Cocktail Thursday: Vanderbilt Edition

If your Georgia Bulldogs have been forced by the vageries of SEC scheduling to go on the road for a conference matchup to start the 219 season, you could probably use a drink. We can help you with that.

There’s a lot of optimism surrounding the upcoming season of Georgia Bulldog football.

I don’t like it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d rather have a good football team than a bad one. And I have a suspicion that what we have on our hands may be a great one. But it just makes me, well, uncomfortable.

I’m uncomfortable because I remember Jim Donnan boasting about that 2000 team he’d been waiting 55 years to coach. They finished 8-4. And perhaps I’m a little less than sanguine because I remember the 2019 Sugar Bowl. First Texas tried to gore our dog, then they actually accomplished it with our players.

And if I’m being entirely honest about it, it may just be a little of my personal makeup. I’ve found that pride does in fact often go before a fall. That there’s a big difference between bragging and doing. There’s just something a little unseemly about talking about what a great football team Kirby Smart has this year.

Opposing fans know it. Opposing coaches and players know it. And that’s what I’m afraid of.

Five for Georgia’s eight SEC opponents have a bye week before playing the Athenians. And while research on the effects of a week off in college football has been a mixed bag, it probably means that some teams are going to get a little healthier and have some extra time to throw in a wrinkle or two before playing the ‘Dawgs. I can’t see how that’s good for us, even if it’s not clearly fatal.

So what do I want from this weekend’s season opener? I want to be shown that I’m worried for nothing. That this Bulldog team is as deep and wide as all the pundits have been leading me to believe.

And what’s the appropriate cocktail for a sweltering late summer showdown in which you’re looking for the ‘Dawgs to make you a believer? To prove that all that glitters may in fact be gold?

A Gold Leaf.

You’ll need

• 1 fresh basil leaf
• 2 dashes meyer lemon vinegar
• 6 oz. San Pellegrino Lemon Soda
• Sparkling wine of your choice
• 1 and ¹⁄₂ ounces of Thirteenth Colony vodka

Muddle together the vodka, basil leaf, and vinegar in a cocktail shaker. Add the soda, stir, and pour over ice in a 12-oz. collins glass. Top with the sparkling wine, and enjoy.

This will also serve as the Open Thread for tonight’s college football action, including Clemson vs. the Gnats on ACC Network and Texas A&M vs. Texas State on SEC Network. I actually kind of think Geoff Collins and his gang may have a shot in this one, I mean.....

Ah. Never mind. Dark Richt is in the house, they’re losing by 80.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!