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www.bigdawgsfan.com would like to congratulate the
 SUGAR BOWL CHAMPIONS of 2008
The University of Georgia Bulldogs
“Would you have ever Believed this back in October???  You’re lying if you said yes.” 

By The Ashman

All,

New Years Day 2008 was a great way to start the year.  Our beloved Dawgs whooped the warriors from Hawaii (yes, I gave them a capital H, you’ll see why later).  Making my first post Katrina/levee break  trip to New Orleans was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  I was just happy to see that ray “School Bus” nagin didn’t blame Hawaii’s arse-whoopin’ on President George W. Bush…thank God.  I think my loudest boo of the night wasn’t at Hawaii, it came when they introduced “School Bus” at the beginning of the game.  It was definitely surreal though walking the streets thinking that just a few years prior the entire city was underwater.  The resurgence of the city is a testament to the kindness and the can-do attitude of the American people.  Alright, without further ado it’s onto the recap of the game.   
 
The Dawgs really couldn’t have played any better than they did.  I mean seriously…they ran a balanced attack on offense and completely dominated on defense.  I think that everyone realized Hawaii was out of their league after they committed penalties on their first two plays from scrimmage.  And for those of you who dozed off in the third quarter (how long did that game last????) as bad as the score looked, it wasn’t nearly that close.  I personally believe that if anyone else had been coaching UGA that the score would have been more in the neighborhood of 61-10.       

Ok, to the reasoning of the capital H for Hawaii (that’s the first capital letter I’ve purposely given any team that we’ve played…I might have fiven fsu one at one time in honor of Bobby Bowden, MAYBE).  The fans for Hawaii were the BEST I have ever encountered at a college football game.  We talked to Hawaii fans from as far as Tokyo, to as close as alabama.  They were all kind and extremely humble.  The thing that stuck with me was that as UGA fans left in droves during the 3rd quarter because of the blowout, the Hawaii fans ALL stayed and endured their beating.  They cheered the late touchdown pass and saluted their team as they walked off the field in defeat.  If all fan bases supported their team the way that Hawaii fans did then college football would be even more enjoyable than it is now.  I think a lot of UGA fans could learn a thing or two from the Hawaii fans.  Kudos are definitely due to our friends from the big island.  Like I told a few Hawaii fans, “I really wish we didn’t have to whoop you like we’re about to have to on national television”.  Before the game, I had heard a lot of junk about Hawaii fans being rude and ready to fight.  I didn’t see it ANYWHERE.  They acted better than some of the drunken UGA fans I ran into.     

While I didn’t get a chance to watch the game, I did hear that the announcers for the game were bashing Georgia.  The names of these clowns were thom brennaman and charles davis.  I heard that thom was giving it the most and as far as I’m concerned he can eat one.  To question Mark Richt’s class is like questioning whether the sun is going to come up in the morning.  Why woud you waste you time even doing it?  Maybe the successes of calling the michigan/appalachian state game earlier in the season and the boise state/oklahoma game at the culmination of last year’s season have gone to his head.  Announcers like thom, davis and punks like kirk herbstreit who have decided to bash UGA towards the end of the year will rue the day they talked down to our Dawgs and Coach Richt.  I expect them to rue it throughout the 2008 and 2009 football seasons as UGA racks up victory after victory.   

Ok, let’s go ahead and start looking to the 2008 season my friends.  We’re looking at a UGA team who will retain a majority of their integral pieces on both defense and offense.  On offense, we are going to miss Sean Bailey, BAD.  But hopefully we’ll be able to replace him since our receiving corps are starting to become increasingly dominant.  On the o-line we’ll lose two good ones in Chester “Big Cheese” Adams and Fernando Velasco.  We will also lose Thomas Brown who has been the heart and soul of this team for the last 2-3 years.  He’ll be remembered as a DGD and a personal favorite of mine because of his class and heart. 

On defense we’re losing Kelin Johnson and Marcus Howard.  Both players have been DGDs and have grown into durn good football players over the course of their years in Athens (culminating with Marcus winning the Sugar Bowl MVP and nearly breaking colt brennan in half in the end zone).  Their emotion and leadership were part of what kept the Dawgs together as a team during the difficult times last year and earlier this year.  Leaders are always tough to replace.  We’ll also miss sparkplugs like Brandon Miller, Kregg Lumpkin, AJ Bryant, Jason Johnson and TJ Gatrell too.       

Special teams will be a different story with the loss of Coutu, Mikey Henderson and Thomas Flowers.  However, we signed a kid named Walsh out of florida who has been kicking the air out of the ball this year.  And we’ve had a pretty good history of punt/kick off return guys dating all the way back to Damian Gary.  So I’m sure Richt will be able to put someone in there to replace two of our most memorable returners at UGA.  And don’t forget that our last few studly kickers have been walk-ons anyway.  We’ll be ok.

Other than that my friends, we’ll be rooooooooollin’!!!  We return Knowshon, Stafford, MoMass and a majority of what became an extremely stingy defense.  The recruiting class that we’re bringing in along with all the redshirts from last year’s class, are going to create even more depth for this team.  I don’t want to get too giddy about next year, but I haven’t been this excited about a team in a long, long time.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m always excited about the next season, but this team has a chance to be special.  With all the returning pieces, the experience on the O-line and the D-line, Stafford coming into his own, the emergence of Knowshon with Caleb King nipping on his heels (and remember the names Dontavious Jackson and Richard Samuel as well)…I’m pumped!!!  With the schedule that we’re looking at next year we have the opportunity to play for it all in Miami in 2009.  Until then, enjoy your time off from the college football season and we’ll see you again next year at www.bigdawgsfan.com.    

Ever Forward,
The Ashman a.k.a The Rush Limbaugh of UGA Football