Something Quick and Short About 'My Georgia Bulldogs'

I’m an alum so I think I’m allowed to say my piece.  This week it was revealed that four more UGA football players will be disciplined for breaking the law.  Their specific crime was non-violent thank goodness and I trust the NCAA and the Athletic Department to do their jobs.  Sending them home will be fine with me.

My argument today is with every single media report I have read about this event.  Without exception, they have pointed out which player is the starter and which are not.  Many are going on about the other discipline cases which will leave the Dogs short-handed for the first game of the season.  Some even regurgitate the game stats of the accused.   Friends, this is not how I want to look at ‘My Georgia Bulldogs’.  This is a case of young men making a mistake and the ramifications for them.  I find it repulsive that the articles can move so fluidly from describing a crime to describing the holes in a defense thanks to that crime.  I must presume that the editors of the web pages and newspapers I read feel that their readership cares more about Georgia’s pre-season ranking than the culture that recruits and coddles young men who make bad decisions.  That’s not ‘My Georgia Bulldogs’.

I’m a big fan of Coach Richt and know that his job is to find and recruit the best talent nationwide.  Sometimes troubled kids can get recruited and turned into men.  Sometimes their bad boy ways get the best of them and they make stupid mistakes that can truly harm their future.  I get it.  It’s a business.  The athletes make money for the University and fill seats.  I’m OK that we must take a chance on some already tarnished players coming out of high school, but ‘My Georgia Bulldogs’ will send them home at the first sign of disrespecting the honor they have been given.  Do Your Georgia Bulldogs do the same?