1. Joe Cox’s Determination- Joe Cox knows he’s not Matt Stafford, and knows he’ll never be as good as Matt Stafford. Joe Cox went through ridicule from his own fans, the media, and was even doubted by his coaching staff a few times when they announced that the backup would see playing time. I would have been very tempted to quit trying and say “Screw it, I’m not going to the NFL anyway, just put in the back-up and I’ll finish up my senior year. Then I’ll go coach somewhere and you’ll never have to see or worry about my sorry butt again.” (I seem to recall Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen doing this) Joe Cox however took the cards dealt to him and faced the reality that even though he might not be the best quarterback in the world, he was the best that UGA had and he would do his best to help his team win, no matter what. It’s not easy when everyone is telling you how somebody else does what you do better than you, or likes to remind you how many mistakes you’re making, or why you should just quit. Joe Cox I think teaches us the true meaning of determination: keeping on trying and doing your best no matter what.
2. Your biggest weaknesses can turn out to be your biggest strengths- At the beginning of the year UGA couldn’t run the ball for a yard if their collective lives depended on it. In the Arkansas game, UGA threw the ball for 220 more yards than they did passing. It seemed like whenever a running back touched the ball they’d fumble it. It seemed like coaches were ready to scrap even trying to run the ball. Then there were the penalties. Any Georgia fan can tell you that we were pretty sure our colors were red, black, and yellow this year after seeing that stupid rag on the field so much. The frustrating thing was most of these penalties were stupid false start penalties. Then Murphy’s Law hit: Mr. Everything AJ Green got hurt and UGA was forced to play as a team. The team redoubled its efforts to fight its weaknesses. At the end of the year, in one of its toughest games of the year, UGA turned its weaknesses into strengths. Against Georgia Tech the Bulldogs ran the ball for more than four times the amount of yards than they threw it and only had five penalties. Think about it, the team who couldn’t run outran a team that pretty much only runs by more than 120 yards. That’s pretty darn good.
3. The toughest circumstances bring out unlikely heroes- Georgia’s defense this past year was downright awful. They allowed for 20 or more points in all but two games against Division 1A opponents. I remember seeing some stat like they were the 119th out of 120 teams in the NCAA in scoring defense. It really was sad to watch some of those games because it seemed like frustration begat more frustration. There really wasn’t much choice but to clean house of all the defensive coaches, except for the one who is also the recruiting coordinator. Uh-oh, Georgia still had one game left to play and the only defensive coaches left were the D-line coach and two 23 year old graduate assistants. These guys had to face a team who took one of the teams in the National Championship to their breaking point a few weeks ago. Kind of like the whole “Who am I Lord, I stutter, the job is too big” stuff that Moses said during the burning bush in the desert. Rather than not show respect to these unlikely leaders, the Georgia defense played what I think was one of their best games of the year, forcing 2 key interceptions and keeping Texas A&M from getting any rhythm in the 2nd half. Take away that patty-cake touchdown A&M got in the waning minutes of the game and Georgia would have held them to below 20 points. Not bad for a couple of 23 year olds and the next to worst defense in the land. Not bad at all.
4. When times are bleakest, people remember what’s really important- He wasn’t moving. For what seemed like forever Bacarri Rambo just layed there and you could have heard a pin drop in Sanford Stadium. Flash back: Auburn was driving the ball and looked like they were about to tie the game up right after Georgia finally took the lead. On a second down play from the 23 yard line Auburn’s QB threw a ball the landed in the hands of their receiver for about a half a second until Rambo lived up to his name’s sake and unloaded on the guy, forcing the ball to shoot out. He saved the game, but sacrificed his body. When Rambo was lying on the field I just stood there with a pit in my stomach thinking about Chance Veazey, the Georgia baseball player who is now paralyzed after a car accident. Then from the student section the chant “Rambo, Rambo, Rambo!” started. These were the same fans who booed their team earlier in the 1st half. I was pretty surprised, but kind of made a connection after the game was over. A lot of folks think my brother and I argue a good bit. But I’ll tell you one thing, if chips were ever down and I needed something I know my brother would be the first person there and he knows I would be there for him. When the elementary school bully picked on Tad, I beat the mess out of him. When I dealt with sadness and anger I didn’t think was even possible, Tad was there as long as I needed. We may fuss about stupid stuff like whether the Avett Brothers are good or when the proper time to play the ukulele/ harmonica is (not the middle of the night), but I love my big brother more than anyone else in the world and I know he loves me too. (yea, yea go grab a tissue)
5. Finish the Drill- It’s always been Mark Richt’s motto. It started from the grueling spring workouts the team goes through when the toughest part is at the end. That was certainly the case for this Georgia team. At the end of the year a game against Kentucky at home is supposed to be a cake walk, and it looked like it was going to be. 20-6 at half-time and we were just rolling along. Chase and I were even thinking about leaving the game after the 3rd quarter if we kept it up. Alas, the turnover demons reared their ugly heads on the Dawgs four times in the 2nd half, including one time on the one yard line when a touchdown seemed a definite. Georgia loses by a touchdown. If you’d told any football follower in the Peach State that Georgia had a chance against the top 10 ranked Nerds from North Ave. they probably would’ve laughed their butts off. The team didn’t give up though. With more swagger than a Soulja Boy song, Washaun Ealey and Caleb King decided they “They ran this state” and they were going to make sure we all knew. They ran all over the nerds and left them in the dust sucking on their inhalers. Willie Martinez knew it would be his final game as a UGA coach, as evidenced by the tears as time expired. But his squad put on a heck of a performance stopping the previous year’s ACC player of the year. Then Georgia followed that game up with what I consider the best all-around team performance of the year against a solid Texas A&M team. My lasting memory of the season will no longer be the disappointing walk back to Chase’s apartment after the Kentucky game. It will be the dancing after the Auburn game, the yellow turf in Ben Jones’ mouth after the Tech game, and Mark Richt surrounding himself with police as the bowl game ended to avoid the Powerade bath. The Dawgs ended with two gritty wins, and against all odds solidified the longest streak of any team in country of 13 years in a row with at least 8 wins.
Of course I would prefer to win every game. Duh, as I always say, winning is just more fun than losing. But I’m a Georgia fan, and I’ll still pull for a team that’s 8-5 even if others aren’t. It sounds cheesy, but I really did learn a lot from this team that didn’t have an all-star to start this year like they did last year, as evidenced by the team poster with the whole team on it. Sure we lost to Florida again. Sure losing poor UGA VII stunk big time. Sure I would have preferred Stafford and Knowshon to have stayed. But I’m still proud of the school I go to and I’ll be cheering on the Diamond Dogs in two months, the soccer girls on next fall, and football team next fall (those are my teams at school). Frankly, I don’t really care who wins the rest of the bowl games this year. I like Georgia better and nothing is going to change that. So there’s a non-political post, I hope you’re all proud. As the song goes, “Once a Dawg, always a Dawg, how sweet it is!”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment