The phone rang and I saw who it was. I started not to answer, but I knew he’d only call back. Again and again. Until finally I surrendered and answered.
So I bit the bullet.
“Hey, buddy. Got a question for you.”
Here it comes, I thought.
“If three Georgia football players are in a car together, who is driving?”
I didn’t know.
“The police officer.”
The caller was my buddy Jonesy. He’s an Auburn fan. He’s not the biggest Auburn fan I know. Just the loudest. He calls every year before the start of another glorious season of college football.
The annual phone call from Jonesy is one of the surest signs college football is just around the corner. Actually, that’s not true. He only calls when Auburn has had a good season. When Auburn struggles, like it did a few years back, it’s like he’s entered the Obnoxious College Fan Relocation Program. Seriously, it would have been easier to find Jimmy Hoffa or Amelia Earhart than Jonesy.
But clearly, he’s optimistic about 2016. And why not? At this point in the season, before anyone has played, we can all dream of a perfect 15-0 season.
As you read this, we are just six days from glorious fall days tailgating with friends in Atlanta and watching the Dawgs whip North Carolina in the Georgia Dome.
Some people says spring is their favorite season. A lot of folks like summer. Football is my favorite season.
This is the 29th year I've had season tickets to Georgia games, and I haven't missed many games, home or away, in those years. Virtually everything in my life is scheduled around Georgia football in the fall.
A lot will be different about Georgia football this year. First, for the first time in 15 years, we have a new coach, Kirby Smart, a former Georgia player who has spent most of his coaching career learning under the great Nick Saban.
Everywhere I go, people ask me what I think Georgia’s record will be this year. A lot are predicting 9-3. Some say 10-2. A few think 8-4.
I refuse to give a number. What I want to see is a team that is ready to play every snap of every game all season long. What I want to see is a team that doesn’t get blown out by the best teams on the schedule. What I want to see is a team that doesn’t lose a dumbfounding game to an inferior opponent.
Those has become hallmarks of Georgia football in the last few seasons under Mark Richt, and it’s why I felt so strongly we needed a change in leadership.
I firmly believe that Kirby Smart is the right man. I believe he is the man to make Georgia competitive against the best in college football. If he does that, the wins will come. Maybe not this season when we have questions at quarterback, running back and defense. But they will come. (Remember, the great Nick Saban was but 7-6 in his first year at Bama.)
Jonesy and I were just about to wrap up our call. But I had to get in one last dig.
“Hey, I read that Auburn coach Gus Malzahn is so confident about the Clemson game that he’s only going to dress half the team.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Yeah, he has finally taught the other half how to dress themselves.”
Go Dawgs!
