Georgia's Own Larry Legend: Munson Calls It Quits After 42 Years

"I broke my chair, I came right through a chair, a metal STEEL chair...Do you know what is gonna happen here tonight?"

I have a confession to make.

I am not a lifelong Bulldogs fan. When I tell someone I am, they make assumptions and the truth about my fandom remains hidden within the assumptions.

I moved to Georgia in 2000. That's when I became a fan. Yes, I am a transplant fan.

You see, I grew up in rural, coastal North Carolina. Where I'm from, high school football and college basketball is king. But like a lot of sports fans, I grew up with an affinity towards hearing a game on the radio instead of seeing it on television.

It wasn't uncommon for my dad and I to listen to the high school game on the radio as we drove to the beach for a night of fishing. Or on Sunday afternoons, after church, when my mom wanted to go shopping after lunch, my dad and I would sit in the car and listen to Woody Durham describe our beloved Tar Heels in action.

Two things made me a UGA fan when I moved to Georgia: Mark Richt had just been hired, and I liked his style—and I quickly fell in love with Larry Munson.

Munson reminded me of home. His blend of game calls, colloquialism, and his biased use of "we" were right up my alley. I could listen to Munson call a game and feel as if he was speaking a language few would understand, yet I did.

His husky voice and true Southern language reminded me that English is my second language. I grew up in an area where slang, shortened words, and the speed at which words are spoken were the true first language. I got a degree in English to ensure, when necessary, I could communicate with the outside world.

Larry Munson reminded me of all of this.

On Monday afternoon, Munson announced his retirement, and while the Bulldogs will play on, many Bulldog fans are given the sobering realization that Munson's 42-year season is over.

Sure, it was something, when we thought realistically, we knew would come. He'd stopped doing away games in 2007—his health no longer allowing him to travel with the team. He returned for the 2008 season, but we knew this was his swan song.

The selfish 'Dawg fan would have liked Munson to hang on just for the rest of the season. We wanted to hear him call one last magical season—this season especially, as the Bulldogs set their sights on a national championship. But Munson, always a man to do things his own way, turned out the lights on his career four games into this season.

We will miss Munson's "Oh, my God" and the random things he would say during a broadcast. In this day and age of high-tech everything, Munson's voice on Saturdays always managed to remind us of more simple times. His random, often ancient, analogies gave you pause for a second, but made sense once you thought about them.

My favorite call? "We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot and broke their nose! We just crushed their face," spoken after Georgia's thrilling last-second victory over Tennessee in 2001.

For those that don't know, a hobnailed boot is a boot with small nails or spikes, sticking out of the bottom for increased traction. Only Munson could find a way to reference that within a football game. That is vintage Munson, and he is the epitome of regional announcers—the anti-Dick Enberg.

Larry Munson always seemed as if he was talking to us about the game—not just calling it. His delivery and style was intimate, more like Grandpa telling stories by the fire than big-time announcer guy analyzing a game for us.

It's this style that brought the 'Dawg nation together, welcoming the new members while putting an arm around the existing ones. Thank you, Larry, for bringing me into the family.