193 Days.
4,632 Hours.
277,920 Minutes.
16,675,200 Seconds.
You can put many different numbers on it, but what happened to Georgia on January 8, 2018 will never go away. Since the 8th is my birthday, in my mind I will always remember that the National Title game ended on the 9th, but when the game ended is far less important than how the game ended.
Georgia fans had been waiting a very long time for our team to be back on that stage. I had waited my entire life. I can't say I was devastated, but the fact that I haven't written this blog in 193 days is pretty telling.
I thought, like most people, the game was going to end on the field goal attempt at the end of regulation. I had given up. You had too. Then the kick was missed.
I thought the game was over when we had to settle for a long field goal in overtime. But Blakenship made the kick.
When Georgia got a sack on first down, it was the first time in an hour or so when I actually thought we could win the game. Then second down happened. At my house, there was just quiet. No tears. No anger. No despair. No words.
And there haven't been any words, not on this blog at least, in 193 days.
I'm not writing today because I am over it. I'll never be over it. We could win the next 3 national titles, and I will always believe it should have been 4 straight. In truth, I am writing today because I had a little time. I sat down tonight and watched the title game for the first time since January 8th. It has been sitting there, on my DVR, for 193 days.
Ok, I'm lying just a little bit. I didn't watch the entire game. I just cut the game off early in the third quarter. By the way, Tyler Simmons was on side. I didn't delete the game. I might watch the end, but I might not. Georgia is winning 13-0, that is the way I liked it. Maybe I can just stay here for a while.
193 days.
43 days.
43 days until we take the field again.
43 days until we try to show the entire country that last year was not a flash in the pan or the peak for this program.
43 days until we get back on the field to start a new journey towards the same goal.
There will never be another season like 2017. You didn't expect it. I didn't expect it. It was an incredible ride from South Bend, through Knoxville and Jacksonville, to Atlanta, on to Pasadena, and finally ending back in Atlanta. There were a ton of ups, but in the end, the season will be remembered for the final down. It was second down...
The reason no season can match 2017 is because now we expect it. Make no mistake, there are pieces to replace. Big pieces. But things are different now. Hope is gone. Expectations have arrived. Georgia's goals haven't changed since Mark Richt was head coach, but the realistic expectations for this program have changed for the foreseeable future. Win the East. Win the SEC. Make the playoff. Win it all.
Those are the expectations for 2018. There is not an acceptable loss on our regular season schedule. The assumption is Bama will be waiting in Atlanta. We can't get where we want to go unless we get by the Tide.
I love wrestling and I have stopped caring who knows that. The great Ric Flair said it best. "To be the man, you have to beat the man." I want Bama, and I bet everything I have that so does Kirby Smart.
There will be a lot more coming as the season approaches. This is going to be an exciting season and a very exciting team. There are new faces, new names, and a new attitude. We are no longer the hunter, we are the hunted. We are the prohibitive favorite in our division. We are the team that others will measure themselves by. Do we have to rebuild or have we reloaded?
The sun is setting tonight, and it will rise again tomorrow here in Athens, Georgia.
194 days.
Glory, Glory
