INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – For someone who writes about sports for living, penning this week’s Dashboard should not be that difficult, should it?

After what we witnessed Monday night in Lucas Oil Stadium, with Georgia defeating Alabama 33-18 to win the 2021 National Championship, you’d think the words would flow like a gentle woodland stream.

It’s not quite that easy.

When you sit here thinking just how much this title means to so many fans who have lived, died, cheered, and cursed their beloved Bulldogs, you want to make sure your thoughts are being conveyed correctly.

For some of you, I probably cannot begin to imagine what you are feeling.

Forty-one years, 41 long, sometimes stressful years.

While Georgia’s title drought did not and does not compare to some that are still searching for that coveted championship, Bulldog fans everywhere had to wonder if their day would ever come.

Thanks to Kirby Smart, a defense that just may have been generational after all, and an underrated offense led by a former walk-on two-star quarterback, your Georgia Bulldogs are the National Champions.

Just roll those words around in your mouth for a second. National Champions., It's effervescent on the tongue with a subtle hint of smugness.

No longer do you have to sit there at the water cooler at work, and listen to your friends from rival schools tease that your team has not won a championship in almost four decades.

Folks, this was a special group of young men who slew the biggest dragon to bring the title back to Athens. Georgia didn't backdoor its way into the title. No, the Dawgs took on the defending champ.

Dedicated, hardworking . . . There are many adjectives we can use to describe the mettle shown by your 2021 Georgia Bulldogs.

This seems a perfect spot to interject some thoughts about Stetson Bennett. I’ve known the Blackshear native for the better part of five years.

He’s just like any number of hard-scrapple South Georgia boys I remember growing up with back in the day.

They don’t say a ton; but they’re honest, they’re usually blunt, rarely willing to take credit for doing a good deed, and quick to help a friend in a time of need.

A lot of that sums up Bennett.

We all know the story about Bennett and his flip phone. One of the reasons was he got it was so he could avoid the endless chatter on social media, most of which spent the season begging Smart to make a change at the quarterback position.

It would have been very easy for Bennett to give the ol' middle finger to his many detractors after Monday’s win. But that’s never been his style. His only thought after the game was to hug his family.

Bennett joked the other day, stating “you’re either a zero or a hero.”

Make no mistake. Stetson Bennett is a hero.

Books will be written about him; ESPN will one day produce a 30-for-30. Bennett could probably tweet out his Venmo account and be a very rich man by the weekend.

Quite frankly, in my 35 years of writing sports for a living, it’s a struggle to recall a better story.

This entire journey by this group of young men was a wonderful tale.

Give Smart his proper due as well. Although the Georgia grad and Bainbridge native deferred all praise to his assistants, make no mistake, this was a major deal for Georgia’s head coach.

No longer will people question whether or not he’s a championship coach. No longer will he solely be known just as a recruiter. No longer will reporters ask him about not beating Nick Saban.

This was a big deal.

For Georgia’s long-suffering fans, you now to get experience what life is like being a supporter of the national collegiate football champions.

It’s a pretty cool place to be, and damn sure worth the wait.

Enjoy.