Number 8: Georgia (26) at Alabama (23), September 22, 2007
(editor’s note: this is the third installment of a series about the worst Alabama games I have personally attended. You can see Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)
I was born in Atlanta to a father that grew up in Rome which is about an hour to the northwest of Atlanta. My grandfather used to take my dad via train to Atlanta to watch Tech games at Grant Field. My grandfather, who was and still is my hero, loved Georgia Tech. He wanted my father to go there and I am sure that had he been alive when it came time for me to make those decisions would have encouraged me to go to Tech as well. As with many Tech fans of his time, he did not care for Alabama. He knew that I would grow up loving Alabama, since we moved to Tuscaloosa when I was still very small, and while I am sure this bothered him he never said a word, but I think I was probably twelve and a full-fledged fan before he ever purchased anything for me with Alabama on it.
As much as he disliked Alabama, he absolutely loathed Georgia. He preferred that the terms silver britches, bulldogs, or the word Herschel not be spoken in his house. It is out of my deep love for him and his memory that I still do not care for the Georgia Bulldogs to this day. Granted it is not on the level of disdain that I harbor for Tennessee or Little Brother- Alabama does not play them enough to cultivate that- but I dislike them none-the-less.
To me Georgia is a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys. They act as if they invented football and that no one has ever been as good as they are when the truth is that only in recent history have they had success against Alabama. My big gripe though, is that they always seem to be looking down their nose at Alabama -as a state and a football program. I’ve been to Fayette County. Trust me, you don’t have it much better in Georgia than we do in Alabama. Congratulations on your recent success, I’m really happy that Baby Jesus is doing well in Athens, but I’d have to say that in the same period of time – the Georgia resurgence – LSU has had better success. Hey – Alabama beat Hawaii – and finished the season in Shreveport. Nobody gave them national championship dreams for doing it. It’s not that big of a deal. Get over it.
I digress.
As seems to be the pattern every time Alabama and Georgia play, this game was really hyped up. For the second time in as many visits by Georgia, Gameday was in town and with it a peculiar buzz about town that often shrouds Tuscaloosa the week before a big game. Georgia struggled early in the season losing to South Carolina in Athens but rebounded the next week by wolloping Western Carolina. Alabama on the other hand was undefeated and coming off a big win against Arkansas. Georgia was the favorite and to be honest I had felt like they were, but we were all believing in the magic that Nick Saban had infused the program with.
The day didn’t start well for me as my wife and I miscommunicated about lining up the the babysitter which caused us to get to the tailgate about two hours before kickoff. I’m about a big of a fan of that as I am not having Sunday liquor sales. It’s just not right.
We got to the tailgate to find it inundated with Georgia fans toting around portable iPods (jamming Widespread no less) and drinking microbrews. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a microbrew but if you are too good to drink swill beer while tailgating you probably should have gone to Ole Miss and not Georgia. They were nice enough – and all related in some way or another to one of the tailgate regular’s wife – but it just didn’t feel like home. Needless to say, we left for the game a little early.
The hyped up Alabama crowd, fueled by a fresh dose of “believe” from the past weekend’s heroics, got quited fairly quickly. Georgia played really well. They seemed to be controlling the game. I’m pretty sure that had Tripp Chandler not had hands made of cinder blocks that day that it would have gotten ugly, but every time that I was ready to give up Alabama would show a spark and pull back within reach.
All close games, especially ones where your team is trailing most of the way, are emotional roller coasters. The three hours and change that the game is played in can stretch to about four days worth of exhilaration and depression. My mood probably doesn’t change as often in the entire month of July as is did that night in my seat in the upper deck of Bryant-Denny.
Late in the fourth quarter, as Alabama came form behind and tied the game, I was certain that the time in the desert was over. Sure Alabama wasn’t very talented, but every once in a while the less talented team plays with an emotion and a passion that transcends the talent level on the other sideline. We call it heart and it had been sorely missed in Tuscaloosa for a while. But here early in the fall, after the chilly winds have breathed their sweet promise of return and the brutal hand of humidity rushes back in and reminds us that we are in the South and not someplace where football and all that it entails are afterthoughts, I believed that the return was eminent. I am sure I wasn’t the only one either. 82,000 of us were about descend the steps with our heads held high. The pride was returning.
Except that it wasn’t.
Not yet anyway.
As is usually the case after a crushing defeat, I sat in my seat for a while to let the crowd clear out some. We made it back to the Quad and as I sat down in the closest chair I could find I overheard one of the invading horde of Bulldog fans say, “Well, I’ll give you guys this – your stadium is very loud.” I immediately stood up and started walking. My wife says, “where are your going?” “Home”, I replied. After having my still beating heart ripped from my chest I wasn’t about to sit there and be patronized by one of my “guests”.
Oh sure, the sun came up the next day, but there was no transcending beauty in it. It was just another day and once again my dreaded thought that we had just another run-of-the-mill football team was confirmed.
See, that’s the really tough thing about losing; even though it is a fleeting emotion, after a win – especially over a hated opponent – your team is a little bit special. It is the exact opposite after a loss. We are all longing for that special feeling to return.
But it was not going to on that day.
10 comments
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June 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm
MoonDog
I know that was a heartbreaking loss for you guys but it was one hell of a game.
Nice scribble.
June 4, 2008 at 2:46 am
BeachGaBulldog
You are such a whining little baby. You’re just pissed off because you haven’t beat us in God knows when. We are not talking about the past, so all you Alabama LOSER SNOBS can give the Bear Bryant era a permanent rest. This is today. We have had more success than LSU, first of all, because we won the national championship last year. LSU lost their games later in the year. Common sense obviously shows that we are #1.
I hate people like yourself, who have all these stupid assumptions about Georgia football. The University of Georgia is a classier school, has classy fans, alumni, and athletes than your sorry ass classless redneck podunks.Who the hell went to Shreveport the last 2 years, dipshit.
GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, by the way, F*** OFF!
June 4, 2008 at 7:22 am
picturemerollin
Beach – your comment reeks of both class and intelligence.
June 4, 2008 at 7:35 am
Bill
Beach,
Please tell me ya’ll are not going to pull an Auburn and give yourself a national championship, with rings and everything. Ya’ll were crushed by UT, and they were not a strong team. It doesn’t matter when you lost, you lost. And you looked bad doing it. At least when Auburn went psycho and declared their interstellar dominance, they were undefeated.(But they were still left out because they suck)
June 4, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Noodle
PMR,
Have you ever seen a “classy” team rush the field to celebrate (the whole team mind you) after scoring a 1st quarter touchdown? If you have forgotten this show of “class”, here’s the link:
June 5, 2008 at 12:51 am
Mid-Week Eye Candy Wrapper #1: Inaugural Edition — Don’t Just Tailgate, Tailgate Better - Tailgating Ideas
[...] Me Rollin recalls one of the worst Alabama football games and tailgate parties he has [...]
June 13, 2008 at 9:45 am
Tommy
“To me Georgia is a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys.” Yes, Johnny-come-latelys who began football the same year as Alabama, have 14 conference titles and were winning national titles as early as 1942, which is a good 30-40 years before either of us was born.
“I’ve been to Fayette County. Trust me, you don’t have it much better in Georgia than we do in Alabama.” Look, I can find some unsightly places in Alabama as well. What I can’t find in Alabama is an economic nexus like Atlanta, a piece of living history like Savannah, a site where the Olympics were held, the Masters, any pro sports teams, a city that’s hosted the Super Bowl or the NBA All-Star game … but, hey, you got us beat on church bombings.
“LSU has had better success.” Except when playing Georgia, which has outscored them by basketball digits.
June 13, 2008 at 10:23 am
picturemerollin
Tommy, the last ting you want to do is get in an argument with an Alabama fan about history. My perception is that except in the Hershel period (in my lifetime) Georgia has done less with more than any team in the conference except maybe Florida (until 1990). Alabama beat Georgia more often than Georgia beat Alabama until Richt got there. Georgia has a fine program I’m just expressing my feelings about them and statistics aren’t going to change that.
I love Atlanta (I was born there), I love the Masters, I love the Braves (I was at Turner Field with my kids Sunday and will be there again in a week and a half), I spent at least a month every Summer until I was 16 in Floyd County and most all of my Thanksgivings are spent in North Georgia. It’s hard to find a bigger fan of Georgia (the state) than me. It’s just that having spent that much time there I don’t see the huge differences between the people from Alabama and the people from Georgia. Atlanta is now full of people not from there (or the South for that matter). If you want to get real factual, there are probably more rednecks in Georgia simply because there are more people. But outside of Atlanta (& Savannah I’m sure but I haven’t been there – although Mobile just celebrated its 300th birthday) there just isn’t enough difference between the states to talk about. But yet there is a better-than-you feeling I perceive especially from Bulldog fans. Church bombers are ignorant idiots but if it makes you feel better about your state to bring that up then go for it. I’m sure that everyone in Georgia is a fine upstanding citizen and horrible crimes aren’t committed there – actually my cousin was a deputy US attorney in Atlanta and I could give you a a laundry list of heinous crimes in Georgia.
The straight up record with LSU since 2000 is even, with you both suffering double digit losses at the hands of one another, but my point was that LSU has won two national championships to Georgia’s none. Georgia has been a successful team since the arrival of Richt just not as successful as LSU, or Florida for that matter.
June 13, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Tommy
Rollin,
I’m not arguing the history of Alabama football and certainly I’m not taking anything away from Alabama’s accomplishments. In fact, I don’t think I even mentioned Alabama football. But the idea that Georgia only got around to playing good football this decade, or even in your lifetime, is fairly comical, and as a Georgia fan, I’m more than entitled to rebut it, regardless of the affiliation of the person I’m rebutting it to. We’re talking Georgia football, not Alabama.
“I’m just expressing my feelings about them and statistics aren’t going to change that.” Well, that’s quite a bracing dose of candor, although you seem too intelligent for that truly to be the case. If your Alabama affiliation somehow relieves you of the obligation to include fact in historical discussion, please explain why. Because Bryant won a pile of games back before either of us were eating solid foods?
As a point of clarification, Richt arrived in 2001, not 2000. In our four meetings with LSU, we suffered a last minute heart-breaker in Baton Rouge and a blowout in the SEC Championship, which we avenged with thrashings in 2004 and 2005. I’d take our two wins over their two, but perhaps that’s a personal preference. Neither Florida nor LSU did anything in their 2006 and 2007 MNCs that Georgia didn’t do in 2002. They just had the luxury of playing in seasons where there were no undefeateds. In Richt’s seven years, Georgia’s had three SECC appearances. LSU has had four, so bully for them. But Florida (who own the trademark on “Johnny-come-lately”) has only been to Atlanta once since Richt’s arrival in Athens.
To your points about the two states, I’m not one of these Georgia elitists you’re referring to (I live in Texas), so this is a bit of a strawman argument. That said, the fact that Atlanta can draw from places other than the South is to its credit. I don’t see people crawling all over each other to get to Detroit or Milwaukee, the way they do to get to destination cities like Austin, Seattle, Portland, San Fran, Atlanta, etc., so I would take the population of transplants in Atlanta as a sign of something going right there.
June 13, 2008 at 4:27 pm
picturemerollin
I’ll restate my initial thoughts and back them up with facts with a caveat; Georgia has a great program and great tradition and they have been a very successful team especially lately. I have nothing but respect for them as program, I just happen not to like them. Calling them Johnny-come-lately is in relative terms to Alabama- this is an Alabama based blog and most of my perspective is from being an Alabama fan my whole life. That being said, in my lifetime Georgia has won six conference championships and one national championships to Alabama’s ten and four respectively. As far as conference championships, UGA won one in the ’70s (’76), three in the ’80s (the aforementioned Hershel period) and two this decade. Alabama won six in the ’70s, two in the ’80 and two in the ’90s (and are in danger of being shut-out this decade, which would be the first decade since inception of the SEC).
UGA is also behind Alabama in wins (percentage and actual) and All-time Bowl teams (this is all from the UGA’s athletic’s site). So from my admittedly myopic view point as an Alabama fan, Georgia is a Johnny-come-lately. I didn’t claim they weren’t good, just that in comparison – in my lifetime, this stunning recent success is a new thing. As I said they have always had potential but have doe less with more – Goff and Donan found a way to piss it away when it mattered.
If I were you I’d trade the ’05 LSU win for the simple fact that it was for the conference championships. I think they had last laugh on that one. Since ’01 your records are virtually the same (LSU 74-18, UGA 72-19) but once again they have three conference championships to your two and two national championships to your none. Saying you didn’t get the breaks is a poor consolation to the fact that UGA did not do what it took when it mattered or they would have hoisted a crystal trophy as well. UGA has a penchant for losing in glorious fashion when it hurts them the most; either against Florida, Tennessee, LSU or South Carolina. Given the option between the two programs over the same period, I’d go with LSU and not have to worry about talking about luxuries like other peoples fortunes or misfortunes. They’ve got the hardware.
I agree that people flock to Atlanta and agree that it is a great thing; for the city and the region. My point though was that Atlanta has become its own entity with a separate identity than the rest of the state. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing just that the perspective is different and a lot of those people that didn’t grow up or go to school there don’t adopt the college football tradition that is so southern in nature. Take yourself for example, despite your area of residency, you still are obviously a big UGA fan. You assimilate some but I bet you’re more southern gentleman than cowboy. But truthfully, I don’t know you so I won’t make a judgment.
In summary, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Your school has a great tradition and program and obviously much more recent success than my alma mater. They didn’t pop up recently like Boise State, or Florida (your comment made me laugh). I maintain my views and maintain that they are uniquely mine and maybe not as matter-of-fact as they are perspective based. I do always look forward to the contests between the schools.