After the seconds had evaporated from the scoreboard clock at Mercedes-Benz Stadium a little more than a month ago, I watched Kirby Smart, bitterly disappointed, stride across the playing field with measured alacrity to congratulate Alabama’s Nick Saban on his victory.

Owing to a warm friendship with Jimmy Harris, the good-natured mayor of Nacoochee Bend, just outside Helen, I have for the longest time experienced some of the most refreshing sojourns into the northern half of our state.

The Georgia football team, following another head-turning successful season, will have a few days to regroup and begin classes, then segue into winter workouts. Interestingly, it has always been that way, but for different reasons.

For years, when visiting a new city, I would begin the trip by taking a Gray Line tour, which was a good way to learn about the city’s history and development. Very touristy, but very informative.

My college years included the football season of ’59, when serendipity graced the University of Georgia campus as it had almost two decades earlier. With the remarkable accomplishments of Kirby Smart making him the most successful coach in UGA history – especially with the balance of his career still unfinished – one can only imagine the magnitude of what Wallace Butts had going in the early days of World War II.

My college years included the football season of ’59 when serendipity graced the University of Georgia campus as it had almost two decades earlier.

Like many others in our state, especially the northern half, I first learned about this charming and becoming community when I stopped by for lunch at Sprayberry’s Barbecue while on my way to Auburn for a football game during my undergraduate days.

With another trip to the Orange Bowl coming up for the Bulldogs, I have been reflecting on the trip to Miami in December 1959, which ended up with Georgia defeating Missouri on New Year’s Day.

It has been several seasons since I have pheasant hunted in South Dakota, but I fully expect to return to the “Mount Rushmore State.” Have my calendar marked for next fall.

LAS VEGAS – Not sure how many halls of fame Mark Richt will become a member of, but there are a few which have not yet been established such as “The Nice Guy Hall of Fame,” and the “Gentlemen’s Hall of Fame.” He belongs in those two as much as he does the College Football Hall of Fame to which he was inducted here Tuesday night at the Aria hotel where the multi-billionaire company posted a deficit for the room he and his wife Katharyn occupied during their stay in Vegas.