MILLIANS: Rabid about the Dawgs

Published 11:02 pm Friday, November 8, 2024

A mild-mannered banker by day. A Mad Dawg the rest of the time. 

Yes, I know. There are plenty of doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers or whatever who have perfectly respectable jobs only to turn into Mad Dawgs (as in Georgia Bulldogs) when they are off duty — especially on Saturdays. 

David Wilson takes it one step further. 

The president of the Colony Bank branch in Macon, Wilson has his own Georgia football podcast: “The Mad Dawg Show.” You can find it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music or Facebook. 

The podcast’s tag line is: “The only show produced for rabid dogs by a rabid dog.”

Naturally.

I was listening last week before the Georgia-Florida game when Wilson and co-host Tim Worley, a former Dawgs star running back, had Lindsay Scott as their guest. Scott, you will remember, had probably the most famous catch (and run) in Georgia history, giving the Dawgs a come-from-behind victory against Florida in their undefeated, national championship season in 1980.

They set up the Scott interview with the late Larry Munson’s call of the play.

“Belue throws on the run, complete at the 25, to the 30, 35, 40, 50, 45, 40 . . . Run, Lindsay, 25, 20, 5 . . . Lindsay Scott, Lindsay Scott, Lindsay Scott!”

Munson never said Scott scored, but you knew. He stayed silent, but you could tell by the crowd noise.

“Well, I can’t believe it — 92 yards,” Munson finally spoke again, talking about the metal chair he broke in all the excitement. “The booth came apart; the stadium fell down. They’ve been talking about renovating the stadium. They’ll have to rebuild it now. This is incredible . . . 26-21 Dawgs on top! We were gone. I gave up; you did, too. We were out of it and gone – a miracle!”

Wow, I get chills every time I hear Munson’s call. The play was incredible. So was Munson’s call.

Lindsay Scott talked about the play on “The Mad Dawg Show,” calling it “the highlight of my life. I wouldn’t replace it with nothing. To be a part of that Georgia history was incredible. I still enjoy it today.”

Scott, who is now retired and living in Valdosta, said Kelee Ringo’s interception against Alabama that sealed Georgia’s 2021 national championship was a close second.

“I was running the whole way with Kelee,” Scott said.

Having guests like Scott and former Georgia defensive lineman turned pro wrestler Bill Goldberg, who was being inducted into the Georgia-Florida game Hall of Fame, is just one of the things that makes “The Mad Dawg Show” special. 

There’s a regular cast, including a recruiting expert, a wagering expert, and a former player who is now a doctor to update the team injury report.

And, to think, this all started when Wilson and some of his Georgia-loving friends got together every Thursday night during the season to do a deep dive on the Dawgs.

Somebody said they ought to do a radio show. Somebody else said no, we’ve got to do a podcast. Wilson said, “I can barely use a remote control. How would I handle (the technical stuff) on a podcast?” A friend volunteered to help with that. 

So, it was basically put up or shut up time. Wilson put up, but not without some trepidation. 

Wilson said he and his wife were eating in restaurant one night when he realized he was having a panic attack. He had to go lie down on a bench in the restaurant bar to avoid falling on the floor.

His wife asked what was wrong. “Is it work? Is it the kids? Is it me?”

No, Wilson said, it’s that darn podcast.

But now, the podcast is old hat. He has multiple sponsors, and says he is “having more fun than I ever thought imaginable, meeting all these people in the Bulldog world.

“We’re not trying to be like other podcasts. We’re not breaking down film. We try to be edgy, but we’re not profane or unfair. We cover a lot of ground.

“We have an unwritten rule not to criticize the players because they are kids. We don’t criticize the coaches because they know what they’re doing more than me. You can’t argue with the results.”

Timing is everything, Wilson says, and Dawg fans are not living in the Ray Goff years anymore.

“We’re living in the golden years. Georgia is the 800-pound gorilla. We have unlimited content.”

And, unlimited ex-players to come on and talk, such as Lindsay Scott and Bill Goldberg.

Wilson, meanwhile, is getting quite the reputation for his “Mad Dawg Show” podcast – even in the banking business.

“On Zoom calls, the bank CEO calls me Mad Dawg,” Wilson said, laughing. 

He’s proud to be rabid about the Dawgs. 

—Rick Millians, a UGA grad, is retired after working at newspapers in Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina. Reach him at rdmillians@aol.com.