Good morning Dawgs and thanks to Major. In this case thanks for letting me go on his first day of vacation because it's hard to follow the others in this group. This has been my opening since I became a member of the GMDN way back when (I don't remember, but it was before Major took over his morning duty). I also don't remember why I picked that start, but I find there's more I don't remember any more. Don't worry, your time will come. Hopefully Major is enjoying his first sunrise of the week and we wish him a great vacation.
I know some of you weren't born in Spring of 1966 when this song came out, but for me in my sophomore year of college, it just struck me though I can't describe it. But we all have our feelings about Monday. For me it is now garbage and recyclable day (so romantic, I know) and that's the real reason I'm going first. So much of my work history didn't revolve about Monday mornings so I can't say I had a lot of the Monday morning blues. As the Major says, we're glad many of you keep supporting our Social Security and we look forward to a large increase next year.
I can't help repeating how much I appreciate the GMDN and obviously it's the people who take part, whether it's every day or just occasionally, or whether it's wordy like Carl and I or just a few words. It's all important and at times the reason I have continued to be here. I love the stories and the personal touch; my wife now "knows" some of you (don't worry - it's only the good parts). I'm not a member of any local group and don't see anybody on a regular basis, so I cherish our interaction.
I know some of you have heard this before, but we do get new people so I just wanted to mention a little background. I was born in Queens and moved to Long Island (Long Beach) right before I turned nine. Graduated from High School there and attended NYU in the Bronx. Worked in Manhattan until one day in 1974 when I found myself on the way to the Orlando area. I was a fan of the New York teams except for the Boston Celtics and that is where Celticdawg comes from. Just wanted to pick something different when I joined that somebody didn't have and I guess it worked. My wife was responsible for me becoming a Georgia fan and we dove headfirst into being Dawgs. Athens is a long trip for a weekend. We did make a number of games in Athens, though I got to see more when I worked in Atlanta. We are both big sports fans and that led us to start going to UCF games back when they were in Division II (don't remember our first year though I should try and figure that out some day). Those days there were no seat licenses, just the cost of a ticket. It was no problem getting seats about the 40 yard line (close enough that we sat right behind the defensive huddles and it was no problem hearing Brian VanGorder when he was DC back in 1997). You could also buy beer because the games weren't on campus. We have enjoyed them thru the years and have had seats on the 50 yard line on the visitor side since they built a stadium on campus. So we root for both teams and never want to see them play each other again (we were at the game in Sanford).
We will be celebrating our 45th anniversary in January and are fortunate to have had many great experiences watching sports and traveling around the world (at least parts of it). Other than a NC, not much more that we want to achieve regarding sports (will add a trip to a game at Annapolis this year). We would still like to do a lot of travel and will try and stay in good health to achieve that. Two European trips scheduled for next year and we'll go from there. The best advice I can give regarding travel is to enjoy what you do and see and not to worry about what you didn't get to do. When we were younger it was try to see everything and we realized over time that wasn't the most important thing. Just make some memories as they say.
Time to hand over the baton and I look forward to the guest posts over the next two weeks. Always interesting from this group,
I need to add that last night was one of the most exciting soccer games in the finals of the Gold Cup. It's just so much better when your team (U.S.) beats their rival (Mexico). As Lump has mentioned this past week, while this was basically the top Mexico team, it was probably the "C" team for the U.S. Our goal was to evaluate players to be added to the National team and there were plenty of impressive performances. Hopefully better times are ahead. I especially look forward to the 2026 World Cup since there will be games in the U.S. and hopefully Orlando gets some.
Thanks to Lump for keeping our OPL. I look forward to seeing less people on the list though I know the group is always ready. And this is a good time to remember the three members we have lost over the last year or so. So I will leave with prayers for the current group.
I don't think I have to explain my closing.
GO DAWGS
I know some of you weren't born in Spring of 1966 when this song came out, but for me in my sophomore year of college, it just struck me though I can't describe it. But we all have our feelings about Monday. For me it is now garbage and recyclable day (so romantic, I know) and that's the real reason I'm going first. So much of my work history didn't revolve about Monday mornings so I can't say I had a lot of the Monday morning blues. As the Major says, we're glad many of you keep supporting our Social Security and we look forward to a large increase next year.
I can't help repeating how much I appreciate the GMDN and obviously it's the people who take part, whether it's every day or just occasionally, or whether it's wordy like Carl and I or just a few words. It's all important and at times the reason I have continued to be here. I love the stories and the personal touch; my wife now "knows" some of you (don't worry - it's only the good parts). I'm not a member of any local group and don't see anybody on a regular basis, so I cherish our interaction.
I know some of you have heard this before, but we do get new people so I just wanted to mention a little background. I was born in Queens and moved to Long Island (Long Beach) right before I turned nine. Graduated from High School there and attended NYU in the Bronx. Worked in Manhattan until one day in 1974 when I found myself on the way to the Orlando area. I was a fan of the New York teams except for the Boston Celtics and that is where Celticdawg comes from. Just wanted to pick something different when I joined that somebody didn't have and I guess it worked. My wife was responsible for me becoming a Georgia fan and we dove headfirst into being Dawgs. Athens is a long trip for a weekend. We did make a number of games in Athens, though I got to see more when I worked in Atlanta. We are both big sports fans and that led us to start going to UCF games back when they were in Division II (don't remember our first year though I should try and figure that out some day). Those days there were no seat licenses, just the cost of a ticket. It was no problem getting seats about the 40 yard line (close enough that we sat right behind the defensive huddles and it was no problem hearing Brian VanGorder when he was DC back in 1997). You could also buy beer because the games weren't on campus. We have enjoyed them thru the years and have had seats on the 50 yard line on the visitor side since they built a stadium on campus. So we root for both teams and never want to see them play each other again (we were at the game in Sanford).
We will be celebrating our 45th anniversary in January and are fortunate to have had many great experiences watching sports and traveling around the world (at least parts of it). Other than a NC, not much more that we want to achieve regarding sports (will add a trip to a game at Annapolis this year). We would still like to do a lot of travel and will try and stay in good health to achieve that. Two European trips scheduled for next year and we'll go from there. The best advice I can give regarding travel is to enjoy what you do and see and not to worry about what you didn't get to do. When we were younger it was try to see everything and we realized over time that wasn't the most important thing. Just make some memories as they say.
Time to hand over the baton and I look forward to the guest posts over the next two weeks. Always interesting from this group,
I need to add that last night was one of the most exciting soccer games in the finals of the Gold Cup. It's just so much better when your team (U.S.) beats their rival (Mexico). As Lump has mentioned this past week, while this was basically the top Mexico team, it was probably the "C" team for the U.S. Our goal was to evaluate players to be added to the National team and there were plenty of impressive performances. Hopefully better times are ahead. I especially look forward to the 2026 World Cup since there will be games in the U.S. and hopefully Orlando gets some.
Thanks to Lump for keeping our OPL. I look forward to seeing less people on the list though I know the group is always ready. And this is a good time to remember the three members we have lost over the last year or so. So I will leave with prayers for the current group.
I don't think I have to explain my closing.
GO DAWGS
