Rainey Thoughts

http://www.georgiadogs.com/images/2017/7/20/UGA_Football_28Sept2013_1027Pe_2798016713_O.jpg The Georgia Way I don't know when it happened or who we ticked off, but at some point in the history of our great state, we were the unfortunate recipients of a sports curse. Doomed to decades of misery, fans of nearly every Georgia sports team are teased year after year with victory and elation, only to be crushed in the worst way at the very worst times. (I will spare you the residual heartbreak of having to read the list I had planned to type here of all the examples I could come up with.)  But for this year's Georgia football team, it just seemed...different. The season had gone amazingly well after getting off to what could have been a disastrous start with an injury to the starting quarterback.  The Rose Bowl double overtime victory seemed to indicate that the curse may have finally been broken. Even in the National Championship, Georgia got off to an electric and dominating

IT'S FINALLY HERE, Y'ALL!! Today is the shining beacon of happiness among the pollen-filled misery of Spring when we finally get some college football action! We rode the wave of excitement from National Signing Day and all the coaching changes right into Spring practice, and today is the day when we get to see how things are starting to shape up with the "new"team. Granted, this game means absolutely nothing, as SO much will change between now and the first game of the year. In case you forgot, this guy hasn't even made it to Athens yet: Until then, we get to watch the team without the graduating players and draft hopefuls, and we also get a first look at early enrollees. I tried to take notes during the game, but I'm too ADD for that, so I ended up just watching and enjoying the spectacle.  Here are my brief thoughts: *RED TEAM- 1st team offense, 2nd team defense *BLACK TEAM- 2nd team offense, 1st team defense Winners: Rush defense Ev

February is a busy month. My birthday, Valentine's Day (which would be a billion times better if Spree Hearts would make a comeback...), and Winter break for the school system in which I teach give me plenty to look forward to in the second month of the new year. But my favorite day of February isn't any of these.  It's National Signing Day.  Why, you may ask, do I like NSD better than my own birthday or most other women's favorite holiday? First of all, it's incredibly unpredictable, which makes the day especially exciting.  Kids commit to schools months out, but you never know until NSD if they will stay true to their word or flip to a rival school.  Additionally, analyzing the recruits gives me something to do until football season comes back around (which seems to take FOREVER). Most importantly, it's a day packed with sentimental value.  We get to watch countless young men take the first step in making their dreams come true.  Some of these may not have bee

Lucky for me, I got to be at the game today to witness all the excitement! Any time you get to watch a game from Sanford Stadium, even one against a nobody team when most of the students have gone home for Thanksgiving, the atmosphere is indescribable.  Electric, really. At one point I even stopped (Not in the middle of the sidewalk, though. I hate when people do that.) and thought about how proud I am to cheer for such a great team.  Not just this year's team, but teams from every other year that I've been around. Great players, great leadership, great traditions.  And while many people still find reasons to complain (or look reaaallly hard to find reasons to complain), I guess I just have a different set of qualifications for what makes a team great.  The teams that come through UGA do things the right way.  They play with heart, and they continue to make me proud to be a fan. Win or lose. Observations of the day: Our offense is virtually unstoppable.   I know th

I'm baaaack! It's been a long time since my last post.  I didn't do a Kentucky recap because I was on a hiking trip and had to watch the game in bits and pieces.  So at kickoff, this was my view.  Can't really complain too much. Quick thoughts on Kentucky before we move on: I'm still a little shocked at how easy we handled that game.  I thought we'd have to give a little more effort to get the win. Kentucky, meet Lorenzo Carter. And now for this week.  I'll be honest, I'm still not 100% sure I believe the game really happened that way, so my observations are probably a bit scattered and not as thorough as usual.  But here goes nothing: Hutson Mason looked good.   Even as a huge Hutson Mason critic, I love being able to give him credit when he deserves it.  He made some great passes Saturday, and his excellent stats would have been even better were it not for some great defensive plays by Auburn's secondary.  Lots of passes were

Well, that was a disaster.  I can't say I expected to win (I didn't.  I even turned down 4 tickets because of my now-justified pessimism), but I definitely didn't expect to look so bad losing.  This team looked incredibly sloppy and unenthusiastic the entire game.  Even when they were ahead, they didn't seem to be playing with much fire.  When they FINALLY started to look even slightly motivated, it was too late.  The damage was already done. My observations are going to be brief-ish tonight, because I just want to move on from this one and not think about it anymore: We can win without Gurley, but apparently we can't win without David Andrews. That guy is the brains of our offense (now that Murray is gone), and after his injury things went south. When he was in the game, he couldn't effectively do the physical aspect of his job (heck, he could barely walk...), but when he was out of the game, it was clear how important to the offense he actually was. Our