Run Lindsay Run

[JonInMiddleGA]

Note: Red & Black still turns my stomach, but there are still the rarest of occasions when I gotta give the devil his due.

It was 25 years ago when UGA won their national championship & no moment in that season has been replayed more often Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott.

Game: Georgia vs. Florida, 1980
Score: GEORGIA 26, FLORIDA 21
http://www.larrymunson.com/audio/UGA_UF_1980.MP3
"Florida in a stand-up five, they may or may not blitz, Belue third down on the 8, in trouble, he got a block behind him going to throw on the run, complete on the 25 to the 30, Lindsay Scott 35, 40, Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40. ... Run Lindsay, 25, 20, 15, 10, Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! ... Well, I can't believe it. 92 yards and Lindsay really got in a foot race I broke my chair. I came right through a chair. A metal steel chair with about a 5 inch cushion, I broke it. The booth came apart. The stadium... well the stadium fell down, now they do have to renovate this place... they'll have to rebuild it now. This is incredible. You know this game has always been called the World's Greatest Cocktail Party, do you know what's gonna happen here tonight, and up at St. Simmons and Jeckyl Island, and all those places where all those dawg people have got those condominiums for 4 days. Man is there going to be some property destroyed tonight! 26-21, Dawgs on top. We were gone. I'd gave up, you did too. We were out of it and gone. Miracle!"

I think that call from Larry Munson is the one that put him into another plane with the UGA faithful, moreso than any other. He's certainly not the only announcer anywhere to reach "that level", that place where you're not just part of a program but in many respects you ARE the program or at least the most beloved icon of the program. But there are situations presented to a lot of people, the most special ones are those who respond to the occasion.

"4th and 17, I know I'm asking alot you guys, but Hunker it down one more time!" and Look at the Sugar falling out of the sky! (http://www.larrymunson.com/audio/UGA__AU__1982.MP3) are memorable moments but I believe its the Belue/Scott touchdown that really shows why Munson is so revered -- the joy of a fan, the broken chair, the complete understanding of his audience. He isn't talking to them or telling them, he IS one of them.

Lindsay Scott continues to try to rebuild his life after a number of problems, he owns a Merry Maids franchise these days.

Buck Belue now has a microphone himself, a sportstalk radio host in Atlanta for the past several years.

Larry Munson is still in the broadcast booth too, although to his credit he admits that he's not the same announcer today as he was 25 years ago:
"I was quick then, right with the ball. I didn't have to worry about not being with it. It was a better call than a lot you make now," he said."
http://www.ajc.com/uga/content/sports/uga/1005/27scott.html

[Ben E Lou]

I was gonna post the mp3 on November 8th, actually. Thanks for stealing my thunder, Jon. ;)

[Cringer]

UGA football?

The Lindsay Lohan video of her running that I had in my mind when I came in here would have been much more interesting. :(

I should have known though, sometimes this place seems like a board for Georgia residents only.

[JonInMiddleGA]

UGA football?

Actually, I don't think this is nearly so much about UGA football as it is about the way certain announcers respond to certain moments.

Something I planned to get around to posting at some post was a sidebar about how much a single call can influence the perception of an announcer.

For example, I believe Al Michael's place in history was cemented by Do you believe in miracles? Yes !. He's had a very fine career but minus that one shining moment, I don't believe he would be held in nearly the same regard.

In Boston, Johnny Most is a legend to be sure ... but without Havlicek stole the ball !, I wonder how many people outside New England would recall ever hearing his voice.

In St.Louis, "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!" is likely to be a signature moment, but on the larger stage, I can't imagine that the indelible image of Jack Buck is anything other than "I don't believe what I just saw." As another HOF broadcaster, Marty Brennaman, put it "that conveyed everything that people in Dodger Stadium were thinking [and] people watching on TV or listening on the radio. He said it exactly the way it was. That's a talent that very few people like us in this business have." Brennaman might be a good example of the sort of thing I'm talking about -- he's an incredible announcer who enjoyed an outstanding career, but I don't believe that he had that one moment in time for that one unforgettable call, the difference in why so many people who would recognize the Gibson home run call likely couldn't even identify Marty's profession if you mentioned his name.

So no, this really wasn't about Georgia football.

[GrantDawg]

I can't listen to that without remembering watching the game when I was ten at my uncles house. My heart was breaking as I thought i was watching an upset and my beloved Dawgs were going to fall short. When Lindsay made that run, it created a life-long football fan. Good times. When I preached my cousins funeral a couple of years ago, I mentioned that day. He was a man who rarely got excited, but he was about as happy as I ever saw him that day.

[Cringer]

Actually, I don't think this is nearly so much about UGA football as it is about the way certain announcers respond to certain moments.


Sorry, when I see Georgia in a thread, or Atlanta, or Vick, or something along those lines, I usually stop reading the rest. I admit I didn't finish the story to get the point of it. My apologies.

[GreenMonster]

Sorry, when I see Georgia in a thread, or Atlanta, or Vick, or something along those lines, I usually stop reading the rest. I admit I didn't finish the story to get the point of it. My apologies.

Try expanding your horizens to Atlanta/Georgia threads...

[finkenst]

Go Florida.

[digamma]

Those are probably my second and third favorite Munson calls of all time. My favorite:
the 2000 Georgia-Georgia Tech game:

"And they're just running the ball up and down the field on us like we're Wake Forest or Maryland or someone."

[Ben E Lou]

Those are probably my second and third favorite Munson calls of all time. My favorite:
the 2000 Georgia-Georgia Tech game:

"And they're just running the ball up and down the field on us like we're Wake Forest or Maryland or someone."Truth be told, week-in and week-out, Munson is probably more entertaining when we're losing and/or not playing well. He is the ultimate doomsayer, even in a UGA blowout. ("Yeah, we're up 30, but there's HOURS and HOURS left to play!") When we truly are getting pushed around, listening to him is like watching the train wreck in The Fugitive. Truly spectacular

[JonInMiddleGA]

Truth be told, week-in and week-out, Munson is probably more entertaining when we're losing and/or not playing well. He is the ultimate doomsayer, even in a UGA blowout. ("Yeah, we're up 30, but there's HOURS and HOURS left to play!") When we truly are getting pushed around, listening to him is like watching the train wreck in The Fugitive. Truly spectacular

I think all those years around Dooley must have rubbed off on him ;)

I had to go looking to refresh my memory on the context & situation, but I found the writeup on the game that featured one of my favorite Munsonism's.
http://onlineathens.com/stories/091705/dog_20050917007.shtml

I don't think I've run across it in archived audio, but the line was something to the effect that "They've got the ball, they've got the yardage, they've got the first downs, and all we've got is little Scott Woerner."

Thanks to a 67-yard punt return for a touchdown, and a 98-yard pass interception runback by Woerner that set up a score, Georgia got 14 points in the first half. Had Woerner not pulled off his heroics, the Bulldogs may still be struggling to not be pushed into the Oconee River. ... It reads like a typographical error, but it isn't. At halftime, Clemson had 16 first downs. Georgia had none. Clemson had 141 yards rushing. The Dogs had nine. Clemson had the football 25 minutes and 10 seconds. Georgia had it a meager four minutes and 50 seconds - yet Georgia led at intermission 14-10!