Georgia Football- My National Championship Story
By Mike Stowe
The next day
The moment that really got me was the morning after though. I’m taking the girls to school and my youngest is visibly upset. Keep in mind, now, these are 2 girls who haven’t gotten into sports like I am before this Georgia Football season. Between encouragement from me and an amazing season from the Georgia Bulldogs, that changed this year. I thought my youngest, Jackie, was upset because she didn’t feel well or didn’t want to go to school.
I asked her about it, and she said, “No, it’s not that. Georgia lost”. My heart sank. I’ve turned my poor kids into Georgia sports fans. Here’s hoping that the next few decades bring them more elation and excitement than what they experienced on January 8th, 2018.
Even though I have experienced time and time again that “almost won it all” moment as a Georgia sports fan, I’m not changing. Win, lose or tie, I’ll be a Dawg till I die. I know what comes next for fans like me. It’s the “we’ll be back” stage. I’ve already been through disbelief, anger, and borderline denial. I didn’t go through the “blaming the refs” stage. While there were definitely some questionable calls and no calls like the obvious facemasks on Swift and Fromm and the offsides on Tyler Simmons, this is a game that we lost and Alabama won.
I was actually more angry at the constant misuse of the running backs late in the game. I’ll always feel like a heavier dose of Sony Michel to the right and left could have won us that game. Sorry, Jim Chaney….I’ve been a vocal supporter of yours this year but I’ll always think that your decision to keep running Nick Chubb up the middle cost the Georgia Bulldogs a national championship.