The SportsBlogs Nation family continues to grow. Two new college sports weblogs have been added, virtually on the eve of their respective teams' September 2 season-opening showdown.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are represented at The Rakes of Mallow and another Bulldog rival has joined the ranks, as Ramblin' Racket takes up the banner for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
If having an athletic director named Dave Braine supposedly meant they were smart, what does it say about them that the Ramblin' Wreck car was the handiwork of Jim Dull?
Dawg Sports readers already are familiar with Jeff, the proprietor of Ramblin' Racket, as he is a frequent and welcome commenter here and he previously maintained the top-notch Georgia Tech weblog In Dodd We Trust. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to these fine additions to the burgeoning ranks of SportsBlogs Nation's corner of the intercollegiate athletics blogosphere.
Now that multiple longstanding Georgia rivals are represented here, I suppose it is time to reopen an old debate.
Most schools have only one real rival. If you ask 100 Texas A&M fans to name their most hated opponent, all 100 of them will say Texas. Put that same question to 100 Georgia Tech fans and every one of them will say Georgia.
You might have to go to two or three games at historic Grant Field to find 100 Georgia Tech fans, but, once you ran them to ground, they'd all give identical answers, provided they understood English well enough to get the gist of your question.
Some schools have a couple of genuine rivals. Florida State fans would split between Florida and Miami. Oklahoma fans would split between Texas and either Nebraska (historically) or Oklahoma State (recently).
This picture would be significantly cooler if it weren't for that 35-year-old address label.
Georgia fans, though, face a much more difficult conundrum.
We have at least three major rivals . . . Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech. A decent case could be made for adding Tennessee to that list, as well, and more than a few voices in Bulldog Nation would be raised in support of including Clemson and South Carolina among the most despised opponents.
I believe two factors determine a 'Dawg fan's answer to the question, "Which team is Georgia's biggest rival?" The first is geography. In Columbus, they'll tell you it's Auburn; in Augusta, they'll tell you it's South Carolina; in Valdosta, they'll tell you it's Florida; in downtown Atlanta, they'll tell you it's Georgia Tech.
The other factor is age. If you're old enough to remember the losing streak to the Yellow Jackets in the '50s, you probably dislike Georgia Tech the most intensely. If you're young enough that your only experience with the Gators came after Steve Spurrier's return to Gainesville, you probably despise Florida the most. If you're like me and you came of age as a fan while Pat Dye was on the Plains, you probably agree with me wholeheartedly when I say, "I hate Auburn." (By the way, I hate Auburn.)
The universe requires balance; evil must be offset by good. Therefore, in order to even the scales after an unfortunate mention of the unmitigated evil that is Auburn, it is necessary to include a picture of the good that is Kristin Davis.
Which Georgia rivalry do you consider the biggest, most important, and most intense? Let me know what you think in the comments below or in the diaries to the right . . . and, while you're at it, don't just tell me which, tell me why.
This ought to be fun.
Go 'Dawgs!