My Favorite Dawgs Live in Savannah

Note: In this posting, I distinguish between two football teams in this manner:  Mississippi State will hereinafter be referred to as the bulldogs. Georgia's team, of course, will hereinafter be referred to as the Dawgs. 

The 2010 season was so dismal that I try not to think about it. So I had forgotten that the Dawgs lost to Mississippi State last year. Obviously, the bulldogs didn't forget. After pregame warmups, the bulldogs gathered on the big G in the middle of the field at Sanford Stadium. Then they jumped up and down. You would have thought they all got together and shouted a "Your mama's so fat" joke to Mark Richt.

Apparently, jumping on a G is much worse. According to Charles Odum's Associated Press article this morning, "The teams had to be separated at midfield at the end of pregame warmups. Georgia players accused the Mississippi State players of jumping on the "G" logo which stretches almost 20 yards at midfield." Well, if that's the accusation, I guess the bulldogs are guilty. But who knew such behavior would rile the Dawgs up so much?  Linebacker Christian Robinson is quoted in Odum's article as saying, "You just can't do that...You just don't jump on somebody's symbol."

Oh. Okay. I didn't realize.

After all, all kinds of other things have happened on that symbol. Players run all over it weekly. Tackle each other too. They probably spit on it. And during the 2009 season, I saw an LSU player vomit on it.

But they didn't jump. I guess there's a big difference.

Well, now I know. And it's a good thing too because according to Charles Odum's article, the Dawgs were throwing chairs in the locker room they were so angry. And that anger showed up on the field. Georgia's defense was tackling bulldogs like they were in combat. And whenever a Dawg downed a dog, he jumped up and down, punching his fists in the air, probably yelling "Woot, woot!" in victory. A couple of weeks ago, I suggested Mark Richt should invoke some Nellie Oleson. I was wrong. The Dawgs just needed someone to stand on their G. Isaiah Crowell was running down that field like somebody had put a quarter in him (even though he didn't score, but we'll give him a pass).

Some other things I liked about the game:

• The helmets stayed on. I didn't notice any lids flying yesterday (I may have missed some). Apparently the Dawgs have fixed that problem.
• Malcom Mitchell scored. I like Malcom Mitchell. I don't know anything about him, but I like the alliteration of his name. It's not as good as Vince Vance, but it's still good. By the way, whatever happened to Vince Vance?
•  Richard Samuel played. I like Richard Samuel too. True, he's not really earning any football gold medals, but in the 2009 season, I learned that he likes to read. So I have a little spot in my heart for him. He's probably the only player on this year's team who knows what a Chanticleer was. He didn't get much field time last year, so I was glad to see him carry the ball a little bit yesterday.

Next week we'll be playing Tennessee, and because the game's a night, I'll get to watch it real time. Yesterday, I had to watch on the DVR. So many thanks to one of my favorite Dawgs, Stephen Remler, for recording for me. He gets brownie points too for other reasons. See below.

So why couldn't I watch the game in real time? Because I had to take the SAT.  Numerous friends and relatives have been asking me, "Why? Why would you want to do that to yourself? Why would you volunteer to take a five hour test when you don't have to?" The answer is simple. I felt like it.

Actually, I have a more specific explanation. Davis also took the SAT yesterday, for the second time, in attempt to bring his math score up a bit. What's more, my niece, Elizabeth Dixon, recently enrolled at The University of Georgia, so apparently, her SAT score was pretty admirable. During a recent conversation, Sabra and I talked about our kids taking the SAT, applying for college, and all that goes along with it, and we wondered what we would make if we took the SAT right now.  And of course, we immediately said, in unison, "Let's find out!"
 
So we signed up. And yesterday morning, Sabra and I went down to Macon State College, pencils in hand, ready to bubble in some answers. We got some weird looks when we showed up among a crowd of teenagers, and one test administrator stopped me during a break and said, "I'm just so curious. Why are you here?" I told him. I don't think he could wrap his head around my answer.

For the past few months, Sabra, in recognition that she has a real life and better things to do, refused to study for the exam. I, however, with my type A personality, just had to brush up on my math because I wanted to score a 500 on that section (I wasn't really worried about the verbal section. I get lots of practice with those skills daily). But even after taking at least ten practice SATs and after spending hours working with tutoring videos on The Khan Academy (by the way, that's a great resource), I still could not figure out functions. Let me clarify. If I have to work a simple function, such as f(x)=2x + 2, I'm good. But when it comes to working functions on a graph, I'm lost. Not even the Khan Academy could help me figure that out. So I knew that when I took the exam, if I got a question like this:

I would have to skip it. I prayed for no problems like that. But there were several. I left a number of math bubbles blank.

On the other hand, I kicked butt on the essay and verbal sections.

SAT proctors reminded us at least five times that until we got our scores, we were not to discuss the test questions with anyone, even by e-mail, text message, phone, or smoke signals. And of course, all those reminders had the opposite effect on me. As soon as the test was over, Sabra and I got in her car and shut the doors, and I asked, "What was your essay topic?" Turns out she and I had the same topic. So did Davis (because like his mother and aunt, he throws caution to the wind and ignores SAT top secret guidelines). Davis says everybody gets the same questions; it's just that the sections are in different orders from person to person. Interesting.

Anyway, now that's over, and I will have to wait a few weeks before I can share my scores. Stay tuned.

An SAT celebration:
I was later getting home than I thought I would be, so I missed seeing Davis and Megan off as they went to the BC homecoming dance.  Fortunately, Stephen took photos for me:

But to make up for it, he cooked me dinner. When I entered the house, I found him at the stove seasoning steaks. But the steaks were only part of the meal:

 

We had surf and turf! Yum! And Clorox got to eat the parts we didn't want He was one happy cat last night. 

 

Not only that, but while I was in Macon having dinner with Sabra and Skippy at the Fish and Pig, my new favorite restaurant in Macon, which overlooks Lake Tobosofkee, Davis was at BC's homecoming game, where he caught a little BC football at halftime. Knowing I've always wanted one of those little footballs but have never caught one, Davis brought it home and gave it to me. What a sport! 

And not only that, but while I've been taking the SAT and enjoying my SAT dinner, Lawson has been in Athens watching the Dawgs sic the bulldogs. He probably got to see that terrible jumping on the G incident, which I'll have to ask him about. Lawson said he would take photos for me while in Sanford Stadium. I can't wait to see them. The weather has been gorgeous this weekend. What a great day for a football game. I'm jealous. But I can't complain. My father in-law offered the Georgia-Mississippi state tickets to me, but I opted instead to take the SAT.

Lawson and MacKenzie upon entering Sanford Stadium.

But even though I missed the game (in real time anyway), thanks to Davis, Lawson, and Stephen, I got to test my math skills and enjoy many perks of a football weekend. My favorite Dawgs are right here in Savannah on Wilmington Island.