It's the offseason. Oh, man, it's the offseason!
I mean, I knew that already, but it's only just starting to sink in what it truly means to say that college football season is 213 days away.
Where, then, does that leave us? I'm not shopping for a PlayStation, I'm far too cynical about politics to find hope in a presidential candidate, and I'm not deathly ill, so what am I to do?
I, like Sunday Morning Quarterback, have been a bit overwhelmed by life outside the blogosphere, so I shall endeavor to be brief this evening, resisting both my nature and my training to heed SMQ's call not "to build a case like a lawyer." (Of course, SMQ wrote that shortly before posting three charts in the second installment of a series, so he is no stranger to building a case in depth his own self.)
Recently, I asked (hypothetically, mind you) whether I should allow my nephew to jab me in the knee with a screwdriver again if Georgia won a big game immediately after he jabbed me in the knee with a screwdriver the first time. Now, I would like to take a somewhat different (and even more morbid) approach to the question of fan devotion:
Last fall, the issue of college-branded caskets arose in Bulldog Nation. Personally, I consider it a bit distasteful to have a team logo on a coffin, which strikes me as disrespectful of the solemnity of the proceedings and unseemly with respect to the school.
That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that all allusions to team loyalty are out of line at a ceremony commemorating the life of someone recently departed. Following the Bulldogs' come-from-behind overtime Outback Bowl victory to end the 1999 season, the Redcoat Band struck up an arrangement of "Ode to Joy" which segued seamlessly into the Battle Hymn of Bulldog Nation. At that point, I turned to Susan and said, "I want that played at my funeral."
Provided the occasion also featured an appropriate hymn, would such a musical selection be out of order?
Along those same lines, would you want the University of Georgia head football coach to declare the day of your funeral a blackout in Bulldog Nation and ask all loyal 'Dawg fans to wear the traditional color of bereavement on the date of your final interment? Why or why not?
Discuss.
Go 'Dawgs!