It’s that time of the year. The sweet Southern air possesses a cool crispness as the leaves begin to change. After an unseasonably warm summer, I gladly welcome the change in weather, but more importantly, the return of Georgia football on Saturdays.
At a young age, I decided I was going to be a Georgia Bulldog fan (like a large percentage of my family) despite living 30 minutes away from Knoxville, Tenn. Needless to say, this predicament that led to several arguments on the playground. But overall, they made me a better person, right?
These arguments have followed me throughout my educational career, and became the foundation for some pretty strong friendships.
Since those years in elementary school, I can’t say I have changed. Too stubborn to ever change allegiances to Tennessee, and too wary of my reputation to cheer for Vanderbilt, I still find myself rooting for the Bulldogs. This hasn’t been easy to do at Belmont, a school that only gets excited for sports when it faces Lipscomb in basketball.
As if these past few years weren’t hard enough on Georgia fans, the fact I live in the middle of Belmont, a school that doesn’t even boast its own football team, doesn’t help. I find it ridiculously hard to wake up on Saturday mornings when the rest of campus is sound asleep recovering from Friday night’s music scene. Regardless, I get up, very quietly, and watch ESPN’s College Gameday on as low a volume as possible so not to wake up my roommate. It just isn’t the same. Football is meant for being loud and obnoxious, not hushed and shoved to the uppermost corner of Thrailkill Hall.
So as another season is under way between the hedges at Sanford Stadium, I celebrate being a daughter of the South. As the sweetest winds blow across this corner of the earth I call home, week in and week out I’ll wear my red and black with pride as only a true Dawg fan can. The best part: none of you Tennessee fans can stop me.
Katie Greene is a sophomore mass communications major.