uga campusIt is nearly that time of year again. I’ll roll out of my cozy South Australian bed early on Sunday morning and stumble down to me study. With a couple of keystrokes and mouse clicks I’ll be connected to WSB Radio, an AM station that transmits from about 10,000 miles away. I’ll get the coffee brewing, let the dog in and check on my (hopefully) slumbering boys.

And then, I’ll take my seat in front of my computer turn up the volume and listen to Scott Howard and Eric Zeier call the kickoff of the University of Georgia Bulldogs 2009 football season.

I’m passionate about a lot of things, but not much elicits the same kind of fierce loyalty as my undergraduate alma mater’s football team. The biggest reasons for this devotion are the circumstances that got me to the University of Georgia. I spent most of 1995 and 1996 clueless and intoxicated in downtown Athens, Georgia. I was working two demeaning customer service jobs to pay the rent and keep me in food, booze and cigarettes. I flamed out in Seattle a couple of years earlier and was just treading water, eeking out a living trying to figure out what the hell  to do with myself. I had quit or been kicked out of three different colleges and was beginning to think that a university degree was something that was beyond my abilities.

ugaBut a future spent waiting on assholes was too much to bear, so I decided to give university one more shot. I applied to UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences to do a design course and to my surprise was accepted. And, to my surprise, I did really well. I aced Chemistry (a pre-req for any major in this particular college) and decided that maybe I was in the wrong line of work.  I transferred to the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and started slicing through Physics, Calculus and Genetics like warm butter. I buckled down and just flat worked.

A handful of  semesters later, ten years ago this June, I walked out of the University of Georgia with a B.S. in Biology. I’ve not since uttered the words, and god willing never shall again, ‘Hi, my name is Chris, can I take your order?”

I went on from Georgia to do a Ph.D. and post-doctoral work and now hold a faculty position at a university here in Australia. But no matter where I go, no matter what I do, I will always bleed red and black. The University of Georgia took a shot on a guy with three academic strikes, gave me a chance to turn around a pointless ‘career’ and showed me the on ramp to the road to a successful and satisfying life. And for that, they’ve earned my eternal devotion.

The least I can do is stay up late or get up early to cheer on the ‘Dawgs.

And I do. Every year since I left Athens in 1999. I’ve listened to or watched nearly every game. From three different continents now. I rarely get to watch a game these days, we don’t get much (any) college football in Oz. That’s OK, though, because I’ve come to love listening to the radio broadcast. It hearkens back to a bygone era and demands a bit more imagination than does an HD broadcast on a television larger than my car.

I don’t know how this season is going to go. Georgia’s got a young team with unproven players at the skill positions. They’ve got an incredibly tough schedule, from the opener against #9 Oklahoma State to the regular season finale against #15 Georgia Tech. Don’t get me wrong, I hope for a National Championship every year but it just doesn’t matter. Because whether the Georgia Bulldogs are 12-0 or 0-12, I’ll be cheering them on. I’ll cheer them on from the other side of the world in the middle of the night. Win or lose I’ll dress my boys in red and black and teach them to say “Go Dawgs!” (Boy Z has got it), for reasons that they don’t yet understand.

pushBecause it isn’t about winning. It’s about loyalty and passion and pride. Whether or not we beat Tech this year, I know (as do thousands of Dawg fans) that my alma mater is the Finest University in the South. Whether or not we beat Florida this year, I know that you couldn’t have paid me enough to go to study at that bog down in Gainesville. Whether or not we beat Tennessee, Auburn and LSU this year, I’ll be the biggest Dawg fan in Australia – much to the amusement of friends and family.

But winning is nice. And  a win in some dusty Oklahoma hamlet would be a good start to 2009. I’ve got a good feeling about the game on Saturday. The OSU Cowboys are the media’s Cinderella this season and thus are likely to see their coach turn into a pumpkin long before midnight on Saturday. The Dawgs win on the road under Coach Mark Richt and I suspect that these slack jawed Okies may be in for a bit more than they expected on Saturday.

Go Dawgs!

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Image credits:

North Campus

Uga

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Billie Holiday’s version of “Georgia On My Mind” can be found on “The Complete Billie Holiday” available from Billie Holiday - The Complete Billie Holiday.

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One last thing. There will be trash talk again this year. But to be honest, I couldn’t find an Oklahoma State fan that was literate enough to do the job. I’m not sure I’ll have any better luck next week with South Carolina either…

Go Dawgs!

 
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