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Ten Reason Why One Loss Should Make You Root Harder for Georgia Bulldogs Football

by Christopher McIntosh
10/14/2006

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

I know things look bleak. If you'd told me that we could hang 33 on UT I would have bet my house, your house, and my neighbor's house that we would win the game.

If you'd bet me that we would score 33 and lose by more than 17 I would be dead and my soul would be in the possession of a certain fallen angel who prefers to live below ground.

That being said, it ain't over. The fat lady hasn't sung. She isn't even in the building. And even if she was, do you really follow UGA football strictly for the good times? And if you do, do you really think we're going to end up with a truly bad record or miss a decent bowl?

For all you nonbelievers out there, I've got lots and lots to say as a proud alum currently living in the frozen North and forced to listen to those in the Big Ten argue that they have a decent conference let alone one that can occupy the same space as the SEC.

But I'll distill it down to ten.

Ten reasons you can't give up on UGA football.

1. We ain't out of it, yet. Our fates is in our hands. If we run the table in our SEC games, even if UT refuses to lose another game (and I find that unlikely), we would be tied with them and UF for the lead. I don't know tiebreakers, but at least we'd have a shot. We're not even out of the national championship race. Granted, if more than one team goes unbeaten we're screwed, but that is not a guarantee or even especially likely.

Here's the bad news - our schedule is positively nasty. UF, Auburn, Georgia Tech, and possibly LSU in the SEC championship. That's ugly. UGLY. Here's the good news - our schedule is positively nasty. Win out and we have to be the number 2 team in the country. Of course, the corollary of this is that we have to root for UF and Spurrier's Gamecocks so that our strength of schedule goes up and just the thought of that causes me to taste bile. But, as they say in Pulp Fiction, that's just pride ****in' with me.

2. Tailgating. Does it end when the record goes South? Do the friers suddenly go kaput once our record goes down? Does the keg suddenly run dry or the weather stop being gorgeous Fall days? If you have to think about the answers to those questions, you obviously went to Ole Miss.

3. JT3 is a poor man's Brett Favre. A really poor man's Brett Favre. He's decided that he's an old time riverboat gambler and somehow can throw the ball between three defenders to receivers with a predilection for dropping the ball. It was great for 2.5 quarters against UT but then it caught up to him. And the team. There's a reason Vegas was built. At some point, you have to take your money and run. You will not keep winning those bets. Richt will see that on tape and rectify the situation.

4. Unless we go 0-fer the rest of the season, and given our predilection for remaining in the South our entire lives, you are guaranteed to have bragging rights over someone for the entire year. (I realize this works in reverse, but God invented caller ID for a reason).

5. The women. They strap flasks of bourbon to their inner thigh so that everyone can get good and sauced at the game... God bless the gorgeous and selfless women of the University of Georgia.

6. It's unpatriotic to give up on the team. Would you cut and run at the first sign of trouble? Stay the course, finish the job, see it through. You're either with us or against us. (I lost a bet regarding how many Dubya cliches I had to throw in this column. Sorry.)

7. We'll always have a brilliant QB controversy mediated by a man who's either high on Jesus or a serious Vicodin addict. A legacy admit and two freshman obviously not ready for prime time. I personally love the frosh, if only so that we can see an episode of the life or some other show like that so we can follow them around for a day and watch the 19 year olds who can't shave get boy band ass all while living in a dump the size of a toaster.

8. If we flame out, we've always got the baseball playoffs and like every year we can root for our... um... nevermind.

9. UGA basketball starts soon. I can't wait. It is a one hundred percent metaphysical certitude that it will be exciting and that that will be a good thing. We're guaranteed to do well. It's our season. No, really, it is. I can hear you laughing.

Stop it.

10. The Project Runway finale is this week and we can finally find out whether or not Jeffrey gets DQ'd for extra help which seems unlikely given that he was at Olympus fashion week... (sorry, my girlfriend got a hold of my keyboard).

Now go, go, go to that game and root as if it's for a National Championship.

You don't want to disappoint GW2 by cutting and running do you?