# Been 25 years but this man sure does . .



## MCG DAWG (Dec 6, 2005)

. .have a way with words.  Mr. Grizzard's thoughts on the Undefeated, Untied, Undisputed, and Undenied National Champions in 1980.

By Lewis Grizzard

NEW ORLEANS - I am writing this from the 16th floor of the Howard Johnson Motor Hotel in downtown New Orleans. I can see the top of the Louisiana Superdome from this perch, and I notice it looks more like one of those ominous nuclear power plants than a sports stadium. The truth is, the place exploded, what is now four hours ago.

I am no stranger to madness. I have attended an Indianapolis 500 automobile race, the annual salute to mental illness. That was nothing compared to this.

This was wild. This was crazy. This was downright scary at times.

A cop on the floor of the Dome said, "Thank God they ain't armed."

A security man screamed to no one in particular, "I've got the big toebig toebig toebig toe president of the United States in here and I can't get him out!"

A female member of the Notre Dame band, holding onto her flute as she surveyed the incredible scene before her, said, "If it meant that much, I'm glad Georgia won."

It meant that much. Grown men cried. A man kissed Georgia defensive coach Erskine Russell squarely on the top of his bald head. Erk just smiled.

I saw a man get down on his all fours and bark like a wild dog (dawg) and try to bite a passerby. A woman I had never seen before lifted her skirt to show me her underpants. "Georgia" was stitched hip to hip.

Let me take you back to when the playing of the 1981 Sugar Bowl football game between Georgia and Notre Dame first began to show signs of the subsequent emotional explosion that it became.

New Year's Eve on Bourbon Street. It's the Red Sea. If there are Notre Dame people in town, where are they?

The 1 Bourbon Street Inn, in the very heart of the French Quarter, is packed with Georgians. The third-floor balcony is Bulldog Central. The bathtubs in the adjoining rooms are filled with ice and champagne.

The people in the street, thousands of them, scream, "HERSCHEL!"

The people on the balcony respond, "WALKER!"

A chant aimed at what brave or stupid Notre Damers might be in earshot begins:

"YOU GOT THE HUNCHBACK! WE GOT THE TAILBACK!"

"The pope's a dope" came out a couple of times, too — there's one in every madhouse.

At midnight, there was much kissing and hugging and how bout-them-dawging, and speaking of dogs (dawgs), the Georgia mascot, "Uga," showed up at the party on the third-floor Bourbon Street Inn balcony, and I heard one man say to another:

"Hey, how'd your lip get cut?"

To which the second man replied, "I was kissing 'Uga' on the mouth at midnight and he bit me."

When the sun rose on 1981, there were those still partying from the night before. Three hours before kickoff, the city was covered in red. Red hats, red pants, red shirts — red, I was to discover later, underwear as well.

The Game. So close. God bless Mrs. Walker. Thirty seconds are left. Notre Dame can't stop the clock. At :14 showing, the game ended because every Bulldog from Rabun Gap to Tybee Light and Hartwell to Bainbridge hit the floor of the Louisiana Superdome.

They trampled each other. They trampled the players, the coaches, the press, they ripped down a goal post.

The public-address announcer pleaded and pleaded and pleaded: "Please clear the field! PLEASE clear the field!" They turned off the lights, but the Georgia band kept playing, and the people, that delirious mass of people, kept on celebrating.

It got ugly a couple of times. Secret Service men trying to get Jimmy Carter out of the building shoved a few citizens around.

And then there was this group of little girls, the "High Steppers" from Shreveport or someplace, who had competed for the right to perform at the Sugar Bowl.

They were cute little girls wearing cowboy hats. They were left out of the pregame show because the teams stayed on the field too long. They were promised they could perform after the game. They lined up, all neat and nice, but there was no way.

One little girl said, "I don't want to go out there. We might get hurt."

They finally gave it up and went back to Shreveport. Sad.

But it was also bright and beautiful and boisterous and an All-American sort of thing that other schools have enjoyed, so now it is Georgia's turn to point that finger to the sky. It may be days before the last Bulldog leaves New Orleans. The streets would not be safe Thursday night.

Number One, by God. Number Ever-Lovin' One. The sign in the Georgia locker room had said it all: "This one is forever."


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## willbuck (Dec 6, 2005)

Classic Lewis.


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## Walkie Takie (Dec 7, 2005)

*Good times /////////*

Lewis  was the MAN   enjoyed his books  ,
  w/t         Bonenut ????   are you out there ???????


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## dutchman (Dec 7, 2005)

Thanks for reminding me why I hated Grizzard. That and the fact that he wrote for the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation.


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## HT2 (Dec 7, 2005)

*Dutch.......*



			
				dutchman said:
			
		

> Thanks for reminding me why I hated Grizzard. That and the fact that he wrote for the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation.


Couldn't have said it better myself........

Grizzard........

WHAT AN IDIOT!!!!!!


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## SlipperyHill Mo (Dec 7, 2005)

That game was the epitome of the horseshoe Dooley had where the sun don't shine.

I have always said, I would rather be lucky than good!

I had forgotten all the details unitl I read Bisher's old column.

1 first down in the second half??

Blocked punt and a fumble on the 2 by Notre Dame on a kickoff return. It is coming back now.


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## marknga (Dec 7, 2005)

Lewis Grizzard      

I hadn't read that in years, thanks for sharing that.

I miss Lewis everyday. 

Go Dawgs!

Mark


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## UGAalum13 (Dec 7, 2005)

Great post!  Some of us young dawgs wish that we were older and bald now, just so we could have been there.  I was alive, but barely.  I hope to one day be able to experience that for myself.  Until then, GOOOOOOOOOOOO DAAAAAWWWWGGGGGGSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!


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## huntnnut (Dec 7, 2005)

It was just as he wrote it!  I know I was there and man did we all have a blast that night.... 

There's nothing quite like the Sugar and we all know you can't spell Sugar with out UGA in it....  

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!


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## Howard Roark (Dec 7, 2005)

The greatest southern writer ever, Mr. Lewis Grizzard!


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## Mechanicaldawg (Dec 8, 2005)

He could certainly paint great pictures with his words.

Any of you young'uns want to get in touch with what being a Georgian really means, or perhaps I should say, meant to ours and past generations, go find some of Lewis' books or a collection of his colums.

It will be time well spent. He was and is a treasure.


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## bull0ne (Dec 8, 2005)

HT2 said:
			
		

> Couldn't have said it better myself........
> 
> Grizzard........
> 
> WHAT AN IDIOT!!!!!!



Alright now.....comments like that just might get you deported from the south.  

I have heard there's a group that does a round-up on folks that think like that & when its all said & done you're thrown out north of the mason-dixon line....banished forever from dixie


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## redlevel (Dec 8, 2005)

I liked Lewis, especially when he wrote about UGA, but he was somewhat of an anti-hunter and, until the last few years, expressed what many on here would consider anti-gun sentiments.   He called NRA members "bullet-brains".

He was a wonderful writer.  I have just been re-reading "I Haven't Understood Anything Since 1963".   I also like to get out my copy of "Glory, Glory", an account of that National Championship season by him and Loren Smith.  It always tickled me that he admitted that he gave up in the Florida game and left the stadium just before the Belue to Scott pass.  He said he was in the parking lot headed for his car when he heard the roar go up;  he knew he had messed up.


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## Holton (Dec 8, 2005)

Howard Roark said:
			
		

> The greatest southern writer ever, Mr. Lewis Grizzard!



A second from St Mtn.......


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## AAADawg (Dec 8, 2005)

Lewis was DA MAN!!!!! And just think....the good ole days of UGA football ARE RIGHT NOW!!!!!

GO DAWGS!!!! SIC EM"!!!!!! WOOF!!!!WOOF!!!WOOF!!!


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## Limbshaker (Dec 8, 2005)

Jeff Young said:
			
		

> He could certainly paint great pictures with his words.
> 
> Any of you young'uns want to get in touch with what being a Georgian really means, or perhaps I should say, meant to ours and past generations, go find some of Lewis' books or a collection of his colums.
> 
> It will be time well spent. He was and is a treasure.




Well put Jeff.............Well Put............I'd rather quote Lewis Grizzard than almost anyone!!!

Books like .."They tore my heart out and stomped that sucker flat."

Stories, like {Roxanne Burgess the hemmorhoid sufferer}

Lorne Greene with his head down inside a sack of Jim Dandy....

And the Classic...........about Bubba and Earl and UGA.

"That dog'ed biiiiite yooooou!!!


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## dixie (Dec 8, 2005)

I had no idea it'd been that long, it just doesn't feel like it. I was, and still am  "lewis" fan, bought and read his books and remember him talking about his dog catfish a LOT. LOL Shoot low boys, they're riding shetland ponies!!!


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## Razorback (Dec 8, 2005)

gitter,

ya beat me to it.

...that dog will bite yoouu!

Classic punch line that I still use.

Razor


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## Limbshaker (Dec 8, 2005)

Lewis was to perform at the Cloister on Sea Island, many years ago.............his neighbor from childhood lived in Jesup, ........My wife (to be at the time) was keeping her kids...he stopped by to see her on his way to Sea Island.....while I was there........having met him in an atmosphere away from a "performance" was a hoot.

We all went for out food and drinks on his way back through Jesup to Atlanta....He later wrote two columns about some of his adventures in here....................he was a classic..................The funny thing is.........only about five people in our town had ever heard  of him.


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## AAADawg (Dec 9, 2005)

Do any of ya'll remember Grizzards step brother Ludlow Porch? Evidently he is still doing his radio show on a small regional syndicated network...I am a AM radio junkie and I have never found it anywhere in the south but he has a web page and it lists stations. He is as funny or funnier than Lewis was.....does anyone listen to Ludlow anymore?


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## Mechanicaldawg (Dec 9, 2005)

Lewis was an anti-hunter. However, he always said he had no problem with hunters killing deer as long as they consumed the previous deer they had killed---"including it's spleen!"


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## GMARK (Dec 9, 2005)

Thanks for the great post.  I sure do miss him and his humor.  He sure had a way a putting things...  

GO DAWGS!


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## Madsnooker (Dec 9, 2005)

Has it actually been 23 years since UGA finished on top. Maybe they can win one here before to long so maybe the younger generation growing up there in Ga. can have a memory or two when they get older. Ah, the good ole days.


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## AAADawg (Dec 10, 2005)

Madsnooker said:
			
		

> Has it actually been 23 years since UGA finished on top. Maybe they can win one here before to long so maybe the younger generation growing up there in Ga. can have a memory or two when they get older. Ah, the good ole days.




Ohio State has taken almost as long to beat an SEC team as UGA has to win a National Title.......and speaking of a long time between Titles Ohio State fans definitely know about that because it was 38 years between them for the Buckeyes.......UGA has 13 years to go to even get close to that.......I'd say that the odds are pretty good that UGA wont need those 13 years to win another NT.....but it could very well be another 17 years before Ohio State beats a SEC team because it has been 48 years since UGA lost to a Big 10 team


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## Mechanicaldawg (Dec 10, 2005)

Dang Snookie!!!!   Spanked by AAA!!!  

Now that's going to leave a mark!!!


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## southernclay (Dec 10, 2005)

I don't think he was too much of an anti-hunter considering his best friend and hero Wayman C. Wannamaker, a great American, was a hunter.


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## Madsnooker (Dec 12, 2005)

AAADawg said:
			
		

> Ohio State has taken almost as long to beat an SEC team as UGA has to win a National Title.......and speaking of a long time between Titles Ohio State fans definitely know about that because it was 38 years between them for the Buckeyes.......UGA has 13 years to go to even get close to that.......I'd say that the odds are pretty good that UGA wont need those 13 years to win another NT.....but it could very well be another 17 years before Ohio State beats a SEC team because it has been 48 years since UGA lost to a Big 10 team



How many titles have ya'll won. UGA don't want any of OSU this year. What bowl are ya'll in anyway's?   

Oh yea, the big 11 is the only conference with a winning record against all others.


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## AAADawg (Dec 13, 2005)

Madsnooker said:
			
		

> How many titles have ya'll won. UGA don't want any of OSU this year. What bowl are ya'll in anyway's?
> 
> Oh yea, the big 11 is the only conference with a winning record against all others.





UGA has two national titles that the University recognizes and about 8 more that they don't. UGA is in a BCS bowl just like OSU with the exception that UGA had the fortitude to actually win the right to play in a  BCS Bowl game on the Feild. If the Big 10 crowned a champion on the field instead of picking a couple out of thin air then Penn State OR Ohio State one wouldn't be in a BCS Bowl. UGA would beat OSU like they always beat Big 10 teams......OSU isnt even able to win there conference out right....they have to share the title!!!


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## Madsnooker (Dec 14, 2005)

AAADawg said:
			
		

> UGA has two national titles that the University recognizes and about 8 more that they don't. UGA is in a BCS bowl just like OSU with the exception that UGA had the fortitude to actually win the right to play in a  BCS Bowl game on the Feild. If the Big 10 crowned a champion on the field instead of picking a couple out of thin air then Penn State OR Ohio State one wouldn't be in a BCS Bowl. UGA would beat OSU like they always beat Big 10 teams......OSU isnt even able to win there conference out right....they have to share the title!!!



I will have to agree with you on one point. I hate the shared title garbage. Penn St. should have won it as they beat OSU head to head. I still think OSU would have gotten the BCS invite at #4 regardless. Anybody that has watched OSU knows they are deserving. They would have beaten Texas if their tight end doesn't drop a 5 yard pitch and catch in the end zone not once but twice(Texas should give their most valuable trophy to the defensive back that made the hit which jared the ball lose as he tried to catch it the second time becuase if he doesn't make that hit Texas is not in the title game and OSU is. That was actually confirmed by a BCS guru)  and Penn St. barely beat them in their own house. Even in those 2 losses OSU played very well and the games were great. However, that can't be said for UGA. They should have lost to GT if GT doesn't shoot themselves in the foot all night and most of the season they just didn't play all that good. Most UGA fans that are honest will admit this. I will say that UGA played a great game against LSU and maybe they are peaking at the right time.


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