The day before yesterday I quoted Larry Munson.
Yesterday he died.
Today I learned about it. My entire family is in mourning. The legendary broadcaster of University of Georgia football has been as much a part of our lives as ... well ... we have.
My Dad made sure we knew. He was an unapologetic announcer of what was happening during the game from the moment he started, "Starting from left to right on your screen ..." to well ... the calls.
"Run Lindsey Run!" "Look at the Sugar Falling out of the Sky!" "I broke my chair. I came right through a chair. A metal chair with about a five inch cushion. I broke it!" "My God a freshman." "We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot." "Old Lady Luck is laughing now." "Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
And my personal favorite ... "Jeff, you gotta see Anaconda!"
When we were actually at the game watching unfold for ourselves, we all had radios to our ears to listen to Larry ask Loren "Whatdoyagot?" Nothing happened unless Larry said it happened even though we'd just watched it happen.
The guy was something.
If we weren't at the game, we turn the television on, turn the sound down and turn up the radio to listen to Larry. He was always ahead of television ... by about two seconds ... so he would tell us before we actually saw it.
The guy was amazing.
If we weren't at the game and it was on television, you would have thought it was the 1930s and Roosevelt was having a fireside chat. We huddled around the radio and listened to Larry.
Now we have the tapes, DVD's and recordings of some of our life's favorite moments. They are as precious as Christmas Carols!
I met him a few times. The first walking into Grant field where the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia were playing Georgia Tech. I was with my brother David and there he was! It may as well have been Zeus coming down from Mt. Olympia. I had to touch him and did, which surprised him but he smiled at the little boy who was in awe.
Decades later, Jeremy, Kristen, Chelsea and I went to the UGA bookstore to get his book and to see him. He was frail but the voice was still there. I was immediately transformed into that little boy again but had done my job passing the adoration of him on to my kids.
Day before yesterday I was at the game with the radio to my ear. Larry was no talking to me. I was trying to explain to Maddie why college football is a religion and Pro-football is ... adult entertainment. She got it I think. Who couldn't? She was meeting 100,000 of her closest friends. Eating a Pretzel wearing the "red and black" for the first time.
I wish she could have heard Larry.
He would say something like ... "Oh m y God! Oh my God! The stadium is worse than bonkers! Eleven seconds. I can't believe what he did. This is ungodly."
If you know what I'm talking about ... thanks Larry.
It's still hard doing it without you.
If you have no clue what I'm talking about.
Well ... you missed something really special.
