As anyone close to me will tell you, I root for my family and friends as much if not more than I root for my favorite sports teams.
Through successes and failures, I am their biggest supporter and try to be their biggest cheerleader. Sometimes, that cheering finds its way to a football field, as I’ll pull just as hard for their favorite teams, so long as its not to the detriment of my own.
For example, my wife Renee grew up in the Mississippi Delta. Her father, and many members of her family are graduates and fans of Mississippi State University.
As a Georgia fan, rooting for the other bulldogs costs me nothing, and I do it every single week so long as they aren’t playing that team from Athens.
I get a kick out of seeing them joyful, as it happens so rarely these days, and it makes me happy.
The same can be said for two of my oldest friends Ben Crystal and Dave Steele. Both men cheer vigorously for the University of Notre Dame.
Crystal, a graduate of Davidson College, grew up a Catholic from the upper west side of Manhattan. He loved college football, but didn’t have a hometown team in New York City, and naturally landed on the Irish.
Steele, an Atlanta native, is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and played an extra in the iconic football movie Rudy which was filmed on the South Bend, Indiana campus while Steele was a student.
In the history of college football, Georgia and Notre Dame have only played each other three times. So, just like Mississippi State, it costs me absolutely nothing to cheer for the Fighting Irish, and I do so regularly in solidarity with my boys.
During the football season, Crystal, Steele and I have a text chat which I have affectionately dubbed “the ’81 Sugar Bowl.” The name hails from the first football game the Irish and Dawgs ever played against one another.
On January 1, 1981, 11-0 Georgia played 9-1-1 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Playing with a separated shoulder, the Bulldogs legendary running back Herschel Walker scored two touchdowns and ran for 150 yards in Georgia’s 17-10 victory over the Irish. Walker would end up as the game’s MVP, and Georgia would be named the 1980 national champion the next day.
But back to our text thread, what you’ll find every Saturday is the three of us talking smack about every other football team on the planet while giving each other mutual respect for our own teams.
During the Irish’s 49-35 victory over their hated rival, the Southern California Trojans a few weeks ago, I made an astute observation.
“You’ve got some dudes on your offensive and defensive lines,” I said. “And, y’all sure can pound the rock.”
Crystal turned that right back into kudos for our boys from Athens.
“High praise coming from a fan of a school whose list of superstar tailbacks is longer than my arm,” he said.
Tomorrow night, the opening game of the newly expanded 12-team college football playoff will kick off in South Bend as Notre Dame will host Indiana University. The winner will head to New Orleans for a New Years day matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs.
In our text thread, I’m sure I’ll be screaming ‘Go Irish!’ at the top of my lungs, but deep down, I cannot decide which outcome I’d rather see.
While cheering for my boys is second nature, the thought of a Georgia-Notre Dame Sugar Bowl with the loser going home is way too much to contemplate. Maybe if Indiana wins, I’m spared that particular scenario.
I, of course, want Georgia to go all the way. Steele and Crystal both want the same for Notre Dame. I just hate the thought that one of us could see our season end at the hands of the other.
But, that doesn’t mean I won’t root for an Irish demise as we ring in 2025. I just don’t have to like it.
Sic ‘em!