A Trip Around The Dawgosphere

There are many great websites and blogs out there that cover UGA athletics and football in particular. I once read where it was thought that there may be more UGA-centric blogs and sites than any other school in collegiate sports. Maybe at one time, but I'm not 100% sure about that now. But if UGA doesn't have the most, they've got to be pretty darn close. There are literally dozens and dozens of pages out there dedicated to all things UGA. There are several that are now defunct, or only post sparingly (not that I could really say much about that). There are those that seem to be followed by a ton of people, and those that don't seem to really get much traffic. But they are all parts of the entity that is the Dawgosphere.

With apologies to any who were excluded, here is my personal list for the best of the best: 


Get The Picture - The Senator

The UGA football blog. It's the best of a very good group. From the name of the site referencing Larry Munson's famous way of describing what UGA and their opponent were wearing on the field right before kickoff, to the aura and mystique of The Senator himself (ESPN did a piece where they actually gave his real name...I immediately blocked it out - to me, he's the Senator). His posts can be short and sweet, or long and involved, but they are almost always just about right. His insights are sharp - he can always cut right through to the heart of the matter. His snark is beyond comparison, but he never comes across as a jerk. Add to that a very strong understanding of the game, and you've got yourself one hell of a blog. Simply put, Get the Picture (GTP) is the cream of the crop. From the moment you first pull up the page and see that picture of Dooley and James Brown at the top and begin to read a few posts,  you think to yourself - "Yes! This is it. This is what I've been looking for. This is what I've been waiting for." At least, that's what I thought about five years ago when I first visited. I've been, pretty much literally, an everyday reader since.With a very large, loyal, and eager readership, you can count on a ton of comments and discussion. Morning buffets are always a much anticipated happening, and his musical palate cleansers are great as well. In addition to everything else, the man has superb musical tastes - he once played a Jo Jo Gunne tune! What else needs to be said?

Dawgsports

A fairly close number two that might be closer if this page's founder, T. Kyle King, was still involved. As I mentioned, Kyle is no longer there, but page manager MaconDawg still is and that means a lot. MD has great football knowledge and just the right combination of snark and humor to make him the 2nd best UGA blogger currently out there (and he also has very nice musical tastes). In addition to him, there are several other great contributors including vineyarddawg, Mr. Sanchez, Chuckdawg and others. One key difference between this page and GTP is that Dawgsports covers all UGA sports heavily, not just football. And I'm not only talking basketball and baseball here: tennis, gymnastics, golf, and pretty much everything else get the full treatment. Also, more than probably any other site, Dawgsports is very much a community. There is nothing quite like an open comment thread with dozens of your fellow Dawg fans online for a UGA football game that you couldn't attend in person. These guys do a really good job, and it's a fine page. The commenting is smart and savvy, just like the blogging. Great discussions, and occasional arguments, will happen. Just have you're grammar and syntax in order (ha, ha - see what I did there), although that might not be as much a prerequisite now that the Mayor is gone... 

Bernie's Dawg Blog

This is a fun page. Whereas GTP and Dawgsports are everyday stops for me, Bernie's Dawg Blawg is more like an almost everyday stop for me, but I usually visit at least 3 or 4 times a week. Like other UGA blogs, this started out as a weekly email back in the day and officially launched as a blog in 2008. Bernie brings a good sense of humor and a strong understanding of the game to the table. And you can usually count on a good bit of posting. With a decent amount of regular readers, you will see some pretty good discussions from time to time. A really good page.

The Grit Tree 

This is one that holds a special place in my heart being that I'm a huge enthusiast of the following things: UGA football, Lewis Grizzard, and Southern BBQ (is there any other kind?). I'll just let their intro page sum it up:

Welcome to The Grit Tree, where it is all things Georgia and all things Southern.  With all the other options out there in the blogosphere, we are glad that you have chosen our blog to read.
We are just four friends who have a passion for the Georgia Bulldogs, Atlanta Braves, southern food, peaches and Lewis Grizzard.  Though we come from all different parts of Georgia, we now reside in Middle Georgia.
We have decided to take our passions and turn them into a blog.
 There are principles on which we stand by, and will guide any future posts:

1. The Georgia Bulldogs are one of the premier teams in not only the SEC but the entire country during the first decade of the new millennium.  We are led by a great man and equally great coach in Mark Richt, and Coach Mark Richt will bring a MNC to Athens.
2. There is no better place to live in the world than the American South, specifically the great state of Georgia. 
3. We prefer pulled BBQ pork, homemade soft serve peach ice cream, and sweet tea with a lemon.
4. It will always be “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.”   
5. It is appropriate to wear a collared shirt to a football game, regardless of what Florida fans in their number 15 jerseys say.

 The Grit Tree will look something like this:
 July-January:  Heavy Georgia Bulldogs football
 January-July: Georgia Bulldogs football and other topics such as the BBQ restaurant of the       month or anything else.

These guys post a good bit and you won't want to miss their Thursday BBQ or Lewis Grizzard Wednesdays. Great stuff! 

About Them Dawgs! Blog

This is one I have a particular fondness of since I am, after all, a history enthusiast. This is the online blog of one, Patrick Garbin, a UGA football historian of some note. I have literally spent hours at this site. It's really great. According to the page, it is "the only blog primarily focused on the rich history and tradition of University of Georgia Football." And that would be an apt description. While other pages, including some mentioned here, will from time to time cover the history of UGA football, Patrick's is the only one that is pretty much dedicated to it. Seriously, if you haven't visited this page yet, be prepared to invest some time. If you're a DGD, you'll be there for awhile.

The Lady Sportswriter

This is a page I've recently become aware of. Listed on several blogrolls throughout the Dawgosphere, Kimberly Nash, owner and administrator, obviously has the street cred to be considered one of the top Dog Bloggers out there. And after having visited her site several times, I can wholly attest to her skills. This lady knows football, and she's a helluva writer.  Here is her personal description from the page:

I am not a 'journalist' by trade, nor do I present myself as such. I am just a wife, mother, and Georgia Bulldog fan who likes to write about two of her favorite things: the Georgia Bulldogs and college football. I write. You read...it's a give and take experience.

A superb site, albeit maybe a bit Ad-cluttered, it's becoming a regular stop for me.

Georgia Sports Blog

This is Tyler Dawgden's blog, and it's a nice one. A good writer with a good sense of humor, I don't make it over there as much as I should. He posts pretty regularly and has, I think, at least one other contributor. Whereas some of the other Dog Blogs will end up covering a lot of the same things, Tyler seems to do a good job of mixing it up and keeping things fresh.

Sic 'em Dawgs

This might be considered more of a news site as opposed to a blog, but I just really like it. Plus, they've got a link that has the results from every season since 1980 which, I believe, is the only page in the Dawgosphere that does. Now...if he gets every season since 1892 up, I'll be real impressed. LOL!...just kidding. This is a really great page and I check it quite often, especially during football season.

News: 

One more site I would have to recommend would be The Dawgbone. It posts links daily from every blog and news site in the Dawgosphere. And speaking of news resources, here are the following places to go to get good solid UGA sports news without having to fool with the goddam AJC:

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
The Macon Telegraph
The Athens Banner-Herald
 
 
And that, in my opinion, is the best of the Dawgosphere. So...how long until that Clemson game?

G.A.T.A.! 

GO DAWGS!!!

Postscript:

Here are a handful of blogs that haven't posted recently but may reactivate for football season:

Jack's Bulldog Blog: A cool site. This guy does a pretty good job.
Bubba 'n Earl Sittin on the 50: Wish this page posted more...
A Bulldawg in Exile: See above. Unfortunately, I think this one might be done.
Hunker Down Dawg Blog: See above.

Update, 6/28/13:

Here's an In Memoriam: Catfish and Cornbread. And here's one of their best posts.

Georgia Courthouses

Here's my latest column from the upcoming Father's Day/Sunflower Festival issue of About Covington to Madison magazine. Hope you enjoy it - MM 

Greetings. Hope everyone is well out there. First off, I’d like to take a moment to thank you for all of the kind words after my last column. It’s great to be back, and I’m so glad that so many of you are excited about it.

Hancock Co. Photo by Keith Hair. From GA Info.

In the last column, I talked a good bit about courthouses. Well, I thought I’d expand on that a bit with this column. I received an email from a fellow by the name of Brant out of Oxford, GA. Brant, like myself, seems to be an enthusiast of Georgia courthouses, and he made a very good point: perhaps one of the best looking courthouses in our state, especially in terms of the view as you approach it, would have to be down in Sparta, GA (Hancock Co.). That is a great courthouse. As I responded back to him, Hancock’s would
probably be in my top 10 (maybe even top 5). Built between 1881-1883, it incorporates a Second Empire architectural design (the same as Covington) and is absolutely beautiful. Hancock Co. is an old county. It’s been around since 1793 which makes it a good bit older than Newton or Morgan, although not quite as old as the original 8 Georgia counties that were created in 1777. Hancock Co. and the city of Sparta, isn’t that far from us, just on the other side of Putnam Co. And as Brant said, Sparta might be Covington in another universe (as Covington portrayed the city of Sparta, MS in the famous show, “In the Heat of the Night”).

As a Courthouse enthusiast, I have found a wonderful online resource for those of you who share an affinity for this subject. Go to: http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/courthouses/contents.htm. From this site, you can visit links to all 159 Georgia courthouses complete with pictures, design style, and background information. This resource is called GeorgiaInfo and is offered by GALILEO and the University of Georgia Library system as part of the Digital Library of Georgia. In addition to the courthouses, there is a plethora of other historical information available on the main page: http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/ Check it out sometime – you’ll be glad you did.

Some of my favorite courthouses in Georgia other than Newton, Morgan, and Hancock are found in the following counties: Colquitt, Jasper, Talbot, Washington, Oglethorpe, Upson, Lincoln, and Meriwether. A bit of trivia: the oldest courthouse still in use in Georgia? That would be Columbia Co., in the city of Appling,

Talbot Co. Courthouse. Photo by Keith Hair.

built in 1856. And the oldest one still standing that’s not in use? That would be Fayette Co., in Fayetteville, and was actually built way back in 1825!

There are several different types of architectural styles found in Georgia’s courthouses but most fall under these designs: Beaux Arts, Greek Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, Neoclassical Revival, Second Empire, Modern, and a few others. I’m partial to the Second Empire and Neoclassical Revival styles, myself.

Georgia is very fortunate to have so many courthouses. Our fine state has 159 counties and therefore can lay claim to 159 courthouses as well. Only the state of Texas has more counties than Georgia does and obviously Texas is a much larger state. Why does Georgia have so many counties? That’s a good question. The explanation for that is as Georgia grew over the years, it was decided that the county seat of every county would be within a one day round trip for anyone on a horse or in a wagon. So, naturally, that lead to a rather large quantity of counties as the state expanded. And as counties are the primary political subdivision in our great state, that meant anyone needing to conduct county business with the Ordinary (now called Probate Judge), Sheriff, Clerk of Court, or anything else would be able to do so without having to leave the farm for more than one day. Of course, these days we have cars, so perhaps having so many counties would be considered a bit outdated, but I sure wouldn’t want to change it. I think it’s pretty neat that we have so many counties. Have you ever tried to name as many Georgia counties as you could from memory? Try it sometime – it’s pretty tough. As a quick aside, a buddy of mine and I are planning on publishing a book about Georgia’s courthouses. Maybe one day that will come to pass. I sure hope so.

Well…I guess that will about do it. I’ve got some exciting things coming down the pike. I’m hoping to revisit the Rutledge area and do a story on the Ebenezer community and some of the old plantations and home places there. Also, I’m hoping to finally do an interview and a corresponding column on someone I’ve
wanted to write about for quite some time. I won’t reveal the name right now, but I’ll give you a couple of hints: the letters A, R, and S and the city of Doraville. Any guesses? If so, send me an email. Thanks for reading, guys. Until next time…

Marshall can be reached at marshmanslim@yahoo.com. Previous columns can be found at: www.thepiedmontchronicles.blogspot.com/

 

Blog Laud: Gaga at the Gogo

Greetings. Hope all is well out there. Well, I've decided to really try to keep the online version of the Chronicles more updated. My plan, which may or may not fall by the wayside, is to do at least 2-3 posts every week. So...that's the plan.

One thing I'm planning on doing is trying to show a bit of love to some of my fellow bloggers. This time I'm featuring my good friend, J. Ellis Millsaps, and his blog - Gaga at the Gogo. A criminal defense attorney by trade, Ellis has worn many other hats as well: Rock'n'Roll band manager, newspaper columnist, stand-up comedian, writer of novels, wiffleball player, and many other things. He's kind of  weird, but he's a helluva guy. I think a lot of him and am proud to consider him a friend. And while he hasn't posted at his blog in a while, there's a ton of great write-ups to check out. Here's a sampling of some his greatest hits:

The Lost Boys and the Last Days of Wiffleball - An emotional and heartfelt tale, I got teary-eyed the first time I read it. Wiffleball was a huge deal in Mansfield, GA for several years. I was fortunate to witness some of these games but never played. It was more than just a game, and it meant a lot to a lot of people. But, alas, the world moves on and so do we.

Paper Covers Rock: A Talking, Traveling Testimonial - Some years back, eight to be exact, I started up a band with a few other guys. We're still together, although we haven't played a show (or practiced) in a pretty long time. We were originally called The Cool Swap, but now our handle is Neon Madmen. We've cut a couple of albums and have played a good bit of shows. The early days of the band were a very exciting time and Ellis was our manager. This write-up seems to really encapsulate the energy and dynamics of that time. A great, and very funny, read.

But perhaps the Piece de Resistance of Gaga at the Gogo would have to be the multi-part series of articles that Ellis did about his journey on the Nanchez Trace. From the write-up, "The Trace goes from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez Mississippi. It’s a wide two-lane road with a 50 mph speed limit. The entire road is a national park. Originally it was an Indian trail, but in the early 1800’s people on the Ohio River began floating goods on barges down the Ohio and Mississippi to Natchez, selling their goods there and walking back on the Trace. No commercial vehicles are allowed. There are no stores or houses on the Trace. The only towns it goes through are Tupelo and Jackson. It’s perfect for bicycling." Here are the four articles in order:

The Natchez Trace
Day One: Collinwood
Day Two
Falls Hollow and Day Three

There are several other great posts on this site as well. Check it out.
'Til next time.

A Nice Slice of Georgia

A couple of years ago I did a write-up on Starrsville, GA. In that column, I used a picture that was taken by a wonderful photographer and blogger, Dagmar Nelson. I asked for and received permission to use that photo; I had also told Dagmar that I would do a blog post about her talents in exchange for the use of her photograph. Well...as some of you may know, things happen and we get busy and we forget about things sometimes - out of sight and out of mind, so to speak. However, last month I noticed that Dagmar had put up a new post on one of her blogs, so I decided I would follow through on posting about her. Definitely take a few minutes to check out these wonderful sites: 

Milkaway - This is Dagmar's photography page, and let me tell you, it is simply wonderful. This woman has a true talent for taking pictures. I've spent a lot of time on this page and I think you will too. 

Off the Map -  This is a blog that incorporates pictures as well as write-ups and information on small, Georgia towns. I'll let the headline at the top of the page entice you:

"In an effort to clean up the Georgia map and make it easier to read, the Georgia DOT in 2006 erased from it 515 small communities. The outrage was so great that 488 communities were restored to the map's next edition. This blog is dedicated to ALL the small places and crossroads that dot the map and were or were not on that infamous list of scrapped place-holders."

A very good page! Check it out - you'll be glad you did. `

Southern Exposure - This one is sort of in the vein of Off the Map and hasn't been updated lately, but still a lot of great pictures and information. Definitely worth a look. 

***UPDATE: I forgot one of Dagmar's blogs, and as I understand it, this is probably her most visited site. It's called Tessa and it is basically a photographic blog of her dog of the same name. A really neat idea - this is a really fun site. Tessa is a beautiful dog and as is always the case when Dagmar is involved, the photography is great. ***

Hope you enjoyed that. My latest from About Covington to Madison is in the process of getting published now. It should be out within a week or so and will be up here within the next few days. Thanks for reading. Until next time... 

The Return of The Piedmont Chronicles to About Covington to Madison Magazine

My goodness, it's been about a year since The Piedmont Chronicles graced the pages of About Covington to Madison magazine. It's been a long time. Too long! I'm back, and very grateful for it. 

I had made the decision to stop writing in the aforementioned publication for a variety of reasons, but I must confess - I missed it terribly. I had lofty ambitions of continuing at least a column a month on the ole webpage, but it just didn't quite happen. I'm very grateful to Treasa Waters, the new editor and publisher of About Covington to Madison, for wanting to bring me back. I look forward to many future columns! 

Below is my newest column for the upcoming Mother's Day edition, due to be released in the next few days. 

It's great to be back.

Greetings! It’s so great to be back with the readers of About Covington to Madison magazine. It’s been too long. As some of you may know, I decided to quit writing my column last year. And you know what? I sure missed it. Apparently, many of you missed it as well. It meant a lot for so many of you to tell me how much you wished I was still writing The Piedmont Chronicles in About Covington to Madison magazine. Well, it’s back. And thanks for the support! For those readers out there who aren’t familiar with my work, feel free to visit my blog (the URL is at the top of this page) and read some of my previous columns covering cities like Covington, Madison, Social Circle, Oxford, Porterdale, Monticello and others. I’ve also written about interesting people and events as well.

I’d like to take a moment to thank Treasa Waters, the new publisher and editor of About Covington to Madison. Treasa recently asked me if I’d be interested in writing for “that little book” again, and I told her I would. Like I said, I was eager to get back to it, so it really worked out. Treasa has some great ideas for this publication, and I foresee very good things for About Covington to Madison. This little book really does serve a useful and needed niche for many businesses and endeavors looking to advertise in and around the Covington and Madison areas. I’m glad to be featured in it again and look forward to writing some future columns.

I believe it’s been about a year since I last wrote a print column here. That last one was about Presley Jones and his one man war against the Yankees back in 1864 that culminated in a gun fight on the Covington Square. Speaking of the Covington Square, as I mentioned in one of my oldest columns, the Square we know now is quite different from the one of the 1880’s. By then, Covington had become somewhat of a “wild west town” and had upwards of a dozen saloons and drinking establishments. Some of these included hotels and general stores, but several were just straight-up whiskey joints where cards could be played and other types of entertainment could be found. Yep, it’s definitely a bit different nowadays.

Our city square, and particularly our courthouse, is well known to many, many people who remember it from the great TV show, “In the Heat of the Night.” One of my all-time favorite shows, it was almost exclusively filmed in Covington and features lots of great footage of our city. These days, you can still catch reruns of that great show on the Chicago station, WGN. Also, another show filmed in Covington has captured the attention of many of folks out there, especially with the younger crowd. “The Vampire Diaries,” of the CW network, has been filming in Covington for a few years now and has brought a good bit of tourism and attention to our fair city.

As an aside, since we’re on the subject of courthouses and such, I have to address one thing right quick. A few years ago, I wrote a column about the fine city of Madison, GA. In that article, I wrote the following line: “On the southeast corner of the square is where you will find the Morgan County Courthouse. As many of you know who’ve read some of my previous columns—I’m a sucker for Georgia courthouses. And folks, I must say (and with apologies to my hometown of Covington, GA), I believe that Madison has the best one in Georgia. Built in 1905 with a neoclassic architectural style, it is absolutely wonderful.” Just so you know, especially you good folks in Madison, I received a lot of heat on that one from some of the Covington crowd. But, at the time, that’s just how I felt about it. Upon further review, however, I’ve realized that it’s just really hard to rank these courthouses especially when so many of them have such different styles. But I will say this – Covington and Madison have two of the best. No doubt about it.

Well, alright. I sure enjoyed it, and it’s great to be back. Look forward to the next one. Until next time…

Mansfield's Famous Southpaw

I was out in good ole Mansfield, GA today for a family reunion when I was reminded of this historical marker that I've always found fascinating. Way back in the old days, a lot of small Southern towns had their own semi-pro baseball teams. Sherrod "Sherry" Smith played for the Mansfield team in addition to others such as Newborn and Madison. He went full-on pro in 1910 and ended up winning over 100 games and shutting out Babe Ruth in a World Series game with two strikeouts. Smith was the "greatest pick-off artist who ever lived," according to Ruth. The stats seem to bear this out: In over 2,000 innings pitched and hundreds of starts, Smith only gave up two stolen bases in his entire career. Born in Monticello, Smith and his wife are both buried in Mansfield. Here's the marker:

And here's the text:

MANSFIELD'S FAMOUS SOUTHPAW

Sherrod Malone Smith (1891-1949) played 23 years of professional baseball including 14 seasons in the major leagues. Babe Ruth, another left-hander, said that he was, "the greatest pick-off artist who ever lived." He played in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn and Cleveland and in the 2,052 innings he pitched, only two bases were stolen. Smith posted a 115/118 won/lost record in the majors with 21 saves, and a record of 67/39 in the minors. He pitched 30-1/3 innings in three World Series games with a 0.89 earned-run average. His career batting average was .233. In 1916, he pitched against Babe Ruth in a 14 inning World Series games in which Ruth failed to get a hit and struck out twice. Smith doubled once in his five trips against Ruth. "Sherry" Smith was born in Monticello and played town ball in Mansfield, Madison, Elberton, and Newborn before turning pro in 1910. He managed the Macon Peaches in his last pro season in 1932. Smith served in the Army during World War I, and was the Chief of Police in Porterdale and Madison. Smith and his wife, Addilu (a native of Mansfield) are both buried in Mansfield. He was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in February, 1980.

107-19 GEORGIA HISTORIC MARKER 1994 *from Georgia Info      

Recollections of Columbia

Well, our boys in red and black head to Columbia to take on their boys in garnet and black on Saturday, and as I'm wont to do, I've been thinking about past trips there a good bit lately. Actually, I'm not going this year. My brother is, and I think maybe he wanted me to go, but I just don't have the time, money, or inclination.

I've made the trip there 6 times in my life, and honestly, I feel like that's enough. That's not to say I won't ever make it back there. I'm just not going this year. For the record, I very much feel like we will win, and I'm usually right about these things.

My last trip was 2008. We won. Our trip was a disaster. That's another story for another time. My brother and I were there for the magic of 2002. We were actually in the corner of the end zone that gave us a great vantage point for Pollack's now-infamous fumble/interception/touchdown play...man, that was so awesome. Of course, we were also there for the 2000 dumpster fire that I still think about rather often. I can still see Donnan sitting on the bench to next to QC during the 4th quarter, putting his arm around him and talkin' to him....oh, the horror!

I've been to others but none have had the impact as my first trip there in 1984.

One of my Dad's best buddies at the time, Mr. Joe, who was also a licensed pilot, joined my Dad, brother and I on that trip. I think the old man wanted Mr. Joe to go so he could take care of the flying of the co-op Cessna so that he might concentrate on the game and us crazy kids (and maybe a few cocktails). We left out from the Covington airport with dreams of a Bulldog victory...

Things started to fall apart right from the get-go. I seem to remember a near-miss in the sky, and something else happened as well...I think maybe a light came on the console that kinda freaked out the adults. Things didn't get much better in Columbia. It took us forever to get the plane parked and by the time we got on the shuttle that the airport was offering, it was almost time for kick-off. Then, we got dropped off almost a mile away from the stadium. Things were unraveling badly. Finally, my Dad offered a black man in an old Ford pick-up truck $10 if we could jump on the back and get a ride to the stadium. The man accepted and we finally got to our seats late in the 1st quarter.

Even as a 9-year old boy, I could tell that things just weren't right during the game. That magic I had come to know and love the previous 4 years was dissipating. The Cocks seemed to have our number. I remember my Dad telling Mr. Joe at one point that we were "going to mess around and lose this thing." Well, he was right. 17-10. It was an ugly game that started the downward spiral of an ugly season. It was a clear defining of eras. Tennessee, 1980 - Clemson, 1984 = good times; S. Carolina, 1984 started the not-so-good times that culminated in very embarrassing losses to Florida and Tech later in the season and basic mediocrity for the next 18 years. 

But what sticks out more than anything about that night was this: the stadium swayed. It swayed. Like swayed in the wind, I guess. Seriously, it swayed. At least the upper-deck did. I've talked to several people who can attest to this fact. I think that maybe they've fixed it now, but back then, the damn thing swayed. The other thing I remember, as we left Williams-Brice, was the large number of Gamecock fans who cursed us with just about every foul word known to man even though there were two children with our group. Total class. That impression has only been reinforced over the years...

But the best part came once we got back to the airport. The "nice lady" that was working the terminal was so sweet to us when we got back. Basically saying that South Carolina got lucky, and that it was a good game. After Dad and Mr. Joe did the pre-flight stuff and we taxied, took off and reached altitude, my Dad radioed in to inform the tower that we were about make the turn to head west back to Georgia. The sweet lady we had earlier spoken to told us we were good to go and wished us a very safe flight. Then she screamed, "GO COCKS!!!," and giggled. My Dad turned to Mr. Joe with a stern look on his face and simply said, "that [expletive deleted] bitch!" I knew right then and there that there were times to say the F-word and the B-word, and this was obviously one of those times.

I'm 3-3 in my trips to Columbia and I'd like to eventually get a winning record, but it will have to wait. As I mentioned earlier, I do feel good about Saturday. I'm not going, but I know we're going to pull it out. I hope my brother has a great time. And if he were to somehow run into that airport lady, I hope he tells her exactly what my Dad said that night 28 years ago.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. How 'Bout Them Dawgs!!!