i'm learning the soulja boy...

from the 11.12.07 print edition of the herald-gazette.

I’m a middle aged white guy who, in my prime, such as it was - was never much of a dancer.

But, I’m learning the Soulja Boy dance.

It won’t be hard. There’s an instructional video on YouTube and my kids already have the hip-hop dance craze mastered.

Hip-hop grew greatly on me on a day in which I dressed like country legend Johnny Cash for a trip to Sanford Stadium. The senior members of Georgia’s football team had requested fans wear black to Saturday’s Auburn game and they did so by the tens of thousands.

The very few who did not wear black were badgered relentlessly until they bought something black to cover their red or white shirts.

The big question was whether or not the team would wear black jerseys.

Herschel wore red britches in his devastating debut game in Knoxville. The Dawgs wore black pants as recently at the Outback Bowl following the 1997 season.

Never, however, had the Dawgs worn black jerseys on game day.

At the Dogwalk, the jerseys were red. In pre-game warm-ups the red remained. Georgia coach Marck Richt had told reporters earlier in the week that it was difficult to get new jerseys on short notice and it looked as if the team would be in red.

The Georgia captains came out for the coin toss in red. Then the team burst from the endzone and through a big black G banner in black jerseys.

Sanford Stadium rocked as it never had before in my presence. The place was blacked out, making the hideous Auburn orange as readily apparent as it is appalling

Feeding on the emotion, the Dogs roared out to a 17-3 lead.

Then, trouble set it.

Georgia was beset with penalties -some of them earned, some questionable.

UGA quarterback Matthew Stafford had no time to throw and star tailback Knowshon Moreno had not the slightest crack through which to wiggle.

Auburn built a 20-17 lead midway through the third quarter and it appeared a mournful shade of black would be just the right color for the long ride home.

Then the Dawgs erupted.

The defense held Auburn to 39 yards on 19 plays the rest of the game. Tiger quarterback Brandon Cox began to throw to black-clad defenders and the Dawg offense amassed over 300 yards in the final 21 minutes.

The Georgia team we watched over that span is one that is maturing into a legitimate national title contender for 2008.
The final was 45-20 - a rout that moved the Dawgs to #8 in the rankings.

At the end of the third quarter it was 31-20 and the outcome was not in doubt.

During the TV timeout between the final two periods, Soulja Boy blasted from the speakers. The entire team broke into a spontaneous dance. Many in the stands joined them.

I did my best but my hip-hop was not quite hip or hoppy enough.

Rest assured, I will have it down by next week’s Kentucky game.

If, instead, you hear about me breaking a hip, you’ll know it was Soulja Boy’s fault.