Georgia Football: I wish Mama and Munson could be here for this

Georgia football fans are still celebrating from Monday night’s victory over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl that sent the Bulldogs back to Atlanta to play for a National Championship.

I’m still not close to over this past Monday. Are any of you? Georgia football pulled off an amazing comeback in a game in which they were down by 17 at one point to beat the Oklahoma Sooners in double overtime by a score of 54-48. The Georgia Bulldogs have won the Rose Bowl.

This was without a doubt one of the greatest college football games ever played. It was also one of the greatest Georgia victories of all time. The only win I can think of that would be considered bigger would be the national championship victory against Notre Dame. This has to be no. 2 on the all-time list of Georgia wins, doesn’t it?

I’m getting a little ahead of myself and rambling. They’ll be plenty of time for lists and such after the season is over. Please forgive me but it’s been hard to maintain focus this week! What a win! And now, we prepare for the national championship against the Alabama Crimson Tide. It feels good after over three decades just saying that.

You all know about the game. Most of you, along with a huge portion of America, watched in awe as two elite college blue blood teams went to war for four quarters and two overtimes. You know about the amazing runs during regulation by Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. I’m sure you were as amazed and impressed as I was by the poise and performance of the best freshman quarterback in the nation, Jake Fromm.

You all saw the brilliant halftime adjustments by the head coach Kirby Smart and his staff. And, of course, I’m sure you all lost your minds as Lorenzo Carter blocked a Oklahoma field goal in the second overtime.

And then lost what little voice you had left 2 plays later when senior running back Sony Michel scored the walk off touchdown from 30 yards out to seal the victory for the Dawgs and send them to their first national championship game since 1983. It was like something out of a movie was unfolding in real-time right before out very eyes.

It was one of those games you will one day tell your grandkids about. You will tell them where you were and about your reaction. One of the most important things to me that I’ll remember though, is who I was with. I was fortunate enough to watch with my brother, who had a lot to do with getting me into Georgia football in the first place, and his family.

My wife and kids were there. Our best friends were as well. They’re Clemson fans, so the rest of their night wasn’t quite as jubilant thanks to the Alabama Crimson Tide (sorry Seth and Leigh, thanks for the hospitality though). There aren’t too many places I can think of that I would have rather been that night that aren’t in Pasadena, California. It was almost perfect.

But something was missing. As I finally sat down after about 10 minutes of yelling and jumping, I thought about a couple of Damn good Dawgs who aren’t with us anymore. My mama was one. Larry Munson was the other. While one was a lot more famous than the other, both of them possessed that Georgia fire.

You know what I’m talking about, Dawg fans. It’s that fire that made you tear up the room or your Christmas tree that hadn’t been taken down yet when Sony scored that touchdown.

My mama had that fire for all Georgia sports teams. She was from Atlanta, so she was a Falcons, Braves and Hawks fan. Luckily she got out of the city and moved to the country before Tech could pollute her and make her a yellow jacket.

She loved all things Georgia, and the Dawgs were no exception. Mama was a short woman and in her later years was a relatively calm woman. Until the game came on. After the Dawgs kicked off, she turned into just over 5 feet of southern dynamite for a few hours. If it was the 90s and you lived anywhere near us during that time, you didn’t have to turn on the tv to know when the Braves or Dawgs scored. She yelled loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

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I have such awesome memories of the joy that she experienced from moments like Sid Bream’s slide into home in game-7 of the 1991 NLCS or the long touchdown run by Robert Edwards in the Georgia/Florida game in 1997. She would have absolutely lost it watching that last play of the Rose Bowl. I wish she could have been there. She was an amazing woman, mother, and a great Dawg fan.

Larry Munson was another who is no longer with us that I would have absolutely loved to see react to the Rose Bowl victory. I’m sure he would have been pessimistic in the first half. He would have said things like “This is a game we have no business being in!” and “Rodrigo Blankenship kicks the ball eight million miles down the field!”

I’m sure he would have broke his chair at some point during the game. Maybe a metal, steel chair with a 3 inch cushion. When Carter blocked the field goal, he probably would have called him Godzilla or something similar.

And then on the final play, I’m sure he would have made some obscure reference that would have caught on like wildfire. “Sony Michel…Sony Michel… run Sony! A touchdown! A touchdown! He just took off and ran it down the sideline and won the game! We just stepped on their face with a hob nail boot and broke their nose! We just crushed their faces.” It would have been such a joy to watch Munson and listen to him describe this extraordinary UGA team.

Now we get ready to watch the Dawgs play in the biggest college football game in the program’s history. I am proud and amazed. This team has exceeded all expectations. They’ve done it in amazing fashion. It’s been such an amazing, beautiful ride. I’m so glad I’ve been able to experience it with my family, friends, and so many of you. It’s not over.

The toughest game yet is now upon us and it is for the grandest prize in all of college football. Is it going to be tough? Of course it is. It’s always tough when you have to deal with the evil emperor and the empire that is Alabama football. I feel surprisingly good about it though. This Georgia team can run with Bama. They will run with Bama. And they’re going to beat Bama. I’m not sure how or by what score, but this Dawg team seems like it is in “refuse to lose” mode right now.

So Monday night as I celebrate the university’s third national championship in school history (and the first since 1980) among thousands of barking and rabid Dawg fans, I’ll be emotional. I’ll be both proud and elated. I may even shed a tear of joy. But I’ll maintain a small sadness.

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I’ll think, if only for a few moments, of the great Dawgs I’ve had in my life who are no longer with us and how they would have loved this 2017 team. I wish Mama and Munson could have been here for this. Perhaps they will be watching, though, from that beautiful stadium in the sky.

Mama will probably be jumping and yelling. Munson will probably be grumbling and eventually yelling and breaking furniture. In the end, though, when the Dawgs win and become national champions, I’m sure they’ll both say the same exact words: “How ’bout them dawgs?”

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