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Really, though, there's probably nothing as a beat writer that validated your work more than if Michael Brochstein, who posted under the handle "Senator Blutarsky," thought it was worthy of offering his sharp insight into a story you wrote on his "Get The Picture," Georgia-centric blog.
If he did, it often times felt like hitting a home run. If he didn't, you thought, huh, maybe that wasn't as good an angle as I thought.
We bring all this up because it's a sad weekend for the countless Georgia fans who went to Brochstein's blog for his perspective—not hot takes—on everything from Mike Bobo and Todd Monken's playcalling, Kirby Smart's "manball" philosophy to players emerging from an alley on scooters and getting ticketed by UGA police years ago.
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In the fall, his "Observations From the 35," gave his sharp-eyed take on what he saw from his Sanford Stadium seat of the game that just passed.
It was an online community for fans to gather to see and chime in on Brochstein's view on hot button issues in college football and everything and anything related to Georgia football.
The blog had some stops and starts more recently due to health issues—"getting old leaves something to be desired" he wrote in the first week of January after a slowdown on the blog. His final post came on Jan. 23 asking how much Georgia fans were contributing to the Bulldogs' collective given Ohio State fans reportedly were shelling out big bucks.
Brochstein passed away Thursday, according to a post on his blog Friday night.
Who was the man behind Senator Blutarsky? Here's what he said in an email to me on Oct. 20, 2014 when I had him and other Georgia bloggers join us for our old podcast.
"As far as background goes, I'm a 1980 graduate of the UGA law school and a season ticket holder since 1981. I live in Atlanta. I started the blog immediately after the 2006 Georgia-Georgia Tech game and haven't looked back since."
The photo on top of the blog was Vince Dooley and James Brown together.
"Dooley's Junkyard Dawgs" is the greatest college football song ever," he wrote as a truth that is self evident on the blog.
That fit perfectly for someone who did musical palate cleansers with videos of the likes of the Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, Beatles and most recently the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York.'
The tributes poured in starting Friday night on X (formerly Twitter):
"This hits hard. Georgia fans have lost one of their best voices. I enjoyed everything he wrote (envy and jealousy, indeed,) and I marveled at how he kept at it day after day. I hope he knew how essential he was to so many of us. RIP, Senator.—Brian Sugrue who posts at Dawgsonline.com.
"The Senator was the gold standard of CFB blogging, an inspiration. Legend. From his daily guidance of NCAA muddy waters, to fun sh** like the Montana Project,the @MummePoll ,his viewpoint 'tween the hedges…deeply sad. So RIP good Senator Blutarsky, will miss you daily— Chris Burnette of Bernie's Dawg Blog.
"Damn this is really, really terrible news. He had by far the best Georgia specific blog that I've been reading for 15 years at least. I always looked forward to his recaps And good Lord did he hate Auburn Rest in Peace Senator Blutarsky. We're really gonna miss you."—Three Year Letterman, a light-hearted account that portrays himself as a "Youth Football Coaching Legend."
"The Senator was the best of Dawg Nation. There aren't really any words, only he might would have the right ones. Prayers to his family and Heaven got another DGD tonight."—CoachBG30.
Brochstein was born in Houston and lived in Athens since 1960, according to his LinkedIn page. He graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Economics in 1977.
"Three years of watching Virginia's football program go down the toilet had soured me on the sport as a whole," he wrote for a Bill Connelly SB Nation story in 2013 where he listed his 10 favorite college football games. " [Georgia radio announcer] Larry Munson rekindled my love in one night with a radio call that Lewis Grizzard aptly described as 'better than being there.' Munson never did call the winning kick good. It didn't matter."
Brochstein practiced law in the areas of residential and commercial real estate after becoming a cum laude graduate of the UGA School of Law. He was a speaker on regulation and compliance topics to bank and mortgage companies.
Brochstein surely would have had something to say Friday about Chip Kelly bolting from the UCLA head coaching job to become Ohio State offensive coordinator.
His voice will be sorely missed.
Marc Weiszer is the UGA beat writer for the Athens Banner-Herald. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @marcweiszer .
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Remembering Michael Brochstein, man behind popular UGA football blog
