Back-To-Back

My daughter teaches school and so on
Friday we had to get a later flight and get
down to Jacksonville and thus we had these
connections. It made for a longer trip out
there but it all worked out.”
Copelan said the family finally checked
into their Los Angeles hotel around 2 a.m.
California time. “We got a little bit of sleep
and got up around 8 Saturday morning.
We had to kind of adjust to their time so
we wouldn’t be off the whole weekend.
So, we started Saturday morning with our
sightseeing. Saturday and Sunday we were
pretty much on the go both days.”
Copelan’s party was joined by other family
members once they reached LA.
“We also met out there my wife’s brother,
my brother-in-law,” Copelan said. “He was
out there with a friend of his so we met up
with them as well. We also met up with my
sister and her husband and a nephew of
mine, so we had like 10 people total. But
we kind of did our own thing when it came
to the sightseeing because we got there at
different times. Like my sister didn’t get there
until Sunday, so they did some of the same
things but not with us. So, it was really just
the five of us doing the sightseeing but then
Carrie Copelan, Christie Copelan, Billy Copelan,
Kendall Copelan, Jacob Boatright
we all met up with them at the game.”
In addition to the game and Georgia’s
pummeling of TCU, the Copelans did enjoy
the city’s many attractions.
“We did eat at Spago, which is Wolfgang
Puck, the famous chef’s, restaurant,” said
Copelan. “We ate there on Sunday night,
which was kind of a cool experience to eat at
that restaurant. And, for us, we really loved
the Santa Monica area with the pier, that
was kind of the best time for us. It was cool
to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame and all
that stuff but it was kind of like other tourist
places -- you’ve got a lot of street hawkers
and people trying to sell you stuff and you’re
just kind of aggravated and bothered the
whole time you’re walking around. But Santa
Monica was so nice. We went on Sunday
morning and the weather was pretty good
that day. Of course, the roller coaster and
the rides, that was fun stuff but just walking
around Santa Monica and some of the
shops…we ate at a really good restaurant
there called Whaler, which I think is kind of
famous in Santa Monica. They had good
food and a lot of Georgia fans; lot of TCU fans
were there.
“We also went up to the Hollywood sign,”
said Copelan. “We drove up this road that
wound around and kind of went up into the
mountains and wound up at this plateau
place where people were gathering, kind of
an overlook park where you can take your
picture below the sign. So, that was kind of
cool too. So, I would say Santa Monica and
the Hollywood sign were our two favorites.”
And then there was SoFi Stadium itself
on the Monday night of the championship
battle. Copelan said the Bulldog Nation
had the majority of the fans in attendance
but it wasn’t exactly a UGA takeover of the
stadium … like the Notre Dame game at
South Bend in 2017 or the Rose Bowl playoff
game with Oklahoma that same season.
“I looked around the stadium and tried to
guestimate and if I had to guess eyeballing
it, I would say we slightly outnumbered the
TCU fans,” Copelan said. “But it wasn’t 70-30.
I would say it was like 55-45 or maybe 60-40.
Of course, a lot of the TCU fans left early….
“So, I wouldn’t call it a UGA takeover of the
stadium but I felt like from where we were
sitting, and we were in the end zone so we
had both sides of the stadium on either side
of us, but I felt like the Georgia fans were
much louder. TCU fans obviously didn’t have
much to cheer about once the game got
into the second quarter but they had a lot of
fans there – I was a little surprised because I
thought it might be a little heavier Georgia
crowd than it was. But to be a smaller school,
they definitely travel really well. And all the
TCU fans we encountered and spoke to, they
were all really nice. There didn’t seem to be
a lot of animosity among the fan bases, at
least that we saw.”
Copelan said, unlike the heart-wringing
win over Ohio State nine days earlier, the
Bulldogs making the championship game
one that was devoid of suspense was really
refreshing to watch for all those fans dressed
in Red and Black.
“It was nice to be able to sit back and
enjoy the game because at the Peach Bowl
during the second half of that game … I
wear an Apple watch and it kept giving me
notifications that my heart rate was too high
for not exercising,” Copeland said, chuckling.
“So, it was a different vibe this game, being
able to enjoy it and soak it all in instead
of being nervous about what’s going to
happen next, like in Atlanta.”
A Working LA Road Trip
When the Georgia Bulldogs are playing
for a second consecutive national title, it
behooves all fans of the Bulldog Nation to
do their best to get there to witness it.
And that includes Georgia senators and
members of the House of Representatives …
even if they were to be sworn in on January
9, the same day as the football game in Los
Angeles.
Thus, Supreme Court of Georgia Judge
BULLDAWGILLUSTRATED 34 2022 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS EDITION