redmule
Ramblin' Wreck
- Messages
- 664
after the toughest loss I have ever seen against uga. We blew a 20-0 lead, uga scored late on a 4th down pass and got a two point conversion to take a one point lead after we had stopped their first attempt but were called for a penalty. They ran back a punt for a TD followed by a KO return for a TD by Drew Hill. Eddie Lee Ivery was unstoppable until he came out of a third quarter pileup with a twisted ankle and left the game. At the end, we were driving for a winning FG until uga made a diving interception. We lost 29-28. Toughest loss, worse than '73 or '76 or even '66. Maximum pain!
Up until that time, we had been fairly competitive with uga. Since that time, uga has beaten us in the last minute countless ways. Had we won a third of the games that were decided in the last two minutes, our football history and uga's would look vastly different. Most would say the losses were due to uga's depth. I think a large part of that was just the streak that began in '78. Sports streaks take on a life of their own. Cubs, Red Sox, Clemson over UVA, Joe Dimaggio. I always expect to beat Clemson. In '98, five games in a row, we sacked the qb, forced a fumble and ran it in for a TD. You just knew it was going to happen. Same thing happened in the bowl game later that year against ND except Jesse Tarplin was tackled at the one yard line. Streaks begin with maximum pain and continue until they are replaced by another streak. I thought '98-'00 had done that, especially with what happened in '99. That was very close to this game for drama, but the games since then showed the streak was intact.
Today, I knew uga was going to score on 4th down with 18 seconds left. We could have had 15 men on the field, and it would not have mattered. That's what streaks do. Streaks inherently act in the most painful possible way. I was mad that we didn't let uga score on 1st down since it was a certainty they would score anyway so that we might have some time left. But scoring on 4th down was maximum pain, so that's when the streak dictated they score. This loss was really going to hurt because I have come to like this team as much as '90, maybe even a little more. An empty, aching, despair began in my intestines and spread out from there. I didn't really listen to the last two plays of regulation. I knew it was futile. I dared to hope when we scored in OT, but then a blocked XP. I even had to secretly admire the streak for coming up with a novel way to cause maximum pain squared. It wasn't going to hurt as badly as '78 because I'm older now and nothing, not even pain, is as intense as it was 36 years ago. But it was still going to be painful.
But then we won, and now I truly believe that the streak has been replaced by a new streak more to our liking. Streaks begin with maximum pain, and that is what was felt in the cesspool this weekend. From Missouri winning to the near miraculous way we won. uga watched all their hopes evaporate in a 24 hour period, and the reality of their bleak football future is upon them. They couldn't make the sec championship game when the sec east is the weakest it has ever been. They couldn't beat the worst Florida and USCe teams in a decade with a Heisman running back. The despair I felt with 18 seconds left has migrated into dog intestines, and it won't be leaving soon. The streak has moved across the field.
Bama experienced maximum pain against Auburn in last year's game. That may have started a streak. I see AU is leading UA by 9 late in the 3rd. Don't you think every player on Bama's team is experiencing flashbacks and wondering how they will lose this time.
Why didn't the streak move in '99? That had to be pretty painful for the buttlickers. I can only guess, that for maximum pain, it had to happen in athens in front of as many dwags as possible. Or maybe, streaks have to go to the place of their birth to die.
I haven't been back to athens since 1978, and that is one streak that won't die.
Up until that time, we had been fairly competitive with uga. Since that time, uga has beaten us in the last minute countless ways. Had we won a third of the games that were decided in the last two minutes, our football history and uga's would look vastly different. Most would say the losses were due to uga's depth. I think a large part of that was just the streak that began in '78. Sports streaks take on a life of their own. Cubs, Red Sox, Clemson over UVA, Joe Dimaggio. I always expect to beat Clemson. In '98, five games in a row, we sacked the qb, forced a fumble and ran it in for a TD. You just knew it was going to happen. Same thing happened in the bowl game later that year against ND except Jesse Tarplin was tackled at the one yard line. Streaks begin with maximum pain and continue until they are replaced by another streak. I thought '98-'00 had done that, especially with what happened in '99. That was very close to this game for drama, but the games since then showed the streak was intact.
Today, I knew uga was going to score on 4th down with 18 seconds left. We could have had 15 men on the field, and it would not have mattered. That's what streaks do. Streaks inherently act in the most painful possible way. I was mad that we didn't let uga score on 1st down since it was a certainty they would score anyway so that we might have some time left. But scoring on 4th down was maximum pain, so that's when the streak dictated they score. This loss was really going to hurt because I have come to like this team as much as '90, maybe even a little more. An empty, aching, despair began in my intestines and spread out from there. I didn't really listen to the last two plays of regulation. I knew it was futile. I dared to hope when we scored in OT, but then a blocked XP. I even had to secretly admire the streak for coming up with a novel way to cause maximum pain squared. It wasn't going to hurt as badly as '78 because I'm older now and nothing, not even pain, is as intense as it was 36 years ago. But it was still going to be painful.
But then we won, and now I truly believe that the streak has been replaced by a new streak more to our liking. Streaks begin with maximum pain, and that is what was felt in the cesspool this weekend. From Missouri winning to the near miraculous way we won. uga watched all their hopes evaporate in a 24 hour period, and the reality of their bleak football future is upon them. They couldn't make the sec championship game when the sec east is the weakest it has ever been. They couldn't beat the worst Florida and USCe teams in a decade with a Heisman running back. The despair I felt with 18 seconds left has migrated into dog intestines, and it won't be leaving soon. The streak has moved across the field.
Bama experienced maximum pain against Auburn in last year's game. That may have started a streak. I see AU is leading UA by 9 late in the 3rd. Don't you think every player on Bama's team is experiencing flashbacks and wondering how they will lose this time.
Why didn't the streak move in '99? That had to be pretty painful for the buttlickers. I can only guess, that for maximum pain, it had to happen in athens in front of as many dwags as possible. Or maybe, streaks have to go to the place of their birth to die.
I haven't been back to athens since 1978, and that is one streak that won't die.
