I don’t like Tennessee. Lane Kiffin makes me want to punch things. I don’t like Alabama or Nick Saban. South Carolina fans take obnoxious to a whole other level (and keep in mind, this is coming from a girl who lives to scream, “Ain’t nothin’ finer in the land than a drunk, obnoxious Georgia fan!” every gameday), and don’t get me started on Steve Spurrier. I don’t like LSU or Auburn either. I HATE Florida. (God, I hate, hate, HATE Florida). And I’m pretty certain Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow combine to form the devil reincarnate.

But Tech fans? They exist in a realm of fair weather and disloyal and classless that I can’t comprehend.

You want to talk trash about our football team this year? Fine. We suck. I know it. You know it. God knows ESPN knows it. So go ahead. Talk trash. I can handle that.

You want to claim we Georgia grads are stupid and will work for you someday? It’s not true (Check my grades and test scores. I dare you. Ten bucks says they’re better than yours.), but fine. Entertain your small minds.

But to go after Uga VII days after he passed away? Classless and cruel.

Yes, Uga is a mascot. But he walks football sidelines 12-14 times a year. He makes a handful of other appearances as well. But every day, whether the jersey is on or not, he is a family pet, and to mock – or worse, celebrate, as this drawing indicates – the death of a family pet is heartless and pathetic.

After news broke of Uga’s passing, I read or heard sincere condolences from fans of every SEC school and many from outside the SEC. Andy Staples, a former Florida walk-on, wrote one of the most poignant columns I’ve ever read on the subject.

Tech, on the other hand, produced this.

You may kick our ass tomorrow. You may continue your brief, cicada-like, nonsensical jabbering for the next year. (Found the quote of the year last week on Bleacher Report: “Tech fans are like cicadas. They come out every 17 years, make a lot of noise and then die.”)

But, at the end of the day, I am a part of a school, a fanbase, a Bulldog Nation that sells out its stadium every week, wears dresses and polos to every game, celebrates its alcohol consumption and would never, ever cheer the loss of a pet, much less create or distribute such a callous image.

And you know what? Regardless of Saturday’s score, that’s good enough for me.

All of this should sound normal for a girl. But for me, it’s the opposite.

I’m the girl who switches between SportsCenter and Mike & Mike while eating my cereal most mornings. The one who rattles off division leaders and wildcard contenders. The one who has a kickoff calendar emblazoned on my brain (and in my planner).

But right now, I am, frankly, sports stupid. Because 9 days ago, my team lost.
I should go ahead and disclose this about this blog: It will be biased.
To the Braves. Against the Mets and Yankees. To Duke. Against UNC. To college sports above anything else. To the SEC. And most of all, to my beloved Dawgs.

This is not to say I won’t attempt objectivity. I was a journalism major at Georgia, and covering all sides of a story with an open perspective was one of our cardinal rules. And there will be moments when I adhere to those journalistic standards. But when it comes to some things – sports in general and the Dawgs in particular – I am admittedly and wholeheartedly partial.

And those Dawgs lost last Saturday. I traveled to Stillwater (the subject of another post to be shared in coming days), and they lost. Of course, they beat South Carolina two days ago in Athens (the subject of another post also to be shared later). But I spent last week very much in mourning over losing to Oklahoma State and thus, actively avoided any type of medium that could or would possible mention it.
On Sunday, I threw away the College Football section. On Monday, I flipped straight packed ESPN. Until Wednesday, I marked all my Georgia blogs as “read.”

It may sound petty or childish, but a Dawg loss results in a legitimate mourning process. My mourning process.

That process officially ended this past Saturday (41-37 Between the Hedges, in case you were wondering), and I have re-established my normal diet of sports culture since then. But I’m still catching up from my week away.

From now on, this blog will be dedicated to (biased) sports chatter and rambling. But if it ever goes quiet, rest assured that I am still alive and will write again. I’m just mourning. Because my Dawgs lost. And I don’t want to talk about it.