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- Feb 16, 2008
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Gather around the campfire kiddies - Uncle CK has a story to tell.
I wanna take you back to March 2009 and how blind faith changed my life forever.
You see, back then, Bulldogs were emerging from the ashes of a smoldering shitheap of a year. Uncle Todd Greenberg had control of the ship and we'd signed a whole bunch of folks with our money we saved from SBW buggering off. We got The Menace, Noddy, JMoz, Stagg, Benny Hannant, Greg Eastwood and one or two others. Hazem was about 8points off the overall point scorer record and we were due to play Manly in Round One.
I told myself the year before I owed it to the Bulldogs Army that remained in 2008 that I would go to a game and shake the hands of the people who still attended despite the 50-point drubbings. If they could still go, and still wear our colours, and still wave our flags, AND STILL FIND A WAY TOP LAUGH AND SMILE ON TV .... then what the hell did I have to whinge about sitting at home watching it all unfold ?
So, Round One came along - I scored myself some free tickets through a local paper promotion and off I went with nobody to go watch Hazem make history, and like I said ... shake a few hands.
I wasn't prepared for what happened next.
I met about 25 names from this forum.
Everyone greeted me with open arms.
It poured rain (and I mean biblical rain) and I loved every minute of it.
We ambushed Manly in an upset, scored 4 tries, Hazem broke he record by halftime.
I got fed foods the likes I've never tasted by strangers with whom I've never spoken to.
I got my photo put in the Bankstown paper and my family rang me midweek asking "Did you go to the Bulldogs game ?"
And when it was all over ... I was addicted !!!
Then I went to about 12 more bloody games at all sorts of venues around Sydney !!!
The thrill of our rebuild was a breath of fresh air after some painful time in the finals wilderness. Our crowds swelled from 5,000 to 25,000. When all seemed lost, we'd emerged from the rubble with a fresh cast of characters to guide us to to promised land of finals footy. The Bulldogs Army and The Kennel became "my people". We traveled together, we won together, we lost together, we posted shit all year on here together (shoutout anyone who remembers "Soward the Milkman" photoshop thread), we made the media multiple times, we laughed, we pissed our pants with joy, we made banners, we made big ass flags, we organised busloads of idiots to go to far flung places and piss off the natives because they hate the sight of us.
It all ended with what I can only call a spiritual experience - We marched into battle with 35,000 or so of us to play Parra in the GFQ in front of crowd of over 75,000. Us at one end. Them in the other.
If YOU in 2023, are like me in 2009, and you're considering "you know what ... maybe I'll get to a few games this year". - Fucking DO IT !!!
ALL the ingredients are there for the same life changing year I had.
THIS season, THIS sqaud, THIS admin ... THOSE documentary videos !!!
I cant remember a time where I've been sooooo excited to enter a year.
Get onboard.
Throw yourself into it.
Cancel your old plans.
Make new plans.
Take the kids.
Take your mates !!!
If you commit to this year with blind faith, and throw every fibre of tour DNA into supporting this squad .... I can't guarantee we'll win it all of course, but I'd bet my left nut you'll have the best year of your life as a fan.
Lets TROT !!!
I wanna take you back to March 2009 and how blind faith changed my life forever.
You see, back then, Bulldogs were emerging from the ashes of a smoldering shitheap of a year. Uncle Todd Greenberg had control of the ship and we'd signed a whole bunch of folks with our money we saved from SBW buggering off. We got The Menace, Noddy, JMoz, Stagg, Benny Hannant, Greg Eastwood and one or two others. Hazem was about 8points off the overall point scorer record and we were due to play Manly in Round One.
I told myself the year before I owed it to the Bulldogs Army that remained in 2008 that I would go to a game and shake the hands of the people who still attended despite the 50-point drubbings. If they could still go, and still wear our colours, and still wave our flags, AND STILL FIND A WAY TOP LAUGH AND SMILE ON TV .... then what the hell did I have to whinge about sitting at home watching it all unfold ?
So, Round One came along - I scored myself some free tickets through a local paper promotion and off I went with nobody to go watch Hazem make history, and like I said ... shake a few hands.
I wasn't prepared for what happened next.
I met about 25 names from this forum.
Everyone greeted me with open arms.
It poured rain (and I mean biblical rain) and I loved every minute of it.
We ambushed Manly in an upset, scored 4 tries, Hazem broke he record by halftime.
I got fed foods the likes I've never tasted by strangers with whom I've never spoken to.
I got my photo put in the Bankstown paper and my family rang me midweek asking "Did you go to the Bulldogs game ?"
And when it was all over ... I was addicted !!!
Then I went to about 12 more bloody games at all sorts of venues around Sydney !!!
The thrill of our rebuild was a breath of fresh air after some painful time in the finals wilderness. Our crowds swelled from 5,000 to 25,000. When all seemed lost, we'd emerged from the rubble with a fresh cast of characters to guide us to to promised land of finals footy. The Bulldogs Army and The Kennel became "my people". We traveled together, we won together, we lost together, we posted shit all year on here together (shoutout anyone who remembers "Soward the Milkman" photoshop thread), we made the media multiple times, we laughed, we pissed our pants with joy, we made banners, we made big ass flags, we organised busloads of idiots to go to far flung places and piss off the natives because they hate the sight of us.
It all ended with what I can only call a spiritual experience - We marched into battle with 35,000 or so of us to play Parra in the GFQ in front of crowd of over 75,000. Us at one end. Them in the other.
If YOU in 2023, are like me in 2009, and you're considering "you know what ... maybe I'll get to a few games this year". - Fucking DO IT !!!
ALL the ingredients are there for the same life changing year I had.
THIS season, THIS sqaud, THIS admin ... THOSE documentary videos !!!
I cant remember a time where I've been sooooo excited to enter a year.
Get onboard.
Throw yourself into it.
Cancel your old plans.
Make new plans.
Take the kids.
Take your mates !!!
If you commit to this year with blind faith, and throw every fibre of tour DNA into supporting this squad .... I can't guarantee we'll win it all of course, but I'd bet my left nut you'll have the best year of your life as a fan.
Lets TROT !!!
