Newspaper Page Text
ir.Ei:mimiir» flag football
Woke Dawgs
WHICH GEORGIA TEAM WILL SHOW UP AT THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP?
By Cy Brown news@flagpole.com
hey, bonita...
Holidays With Hateful Family Members
ADVICE FOR ATHENS'LOOSE AND LOVELORN
By Bonita Applebum advice@flagpole.com
There have been two versions of Georgia
this season: asleep and awake.
The “awake” version is pretty easy to
recognize. It looks a lot like the national
championship team last year. It moves
the ball with calm efficiency on offense. It
swarms to the ball and stifles opponents on
defense. You saw the “awake” Dawgs han
dle their business
against Oregon,
South Carolina and
Tennessee.
Then there are
the “asleep” Dawgs.
These Dawgs have a propensity to start
games slow and struggle in the red zone.
You saw them rear their ugly heads when
we eked out a win at Missouri, let Kentucky
hang around until the end, and allowed
Georgia Tech to hold onto the hope of an
upset for a full half.
As far as the past goes, asleep or awake
no longer matters. Georgia beat Georgia
Tech 37-14 Saturday in Athens to move to a
perfect 12-0 on the season. It’s the second
consecutive year the Dawgs finished the
regular season a perfect 12-0, and only the
third time in program history. That’s pretty
wild, considering I just listed three games in
which we played grab-ass, and I could have
listed more.
every opponent into oblivion, save Alabama
in the SEC Championship Game. This team
is much more liable to play to the level of its
competition. That means looking just as, if
not more, dominant than last year’s team
in marquee matchups—such as Tennessee
or Oregon—and looking lazy and sloppy
against teams we should handle with ease,
like Missouri or
Georgia Tech.
This LSU team
we’ll face in the SEC
Championship Game
isn’t nearly as good
as the Alabama we faced twice last year, but
they are a specific kind of dangerous. The
Tigers, who also have a penchant to play
down to competition, lost to Texas A&M
38-23 to finish the regular season. Any
chance they had to beat us and make the
playoff went down the drain with that loss.
We want to win the SEC, but we also
want to win the natty. For LSU, there is
no longer a goal past winning the SEC.
Saturday against the Dawgs is their natty.
While our players may be caught looking
ahead to USC, TCU, Ohio State, Michigan
or, god forbid, Alabama, the Tigers will
be able to focus on a singular goal: beat
Georgia. And new LSU head coach Brian
Kelly has shown an ability to play Kirby
H We want to win the SEC, but
we also want to win the natty.
Georgia played grabass against Georgia Tech on Saturday, but still came away with a win.
It’s also pretty wild that the unmitigated
success that was the regular season could
be diminished by showing up asleep in one
of the next two or three games. With that
perfect regular season, a spot in the College
Football Playoff is pretty much guaranteed.
But before that, this weekend in Atlanta, we
face LSU for the SEC Championship.
Anything other than titles—SEC or
national—is falling short. That’s the stan
dard in the Golden Age of Georgia Football.
We met that standard last year. We have a
chance to exceed it this year, since we lost
the SEC Championship to Alabama last
time around. The path to both the SEC and
national titles appear more manageable this
season, but in this moment, our ability to
get there feels more questionable.
There’s a different vibe to the Dawgs
than there was last year, when we mushed
Smart close, although he never beat Georgia
in his two shots at Notre Dame.
These Dawgs have spent this season in a
strange limbo. It is clear that we have clunk
ers in us. There are days when we haven’t
shown up with our minds right. Thankfully,
we have enough raw talent to make up for
that so far. But there’s also a distinct feeling
I have that we haven’t yet played our best
football, or at least it’s only been seen in
glimpses.
With two or three games left to finish
this season, the hope has to be that the
dividing line between “asleep” and “awake,”
between our best and our worst, has been
the circumstances. We get up for the games
it’s most important to get up for. From here
on, that’s every game. So Kirby better get a
pot of coffee on and have those Dawgs wide
awake when they go to Atlanta. ©
Hey Gay,
If your hometown is only a couple of
hours away, then there is absolutely no need
to stay all day or even sleep over. You’re
an adult who doesn’t have to sit around
waiting for permission from anyone, and it
sounds to me like you aren’t being picked
up and dropped off for these holiday visits.
I know it can be hard to break away from
family expectations, but it’s about time
you stopped spending extended periods at
home during the holidays. I have plenty of
family members who live in nearby towns,
and they only spend a few hours at holiday
luncheons before giving out hugs and
kisses and then heading
home.
small-
minded
and super
loud about it,
and I swear she
brings up certain stuff
that she knows I’m sensitive about
just to get under my skin. My parents agree
that she’s a bit much, but they share her views
on pretty much everything. OK, whatever, but
[my sister-in-law] is also a homophobe and a
racist who uses slurs. I’m gay, and one of my
partners is black, so needless to say I cannot
stand her and really don’t ever want to see her
(preferably ever again).
I love my brother and his kids, but I hate the
way he is raising them and the woman he chose
to be their mom. Sometimes I think about just
not going home at all for the holidays, but then
my mom will guilt me, and I end up breaking
bread in a scary little town with equally scary
people at my table. I get so anxious that I have
a hard time sleeping with all of them in the
same house as me! I’m not just repulsed by
their attitudes, but every year it’s like tensions
get higher, and I’m starting to feel unwelcome
and unsafe, especially when my brother and his
wife are there. He wouldn’t let her attack me,
but the fact that I’m afraid of it at all is kind
of too much. How can I make sure I leave my
family Thanksgiving without tears in my eyes?
Well that’s probably not possible, but I find my
holiday dread starting earlier and earlier each
year now. I just can’t take it anymore. Help!
A Gay at the End of Their Rope
Hey Bonita,
I’m a twenty something gay man originally
from a very, VERY small town a couple of
hours away. Like, hlink-and-you-miss-it type
of place going up towards the mountains. I’ll be
going home to visit my family for Thanksgiving
and Christmas like I do every year, but I’m
starting to get really sick of them. I never really
shared their political or social attitudes, but I
only started challenging their opinions a few
years ago, when nationalism started going
mainstream. I just couldn’t abide by my loved
ones saying this stuff, but it’s really been hard
on my relationship with them. In particular,
my sister-in-law is an abso
lute monster who
has changed my
brother for the
worse. She is
incredibly
You’re not a kid,
and you don’t have to be
all up under your family like
that anymore, so don’t be. There’U certainly
be some resistance to you telling them that
you’ll only be swinging by to eat and visit
for a spell, but don’t talk about it like it’s
an option—and really, it’s not. It’s a choice
that you’re allowed to make about who you
spend your time with. Less, “I’m sorry, but
I probably can’t spend the night” and more,
“I’ll be there for the meal, and then I’m
heading back to Athens. See you then!” If
they want to know why, you can either tell
them that your sister-in-law is the worst or
you can just make something up and save
yourself the trouble. It’s up to you how to
deal with that, but more than anything you
should stand your ground and stop subject
ing yourself to conversations about how
much your community sucks and should be
eradicated. You are no one’s punching bag,
and submitting oneself to abuse is not an
act of love or anything to be encouraged.
You can establish a firm boundary here and
have the holiday experience that you’ve
always wanted. ©
Need advice? Email advice@flagpole.com, or use
our anonymous online form at flagpole.com/get-
advice.
6 FLAGPOLE.COM ■ NOVEMBER 30, 2022