The University of Georgia opened the defense of its national championship title in spectacular fashion. The University of Oregon sent their team across the country to be dismantled by a Bulldog team that sent 15 members to the NFL via the draft in the off season. Invoke the cliché about the team not rebuilding but reloading here.

As I keep telling my UGA friends – more of a warning than most realize – “Expectations, they will be high”. They are. UGA’s schedule, considering the usual SEC matchups, is a bit more forgiving than usual. Fair weather fans that feel entitled to success don’t often understand the foundation that is required, and the daily effort and preparation that is years in the making.

Head coach Kirby Smart isn’t afraid of the high expectations. In fact, he’s stoking them. UGA had barely received possession of the championship trophy when Smart invoked Hernán Cortés saying it was time for the Bulldog nation to “Burn the Boats”.

He’s tired of UGA’s fan base expecting the worse, and not believing in the best. He wants his players and the fans to carry a certain bit of swagger. He wants everyone to know that UGA belongs here. “You’re either elite, or you’re not.”

Elite has now become an interesting word in most contexts. In Smart’s challenge to his own players during camp prior to the national champion season, then publicly after their first win against Clemson, was both goading and aspirational. He knew what his players and the fans wanted. He needed the players to challenge themselves, to accept only the best.

Good – and Georgia’s football history is filled with good teams – would no longer be good enough. Elite is another level. It is about moving beyond the expectations of good, and demanding even better.

UGA’s 2021 team was elite. They weren’t perfect. They hold the national title. A team in Tuscaloosa that has long since believed in its own elite standing holds the 2021 SEC Championship trophy.

Elites push other elites. The constant competition drives greatness.

Even with the hard work and dedication, success is not a given. As difficult as it is to accept, luck also factors heavily into the occasion. Weather changing the playing conditions, a referee’s call, or a phantom injury can change the trajectory of a game or a season. Any of these brief moments in time can determine whether an elite team is recorded in sports’ history books or finishes with an impressive yet quickly forgotten record.

So far we’ve been talking about sports. When it’s our team on the field, we’re willing to not only pull for, but demand our teams be elite.

In way too many other facets of life, we’ve turned the word elite into a pejorative. In many of these instances, we resent the “elites”. We want to put the luck component of others’ success first, and ignore much of the hard work, good decisions, and years of preparation that formed the foundation.

We need to get back to pulling for our elites. Success needs to be celebrated.

Being elite isn’t about being a member of an exclusionary club or caste system, or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s about pushing yourself to be your best at what you chose to do, and demanding the best from those around you.

Elite’s don’t make excuses. They don’t resent the success of others. They understand and mitigate their weaknesses. They work every day to make themselves better and stronger.

They show up prepared when it’s game time. They have confidence in their abilities to accomplish the task in front of them, but they don’t have arrogance that would cause them to underestimate an opponent.

When I have surgery, I want an elite doctor. When I’m learning, I want an elite teacher. When I’m celebrating with food, I want an elite chef.

Most of us were never and will never be elite athletes. It never stops us from cheering for success. It’s high time we start celebrating success and demanding excellent in far more important aspects of life.