Lawmakers show off their team spirit as historic championship game arrives
Politicians from Alabama and Georgia spent Monday repping for their respective gridiron representatives at the College Football Championship between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
It actually started last week, with Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declaring Friday, Jan. 5 "UGA Football Friday" and encouraging state employees and all Georgia residents to show their support for the Bulldogs by wearing red and black.
"This season has been most memorable, with UGA punching a ticket home after a win in double overtime against Oklahoma, perhaps the most exciting football game ever played," Governor Deal said.
It was so notable, a reporter for The New York Times tweeted that Alabama governor Kay Ivey, an Auburn grad, didn't make a similar proclamation herself for Alabama. Perhaps, the implication was, she harbored some sort of secret grudge from her War Eagle days?
Not so fast.
"In Alabama, we don’t celebrate making the national championship. Only winning it. Talk to y’all on Tuesday," she responded in a virtual clapback 'Bama fans went wild for.
But it wasn't just the executives who were showing off their spirit. Members of the Georgia legislature showed up to the statehouse decked out in red and black and ready to give the Dawgs their support (though there were a few holdouts, like Yellow Jacket Rep. Bert Reeves). Many of them were spotted by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein.
One Senator, Renee Unterman, draped her desk in UGA ribbon and a stuffed Bulldog.
As the day began, lawmakers rose out of their seats to 'Call the Dawgs."
Support came from Washington too.
On the Alabama side, Governor Kay Ivey reaffirmed her support for the Crimson Tide a few hours before the game, tweeting "Even as a die-hard Auburn fan, I am looking forward to another @AlabamaFTBL national championship. Here’s to #17 #RollTide."
The two storied SEC powerhouses will kick off the College Football Championship Monday at 8 p.m., one of the first major matches to take place in Atlanta's brand new Mercedes-Benz stadium. If Georgia wins the game, it will be the first time in more than 30 years the Bulldogs will take home a national championship title.
This story was originally published January 8, 2018 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Lawmakers show off their team spirit as historic championship game arrives."