It's Great to be a Georgia Bulldog!

Spoiler Alert: Georgia is not the national champion...this season.

It has been a truly amazing season to bleed red and black!  Through a tough win against Notre Dame, an excruciating win in the SEC Championship after an earlier loss to Auburn, and a double overtime blocked kick to win our spot in the national title game, every dawg in Bulldog Nation was riding on cloud 9.

The night of the playoff game against Oklahoma, Daniel was on the other side of the world, needing to sleep to prepare for a flight shortly after the game.  Luckily, his schedule had just shifted, so he found himself unable to sleep and woke up to watch the second half of the game, in which Georgia got it together and went from losing to a win in double overtime with a beautiful blocked kick.

Daniel messaged me immediately following the game, telling me I had to get a ticket.  We were playing for the national title- in Atlanta!!

Jan and I both knew who I could call to accompany me- Jan's son and my cousin, Craig.  He was already online looking up tickets and trying to figure out a way to get me to the game!  Lucky for his wallet, Daniel had already approved the purchase regardless, saying we were pretty much getting the ticket half price, since we couldn't buy him one!

Clearly, people took advantage of the excitement of the Bulldogs that night, and though I secured seats at the 50 yard line, I will not disclose the ridiculous price tag paid for them.  Irrelevant!

With only a week between the playoff and the title game, I remained on high adrenaline without a break!  To keep things interesting, Xander got super sick right before I was due to leave, running a fever, throwing up, and waking up in the middle of the night with labored breathing.  After a quick trip to the ER, we ruled out pneumonia and confirmed it was just a virus, so I felt more secure leaving the state for two nights away from my little man.  He was in great hands with Aunt Jan, with numerous neighbors and friends on call, including Alyssa, who regularly checked in with Jan while I was gone, and Charis who came and watched the game with Jan, and helped entertain Xander while also keeping him low key to recover.  Not to mention Leaha coming over to walk Zoey!  I am truly blessed by the people in my life!

On Thursday before the game, I was given the opportunity to list the home of two of my dear friends.  By Sunday as I drove to Atlanta, we had received multiple offers, causing me to pull off at a Starbucks to present and discuss strategy for moving forward.  We were able to get the home under contract as I walked into the stadium!

My text picture of going under contract!

Craig had no GA gear for the game, so we went to Atlantic Station Monday morning to find something for him to wear.  While he shopped, I got to meet David Greene, starting QB for UGA during my freshman and sophomore year!

Craig and I had plans to tailgate once I had completed the work that needed to be done, however with icy rain coming down, we agreed we would rather just head into the stadium after Heidi dropped us off around 4:15.  I'm so glad we did!  Many people had to wait up to 2.5 hours to enter the stadium!  While we stood in the icey rain for a little bit, as soon as the doors opened at 5:30, we were moving quickly, and they opened up an extra set of gates as we approached, so we shuffled right in.  We had enough time to explore the entire brand new Mercedez-Benz stadium, grab dinner, and hike up to our nosebleed seats twice before kickoff- we were both out of breath by the time we got there!

 I'm afraid my excitement was concealed...

Being so early, the stadium was pretty much empty when we originally went to find our seats.  Unfortunately,w e were on the Bama side.  I had woken up at 3am the previous night stressing over being surrounded by the crimson tide.  Have no fear!  The Bulldog Nation was strong!  I have heard we held 70% of the stadium, and I believe it, because we were surrounded by a sea of true red and black.

Though the outcome of the game is what many people are focusing on, I have to say this is in the top of my list for best lifetime experiences.  I have only seen the dawgs play once since I graduated, and our seats allowed for a clear picture of every single play.  The excitement was nonstop, and we were in the lead THE ENTIRE TIME.  Our fans were stoked and the stadium was loud!  It was amazing watching Fromm and Chubb, Blankenship and Michel.  Some of plays were frustrating with attempts up the middle rather than trusting Fromm, and the Bama decision to switch QBs clearly threw GA for a loop, but we fought to the end.  

I loved seeing Blankenship nail the 52 yarder in OT after the Bama kicker had two missed attempts, and when we got the big sack in OT, I really thought we had it.  I will not speak of poor ref calls or anything that may have changed the outcome.  In the end, we were not victorious in our attempt to defeat that team that everyone has grown tired of... however, we were riding high throughout the entire game.  Though Bama may have left the stadium on a high note, Georgia fans were triumphant throughout the game.  As experience goes, I had a better experience than any darn Bama fan there that night!

It's great to be a Georgia Bulldog!  I said, it's great to be a Georgia Bulldog! G-E-O-R-G-I-A Goooooo Dawgs, Sic'em!

Glory Glory