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Darrell Huckaby is a syndicated columnist and author of six books including two about Georgia football. Read Huck’s Wit and Wisdom every Wednesday and Sunday. Subscribe at darrellhuckaby.net.

1.05.2023

We are the Best of Fans; We are the Worst of Fans

Georgia has some of the best football fans in the world. We have proven it time after time, year after year. Georgia has always “traveled well,” but over the past six years we have taken fan support to a new level. We took over Notre Dame’s stadium and, in fact, the entire city of Chicago was a sea of red for three days in 2017. We were calling the Dawgs in Wrigley Field.

Later that same year we took over Pasadena and Beverly Hills and Hollywood—as well as the Rose Bowl. Those fortunate enough to have made the trip were rewarded richly, too, with a one-point victory in South Bend and a thrilling overtime win over Oklahoma in L.A.

Dawg fans outnumbered Alabama fans 3 to 1 in Indy last winter. Every other year we turn the contest with Vanderbilt in Nashville into a UGA home game and they don’t call Historic Grant Field Sanford Stadium West in odd-numbered years for no reason.

The crowd is a huge factor in big games at home. Ask Notre Dame. Ask Tennessee. Ask Arkansas. Check the stats and see where the most false starts occur for visiting teams in the country. I am pretty sure it would be between the hedges on Dooley Field. Year in and year out Georgia is in the top five nationally in merchandising sales.

Without a doubt, Georgia has some of the best football fans in the world.

Georgia, sadly, also has some of the worst football fans in the world. They are, as a rule, not the people buying tickets, travelling to games and supporting the program. And I am not being disparaging of those who cannot attend afford to attend the games or aren’t able. I started my career as a UGA fan watching from the railroad tracks. My first bowl game was in 1976. I was 22 years old. I understand how blessed I am to be able to follow the team now.

But I am talking about the “fans” from every walk of life and socioeconomical status that are frontrunners—fans of the bandwagon variety—who are all for the team as long as things are going well but are ready to abandon the team at the first sign of trouble. Those people make me ill—and they were all over social media Saturday night.

You wouldn’t believe the comments I read on Twitter and Facebook and other platforms. Or maybe you would. Maybe you were even the ones posting garbage like “Ohio wants it more than Georgia.” (We were actually playing THE Ohio State University, not the whole state of Ohio, but you get my point.) How ludicrous is it to state that a team who has played so hard and so well and given us so much joy for two years didn’t “want” the victory Saturday?

Several people on my feed were of the opinion that Keely Ringo “wasn’t even trying.” It would have been amusing to watch those rotund revelers try to keep up with the fleet footed OSU receivers for the seven seconds C. J. Stroud was rolling out of the pocket and scanning the field for an open man.

People who post such drivel are ignorant of everything involved in athletic competition. Or maybe they were just frustrated. Others made equally asinine statements such as “Georgia doesn’t care” and “Georgia just didn’t show up” and “Georgia is horrible.”

Horrible? Really? Didn’t show up? Doesn’t care?

The attitude of those fans is what is horrible.

Another pet peeve. Those people who continue to bash Stetson Bennett who is only THE MOST SUCESSFUL QUARTERBACK IN UGA HISTORY.

He is the GOAT. Without question. He is not perfect. Which quarterback was? Matt Stafford? Jake Fromm? I love them both—but Stetson has better stats with more yards, more TDs and fewer interceptions--and he completed a higher percentage of passes than either of them.

Buck Belue? He has always been my favorite quarterback because he is the only one who won every game. I watched him throw five interceptions at Clemson one day. He completed one pass in the 1981 Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame. I still love and appreciate Buck Belue.

Stetson is one win away from doing what no quarterback this century has done but I still see people proudly posting “I will never support Stetson Bennett.”

I think that reflects a lot more on the poster than on Stetson.

Speaking of which, everyone was enamored with C.J. Stroud Saturday night. Honesty compels me to admit that I was impressed with his performance and even more impressed with his post-game humility and the comments he made. And as I was watching the game, he “looked” more like an elite quarterback, with his stature and the long loping strides he took as he avoided the Georgia pass rush to survey the field and throw the ball to open receivers.

But when the game was over, his stat line was 23/34 for 348 yards, 4 TDs and 4 sacks. The guy in red completed 23/34 for 398 yards, 3 TDs and 2 sacks. He also ran for a TD. In the fourth quarter, with his team trailing and counted out by the fair-weather fans, Bennett completed 10 of 12 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. The Mailman delivered. He outperformed C.J. and won the game.

Allow me to address another issue. “Ohio State outplayed Georgia.” “Ohio State deserved to win.” Not so fast my friends. Read slowly. I’m using logic rather than emotion.

Rules have been established to determine the winners of football contests. In cheerleading and band and gymnastics and diving, people watch and vote on who should win. In football, you play 60 minutes with a designated scoring system. Then, at the end of the game—not at half-time or the end of the third quarter or with 54 seconds left—you add up the points and the team with the most is the winner. If one team plays poorly for a period of time and falls behind and that team rallies and overcomes their poor play, the points they earn in the rally count just as much as the ones the opponents score during the period of poor play.

Bear Bryant said it this way. “What shoulda happened, what coulda happened is what happened.” Every time. Every game. “Who won, won.”

Georgia won and Georgia deserved the win.

One other observation. With 35 seconds left in the third quarter C.J. Stroud of Rancho Cucamonga, California, under heavy pressure, threw a ball up for grabs in the Georgia endzone. Ohio State’s marvelous receiver, Marvin Harrison, Jr. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania attempted a leaping catch right on the end line. Georgia defensive back Javon Bullard of Milledgeville, Georgia knocked snot bubbles out of him.

It wasn’t a dirty hit. Bullard didn’t launch himself at a helpless player. He didn’t lead with the crown of the helmet—he led with his shoulder pads. It was a hard, vicious, legal blow. It was exactly what football players are taught to do.

Unfortunately, Harrison’s head hit the ground—hard—and he was unable to continue in the game. That’s football, too.

Once Sports Illustrated did a cover story bemoaning all the violence in football. On the cover was a picture of ten Georgia Bulldogs tackling an opposing player. For the piece the writer interviewed Georgia defensive coordinator Erk Russell and, hoping to shame him, asked him what he thought about the picture. Erk responded, “I saw it, and wondered where the hell the eleventh player was.”

Lombardi said that dancing is a contact sport. “Football is a collision sport.”

Harrison’s unfortunate injury led to the inevitable narrative, “If Harrison hadn’t gotten hurt . . . “

Let me tell you a few things.

In the first quarter Georgia’s mammoth tight-end, Darnell Washington got hurt and couldn’t return. I’m pretty sure that impacted Georgia’s offense. On October 29 Nolan Smith got hurt and missed the rest of the season. He would have been the best player on the field Saturday night. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we would have all had a merrier Christmas. I go back to the Bear.

“What should’a happened, what could’a happened is what happened. Every time. Every game. Who won, won.”

Georgia won. They beat Ohio State 42-41 when it would have been easier for them to just give up and lose. They won for the 15th straight time. They won for the 29th time in two years. They won with Stetson Bennett leading the way.

Stetson Bennett has been named MVP of the Orange Bowl, National Championship Game, SEC Championship Game, and Peach Bowl over the past 13 months.

Yet, there are Georgia fans who by their own admission will be “glad when he is gone so we can reach our full potential.”

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Georgia has the best fans in the world. Georgia has the worst fans in the world.

But we are going to get to see our team beat the dog out of TCU next Monday night to win our second straight Natty. Kirby said at the parade following last year’s title that we were going to “go to work and run it back.” Most people thought that was just bravado and bluster. He is 60 minutes away from becoming a prophet.

And for the record, Georgia played TCU in the 1942 Orange Bowl. Georgia won 40-26. Frank Sinkwich threw three TD passes, ran for another and accounted for 360 yards.

Stetson said, “Hold my beer.”

Cherish every minute of the next seven days. We may never see another two years like the last two.

Darrell Huckaby

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