A Serious Post

I know that the general tone of this blog is pretty lighthearted and about football and crazy moments in Redcoats, but tonight I just feel the need to get how I feel out there. So, I apologize in advance if you came here expecting a goofy story about a football game.

I was told tonight that I seemed bitter when I kept making sure that my Redcoat brethren were not drinking (particularly those who are <21). I don't bitter is the correct term. "Bothered" more appropriately describes how I felt/feel about the events occurring just a dozen or so yards from my relatively peaceful hotel room. It hurts me to see my friends getting drunk out of their minds. I've seen what alcohol can and will do to a person's life and I don't want that to happen to anyone else, especially these around me that I care about.

I wish I could understand. To them, drinking is just a part of their life, but I see it as a first step toward ending their life. I'm not even going to go into my religious arguments against drinking, but I am going to share some secular reasons why drinking (whether you are 21 or not) is dumb. First (and probably the most obvious) is that with every sip of alcohol you take, part of your body dies. Your liver and brain are literally pickled by that cold beer (or those 16 beers) that you just enjoyed. Ladies and Gentlemen, pickles do not perform the same function as a brain or a liver. Secondly, (again, possibly quite obvious) is that it impairs your judgment. Ladies, guys can be very convincing after you have consumed a few Solo cups of hunch punch! Guys, stupid ideas seem like good ones after a few shots of Vodka! What this point boils down to is that alcohol transforms good people into blubbering idiots. Finally, as it has been said by many people both in Redcoats and elsewhere, you don't have to be drunk to have fun. I had more fun tonight singing songs with like-minded friends at the Fort at St. Augustine than I have in quite a while, and there certainly wasn't any alcohol involved in that event! It doesn't have to be a religious event for it to be a fun one even while sober! Just spending time with friends, making memories that you will remember for the rest of your life is very fun. Being drunk while you hang out with your friends means you probably won't remember these fun times!

You know what, I may be bitter. Maybe I would be better off if I "chilled out" and indulged in just a little social drinking. Yeah, maybe that would help me to not think about my friends killing themselves slowly for one night of thrills. Maybe that would dull my sadness when I see a child killed by a drunk driver. Maybe then I won't be enraged when a man gets drunk and beats his wife/family into submission. Maybe then I won't worry about lives being ruined by dumb decisions made under the influence of alcohol. Maybe then I could rest easily knowing that me and my friends won't die of old age, but rather in our prime of life. Maybe then I won't feel the economic stress of taking care of alcoholics in prisons and hospitals.

Or not. I will continue to cringe at the sight of a teenage girl sipping some fruity cocktail because I know that one of those sips could be the last of her life or the last before she decides that she should do something dumb. I will continue to voice my opinion to those I love and let them know that I love them enough to want them to live healthy, fulfilling lives. And yes, I will even continue to endure the ridicule I receive when I state these truths.

There it is. Say your "amens" or curse me or whatever. This is how I feel.

UGA VIII is 1-0

Well, I'm nearly a week late in this post, but anyways things are looking up for the Dawgs. Thanks to Tennessee and Vanderbilt, we are on a two game winning streak! Hopefully this revival of the team will continue tomorrow when we play Kentucky so we will have plenty of momentum going into the Florida game (who by the way have been named the 5th worst team in college football). The magic number is now 3. This is the number of games we need to win to be bowl eligible! (I really want to go to a bowl in this my rookie season with the Redcoats.)

Thinking about Florida, that trip is only 7 days away! (yay!) This trip should be a lot of fun (whether the football team wins or loses). I am really looking forward to spending the weekend in St. Augustine, FL with ~424 of my closest friends and thousands of like-minded Georgia fans. The extreme prevalence of alcohol will probably be pretty irritating, but bearable due to the large number of Redcoats that share my ideals of avoiding alcohol (Team United).

In other news, we are set to premier show 3, "Epic Movie Themes" at the Idaho State game (although the majority of the show will be altered to include an Armed Forces medley in honor of Veterans' Day). We are opening with the theme from "Independence Day" and the production is "You Know My Name" from "Casino Royale". (I don't yet have the music for the closer, so I don't yet know what it is.) It sounds awesome so far (for the ~1 week that we have been working on it).

I still cannot believe that I only have four more games left in my rookie year in the Redcoats, but these last four should be the most fun! Also, I WANT A NIGHT GAME!!! Every single game has been a noon game which has led to an irritating sunburn every home game weekend. My only chances are the Tech game in Athens and the Auburn game at Auburn as neither of those games' kickoff time has yet been announced. I am hoping that the planets and the stars will align just right so that Georgia will win all the rest of our games and the right people (USC, UF, AU) lose several of theirs so that we can go to a bowl and a decent one at that (S|uga|r Bowl?)

Sorry for taking so long to post again but...

Things are looking up. Our Dawgs thumped the Vols last saturday 41-14. That was very satisfying! Interesting factoid: We premiered our Queen show during that game. In 2003, the Redcoats premiered a Queen show against UT and the Dawgs won 41-14! We may need to play a Queen show every time we play UT.

On to more current matters...
This weekend is Homecoming! Yay! (Sarcasm) Tonight we have a parade, which is good, because that means we don't have rehearsal. Hopefully I can manage to pull off the show well tomorrow without it! Tomorrow, pre-game will be played by the UGA Redcoat Alumni Band and after our Halftime show, the homecoming court will be presented and the king and queen announced while we play "Georgia on my Mind" a lot. I have never enjoyed Homecoming games because playing the same song over and over again get extremely boring (unless you are UT's band and feel like you need to play Rockeytop 40+ times per game), but luckily this is a pretty cool arrangement! I'm not sure even that will be enough to redeem it...

The coolest thing about tomorrow is that UGA VIII will be crowned! He is adorable! Hopefully the Dawgs can give him a 1-0 record tomorrow by beating Vanderbilt (35-10?)!

Go Dawgs!