Why I Will Cry if Georgia Wins

We’re living in a time when rude behavior is often times justified, even celebrated.

 

But also in this world, there are people like Jake Fromm. An 18 year old kid who made his college football debut when Eason went down, who sings songs with his parents in the car. Who thanks God at the end of each game and leads his team in prayers, kneeling his humility before his God.

 

Sorry we can’t sing but our cover of Body Like a Backroad (ft. Mom&Dad) might be better pic.twitter.com/duF6WH553p

— JakefromStateFromm (@FrommJake) May 19, 2017

 

There are people like Sony Michel, who in the last moments of the 4th quarter gave up a lone heartbreaking turnover to allow the other team to score. But who then made the game winning touchdown in a second overtime.

 

This young man who may very well have not even made it here if it weren’t for the sheer determination of his immigrant parents to give him a better life. Better than what would have been held for him in Haiti.

 

The kicker. “Hot Rod” Rodrigo Blakenship.A young man who had been offered a scholarship elsewhere but choose to walk on as a Dawg. Who found out, mid-season this year, that he would in fact be granted a coveted scholarship. The same young man whose missed field goal prompted a moment from the opposing team’s quarterback, the same young man who would later boot the longest field goal in Rose Bowl history.

 

There’s Charlie Woerner, with his own ties to the 1980-1981 Championship Game. It was his uncle, Scott, who intercepted a pass from Notre Dame to win that game.

 

There’s a team that everyone counted out from the first game on. We weren’t supposed to beat long storied Notre Dame, but the fans carried the team on their shoulders as they traversed some hundreds of miles to cheer them on.

 

The fans have always known it could happen, we’ve kept the faith during every heartbreaking moment. During every frustrated tweet at coaches and staff (guilty- right here) – we knew we were destined for more at each turn.

 

Even through our love we knew there was a potential for more.

 

This is the team that defined overcoming it all.

 

We’ve known throughout the Richt era that there was just that last hurdle that we could clear…. and somehow stumbled each time.

 

Each team has been special. Each member of the teams has been special. Each of them were capable of getting here.

 

But it took a special magic for it to happen.

 

This is the team that defined overcoming it all.

 

You can call it luck, but I call it grit. Determination. A set of seniors who could have gone into the draft but came back. Davin Bellamy, Lorenzo Carter, Nick Chubb, Sony Michel. Chip Towers calculated about how much they left on the table to come back. He estimates it would have been over one million dollars. A true freshman quarterback who had every reason to fold on the field, and didn’t. A team that didn’t have any reason to listen to him, and did. So many reasons this could have failed, and didn’t. True grit gets you through the hard times.

 

In a world that celebrates unsportsmanlike conduct on the field and the individual over all else, it could have been unlikely that they would return.

 

They quite literally sacrificed their chance at a better payday for their team. Had any of them been injured, it could have been a devastating life long decision.

 

Instead, now they play for the biggest game. For them. For us.

 

The last time we made it here, the last time we WON the big game, we played the same team we beat at the beginning of this season. Perhaps it’s a sign of serendipity?

 

This is why, if Georgia wins, if my team wins, I’ll be crying the ugliest tears of all. Because for us fans, those of us who have long suffered through times when we knew more was possible, for us it just means more.

 

We have taken this team into our hearts. Through days of listening on car trips with parents. Days of going to games and hearing grandparents recount was it was like in their time. Tailgating traditions passed down through generations. And knowing that fans who could not have made it this far, who were not able to see it happen, that they are watching from heaven with pride- and we have their spirits with us. It’s something that binds us together in a time when we need it the most. To bring us past the years of ugly losses. To bring us past the moments of politics that divided some of us.

 

We can be united as we cheer on our red & black Georgia Bulldog boys. And pray that they come through the game uninjured, to return triumphant to us.

 

 

Love to all my Dawgs-

 

Molly