Georgia's Defense, Or...Why We Fans Are A Funny Lot

First, for all you Webster, Jr.'s out there, I am aware that "Fan" is short for "Fanatic," so critical thinking and rational conclusions are not going to be key ingredients in our general mindset. That being said, we knew this was coming.

We knew just about every defensive starter was leaving, and for the NFL at that. We knew that we were going to be starting freshmen, and for that matter, freshmen who'd missed extensive practice time in the fall. We knew that the resulting inexperience would lead not only to 'busted plays,' but also to missed opportunities.

But, here we are after 2 weeks (myself included), throwing beer cans at the TV, and cussing out anyone who misses a tackle, drops a pick, or fails to get pressure on the QB on any play.

Part of this, I know, is that we all try to have a positive outlook when there's a bleak prognosis.

"Hey, the defense was crappy against the run last year anyway, so maybe some new faces will help."

"I heard Brendan Langley and Shaq Wiggins are picking off 3 balls every practice."

I attribute that to the same thing that you'll see with Ben Affleck playing Batman. People will remember that they were pissed off when Heath Ledger was picked to play The Joker, but that turned out great. They'll tell themselves that the studios have too much riding on this to go with someone they weren't sure could pull it off. The bottom line, though, is that no matter how much rationalizing you do, Ben Affleck is going to suck as Batman, so you might as well accept it, and just hope he's at least good enough to not completely ruin the whole movie franchise.

The difference here is that, unlike Affleck, who will suck for the entire movie, the Dawg D has the ability to make improvements over the course of the year. With a bye week and a patsy coming up before mighty LSU, and 120 minutes of game film to pull from, I do expect Georgia's defense to make significant strides.

So, we can continue to be irrational fans, or we can take a deep breath, remember that we knew this would be part of the deal, and just see what happens.

Until the next time a safety gets burned for an 80 yard TD, and we'll go through this all over again.