ATHENS, Ga. _ Try to remember a really good decision from your past. Like that neck tattoo you didn't get. The Enron stock you didn't buy. The day you broke up with the vegan cat blogger.
This one rose to the level of those kind of momentous calls. Four promising UGA football players _ two running backs, two linebackers _ came to a fork in the road a year ago, and, as Yogi Berra would say, they took it.
They bet the pass line, took the optimistic view. Deciding against throwing themselves into the uncertainty of the NFL draft for a quick payout, they instead returned for their senior Bulldogs season. It couldn't have been an easy choice. They were coming off a 7-5 regular season and the Liberty Bowl loomed, no bucket-list destination. They were busing to an alternate practice site as construction on the new indoor facility was completed. They couldn't be certain the new coach with the chronically scorched vocal cords was the answer every Georgia loyalist sought, though they had a suspicion.
Today, here is the firm of Chubb, Michel, Carter & Bellamy, flush with vindication.
They thus far have survived the ordeals of a long season without tearing anything important. The Bulldogs are SEC champions, off to play Oklahoma in the playoffs on New Year's Day. And they, for their act of faith, are the dominant symbols of a special season, guaranteed to hold of rank of "Damn Good Dawg" until something better than football comes along.
A year ago, there certain visions accompanied their decision to return for a senior season _ some practical, others fanciful. And then there's the current reality.
"Reality has gone above and beyond," linebacker Lorenzo Carter said.
Yeah, good call.
The four Bulldogs who stayed and played, point men of a resurgence, are kind of a big deal. They are:
