You would think the SEC would have enough tragedy for a day, but the heartbreaking news out of Arkansas is joined by slightly less shocking but really no less surprising word from Georgia: legendary broadcaster Larry Munson has died at 89 years old.
Legendary is a word that's overused today in a sports-media climate that constantly asks if the latest Super Bowl champion is the best football team ever or the the newest Heisman winner is the greatest player of our generation, but there's no better word to describe Munson. Ask a Georgia fan about their favorite or least favorite moment in Dawgs' history, and there's a decent chance they'll refer to one of Munson's lines.
And, of course, there was perhaps the most famous line of Munson's career.
And in that clip is also the one thing that used to drive me crazy about Munson: He insisted on referring to Georgia as "we." But as I've always said before when talking about Munson, what I liked or didn't like didn't matter, because I wasn't in the audience that Munson was talking to. He was broadcasting to Georgia fans about their team, and Georgia fans loved him both for the way he talked about games and for the fact that he embraced their team as fully as they did.
The SEC is a less interesting place without people like Larry Munson, figures that embody the passion that makes the sports we watch so great. We offer our thoughts and prayers to the entire Georgia Bulldogs family, just like we do to the Arkansas family on the unfortunate passing of Garrett Uekman.
But at least we can take comfort in the fact that we got to know Larry Munson well enough to know what it is we're missing.
- -
More Larry Munson calls can be found here, if you're interested. (HT: SBN Atlanta)