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How did you become a DAWG fan?

CantonDawg

I just read where @pgjackson explained how he became a fan. Good stuff. It's cool to see where/when the foundation was set for everyone.

We moved to Georgia when I was 7 and Herschel was a freshman. I was young, but dad would always work in the yard on Saturdays and have the games on with Larry. I would go outside, see his excitement, many times fueled by a few Old Milwaukees, and it stuck. I would have a nerf football that was hardened by leaving it out in the rain (a must) and replay every play.

It was easy as the first time I became a fan at such a young age, my team won the National Championship.

I never thought that it would take forever to get another one, but am glad it happened!

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Joe31

My dad was a Dawg fan so that was initially the start. I became a hardcore fan as a kid bc around the time I started understanding CFB FSU was considered the best team. I grew up in South Georgia so everyone jumped on that bandwagon and I hated it and FSU. Always like Bobby Bowden though. I met him twice, he was a genuinely good person IMO.

Anyway, I’ve been a Dawg fan since I was a snot-nosed little kid.

donniem

I became a Dawg fan when I moved to Carrollton, GA to teach at UWG. It was either the Dawgs or Tech - I think I hitched my wagon to the better of the two teams and that has proven to be a good choice.

JoeClark

Have you watched Georgia Tech play?
Easy decision when you go to a school with no football team

pocoyo

It was my best NIL offer

Dawgwired

whole family of dawgs. Grew up listening to Munson on the radio. Most exciting and excruciating way to listen to the dawgs. He could have you trembling in fear and breaking stuff in excitement!! Also watched Herschel and co on the college football game of the week. Never did I think it would take 40+ years to win another championship. I’m definitely no bandwagon fan. I’ve been through it all

JimWallace

It was a gradual process.

My dad, a UGA graduate clearly admired Georgia Tech as an educational institution. I don't actually remember him explaining that it was better known as North Avenue Trade School, but perhaps he did.

My parents met as undergraduates in Athens, but neither seemed to be football fans to any great degree. Neither wanted me to attend Georgia as both regarded it as a party school.

I was accepted to another university, and attended it for two years, but actually took a summer school class at UGA prior to enrolling at Emory. I liked UGA from the beginning, but it wasn't an option for me, at least not then.

I managed to prove to myself and everyone else that I could turn any school into a party school. My belief was I would be less likely to do so at UGA. I convinced my family by going to summer school at Georgia as a transient student after sophomore year.

I transferred to Georgia as a rising junior and graduated. That had something to do with becoming a Georgia football fan, but I wasn't a full fledged fanatic until later. It was a gradual process.

I became a bigger fan before Herschel was a freshman and a much more huge fan when he was in high school and I knew he was going to Athens. Man, was he great, and great for Georgia football!

Over time, I've gone from being a fan during the season to being totally involved.

As I tell people all the time, college football is a year 'round sport. College football = UGA football.

Go, Dawgs!

NJEric

As a kid I picked up sports over time; first baseball, then football, finally basketball. And a kid tends to grow roots with the home team. So I'm a Yankee fan starting as a 6 or 7 year old, a Georgia football fan (we lived in Athens) as a 10 year old and a UCLA basketball fan as a 14 year old. As for Georgia, that was cemented iron clad when I played between the 40s as the halftime show with the tackle program of 3rd or 4th graders from Kelly's YMCA program, long long ago. Quite a rush for a kid!

donniem

https://forum.dawgnation.com/discussion/comment/768228#Comment_768228

NJEric - Yankees, Dawgs and Bruin hoops - you loved you some winners!! I grew up with an Italian grandpa, via Ellis Island, who loved the Yankees. We would listen to games in California on a small radio, often with some static, rooting for DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Berra et al. In college I learned to love the Bruins under John Wooden. Golden days for sure. Lived in Carrollton, GA for 25 years and learned to love the Dawgs.

georgiajeepn2019

Just like 95 percent of America. My dad chose for me. lol

Old_lady_dawg_fan

Growing up in Georgia, you had to cast your lot with Georgia or Georgia Tech. I was already a big Georgia fan when my high school had a defensive back recruited by Vince Dooley for the Dawgs, and that was pretty cool too.

MarkBoknecht

I think it was 2011 or 2012. Aaron Murray to Malcolm Mitchell who outraced his defenders for 50 yards to the endzone. I was hooked.

Back in those days, I had knots in my stomach waiting for the next Dawgs game. I could hardly stand it.

But if I only new? What seemed like a perennial number 15 team, Georgia would forever change that starting in 2017 with Roquan Smith and rising to #2 in the nation. And following that achievement with National titles in 2021 and 2022.

What a run it's been.

Bum

I transferred into UGA junior year, after gleefully hanging up the spikes. It was the heart of the Richt era. As a student, I was into football, but more just into the scene and having fun on gamedays.

Back then, I remember wondering how Georgia was never top 3 in recruiting or competing consistently for championships. I grew up in metro ATL, so fully aware of all the talent UGA always missed.

The blackout Game against Bama I think was the second game I attended as a student. Games like that made it hard to go all in lol. I couldn’t stand watching the dawgs consistently underachieve and convince myself it was worth spending time watching them every Saturday.

I knew UGA had incredible potential and just needed a spark lit.

Well…then 2015 season happened. We heard the rumblings of a homecoming for the ages. Then, finally, Kirby Smart, a dawg by blood, took the job…and the rest is history…in the making…

AndersonDawg

Easy answer. Ruled out several Southern schools for the following reasons. UTK: don’t want to marry a close relative, FU: no sex with a gator, AU: too many mascots. UA: houndstooth makes me look fat. GT: not fond of pocket protectors or quick draw slide rule holsters.

Bdw3184

I didn’t have a typical beginning as a Dawg fan….

As I have stated before on this site, my father went to Ga Tech (and played there as a freshman before going off to Korea) so I was raised a Jacket fan. I used to sell peanuts and Coca Colas at Tech home games when I was in junior high for 50 cents a tray…..! I didn’t make much because I was always watching the games! My favorite player growing up was Randy Rhino of Ga Tech who played the same position I played in high school….a hybrid outside LB/DB that we called a “monster man”….and I wore the same face mask that he had….two parallel bars across the mouth with one vertical bar across the nose which gave me a “Rhino “ look!

I saw my first game in Sanford stadium (with some UGA friends) as a Tech fan in 1974….the famous “sleet” bowl which Tech won 34-14….coldest game I ever attended in person! The Redcoat band couldn’t/wouldn’t play because it was so cold and wet on the field and the Georgia fans were never into the game….most had left by halftime!

But the next year….. I went to a UGA game (can’t remember the opponent) in much better weather conditions, got their early enough for pregame….and, man, when that Redcoat band ran out onto the field, and the stands started cheering and the upswell of sound became a roar…..I got chills from head to toe! I had not seen anything like that ever!

After that experience, I have often said to family and friends that God laid his hand on my heart and he said “Get to UGA, young man!”

I transferred to UGA in 1976 and, after the Bama shutout by the Dawgs (21-0!) which was my first game I attended as a student at UGA (best home game I ever saw at UGA), I was hooked hor life!

And the rest, as they say, is history!

Go Dawgs!

Billy21

I was considered the black sheep in my family. I'm the youngest sibling in the family. Half of my family attended University of Alabama; half attended Auburn University. For the longest time both sides were pulling me towards each one. It was around 11-12 years old I decided to watch a few games on my own to see who I like. As I sat down and turned on the tv, there it was…. Red Helmet, White Jersey, David Greene throwing a 45-yard bomb touchdown. At that moment, God made my vision so clear to see and understand what I was watching. Why not choose a team you can beat up on Auburn/Alabama ;).

Since then, it's been all about the DAWGS!