I fought it. I fought it hard. I didn't want to put myself through it all over again. But the whole time I knew it was there, I couldn't avoid it. After a long day of work, I would sit down in the living room with my dinner in hand as my wife flipped through the DVR to watch her Oprah for the day...and I would see it, staring at me. Though Oprah talking to a whole family addicted to heroin was mildly interesting, my mind was elsewhere. I couldn't avoid the DVR'd Georgia/Alabama game I so desperately wanted to delete...but I knew I'd have to look it in its ugly black eye eventually.
So in my state of depression, I bit the bullet. I had to know if it was really as bad on television as it felt in person. To be honest, I didn't watch the whole first half, I couldn't. I knew those first 2 quarters were something so vile and disgusting it would make the owner of an adult movie store in Thailand vomit like my aunt watching 2 girls 1 cup for the first time.
MOM, can I have another spoonful of Willie Martinez' defensive schemes?So I sat there, and I watched eCMR tell Holly Rowe our defense needed to "get after their asses". It was good to see G.A.T.A. get thrown out there for old times sake. I believe Coach Richt is one of those guys who doesn't have to curse to get his point across, but when he does, and it's headed in your direction, you better hold on to you #&$%'n hat because cameras aren't allowed in the locker rooms and like space, no one can hear you scream.
Watching the second half, I almost,
almost, thought we had a shot when we pulled within two touchdowns. Of course I knew we lose in the end, but I was trying to view this from the unbiased eye. To sum it all up, we had shiny golden moments of "holy crap we might just pull this off" mixed in with Latino Honda Civic green moments of "AAArrgghhhhhhh!!!1".
Michael Moore looked like he used every single one of his tattoos to catch some impossible balls in double coverage. Yet, he also got hit square in the chest with distanced single coverage a few times making it look like his pads were made of trampolines. That was frustrating and painful to watch, but overall it didn't seem as bad as it felt Saturday night.
My final thoughts are as following:
#1. I am uber-thrilled this is a bye week. With the injuries we sustained last Saturday, we might be toast against a mediocre Tennessee team if we had to play just 7 days later.
#2. Judging solely by the fire and poise we came out with in the second half, I feel confident if we play 4 quarters of football (as opposed to 2 quarters of grab@$$ and 2 quarters of fight for your life) we can make it through the next stretch relatively unscathed...hopefully. Again, that's playing 4 whole quarters of blood-boiling, fire-breathing, knock the festivin' snot outta people
SEC football.
#3. Ben Jones going toe-to-toe and forehead-to-chest with Terrence Cody in slow motion might be one of the most inspirational things you could ever show future freshmen centers. Jones did about as good a job as you could possibly ask someone in his position to do. ESPN showed several replays of Mt. Cody getting his moneys worth from Ben Jones. Yeah Stafford still felt pressure and Jones got flagged for holding, but Terrence Cody outweighed our freshman center by 60+ lbs. I look forward to seeing him shape up to be a brick wall in the next couple of years, thanks Ben.
#4. I have been patient with Willie Martinez so far this year. I was patient with him last year, even when I didn't want to be, and he turned it around after the near loss to Vandy making last year a season to remember. The South Carolina game was too close, strike one. The Bama game is strike two. If I have to watch another half of uninspired defense coached by a stubborn DC who refuses to change his gameplan, even as the opposition is tearing it to shreds, I'm willing to jump on the Fire Willie Bandwagon. I want to love you, Willie, I really do. But I enjoy you on the sidelines like I enjoyed seeing Ray Goff. Your heart is there, but my faith in your skills and qualifications is waining.
Hopefully our boys are taking their aspirin and keeping ice on the swelling. Pray for quick healing before this long haul because we need to be 100%. Break the thin ice of depression fans because our team needs us more than ever. They know the pain of loss. They are no longer the invincible wonder Dawgs they originally thought. I'm hoping it left a void only winning the SEC East can fill. We need to be hungry, we need to play with emotion, and we need every single kid out there in silver britches to step up and perform at the level they were recruited to perform. I hope practice this week is a living hell for the Athens boys who got beat by Alabama. Some testicles better drop before we get Tennessee, Vandy, LSU, Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn because that is a man-sized portion to put on your plate.
Go Dawgs and G.A.T.A.
Completely metaphorical for having denim on our mind.
...will be the face you'll see on the front of the AJC November 1st when the Bulldogs shock the world.
