia/Florida weekend starts to get underway around noon on Thursday before the game. It doesn’t really matter if you are in St. Simmons, Fernandina, Jacksonville, or up here in Athens. At this very moment, I am sitting in my office waiting on paperwork to arrive, and as soon as it does I am going to SCRAM out of here because Georgia plays Florida on Saturday. I don’t care what the coaches say, this one is DIFFERENT! THIS ONE MATTERS MORE! No explanations needed because any real Dawg fan gets it. Sadly, this game has gone the other way too many times over the last 27 years. Wow, that is tough to swallow let alone type. Of course Georgia has won a few games over that period, but overall Florida has controlled the rivalry since 1990. But guess what? That dominance will end this Saturday around 7:30 PM eastern standard time.
If you follow this blog at all, you know that last week I wrote a post to give all us fans a “reality check” heading into this game. I stand by that post because Bulldog fans needed to hear a little negativity, and there is still a lot of football left to be played. All that being said, I am calling for a big W on Saturday. I was nervous, I was anxious, and I was worried, but that is all in the past tense. Now I am confident, I am excited, and I am ready for Saturday. I am ready because Saturday will bring about the change in culture that this team and this fan base has needed for so long. Georgia will win Saturday because they are the better team. They have better players, they have better coaches, and they will be better prepared for the game. Don’t get me wrong it will be close for about two quarters, but come the 2nd half Georgia will start to run away with the game. And afterwards there will be celebration, there will be consumption, there will be some HELL raised by us Dawg fans that greatly deserve it. In fact, if you aren’t a Dawg fan on Saturday night you best stay the hell out of my way.
I just can’t stand the Gators. They are by far the most obnoxious team and fan base in the country. Think about this for a minute. Can you name a fan base in the SEC or the country for that matter that doesn’t despise Florida? You can’t because hating the Gators is universal. Give me a Clemson fan, Seminole, Buckeye, or Bama man any day over a dang Gator fan. Granted, I have met a few nice Gator fans over the years but nice or not I still disliked them immensely.
Mark Richt is a good coach, and great guy as we all know. But at the end of the day, the man is from South Florida and that always irked me. So I wish him the best at Miami, but I am damn glad we got Kirby. Our new coach really gets it. He fully understands why we love our team, our players, and our school. He knows the history here, and he knows what it feels like to be a Bulldog through and through. And what’s best is that he knows how to get us where we want to go. It is very likely that Georgia is still going to lose a game or maybe two later this year, but they aren’t going to lose in Jacksonville this Saturday. Get excited Dawg fans because this one is going to be fun.