A trip to remember
It's been a rough week without power and internet access since we returned from Chicago and South Bend, but I wanted to get a few posts out about the trip.
Our group arrived Thursday, and the flight up was reminiscent of earlier trips to Tempe and Boulder. Georgia fans in good spirits (and drinking good spirits) filled the plane, and that became a commonplace sight throughout the trip. We used Chicago as our base and did the Cubs/Dawgs/Falcons triple-header. For several of us, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to check off three of the most iconic venues in sports. It looked as if we weren't alone, and many smiles, "Go Dawgs!", and even a few barks were exchanged with thousands of fans throughout the weekend. The experience of being a Road Dawg is a treasure. It's not always inexpensive, and it can be tough to leave family and other obligations for a distant football game, but it's almost always worth it. I hope every dedicated Georgia fan can experience a big road game.
I was impressed with the folks behind the Dawg Days events in which thousands of fans participated. I can only speak for my group's experience, but everything went smoothly – pre-event communication, registration, transportation, and of course the events themselves. It was a well-organized operation, and it even handled the sudden Cubs' time change. Of course drink and bathroom lines can always be shorter, but that's a fact of life when you offer free beer to Georgia tailgaters.
That brings us to the game and the campus. $400 million buys you some nice stadium improvements, and it showed. The exterior facade of the stadium blended into the surrounding buildings. Wide concourses had almost a vintage feel, modernized with all of the conveniences. It's natural to compare the results of this renovation with the needs of Sanford Stadium, but that's a whole other post for some offseason.
A friend called it "Masters Football." The stadium wasn't lit up with marquee boards, there was no find-the-leprechaun-behind-the-french-fries game, and in-game messages highlighted faculty achievements and other points of pride. The only blemish was piping in music, especially on opponent third downs, but that's kind of a given now. (And with several of the music selections Atlanta hip-hop, perhaps they were just trying to make us feel at home.) The campus of course was immaculate with nearly every Georgia fan seeking out a photo opportunity in front of the Golden Dome or Touchdown Jesus.
The quantity of Georgia fans in South Bend shook a lot of us. Even Georgia fans who expected a large turnout were overwhelmed and didn't expect it to be that big. I was giddy and immensely proud of the turnout, and I'm relieved that we left a fairly good impression. I don't blame Notre Dame fans for being put off by an opponent taking over their stadium, but I agree with Michael that the Georgia turnout should be considered the highest compliment to Notre Dame. I don't know that as many Georgia fans would travel to Penn State or Nebraska, though we'd have an above-average showing as we did for Arizona State and Colorado. Regardless of Notre Dame's current relevancy, college football fans have to acknowledge the program's place in our history. Most any program's DNA has some common threads with Notre Dame whether it's directly (Harry Mehre) or indirectly (Vince Dooley). If you want to go deeper than I care to here, you can explore Notre Dame's embodiment of northern college football or even dive into Savannah Catholicism. For whatever reasons, we had to be there. A fun city like Chicago nearby added to the appeal, and the opportunity to take in Wrigley Field and Soldier Field as well as Notre Dame made the trip a must for me.
Seeing the red was impressive enough, but the lights during the fourth quarter fanfare took your breath away. The colors were tough to pick out in far corners of the stadium, but there was no mistaking the breadth of the individual lights from nearly every section of the stadium. There were audible gasps, and you can hear the roar growing from the Georgia fans as they realized the magnitude of the Bulldog presence. I heard a Notre Dame observer on the WSLS podcast talk about how demoralizing that moment was for the home crowd, and I wonder what it did for the teams. Georgia's players and coaches have been effusive with their praise for the road crowd, and I would bet that it took a little wind out of the sails of the home team.
I've been a proponent of keeping these big games on campus, though I realize it's swimming upstream agaisnt the money to be made from neutral site games. Kirby Smart has expressed his preference for the big neutral site games. Fortunately this home-and-home was negotiated before the coaching change. It's a fact that the interests of the fans don't always align themselves with what's best for the team. Georgia could have simply scheduled another lightweight home game as they will in 2018. Speaking for my wallet, a trip of this magnitude isn't workable every year or even every other year (especially if Jacksonville is an annual ritual,) but I'm already looking forward to UCLA in 2025. Perhaps the rarity and uniqueness of these games make them so desirable. I don't know that I would have gone to this game in, say, Dallas. I'm selfishly glad they took the risk to play this series.
I should close by commending everything about Notre Dame. From Chicago to South Bend, ND fans were cordial, welcoming, and gracious. Campus ambassadors and game day staff went looking for ways to help and point us in the right direction. There was some bantering of course, and maybe Notre Dame fans are more subdued than usual these days, but I hope they have at least half as good a time in Athens in 2019 as we did last weekend.
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