This might take a minute.

So, let me apologize to any children that read my previous post and said "Mommy, that's that word you screamed last Saturday!!!" However, if you're too young to handle my F-Bomb, then you're way to young to read the shit that goes through my cranium.

Before I go any further, BIG thanks to PWD and The Georgia Sports Blog for linking me up. My hits have doubled since he did it, so again, big thanks for that. In other Dawg-gone Blog News, I turned over 10,000 page views sometime in between Sunday and Monday. Another big thanks to everyone that's dropped in over these short months I've been doing this. The sad but true secret is that probably 5,000 of those visits came from me trying to see if anyone's commented to the shit I say. Thank God the Dawgs started playing or I wouldn't have a life.

Anyway, this blog will be torn into two parts. The first part being the pre-game breakdown of the annual Cocktail Party and the second part being a short essay on how great it is. I hope you enjoy.

Well let's not keep you kids waiting. With my apologies to PWD, Dawgbone.net and every other trusted UGA source out there, he's what I think.


The World's Largest Cocktail Party

When UGA has the ball:

1. PROTECT JOE T. III -- I love our O-Line. I really really do, but please understand that D.J. was bound to get hurt last Saturday with all the pressure he was feeling. Our O-Line just didn't step up. Max-Jean won another award for Saturday's performance, but for the life of me, I don't know why. Part of being a true fan is always asking for more and placing blame where due, but still love them at the end of the day. That's what I'm doing here. Our O-Line hurt us badly. We can't play like that against Florida who we all know is going to bring heat every down until Joe proves to be a threat with his arm. Please please please please PLEASE be working on the blitz this week....PLEASE.

2. Bring back the running game -- All we heard the entire offseason was about Georgia's talented stable of backs and how an inexperienced D.J. Shockley was going to have to rely on that ground game to get things going. *Ahem* They call them ANALysts for a reason. Anyway, I still haven't seen the breakout game for our running backs and if the O-Line does its job, this will be that game. Look for T-Brown to finally have his breakout game, Danny should have some good runs here and there, and expect Kregg to see some good playing time as well. Richt will know he has to substitute backs in regularly to keep guys fresh for pass protection so expect plenty of touches all the way around. Hell, I'd definitely be looking for the screen. I hope we run it all over Meyer and his boys because I'm still pissed about when Zook did it to us. It was like playing NCAA Football with a five year old who only knows one play. I hope we run it 20 times and score 50% of the time off of it. Well, let's not be greedy. 49%

3. WRs must have their best game of the year -- From catching the ball, finding soft spots in zones, blocking downfield, all the way to getting off the jam, if the WRs don't bring their "A+" game, we're dead before it starts. They are the key in winning this game I think. Our defense will be our defense and our running game will be feared even though it hasn't really done much of anything. But our WRs are viewed as a weakness and with a new QB comes new timing and new confidence. If the guys on the receiving end don't step up for the guy on the throwing end, we're screwed. Plain and simple. That being said, Mo Mass breaks out in this game. I've been saying it for a while, but this time, I actually think it'll happen. This game last year was when Leonard Pope went off because he was "under the radar" then. Expect Mo Mass to do the same.


When Florida has the ball:

1. G.A.T.A. (Get After That Ass) -- Put Leak on his ass. Everyone else has and we should too. Just take a page out of 'Bama's book and knock him on the ground. I think Leak is a stellar QB and Meyer is just rattling his NFL ready brain by putting all that stupid shit in there called "The Spread." Let the kid throw the damn ball...just not against us. Anyway, Leak hasn't thrown an interception in a Georgia/Florida game so I don't think we really should play the pass as much as Martinez probably will. I know we want to force turnovers and GTBB and all, but I still think if we just pressure a LITTLE, it'll do us world's better. Prevention defenses only prevent you from winning kids.

2. Use our LB Corps -- We're finally getting somewhat healthy at LB and it couldn't have come at a better time. Brandon Miller will play, Tony Taylor (a HUGE addition) is hungry for action, and Jarvis Jackson is a beast. Let's not forget about my boy Danny "Get Ver-Dun" Wheeler. Our entire LB Corps have done a great job of stopping the run, blitzing the QB (in the rarity of it being called upon to do so), and slowly drifting back into coverage to force turnovers. I'm really proud of our defense. They've done a great job and I think the middle men have a lot to do with that.

3. Let the DBs play ball -- Rubbin's racin'. That's kind of what I'm hoping for when Tim and Demario get the chance to shine. I'm looking forward to our guys playing a physical, in-your-face type of coverage scheme. I think Martinez has enough faith in this defense to let them go out and each part do their job seperately. Expect a lot of man-on-man at the beginning and maybe switching to zone to help our guys stay fresh. I really think our secondary will bring lots of different looks this weekend to try and confuse Leak even more since he's already been confused a lot by "The Spread."

Special Teams:

1. Coutu is Swahili for "automatic" -- I just knocked on wood. Just keep it up buddy and you'll be loved on a level that only Billy Bennett has seen.

2. Ely-Kelso -- You are MUCH better than that other Kelso on Fox. You probably don't punk people as well, but damn it, you keep kicking like you are and you TOO can shag Demi Moore. Hell, I'll do you one better. You keep Florida from fair catching anything past the 10 yard line and your first round of hookers is on me. Wait. Sorry, for a second I flashed back to the Jim Donnan era.

3. Thomas Flowers -- Patience. You finally had it at the UT game and look what happened. Trust your blockers. They haven't really had a bad outing since UL-Monroe.

Overall:

We will win this game. I'm not saying it over and over again hoping it will happen and trying to trick myself into believing it, but as each day wears on, I see how feasable winning this game actually is. The bookies already pissed off the team by declaring us five point underdogs to another team that hasn't really shown anyone anything (except for Wyoming. They FEAR Florida). On top of that, when a guy like Shockley, who has the most respect of the team than anyone else, gets hurt, the others step up to win the game for him. This team will come out, arm in arm with Shockley leading the pack and Joe T. right beside him. This is a TEAM unlike any I've seen before. These guys want to notch their place in Bulldog history. A win here does that for them. They know what's at stake and they want to win. Finally it's a "you before me" attitude in Athens. We need to go out and play our game, which in all honesty hasn't been that flashy anyway. We just need to play solid football for 60 minutes. We do that and we win. Plain and simple. Florida will take the lead (albeit a small one) and we will fight back. We convert in the Red Zone (they will too) and it will be a dogfight the entire game. Field position and turnovers and who has the most yards rushing will be the stories of this game. If we take two of those three, we win. Besides, let's not forget, a win clinches the SEC East and a loss forces us to have to win the next two games. None of our guys want that pressure. They just want to play.

Predicted Score: 30-23

Dawgs win.


Part Two (awww you forgot about part two):

I won't make this long but let me tell you quickly why this game and this rivalry is so important to me.

I'll never claim to be that Dawg fan that knows every player for Georgia from the past 50, 60, 90, 100 years. I'll never claim to be the guy you turn to when you need advice about what we should do to win the game. But I am the guy, like many Dawg fans abound, that feels sick for a month after a loss, that rejoices on the memory of an Auburn blowout in Athens, and that feels the rush of hoping that a football hanging in the air for an eternity comes down in the hands of a running Dawg who will hopefully score 6 on the play.

I'm the fan that watches the TV and listens to Munson. I'm subsequently the Dawg fan that's ballsy enough to want to replace him when he (unfortunately) steps down because I feel a care about this team enough to make a career out of talking about it.

I'm that Dawg fan that bleeds the truest color of Red and Black that you'll ever see. I see the Dawgs on the field and their NFL dreams never cross my mind. Their tests never eek into my conciousness. All I think about is how they suited up today to play for those that love them endlessly even though only a handful of them actually know who they are. I think about how each one of them wants to be forever linked to an infamous Munson call that after 20 years will become righteously famous.

Oh, if your blood doesn't boil on Gameday for the Dawgs, then you haven't lived. And I mean that.

When this time of year approaches I'm spoiled of past memories of my adventures as a member of The Redcoat Band and how this is what we counted down for at every practice. The hours of drinking and talking about how we're going to wear out that Gator ass only to be followed up on Saturday night with "we'll get them next year...go make me another...and make it strong." I hate losing to Florida on a level that is reserved for...well, I don't know and rightly couldn't tell you offhand, but it's deep. As deep as it gets. As deep as Tech. But with Orange and Blue.

I don't need to throw out comments of jean shorts, mullets, and wife-beaters on Gameday. Hell, they do it themselves. But never have I seen a more undeserving state to have had so many years of flawless football. But it wasn't always flawless was it? It wasn't flawless in 1997 when we surprised the world and Steve Spurrier gave an interview that I have on my computer right now. "The day belongs to the Bulldogs." It's like hearing the devil say "thank God." And then all was right.

But they have spoiled our fun too. I remember 2002 when we were upset by a Florida team that just outplayed us. When we watched our Nat'l Title hopes go up in smoke en route to an SEC Championship.

That fire burns today and it burns inside of every Dawg fan alive. This isn't a "rivalry." I don't even know what it could be described as. If Georgia wins, the state should have Monday off. That's how big this is. If Georgia loses, the state should have Monday and Tuesday off because that's how big our headaches are. Having your heart broken by a woman and losing to Florida are two things no man should experience. However, if she leaves in the fourth quarter with a minute to go and we're winning, I think it would be OK. But that's just me.

I'll be like a lot of Dawg fans this Saturday. I'll be in Jacksonville and I'll be surrounded by many more just like me and all of them talking shit. However, I'll be different. I'll be relishing in such a glorious experience and how I got to see it all live at least one more time in person. Life is never as good as it is before kickoff of Georgia/Florida, and it never will be.

Every year the motto is "this year, it's different" and I'm not referencing the 13 out of the 15 years we lost. I'm talking about how every year the stakes get higher, the implications grow stronger, and the hate grows into...respect.

No matter the outcome, we'll still be ok and we'll live to fight another one. However, if we win, what a day it will be. I hope I get to see history in action on Saturday when the underDAWGS acheive a level greater than glory and everyone notches their own spot in Bulldog Lore.

With that, I must say two things:

1. Please don't pick us Corso.

2. Go Dawgs.


Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs).