Pretty Southern

Category: Sports

A Game Day Prayer for UGA vs. Samford by Royce Smith

Editor’s note: we’re thrilled to have Royce Smith, Jr., son of UGA All-American Royce Smith (who played for Vince Dooley) guest blog on Pretty Southern. Now onto the prayer. Let’s Go Dawgs!

Dear Majestic Little Creator of Everything Holy and the rest of the stuff not related to Georgia Football,

You might have heard of me Baby Jesus seeing my dad, Royce Sr, was a great All American offensive lineman at Georgia and now lives with you.

Royce Smith’s UGA football card

Maybe I have come up in conversation over dinner? Either way, you know I’ve been bleeding red and black since I was a baby bulldog, right Jesus? Anyway, Prayer Deacon Jenn is off doing your work down in Florida and I have been entrusted with the most holy of holies…. The Gameday Prayer.

Royce Smith and Vince Dooley with the Gator Bowl trophy in 1971

First, I’d like to say thank you Mighty Christ Child for that glorious win last Saturday over Notre Dame. Leading all your people in red up North was a sight to see and rewarding them with a W was simply amazing!! Those poor Yankees must have been awfully terrified by all that barking! We even marched through their baseball stadium the night before. HOW ‘BOUT THEM DAWGS?!

Royce Smith, with UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity, when his father was inducted into Georgia’s Circle of Honor

Well, Great Leader, the Holy War continues this week with the Baptist Bulldogs of Samford. Lord, I feel I don’t really need to pray for a victory because no other bulldog is going to come between our blessed hedges this week or next and leave with a win. I pray more for the health of our warriors in silver britches.

Royce Smith with one of the iconic UGA Bulldog statues in Athens

Lord, please give our boys the mental strength to stay focused and sharp. Keep Chubb’s knees strong and protect lil Jake in the pocket. Let our defense stay aggressive and stout. I even hope our newly scholarshiped kicker gets tired from so many extra points he will have. With your help, General Kirby will have them ready for battle.

I know those FCS Bulldogs will probably use dirty tactics with their coach, Chris Hatcher. I bet he is trying to play mind games with ol’ Kirby right now with an, “I use to be your Boss” text. It won’t help though, cause the Bulldogs of Athens are going to be hungry tonight.

Little Sovereign Savior, may the first down chains move like your spirit and let the bell ring in Athens tonight!!

Please tell my old man I said hi. AMEN and GO DAWGS!!!

Royce Smith with his son at Sanford Stadium in Athens

About Royce Smith
Born and raised in the south, Royce Smith, Jr. is a former US Marine who now oversees Avionics Operations at Phoenix Air, an international aircraft service company headquartered in Northwest Georgia. When he’s not rooting for the Dawgs you can find him scaring lightweights at the gym, smoking pork butts for his family and friends, or feeding Cayman eels in the wild.

September 16, 2017
A Prayer from the Bulldog Nation for UGA vs. Notre Dame

Editor’s Note: every Saturday when UGA plays this football season, check out Pretty Southern for a prayer for the Bulldog Nation. Praise be!

Dear 8lb, 9oz pint-sized-but-powerful little leader,

I would like to take a serious moment and start the prayer by nicely asking if you could just clap-on/clap-off the hurricanes, baby ruler. Or, if they have to come, maybe just a brief stop over Gainesville where nobody gets hurt but maybe their fields get real soggy. Also, in the event that all of this catastrophe is signaling the end times, well, we’ll see ya real soon!

On with the show! Speaking of on with the show, Jesus, do you remember last weekend? When ya half scared us to death then delivered us from evil? I hear you’re real good at that.

A heartfelt Get Well from the Bulldog Nation to Jacob Eason and a big fat, literal, THANK YOU JESUS for Jake Fromm. Wooeee, that kid.

Today our boys in their silver britches are taking on some team in the North who calls themselves Notre Dame. First of all, Jesus, do you know that Notre Dame is French for “Our Lady.” What are they even talking about? There is no OUR here, Jesus. She’s literally YOUR mom. I wouldn’t take kindly to a buncha Yankees making such claims.

And worse than being Yankees, Jesus, THEY ARE CATHOLICS. Now, I know they claim to be your people and all, but think about it. Catholics believe people shouldn’t have birth control and that if they just don’t have S-E-X, they won’t get pregnant. Again, lordlet, I would just like to remind them who your mom is. I would also like to remind them that hanging a giant tacky picture of someone in your house without their permission is just not something someone in the SEC would ever do. Touchdown, Jesus, indeed.

I wish I could say it stopped there, but it gets worse. THEY’RE IRISH. Fighting Irish, in fact.

Not sure if you’ve been in any bars lately, small savior, but the drunk redheads with the silly accents are usually the first to go down. Who can’t win a fight against the stumbly guy, child chief?! This shouldn’t be a problem for our mighty Dawgs!

These Yankee gingers call their stadium the House that Rockne Built. Uh, what’s a Rockne?
I obviously did some research from the other Good Book, Wikipedia, and learned that he’s some coach from 1918? Honoring some ol’ dead coach? Is this the guy with the silly houndstooth, Jesus? This Bend in the South sounds quite inferior to Athens and Sanford Stadium with its glorious hedges.

We come to you today, petite deity, asking for another fire game for Fromm, safe runs, caught balls, and for that powerhouse defense of ours to stop those little Mary’s (no offense, you know we’ll hail her if we have to) dead in their tracks!

In your tiniest little pair of hobnail boots wearin’ name we pray,

AMEN AND GO DAWGS!

For more, follow @Pretty_Southern on Twitter and #UGAvsNotreDame

September 9, 2017
A Prayer for UGA – Kicking off the 2017 Season

Editor’s note: we’re thrilled to welcome Jenn back with her prayers for the Bulldog Nation, kicking off the 2017 season: UGA vs. App State.

Dear 8lb, 9oz tiniest, smallest, most mighty little leader,

Helllloooooooo, Jesus! Can you just believe it? Here we are! Together again on the holiest of holy days! Why, this is the most anticipated meet up until Tormund and Brienne are back together. Thank you for this day. Thank you for our relatively crime-free off season. Thank you for the Bulldog Nation. I hear there’s nothin’ finer in the land.

Today, between our glorious, made-by-you hedges, our Dawgs take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Lordlet, they’re supposed to start us with an easy W, but we all remember the 2007 Michigan* game and come to you asking for not a repeat performance. Good thing Coach Kirby is our leader and not Ol’ Butch Jones or this could be a close one! Please help us to remain focused, steadfast, and committed to kicking their, um, tushes.

Baby God, do you know that App State’s mascot is a redneck named Yosef? He shoots a dang rifle after every touchdown. I am absolutely 100% sure that he voted for Donny Jonny. That alone is enough of a reason to never let them win a game again, but I can keep going. The name “Yosef” comes from mountain talk for “yourself,” the idea being that if you are a fan, you are Yosef. That doesn’t make much sense to me, Jesus, but then again, I don’t speak stupid.

Speaking of stupid, do you know they call their yearbook The Rhododendron, that making tons of sense, what with it being the national flower of Nepal?! These guys, little savior, I gotta tell you, seem to have been hit with the short end of the smart stick. If you don’t believe me, go check out their website (not that you need a website to know, smallest seer of all things despite your infant-sized brain). They have a plan where you can graduate in 5 years…ON PURPOSE.

There’s just not a whole lot I can say about the SunBelt Conference, little Lord. Would sorta feel like picking on the kid who doesn’t get picked for dodgeball. Doesn’t help them much that their record under that Satterfield fella is 32-18. Math was never much my favorite (sorry, I know you invented it) but Jesus, THAT’S A D. There just ain’t a reason in this Universe why our glorious and mighty Bulldogs should fall to an average team. I’m sure you’ll hear our prayer, pint-sized deity, and see to a win for the boys in red and black.

Itty bitty chief, we come to you today to ask that Coach Kirby be on the other side of what we call, rebuilding. That our Dawgs are ready to play strong and smart. Like, 4-year degree smart. Let ‘em be blessed with complete passes, long runs, and no injuries. Let Uga’s icepack stay cold. Let us all channel our inner Larry and HUNKER DOWN! And, above all else, let us sing your petite praises for bringing back the very best time of the year.

In your size extra small silver britches wearin’ name we pray,

AMEN AND GO DAWGS!

September 2, 2017
New Braves Stadium = “Zero Wow Factor”

Luke Skywalker conned Han Solo by promising him more wealth than Han could imagine.

Han’s immortal reply was: “I don’t know kid; I can imagine quite a bit.” So, when I heard a Braves talking head during a recent exhibition game to tout the traffic and parking situation as “not nearly as bad as you might imagine” (not exactly a ringing endorsement in the first place), I began channeling my inner Han.

First some background and full disclosure: I had the opportunity to play a small part in bringing Turner Field to Atlanta before the 1996 Olympics. As a baseball fan and an Olympics buff, it was one of the highlights of my legal career. My daughter learned to love Chipper Jones and baseball (in that order) there. Let’s just say I have a soft spot for the Ted. And as a fan of “win-win” deals, what wasn’t to like? The Braves got a stadium on the IOC’s dime and it was kept downtown. They even eschewed the naming rights and called it Turner Field.

Having dealt with the Braves back before the Olympics, I should not have been surprised when they announced after a short 10 years that they were leaving their free stadium downtown for a free stadium in Smyrna.

The Braves don’t just look a gift horse in the mouth; they perform oral surgery.

But the kicker was where they put the damn thing. We all thought it was a joke. Infuriated, I swore that I would not set foot in SunTrust. And then I decided to attend the charity game between UGA and Mizzou came around. I figured I’d use that day as my opportunity to see the park under ideal circumstances.

The game was on a Saturday at 1:30 p.m. It was a sunny day. It was spring break. The Masters was on TV. There was nothing else going on that would clog I-285. Waze was cued up, ready to guide me to my very own parking space, just like the nice Braves lady said.

Then, reality threw me a little chin music. I sat seemingly forever as traffic cops refused to stop traffic on Cobb Parkway to allow game traffic to head to the lots. Waze pointed me to parking lots that were closed to the public and then just sort of gave up. I ended up in the “east parking”, which turns out to be a parking deck for an office building.

As I circled the deck, I was mentally calculating just how long it would take to get out of that deck on a game night. I settled on “forever.”

All told, it took me a full hour to park; TWICE as long as it took me drive there. And then there was a nice walk over two bridges to get to the stadium. I shook my head. The parking attendant shook his head in solidarity.

The stadium itself is very nice but has absolutely nothing to set it apart. It has zero “wow” factor. Once inside, you could be in Terra Haute. You look out over the outfield wall and see . . . nothing. It isn’t AT&T. It isn’t Camden Yards. It isn’t Nationals Field or Globe Life Park in Arlington. And guess what, boys and girls? It isn’t even The Ted.

Does it have nicer amenities? Sure it does. Would a new car have more bells and whistles than the car you bought a few years ago? But, if you are there to watch a ballgame, it’s at best a draw and I prefer to see the Atlanta skyline than the nondescript Comcast building.

The Ted had charm and history. SunTrust has all the allure of a shopping mall and it is clear that was the idea all along. I will spare you my outrage at a $14 BBQ sandwich and a $9.50 beer. Apparently, the Braves think Terrapin is brewed in Athens, Greece. I shook my head. The beer lady shook her head in solidarity.

So, I’ve been to the circus and I have seen the elephant. It’s white.

What are your thoughts on the Braves new SunTrust Park? Let us know in the comments section below

April 12, 2017
Batter Up! The Restaurant List for Battery Atlanta at SunTrust Park

The Atlanta Braves new home at SunTrust Park is almost ready for Opening Day, and the list of restaurants The Battery Atlanta has got our mouths watering. Here’s a list of restaurants and target opening dates:

One of our favorite Southern chefs Hugh Acheson has a new concept with First & Third Hot Dog and Sausage Shack. Acheson’s menu will focus on high-quality sausages and hot dogs, most from local butcher Patak Meats in nearby Austell, Ga.

Another star on the all-star chef line-up, Linton Hopkins, has a new steakhouse dubbed C. Ellet’s, after his great-grandfather. “The ~6,500 square foot restaurant will draw inspiration from New Orleans,” according to the press release.

Previously announced, Antico Pizza will be open its third location at The Battery

Also from the PR:

Yard House the high-end sports bar chain (with another Atlanta location at Atlantic Station) will occupy a ~12,000 sq. footprint for its bevy of beers and delish pub grub.

FEED – Fried Chicken & Such, by Chef Marc Taft, is slated for a May opening. Taft is known in the Atlanta area for his popular Chicken and the Egg restaurant in Marietta.

Opening this summer, BURN by Rocky Patel is an evolution in cigar lounges. Featuring a design that draws on an exotic mix of Mediterranean, Asian, and Cuban cultures, BURN is a sanctuary for those who enjoy fine cigars and premium spirits.

Beginning in May, Haagen-Dazs will bring their perfect flavors and creamiest textured treats to The Battery Atlanta.

On the retail side, Baseballism will offer lifestyle apparel inspired by America’s pastime. Specializing in premium apparel and accessories, Baseballism has a selection of merchandise for men, women, and children of all ages.

Are you looking for an expert design and production team for your apparel business, then you can check out these Thrive wholesale screen printed tshirts here for more info!

Here’s the tentative Battery Atlanta Opening Schedule

(April/May – subject to change)

April

 Braves Clubhouse Store

 Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre

 Two Ballpark Center

 Mizuno Experience Center

 Yard House

 Terrapin Taproom featuring Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

 Todd English Tavern

 Sport & Social

 Antico Pizza

 Harley-Davidson

May

 C. Ellet’s

 Goldberg’s Bagel Company & Deli

 Haagen-Dazs

 FEED Fried Chicken & Such

 Wahlburgers

 Sugarboo

 Dress Up

 Baseballism

 PBR Bar & Grill

About SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta

SunTrust Park, the new 41,000-seat home of the Atlanta Braves, is being developed by the organization in partnership with the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority and will be completed by Opening Day 2017. Located in Atlanta at the intersection of I-75 and I-285 in the bustling Cumberland area, SunTrust Park will flow directly into The Battery Atlanta, a 1.5 million square foot mixed-use development, featuring boutique shopping, chef-driven restaurants, an Omni Hotel, The Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre, 550 residences and One Ballpark Center, Comcast’s regional office headquarters. Powered by Comcast’s all-fiber network and delivering multi-terabit capabilities, SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta will have the highest-capacity network serving any stadium and mixed-use development in the nation. The Battery Atlanta is being privately developed by the Braves along with retail partner Fuqua Development, office developer Pope & Land Enterprises and Pollack Shores Real Estate. Visitors can get a sneak peek of SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta at www.braves.com/suntrustpark or www.batteryatl.com.

# # #

March 3, 2017
Dear Atlanta Falcons on Super Bowl Sunday

To the Atlanta Falcons on Super Bowl Sunday…

Dear players, coaches, fans, fellow Atlantans, and all y’all Dirty Bird fans around the world — who would have thought we would be going to the Super Bowl in 2017? Like seriously y’all, the Falcons chances of going to the Super Bowl at the start of the 2016 season were 40:1!

If there’s one phrase that truly represents Atlanta it’s #RiseUp!

We’re a city that’s pretty riled up right now. It was less than three weeks ago that our new President called ATL “horrible” and “falling apart”. The old Trumpster could not have spouted more of an “alternative truth” than if he claimed to see a pack of unicorns chugging PBR in front of a clean Claremont Lounge.

Atlantans rallied in a battle cry of #Defendthe5th for our hero Representative John Lewis. We banded together in the spirit of pride for our city, and this before the Falcons defeated the Packers to land our Super Bowl spot. Unlike the New England Patriots, we never saw this one coming.

Now granted, Atlanta is a young city compared to Boston.

The first English settlers didn’t arrive here until the 1800s, and “Terminus” was born in 1837. Atlanta only became “Atlanta” in 1847 so technically we’re about 170 years old.

And in our less than 200 years, our city has been completely burned to the ground thanks to that Damn Yankee Sherman. Boston never had to overcome that type of decimation. Look at what our beautiful Atlanta has become.

Atlanta is thriving, just like our Falcons

This team and its owner Arthur Blank have done so much good for our city, the state of Georgia, and the entire South. Atlanta has booming businesses, the busiest airport in the world, and like our original name “Terminus” we’re becoming an intersection for America, and really the world.

Now here we are, getting ready to take on the Delfategaters themselves.

It’s safe to say the Patriots are the Damn Yankees in this Super Bowl. Remember y’all, Tom Brady is a cheater. He had to sit out four games this year because of the whole Deflategate scandal. Brady is no gentlemen in real life, as he left a pregnant Bridget Moynihan for Giselle, and let’s not even get started about his politics.

As Margaret Mitchell wrote about in Gone With The Wind: “Gumption…it’s what makes the strong survive while others go under.”

These Atlanta Falcons are a team of gumption. The fact they made it to the Super Bowl this year shows how this team has come together in the spirit of glory and greatness. Let no Patriot put us under, because these Atlanta Falcons are the real America.

Now here’s something pretty cool. The startup I work for is also named Terminus. I’m proud to be a “Terminator” at the #1 Best Place to Work in Atlanta (thanks Atlanta Business Chronicle for that accolade). We were lucky to be featured on CMSWire in a “Super Bowl Challenge” with a Boston tech company.

That’s yours truly rocking a Varsity hat down in front

As we prepared for the Super Bowl and our team spirit running high, my fellow “Terminator” Brent Edmonson wrote something that really stuck with me…

What makes Atlanta such an amazing tech city is the fact that we mix the fast moving world of technology with our deep-rooted heritage of Southern charm.

So yeah, we may not win this one, but dammit we’re going to try because that’s something Southerners have always done. This Super Bowl shot could not have been fired at a better time because Atlanta is ready to rumble.

Here’s to the Dirty Birds, and all the birds of a feather that flock together.

#RiseUp y’all! Go Falcons!

February 5, 2017

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