Sports provides us with entertainment, an escape for a few hours.
When your team wins, it’s only icing on the cake.
There has been a lot of that going on lately in Georgia. Never has there been a better time to be a fan in Georgia.
The local teams — the Atlanta Braves, University of Georgia Bulldogs and Atlanta Hawks — are on a roll.
The Braves are in the middle of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second year in a row. Maybe they’ll break through and make it to the World Series this time, the first time since 1999.
There was a time when the Braves were a regular fixture in the World Series, finishing runner-up in 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1999, and winning it all during that golden year in 1995.
Regardless, the modern-day Braves have won four consecutive National League East pennants (2018-2021) during their resurgence. It’s their best streak since reeling off an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles between 1991 and 2005.
They later added another division title in 2013 before reeling off the aforementioned division titles in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 during their current run.
Not to be outdone, the Atlanta Hawks advanced to the Eastern Conference finals this past season and are poised to build upon that success heading into the new season. It was their first and only trip to the Eastern Conference finals since 2015.
The Atlanta Hawks organization, however, has slowly been building toward success for years. They remain one of only four NBA teams to qualify for the playoffs 10 consecutive seasons in the 21st century (2008-2017).
The biggest splash of all, however, of the aforementioned teams may belong to the Georgia Bulldogs this season.
Kirby Smart and his staff have the undefeated Bulldogs (7-0 overall, 5-0 SEC) poised to not only advance to the SEC title game this year and win it but also advance to the playoffs where they will likely be the odds-on favorite to advance to the final and win their long-awaited first national title since Herschel Walker-led Georgia captured the 1980 national championship.
SEC championships, like the ones the Bulldogs won most recently in 2002 (vs. Arkansas), 2005 (vs. LSU) and 2017 (vs. Auburn) are nice, but there’s nothing like a national championship. Georgia came close to one in 2018, only to have their hearts crushed on the last play of the national championship game against Alabama in a 26-23 overtime loss.
This time, however, the elusive title does not slip away.
Georgia nails this one.
Bulldog fans rejoice.
How sweet it is.
John Sullivan is the sports editor at The Griffin Daily News.
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