Coastal Carolina Legend David Bennett Changed My Life 12 Years Ago Today With 'The Dog' Speech

Do you remember where you were on Sept. 7, 2011? I do. Thanks to Coastal Carolina legend David Bennett, I'll never forget.

It was my first week of college, which now that I do the math makes me feel sad, old, and pathetic. Great way to start a Thursday.

Anyway, I was a January admit at Emerson College -- a liberal school in Boston that you couldn't pay me enough money to go back to nowadays. Because of that, I went to some community college for the first semester -- Bunker Hill Community College! -- just so I could build up some credits going into the spring.

I was on the baseball team, so I got to live at the "Baseball House" my first semester with the older guys because I needed a place to stay. Nobody knew me from Adam and I was the loser freshman who wasn't old enough to drink (as if that stopped me) invading the party house with a bunch of juniors and seniors.

Tough spot to be in, for sure. No doubt about it. Talk about an awkward first few weeks.

Anyway, back to Coastal Carolina football. The first real thing that brought us all together? The real icebreaker in what turned out to be the best time of my life? It was former head football coach David Bennett, who pumped out the greatest story of all time 12 years ago today:

Coastal Carolina football coach David Bennett is a DOG

Electric. Iconic. HOF-worthy. The GOAT. Call it whatever you want, but that little speech brought us all together in that baseball house.

We laughed. We drank. We played it on a loop. We all realized right then and there that we loved college football.

Everything about this little diatribe it perfect. It's college football at its best. It's PEAK football guy stuff.

"We need more DOGS!"

The hand gestures, the voices, the imitations, the mustache -- it's still my favorite sports speech to this day. Hell, it may be my favorite sports moment in the history of sports moments.

Now, couple things here. This story came the day after Coastal Carolina beat Catawba College, 20-3. That's the good news. Everyone was on a high.

The bad news? The Chanticleers lost their next game to Georgia, 59-0. Tough to beat the actual dogs, I guess. Double bad news: he was fired at the end of the season. Whoof.

In any event, it's still an unbelievable speech that deserves the spotlight once every year.

Happy anniversary, David Bennett, who -- by the way -- is now a high school AD in Lexington, South Carolina.

Perfect.