It's the MOST Wonderful Time of the Year!

 That's right!!! It's FOOTBALL SEASON! In honor of the kickoff of football season this past weekend, I'm going to relive some memories of football seasons past.

Freshman Year: 

I had next to no clue what I was doing when it came to football, tailgating, or even where to sit, which entrance to take to get into the stadium or how early to get there for pregame. Clueless, but still some great memories. 

Sophomore Year:

This year, I had it down. Well, at least better than my freshman year. Living in the house, it was fun to get ready together, tailgate together, and sit at the games together. I had added to my wardrobe of red and black and felt better prepared for the long days of tailgating and getting sunburned before kickoff. Okay, that's a lie...every year, I always seem to get an awkward sunburn complete with necklace lines on my chest and a circle of white on my cheek where my "G" was. Older, but not wiser necessarily.

Another bonus of this year, I got went to Georgia/Florida the only time I made it out of my 4 collegiate years. Too many memories to list from that long weekend...even if we lost. 

Junior Year:

Another year in the house, another year of great tailgating with sisters. Kathleen's parents tailgate was a regular post-game stop for us. Highlight of this year was definitely the Auburn blackout game. A night game, with a stadium full of black-clad Bulldog fans was incredible...added to the fact that we won! But the chills I felt when the team ran out of the tunnel after pre-game warm ups in their black jerseys: chills. A feeling I will always remember. 

Senior Year:

This year marked a lot of lasts, which meant a lot of being sentimental. It's the seniors' job in the sorority to host the tailgate but I almost enjoyed it more that way. Our pledge class got to spend a lot of time together, even if it meant waking up early to secure a good parking spot or packing up a tent following a late game. I think this whole senior year season was my favorite year, not because the team did so incredibly well (note the sarcasm), but because of the friendships. Most memorable game, in my mind, was the Georgia/Georgia Tech game....not necessarily good memorable though! My last game as a Georgia undergrad and it rains/is freezing. And we lost, terribly. More bitter than sweet, but we survived just barely with only a small bout of pneumonia. (Okay that's an exaggeration, but either way it was rough.)

2009, First Alum Season:
I've only been able to make it to one game per season in Athens since graduating (I'm hoping this year will be the year that changes...), but when I've gone I've made it count. I've finagled my schedule so I can make it to Athens when the most of my friends are there. We always have fun and it's so great to get to relive a weekend in college every once and a while. 

I actually made it to the UT vs. UGA game that year too since I had so many UT friends in Knoxville. I tried to "blend in" as much as possible though considering I had to sit in the Tennessee Student section. But I was especially excited because the Alpha Gam Seniors made the trek up to Knoxville so I got to crash with them for a bit! 

(Can we talk about how long my hair was?!)

2010, Post Grad, Year #2
I got lucky because Jessica Schwartz went to grad school at Georgia, so that guaranteed that I had a couple of extra seasons of housing for the weekend/a buddy to sit with at games. I loved getting to spend the whole weekend in Athens with a good friend, but I remember this year I started to realize how exhausting football game days really can be!

2011, Post Grad, Year #3
Just last year, we had an Alpha Gam Alumni Tailgate for the South Carolina game and it was so much fun! I was really impressed with the turnout from a handful of pledge classes, Fall '05 in particular! I'm hoping this can be a semi-annual event because I had a blast! 

Just looking through these pictures has gotten me all pumped up to go to a game! Anyone have tickets or housing they want to offer up? I'm kidding....but not really. I just need to be intentional to clear a weekend that I can go enjoy the game in the Classic City. But if nothing else, I will be cheering on my Dawgs watching TV, listening over the radio (RIP Larry Munson), and checking updates on my phone. Life gets busy post-grad and you do what you have to do for the sake of football down south. 

*So proud of my Dawgs from this past Saturday--Todd Gurley, keep it up! Defense, step it up!