I love C. It's the language I used when I first "got" programming, and it's stuck with me, even though I don't use much professional use for it. I don't think you can count me among those who "love to bag" on it.

I don't think Go needs to be a like-for-exact-like analog of C to be a valid replacement. For many C programs, the memory management pattern they use is something that could be handled just as easily with GC, and done so in such a way as to lift a significant burden on the programmer.

I mentioned this in another comment, but definitely, if you need to manage your own memory—don't use Go. I must disagree that GC disallows Go as a replacement for the language. But I will respect your opinion if you think it does!