On Being a Bulldog

Unfortunately, it seems that I must write the same article about once per year. The theme of the article never changes. It seems to have become my job to teach people how to act like a Georgia Bulldog.

Alabama won the 2021 SEC Championship game, fair and square. The zebras weren’t a factor this time. Unlike the National Championship game of 2017, we don’t have any reason to complain about the officiating. Their players were better than our players, at least on that day.

Our coaches didn’t have our team prepared well enough, and the players didn’t execute to the same standards as previous weeks.

And yes, sports fans, we have standards. We have a couple of very easy admission questions if you want to join one of our fan clubs, and once you’ve passed that rather low bar, we have administrators who monitor our Bulldog groups and police content to the best of our ability. We have filters and we use them to weed the knuckleheads out as fast as we can find them.

Like Sisyphus and his oversized boulder he continuously pushed uphill only to have it roll back to the bottom at the last moment, it seems that I am destined to perform this same task for eternity. However, Sisyphus was being punished for being a murderer and deceitful.

I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve my fate. I just write stuff like articles, essays, and books.

Perhaps the reference to Sisyphus is too sophisticated for the particular Bulldog fan whom I seek to address. In my opinion, the average Bulldog fan isn’t an average person, by and large. And I am not your average fan; I am an alumnus. For those specific fans I hope to address, that means I graduated from UGA. Just trying to be helpful.

I’m not saying you people are stupid. The vast majority of you are quite intelligent. This is that time of year when a small minority tends to to drown out the more intelligent commentary with whining and complaints because a football game was lost on Saturday. A championship game.

But that is no reason to act like a damned fool.

Perhaps Lucy and the football analogy will work better for you. In that scenario I’m Charlie Brown, running up to kick the football, and you are Lucy, waiting to snatch the ball away at the last moment. We both know you are going to do “it”, which is to rip the players, rip the coaches, or drop a few f-bombs, but like good old Charlie, I have to give you the benefit of my doubt and wait for you to prove me wrong. Unfortunately, you always prove me right, and for about a week, the ban hammer stays pretty busy.

This is shaping up to be one of those weeks.

You’d think that eventually you people would let this simple message get through to you and make this repetitive task unnecessary, but you would be wrong. It gets tedious trying to think of new ways to say the same thing, but some people seem to be doomed to not get it no matter what we say or how we say it. After a while, I get tired of talking, and just start whacking people with my trusty ban hammer.

We are Georgia Bulldogs. What does being a Bulldog mean?

That means the Dawgs win with integrity and lose with dignity. Period. End of discussion. Frankly, if you want to act like a jackass, become a Volunteer fan. With few exceptions (such as Florida) we don’t want to run up the score against an inferior opponent just to embarrass them.

You’ve got no business calling yourself a Dawg unless you’ve got a little bit of class, at least a scintilla, and know how to handle adversity.

Nobody likes to lose. Nobody. Losing might bother some people more than it bothers others, but it pretty much sucks for everybody. Even Vanderbilt fans must hate losing. They’ve had to adjust to it, and wait for baseball.

It’s okay to get upset when we lose a big game, maybe even say a couple of choice words under your breath in the heat of the moment, but at the end of the day, we must learn from our mistakes or we’ll be doomed to repeat them.

If you want to win a football game, start by playing better. Make fewer mistakes and don’t turn over the football. Our team wasn’t engaged in mortal combat. Nobody got killed…well, not literally. Figuratively, though, we got our butts kicked pretty good.

We finally lost a battle, but we haven’t lost the war. A national championship is only two wins away. We have about a month that we can use to correct our mistakes before taking the field once again, and our dream of a national championship is still attainable.

Beat Michigan. Then beat the winner of Alabama-Cincinnati. Sounds easy enough, but it won’t be. Personally, I’d be hoping for an Alabama rematch if we do win the Orange Bowl because I want our personal demon known as Nick Saban exorcised on the football field once and for all.

But if that doesn’t happen this year for whatever reason, I will not give up hope on my Dawgs. I will remain positive and optimistic about the future. I will look forward to a stellar finish to recruiting and look forward, rather than dwelling in the past.

You don’t have to be hopeful and positive. You can be whatever you want, but you can’t be a member of the Bulldog forums I help administer if you’re going to be a killjoy. Like I said, nobody likes losing, especially me. But what I like even less is a Bulldog fan with a sense of entitlement.

Win with integrity, and lose with dignity. It really is that simple. Or be quiet, if you can’t act like an adult. Those are the choices you’ve got. If you’re going to bash a player, drop an f-bomb, or call for a coach to be fired for losing ONE GAME, no offense, but you’re an idiot unworthy of my time.

If you are going to act like a child, don’t call yourself a Dawg.