Summer: Welcome to Football Season!!!

It's that time of year! The Diamond Dogs season has wrapped up (with NOTHING to be ashamed of!), Phil Steele's 2011 edition of his magazine is on shelves, Preseason All-SEC teams are becoming the hot topic, the incoming recruiting class is settling into their dorms, the theme music from ESPN's College Football Live is taking on more meaning, and the daydreams about summer vacation are slowly transitioning into a much needed reality.

Soon, UGA and other SEC fans will congregate on beaches from Tybee Island, through south Florida, up through the panhandle, and all throughout the gulf coast. Tents will resemble a grab bag of SEC campuses, foreshadowing what is just over the horizon.... football season! It will not be uncommon to see a beautiful red UGA tent set up right next to a purple(!?) LSU tent, with conversations taking place such as: "Sure hope you guys knock off Bama this year", and "Yes sir, I wouldn't mind seeing you guys whoop up on Florida this year". Just 50 yards down the same beach, you're likely to see an Auburn tent set up right next to a Bama tent, with each party strategically positioned back to back, occasionally turning up their radios to drown out the noise pollution coming from the other. And this is what makes the unofficial kickoff to football season so great!

We have all worked hard over the past year. We have endured a roller coaster ride of emotions with last football season. But since around mid-January, when we fully realized that Saturdays will be nothing more than, well, Saturdays for the foreseeable future, we have missed our passion. National Signing Day was a nice sidetrack. G-Day was a beautiful chance to stroll through the North Campus, admiring the dogwood blooms, all while getting our fix of the sights and sounds of shoulder pads locking up over in Sanford. But since then, we have had nothing. The countdown is now under 100 days (88 to be exact), and we all know it is time to declare the games to begin!

So get prepared to enjoy your summer! While it is never too early to talk about the upcoming season, we are now within the window of acceptability to trash talk, stare down others, and evaluate our team as well as those unfortunate ones who will either pay a visit to Sanford Stadium or host the hungriest Dawgs team we have seen in some time.

And don't forget, when you see another SEC fan sunburned, to point out that it is God's way of turning them red, the color of his UGA Dawgs!!

88 Days!!
GO DAWGS!!