That I was always fan due to family members who were alumni. However, I didn’t really get obsessed with college football until I got to college. In high school I was more interested in what color to dye my hair and listening to The Cure. Not particularly proud about that point but it does paint a picture about why college football was not really on my radar.

When I got to college (albeit during the Jim Donnan/Quincy Carter years) I was hooked. Everything from the tailgating to the game to the student section. And I was officially addicted.

It is my belief, though, that Georgia fandom is a essentially predetermined and we are the elect. Following the Calvinistic principle of double predestination, God preordains who goes to heaven (Georgia), and who goes to hell (Florida), and that regardless of circumstance these events will come to pass. So rejoice! We are the chosen people!

… that I was Bulldog born, Bulldog bred, and when I die, I’ll be Bulldog dead.

My father graduated from UGA, and he and my mother took me to my first Georgia game when I was barely old enough to even understand what it was… sometime around 6 or 7 years old. They’ve been season ticket holders since the 1981 season, and I’ve attended most Georgia home games during that time. Some of my finest memories growing up are coming to Athens every Saturday, tailgating all day with several families (who we still tailgate with 30 years later, even though we are all now dispersed across the state), and enjoying cheering for the Dawgs, win or lose.

I’ve seen the glory days of Herschel, the awesome “Between the Hoses” game at Auburn in 1986, the abject shame dismal dark years of the ’90’s, the abject shame complete despair abject shame of losing to the Gators 52-17 at Sanford Stadium in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate, and the resurrection of a proud championship tradition by Mark Richt in the 2000’s, just to name a few memorable moments.

It’s been a great ride, and I wouldn’t trade my Bulldog heritage for any other in the world.

The first UGA football game I attended was during the fall of 1983 while I was nestled within my mother’s uterus. My paternal grandparents are both from Athens. My great-uncle and cousin both make their homes in Hull, GA which is just north of Athens up the 10 Loop. My cousin is employed by the Athens District Attorney’s office. My great-grandfather layed the foundation for Stegemen Coliseum in what turned out to be his last job before he passed on. I was born to be a Bulldog through and through. Athens is in my blood.

My Grandfather and his brother on my mother’s side of the family were the right and left offensive tackles for the Vanderbilt Commodores in the early 50s. My mother’s brother played defensive line for the Vols in the early 70s. That was heated.

My Dad attended UT for a while before dropping out to raise his family. He was a civil servant for the Army, and though born in Nashville, TN, we lived in Manhattan, KS, and Stuttgart Germany before settling in Savannah, GA, which I still consider my home to this day. My first live college football experience was in Big XII North country, Colorado, K-state in ’85. All I remember is they shot a canon off when K-state finally scored a fieldgoal in the fourth.

So I was raised a Vols fan, though not a fanatic one, and kind of rooted for them during the Heath Shuler/Peyton Manning years, etc. THEN, I HAD AN EPIPHANY! I moved into a house two doors down from Weaver D’s and matriculated at the Great UGA. This was 1998. UT finally won the National Championship, and I hated every Orange wearing bastard for the 22-3 pasting that the Dawgs absorbed at the hands of Tee Martin, Peerless Price, Travis Henry, Etc.

I knew then that I would never have any use for the state of Tennessee ever again (honestly the mountains in Western NC are nicer) , and that I was a die hard Dawg. I was on the field for the vindication game against UT in 2000, and have regularly enjoyed the post game calls to my uncle since Richt has coached our boys. My father grew weary of the fight and decided that a son with a degree is better than dropping out and has worn a red ball cap for a little more than seven years now. I never was able to speak about it with my grandfather, because he died of Parkinsons disease my first fall in Athens, prior to homecoming. Still rooting for Vandy to beat UT. Now, My daughter learned to say," Gooooo Dawgs, Sic ’em," before she could specify whether she had to go number one or two. GOOOO DAWGS!!!!

I’m a first generation dawg from Aiken, SC (right outside of Augusta, GA). My first memory of a college football game was seeing the Sugar Bowl vs. PSU on tv. I can’t explain why I gravitated towards the Dawgs, I just did. I have no connections to UGA whatsoever but I couldn’t love the Dawgs more. I applied to UGA, was accepted, and my first trip to Athens was on a visitation day in 1990 for prospective students. Alas, I did not attend (I went to the USMC instead) but I never stopped following the Dawgs. I got my first season tix in 2005 and haven’t missed a home game since.

I’m proud to say my love for UGA lives on in my 3 year old daughter, who has been to the past two G-Days. She loves Uga and can recognize Georgia’s logo whenever she sees it.

When people ask why I’m a Georgia fan, despite having no real ties to the school, I like to say “Just lucky, I guess”.
GO DAWGS!

Everyone else in my immediate family was born in Tennessee and grew up Vols fans (or ignored college sports altogether). I grew up during the Herschel years, and my dad actually encouraged me when I was inclined to like Georgia. Naturally I grew up spoiled by the success of those years, so I have always had a sense of longing to return to that success.

Now when did I develop the fever? Oddly enough, even though I am an alum, I didn’t take part in the gameday activities when I was a student (it’s a long story). I’d say I became a true (okay, obsessive) fan when Greene hit Haynes. I was very late to a friend’s wedding because of that game, but I was forgiven.

Well more like a brother. I grew up in a house (and family) full of Gamecock fans in upstate SC. We were actually closer to Clem[p]son but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway his father attended UGA and his family were (and still are) big time supporters of the university. Looking back on it now it’s as if he were recruiting me to be a Dawg. He would play Munson highlights all the time and If I had a dollar for every time we watched the 1980 Championship video….. But it wasn’t until the ‘91Clem[p]son game in Athens that I got totally hooked. We skipped school that Friday and went to visit a friend of his sisters who was attending UGA. We partied pretty much all day Friday and Satruday, got student ID’s from a couple of guys too drunk to walk to the stadium and had the one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a football stadium. From that day forward I have been a die-hard dawg. That may make me a “sidewalk fan” or whatever because I never attended the university but I can tell you that my blood runs as red and black as any one who did. I’m at every home game and a few road games every year cheering my rearend off for the dawgs and will continue to do so as long as I am physically and financially able.