I've been out of the loop, obviously..

I've been awfully distracted the last few weeks, not really active online anywhere, and I had not really been feeling the Hate that normally is associated with this week.

Then, I was reminded of THIS.

Yeah...it's back. And there's nothing Clean or Old Fashioned about it.

I'm ready

I have two people that I talk to on the phone almost every day (my brother and Brent). Even in the dead periods like March or early June, those conversations inevitably turn to UGA football at some point.

Lately, my part of the conversation consists primarily of two words: I'm ready.

I'm ready to put the window flags up.

I'm ready to wear the same shirt to work every Friday for the next three months.

I'm ready to get little to no work done on Fridays and Mondays, as office conversation invariably centers on what's gonna happen this weekend, or what just happened over the weekend.

I'm ready for the tailgate.

I'm ready to be at the Dawgwalk a week from Saturday, letting these young men know how much we love, appreciate, and support them.

I'm ready to take my daughter to see Russ during the pregame festivities.

I'm ready to hear the Redcoats live, not just on the CD that I've started listening to every day.

I'm ready to hear the opening solo of "Glory, Glory" from the South end zone, with my Georgia hat upraised and tears in my eyes...every single time.

I'm ready to see if Coach Grantham can coach football as well as he can talk it.

I'm ready to appreciate the last season Between the Hedges of the best wide receiver in the country, and the best one the Dawgs have ever had.

I'm ready for Justin Houston to become a household name.

I'm ready to watch the quarterback that all of Dawg Nation was beside ourselves with excitement over when he committed to the Dawgs over his hometown gators.

I'm ready to stop reading message board posts about how Aaron Murray is apparently a dwarf who can't throw the ball more than five yards downfield.

I'm ready to hear Scott Howard, and I'm ready to imagine I can still hear Munson telling me to "Get the picture".

I'm ready, believe it or not, to get irrationally angry at ESPN and their idiot "analysts".

I'm ready, believe it or not, to have weekly heated discussions over whether SEC refs are crooked or too stupid to be crooked.

I'm ready to tell Paul Finebaum where he can stick his hot seat.

I'm ready to watch an offense with more weapons than I can ever remember the Dawgs having at one time.

I'm ready to watch Marlon Brown blossom into the player we all know he can be.

I'm ready for Brown to join AJ, King, Durham, Wootentheballcarrier, Charles, and White to form the best group of receivers and tight ends in the SEC.

I'm ready for Caleb King and Washaun Ealy to RUN THE SEC the way we RUN THIS STATE.

I'm ready to watch a big and nasty offensive line be big and nasty.

I'm ready to watch the Dawgs go to Columbia and put the "sleeper team in the SEC East" to sleep.

I'm ready to send Bobby Petrino scurrying out of the state of Georgia with his little rat tail stuck between his legs...again.

I'm ready for the Dawgs to avenge their embarassing loss to the Evil Hillbillies from Knoxville, and I'm ready for the staff to show no mercy while doing so.

I'm ready to go through a season without having to use fancy uniform tricks to fire the team up for a rivalry game (fingers crossed for this one).

I'm ready to hear the Chapel Bell ringing.

I'm ready to watch the deepest and most athletic group of safeties ever compiled on one team unleash their collective fury. Rambo. Williams. Ogletree. Hamilton. I'm ready to hear those names a LOT.

I'm ready to celebrate a win in Jacksonville (Please, Lord, make it so).

I'm ready to get one for the thumb against the War Tiger Eagle Plainsmen.

I'm ready to show the gnats from North Avenue that they are still the little sister, and always will be.

I'm ready for an epic showdown in the Dome between the Dawgs and the Sabanites.

I. AM. READY.




GO DAWGS!!

19 days to kickoff...Happy Hines Ward Day!

Been suffering a little blogger's block lately, but there's no way I'm letting today pass without acknowledging my very favorite Dawg of all time.

One of the greatest pure football players I have ever seen....Hines Ward.






Hines is heavily involved in this one, one of my favorite Dawg memories and Munson calls: "Our HEART that was TORN OUT and BLEEDING...we picked it up and WE STUCK IT BACK INSIDE!!!"



And a couple from his career as a Steeler:






Herschel is the greatest college football player ever...but my FAVORITE Dawg ever is Hines Ward, without question.

GO DAWGS!!

WE RUN THIS STATE

Probably my favorite video of the Dawgs reclaiming the state last November...just makes me THAT MUCH MORE READY FOR FOOTBALL fjdaskl;fja;dlfjdasghnfja'[ieru[qnfl;af iofsp[a



(That last part was my brain exploding)

GO DAWGS!!!

Catchin' up

Well, I'm back from Florida...which, of course, means that posting will actually be MORE sporadic, not less.

Go figure.

So...what's been going on?

- First of all, my long ago promised (and even longer overdue) apology to Troy Glaus. I was as hard on him as anybody early in the season, hitting him hard both on the blog and on my Twitter feed.

All he's done since then is win the NL Player of the Month for May and take over the NL lead in RBI.

So, maybe instead of apologizing, I should just say....you're WELCOME!

Just kidding...I was wrong, so I'll gladly admit it.

Troy Glaus for MVP!!

- While I was in Destin, the mighty Trojans of USC got as close to the death penalty as any program is going to get post-SMU.

To which I say, simply:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! ::gasp, gasp::.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, man, that's AWESOME.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite part was when Kiffykins said that the sanctions (loss of 30 scholarships over three years, two-year bowl ban, and most interestingly, the release of juniors and seniors to transfer to another school without sitting out) will have "no impact" on recruiting.

He followed that up with "DERP DERP DERPITTY DERP".

- Also, the Big 12 threatened to explode, only to be saved at the last minute thanks to Texas graciously accepting an additional $15 MILLION DOLLARS or so to stay put. Such a charitable gesture.

I was pretty out of the loop while all of the conversations were going on last week, so I will leave it to others to go through all the ins and outs and backroom politics. I just know that I was extremely glad that the rumored Texas A&M move to the SEC didn't happen. I really don't want to see the SEC expand at all, and I especially don't want them to make a move just because everybody else is and water down the conference by bringing in inferior teams.

I also don't like what SEC expansion would do to the schedule. I don't really want to see more than 8 SEC games on the schedule, so even if the conference was to only expand to two seven-team divisions, in order to keep from going to 9 SEC games you would have to drop one of the "rotating" games. So we would have 6 division games, the game against Auburn, and then only one rotating SEC game, which would mean we would go 10 years or more between games against LSU, Alabama, and the other teams in the SEC West. I don't like that.

Surprisingly enough, Mike Slive didn't ask my opinion, and I don't expect that to change when this comes up again in a couple of years. Expansion is inevitable, I'm afraid...I was just glad the SEC dodged the bullet this time around.

So...is the Big 12 (or whatever they will be called now) really going to go with just ten teams and no championship game? If so, can we take their automatic BCS bid away? Otherwise, won't the winner of the Texas-Oklahoma game just cakewalk to the BCS every year?

- Remember when I was so excited about the fact that the Hawks let Mike Woodson go, and maybe the team was going to go in a different direction other that stagnant mess we've seen over the last two years?

Yeah...never mind.

- Couple of key additions to the Dawgs over the last couple of weeks.

First of all, we got a big commitment from Nick Marshall. I absolutely love this story...this guy grew up a Dawg fan and Georgia was his dream school. We were recruiting him as a quarterback, as were most of the other schools pursuing him, but then we received the commitment from Christian Lemay and Coach Richt said we probably wouldn't take another quarterback in the 2011 class. The gnats were his second choice, so he came very close to committing to them...and then Coach Richt called and offered him as a defensive back. Nick JUMPED at the second chance to be a Dawg...my kind of guy.

On top of that, he is also one of the top basketball recruits in the state, and he will be playing for Coach Fox's Hoop Dawgs as well. The basketball program is making HUGE strides in the right direction under Coach Fox...with the talent we have coming back plus a couple of big recruits, I think we could really make some noise in 2010-2011.

Here are some highlights of Nick playing DB (h/t to Bubba 'n Earl):



Then, today the Dawgs got some more big news when Jarvis Jones decided to transfer to UGA from USC. Jarvis was very highly recruited in 2009, when Rivals had him rated as the 3rd best prospect in Georgia. He had a neck injury last season, after which USC released him from his scholarship, but all reports from both the USC and UGA medical staff seem to indicate that he is ready to play.

I think Jarvis fits in EXTREMELY well as an inside linebacker in Todd Grantham's 3-4 defense. If he does step in there and live up to his vast potential, we could be looking at a possible 2012 linebacking corps of Cornelius Washington (assuming he doesn't have a big enough year to jump to the NFL in '10), Jarvis Jones, Richard Samuel, and T.J. Stripling.

I'll take it.

Here are some Jarvis Jones highlights from when he was being recruited:




Getting fired up yet? Only 81 DAYS TO KICKOFF!!!

To celebrate, here is a very well done highlight video of the Dawgs win over TAMU in the Independence Bowl...our #81, Aron White, has a couple of big plays (at the 2:35 and 4:36 marks):



And, while I'm at it, since I missed yesterday, here is one of my favorite highlights from the career of #82, Fred Gibson...a fingertip TD catch against the gators:


Good to be back...

GO DAWGS!!!

84 days to kickoff!!

This video has nothing to do with the number 84. I just like it.

GO DAWGS!!!

Couple of random football thoughts

- Outside of Brock Lesnar, is there any athlete in the world that is more obviously taking steroids than Keith Brooking? The guy is bigger than he has ever been, in his 13th year in the league, and he's running around acting like a crazy scary buffoon on the sidelines, which he never did in Atlanta. I guess he figured he only has a couple of years left in the league anyway, so there are no real consequences, and he REALLY wanted to be a contributor on a team that had a shot to win the Super Bowl.

Steroids or not, some things remain constant...he is and will always be an overrated Techie who racks up tackles 8 yards downfield.

- In this week's Monday Morning QB column (a weekly must read for football fans), Peter King has a pretty gloomy forecast when it comes to the current labor negotiations in the NFL. In fact, it sounds like he would be very surprised if there was not a work stoppage in 2011, to the point where he says, "You'd better savor the 2010 season, because it could be the last football we see for a while."

As a football fan, this sucks.

As a Dawg fan...maybe the silver lining is that we get a senior season out of A.J. Green?

It's Great to be a Georgia Bulldog!

I just want to take this time to publicly thank my parents.

See, I grew up in Georgia, but neither of my parents went to school at UGA or Georgia Tech. So the decision as to which of the major state schools that we would support was not an automatic one.

But as far back as I can remember, our house was always predominantly a Bulldog house. I was six years old in 1980, and I can still vividly remember watching games with my dad and his friends during that championship season, and Herschel Walker was my first sports hero. My dad doesn't hate Tech like I do, but he doesn't really pull for them either (especially now that my brother and I have grown into such avid gnat-haters).

I myself did not go to UGA, for reasons too long and stupid to go into here. But I have always been a Bulldog.

Because I was raised one.

On days like today, I feel especially blessed.

Hoop Dawgs 73, Hoop Gnats 66
Hawkeyes 24, The Perfect Option 14

GO DAWGS!!!

This just doesn't get old...

I can not get enough of this.


GO DAWGS!

We interrupt this hiatus to announce another hiatus...

OK, as you can tell, I have gotten off of whatever posting “schedule” that I was ever on…sorry (again) for the intermittent posts. I could give you a long list of excuses, but instead I will just say that I probably won’t be back on a schedule until after the first of the year.

Here’s what I expect will happen, as far as future posts: I will almost definitely have a reaction to whomever the Dawgs get as our next defensive coordinator. I will certainly post some sort of recap to the Independence Bowl, and hopefully a season recap as well. If any big recruiting news breaks, I will likely react to that here as well.

After that, I plan on doing the same type of posting for American Idol and Lost as I did last year…consider yourself warned!

So, here are all of the posts I have been saving up for the past few weeks to tide you over until I get off my lazy butt and start posting regularly again…I’ll warn you ahead of time to pack a lunch. Even by my standards, this is gonna be a long one.

THE TECH GAME

- Maybe the most satisfying win of Coach Richt’s tenure, at least for me. Others may have been more important (the SECCG wins, Auburn ’02, etc), but there is nothing more fun than beating the gnats when they are just SURE that it can’t happen. Add in the fact that so many of them were such turds after the passing of UGA VII, and what happened last year, and the fact that this is supposed to be THE year for them while it’s certainly a down year for us…”sweet” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

I also work with a bunch of Techies, and it’s amazing how much better I feel about having to interact with them on a daily basis now vs. how I felt for the past year. Many jokes have been made about how that win “set the universe right” or whatever…there is at least a kernel of truth in that for Dawg fans. I spent the last year simmering with rage every time I passed one of them in the hall…now we can all be friends again. Sort of. Until next year.

- And while it may not have been the MOST important game of Richt’s career, I don’t think you can overemphasize the fact that this win was definitely important. As bad as this season has gone (and a 7-5 season with a blowout loss to a mediocre UT team and a home loss to Kentucky is putrid), can you imagine what the fallout would be from 6-6 with 2 straight losses to the gnats? This game, plus the postgame decisions that showed that he was serious about fixing what went wrong this year, went a long way in restoring confidence in Coach Richt that some had lost.

- Many have asked where that team was all year, especially the running game. I think the resurgence of the running game started about 8 games into the season, and it can be attributed to two factors:

• Stabilization of the offensive line. Once Sturdivant went down in the opener, the o-line was in a state of flux until around the Tennessee Tech game. Once the current lineup was settled, things really began opening up.

• Caleb and Washaun got healthy. I think this was the biggest factor. Washaun is a true freshman who missed a lot of camp due to injury, so there was a definite learning curve. Caleb battled hamstring problems and then a broken jaw early in the season. Once these two got healthy enough to share the bulk of the carries (and send Samuel, God bless him, off to learn the linebacker position), the running game became a real threat.

- Overall, it was a best case scenario for me…we beat Tech, but it is not enough to keep from having to make changes. Which brings me to my next point…


THE COACHING CHANGES

- I let you know how I feel about the ongoing search here.

- As far as the actual move goes, I think it absolutely had to happen. There was no way to justify the steady decline in defensive output over the last four years, beginning with the Sugar Bowl debacle against West Virginia. I was still worried that Coach Richt would still find enough excuses to keep his friend around for another year, so I was very happy to see him make the tough move.

And once that decision was made, he decided to give whomever the new DC is the ability to hire his own staff by sending Jancek and Fabris away as well. This was less of a no-brainer for me, especially Fabris and his history of developing NFL-quality defensive ends, but it was probably the right move. Part of what doomed the Tony Franklin experiment at Auburn was the fact that Tubbs didn’t let Franklin bring in his own guys, and the old staff just never bought into his philosophy. If we’re going to go after a big-time DC, then I think a total house cleaning was necessary.

All that being said, I want to publicly thank all three of these guys for their hard work and efforts during their time in Athens. I didn’t always agree with the decisions that they made, but I never doubted that they were trying their best to bring a championship to the Dawgs.

- A couple of interesting notes that have come out in the last couple of days:

• Nickell Roby, the cornerback out of Frostproof, FL that I think is a MUST get for this class, expressed some concerns right after the decision was made to let Martinez go. Martinez was the coach who recruited him, was going to be his position coach, etc. Robey took his official visit to Athens over the weekend and had some interesting things to say ($), including that Coach Richt told him he was going to hire “somebody that I like”. That sounds to me like maybe Coach Richt might already have an idea who that person will be, especially since…
• Several reports out of the GALA banquet this past weekend are saying that Coach Richt “has his man”.
  

I have no idea what any of that means, especially in light of the fact that Kirby Smart was supposedly “in the building” over the weekend. I stand by the fact that I would be shocked (happy, but shocked) if Smart leaves Alabama, but the timing is interesting.

Oh, and also…somebody needs to take Twitter away from David Pollack. If you are following him, you know what I am talking about.

- One more quick note on the Dawgs…the Outback really screwed us by taking Auburn. If not for that, we would most likely be in either Atlanta or Nashville, instead of 5PM on a Monday on ESPN2 in Shreveport.


NON-DAWG SPORTS STUFF

- Did the Falcons build their training facility on some sort of Indian burial ground or something? We are rapidly approaching having to hear for ANOTHER year about how the Falcons have never had back-to-back winning seasons.

How has this promising season gone wrong? Let us count the ways:

• Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Harry Douglas, Harvey Dahl, Sam Baker, Jerious Norwood, Todd McClure. All offensive starters, and all have missed significant time due to injury.

• John Abraham has been MIA all season.

• Jason Elam has Steve Sax Disease (or Mark Wohlers Disease for you whippersnappers who don’t remember Steve Sax).

• The defensive secondary is atrocious, just like we all knew it probably would be.

Add all of that up, and what do you get? Probably 8-8, and that’s fairly amazing when you take another look at that list.

- I have no idea what the Braves are doing in their bullpen. We have replaced Soriano and Gonzales with Wagner and Saito…basically the same amount of money, but about 20 years older combined.

Wagner, in particular, concerns me…he’s 38 years old, coming off of Tommy John surgery. It always concerns me when these tiny little power pitchers start having arm trouble. They just have to produce so much torque to get the velocity that they are used to. Would not be at all surprised to see his arm fall off about halfway through the season. Maybe Lowe becomes the closer if we can’t find a taker in the trade market?

Still think the Braves are one big bat away from being contenders, but blowing up their bullpen really doesn’t help.

- I know most of you probably don’t care, but the Hawks are really good, and tons of fun to watch.

It looks like the light has finally come on for Josh Smith…he no longer fancies himself a three point shooter, and is instead going to the basket, attacking the offensive glass, and will probably make the All-NBA defensive team this year with his shot-blocking and skill at getting his hand into passing lanes.

If Jamal Crawford continues what he’s done so far, he will walk away with the Sixth Man award. Seems like he puts up 20 points off the bench every night. And we got him for Speedy Claxton and Acie Law?!?! BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Speaking of things most of you don’t care about…

NON-DAWG, NON-SPORTS STUFF

When I do get back on a regular posting schedule, I will be in all-TV, all the time mode. In fact, many of you who may have found this blog via various Dawgs football sites will probably have a whole different opinion of me once the winter TV season starts.

In that spirit…

Top 5 favorite returning shows I have been watching:

1) Mad Men. I’m counting this one even though the season is over now. Terrific storytelling, amazing writing, perfect acting performances…if you have not been watching this show, do yourself a favor and find copies of the first two seasons and enjoy television as an art form. This season was probably not as fantastic as season 2, but still better than 99% of what else is on.

2) The Office. Still makes me laugh harder than any other show, but can also pull off an episode like “Niagara Falls” that has as many heart-tugging moments as laugh-out-loud funny ones. The best ensemble comedy since Cheers.

3) Fringe. The “weird case of the week” stuff gets sort of pointless and monotonous sometimes (although no show has more cool gross stuff on a weekly basis), but when this show does shows like last week where they focus on the “big picture” story, it’s really superb stuff. Not to mention the fact that those episodes usually focus on the Emmy-worthy performances being turned in by John Noble as the heartbreaking and eccentric Dr. Bishop. Plus, it’s always good to have Pacey around, isn’t it?

4) Big Bang Theory. I just picked this one up about halfway through last season, but I have gone back and watched the entire series. Just when I thought the three camera sitcom with a laugh track was dead, this show comes along and consistently cracks me up. The only drawback is that the laugh track is overused, and it’s a little distracting. But the writing and acting more than make up for it, and Sheldon Cooper is in my top 5 favorite TV characters right now (the others, in case you were wondering: John Locke, Benjamin Linus, Betty Draper, and…Ryan Seacrest).

5) Dollhouse. I know we should consider ourselves lucky that we even got a second season of this Joss Whedon production, considering the abysmal ratings. But the geniuses at Fox really outdid themselves by pairing it with “Til Death” on a Friday night. Regardless, this season (especially the last few episodes) have been television at its best: funny (Topher Brink is hilarious), thought provoking, action filled. And the cast, especially Olivia Williams (Adelle), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), and Fran Kranz (the aforementioned Mr. Brink) have been amazing, along with superb guests Summer Glau and the always fantastic Alan Tudyk.

Honorable mention: The Mentalist, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Amazing Race, How I Met Your Mother


Top 4 favorite NEW shows I am watching:

1) Glee. Now THESE are my people. I watch this show feeling like I am watching home movies. As I’ve said before, I grew up a performing arts geek, and so much of this show is dead-on.

This show doesn’t feature great writing, subtle plot development, or any of the stuff I normally look for in a television show. It’s just FUN. Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester is…well, I can’t think of an adjective that would accurately describe my love for Sue Sylvester. It’s also fun to watch this cast of virtual unknowns (most of them had little to no prior television experience) get a chance to show off every week. And, man, do they show off…the musical performances are outstanding and are prominently featured on my MP3 player.

2) Modern Family. Best new comedy of the season. By FAR. I’m still cracking up about Fizzbo the Clown three weeks later. (People are GOING to stare. They’re not used to seeing only one clown in a car).

3) V. I was looking forward to this show more than any other one besides the very frustrating FlashForward. So far, so good, other than the incredibly annoying and clichéd “Teenage Moron” storyline. Alan Tudyk shows up on this one, too, and is his usual awesome self, as well as Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost) and the perfectly cast Morena Baccarin as the stylish, sexy, slightly murderous and evil leader of The Visitors. Tons of good stuff here, with nods to philosophy, religion, psychology, fascism, etc, etc. I think this one is going to get really good once it comes back from the long winter break, at which point it will be paired with LOST on the ABC schedule.
4) White Collar. Continues a great run of new shows on USA (Burn Notice, Psych, etc). I love how the shows on USA have a kind of “network TV in the ‘80s” feel to them. This is just another fun little show that they are getting really good at producing…likable characters, witty writing, nothing too challenging. The perfect show to tape on Friday night and then watch over breakfast on Saturday.

(Dis)honorable mention: FlashForward. This one has been a big disappointment, but still I keep watching. I feel like maybe the concept is too big to handle on a TV show. I keep thinking of all the ramifications of a blackout wherein the entire world gets a glimpse of the future, and all the cool things they could do with that, and instead...I am just waiting for something to actually HAPPEN. Not to mention that the lead is played by Joseph Fiennes in one of the most excruciatingly boring performances I have ever seen.


- On a semi-related topic, have any of you been watching Sons of Anarchy? If so, would you recommend going back and watching the first couple of seasons?


- One more note…if you are looking for a good book, and your tastes lean towards the slightly geeky (as mine obviously do), I strongly recommend the “Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin. There have been four written so far, and I am about halfway through the fourth one. I would describe it as either Narnia for grownups or a slightly more modern Lord of the Rings.

There is also production being done on a possible HBO series based on the books that I think has the potential to be phenomenal, so by reading the books you can actually be ahead of the curve!


OK, and with that…I am probably gone until the Dawgs DC is hired, unless something comes up that I REALLY want to write about.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and thanks for reading!

And, we're back....(sports edition)

As you can probably tell, I've had a little case of Blogger's Block over the last couple of weeks. Every time I start to write a post, I realize I don't have the energy to say all that I want to say, at least when it comes to my beloved Dawgs. Just know, loyal reader, it's not that I've given up on them, or have "jumped off the bandwagon". No, I've stuck by them through worse times than this. The truth is kind of the opposite...I find it hard to write about them right now because it hurts too much. I am extremely disappointed and frustrated as a fan, not so much by the NUMBER of losses (although five is way too many) as the MANNER of losses. Above all else, right now this team is dumb. We make dumb penalties, commit dumb turnovers, operate with dumb ideas with regards to our mindset in all three phases of the game....we are a dumb team right now, and that frustrates me more than anything else.

And that's all I have say about that.

- As for this week...this week is all about the hate. I think that the entire Dawg fanbase is starting to understand why so many of us still count the trade school as our most hated opponent. One win in 8 years has somehow convinced them all that the tide has turned as far as football dominance in this state. It's like I have always said...there's no team I'd rather beat than Florida, but there is no team I hate losing to more than the trade school.

And, this year, there is even more reason for hatred...their classless, tasteless, and inhumane reaction to the passing of Uga VII (I almost linked a couple of them here, but why give them the traffic. Just imagine the most disgusting, vile, classless response you can think of...and then try to come up with something worse). What kind of person do you have to be to make fun of a lost pet, which is ultimately what the Uga's are for all of us in the Dawg Nation?

I think Bernie said it best...while the Seilers grieved, they laughed. And that is just one more reason why I'm glad to be a Dawg, in spite of whatever this season or any other season has brought or will bring. I could not handle being part of a fan base so pathetic.

I have a hard time coming up with a scenario in which the Dawgs win this game...but if we somehow pull it off, it will go a LONG way towards washing the stench of this season away for me.

- Here's one more reason I have sworn off the AJC for good...yesterday Mark Bradley tweeted a link to his AJC article with this as the message:

Turns out Matthew Stafford, once of UGA and now a Detroit hero, has a heart after all. Fooled me.

OK...now I know that Mr. Bradley works for a particularly pathetic and sickly dinosaur in a business that is on its last legs (and I am NOT going to help by linking to him). And I know that they are DESPERATE for traffic. But what in Stafford's history would lead any rational person to believe that he has no heart?

Was it when he kept getting up and playing his guts out in his freshman season, even when games ended with him looking like this?
Was it the way he kept leading his teams down the field against the trade school last year, despite his defense letting him down over and over again? Was it how he never gave up in ANY game, for that matter, no matter what the situation was? Was it the fact that he never missed a snap at UGA due to injury despite playing some of the toughest and hard hitting defenses in the country?

It's one thing to question somebody's ability. But to question a guy's heart with absolutely no justification, well....it's no wonder that his is a dying business, with that kind of "journalistic" "integrity".

Mr. Bradley, my sincere wish for you and the pathetic rag you work for is that you live up to your reputation and go the way of the DoDo Bird sooner rather than later. Moron.

- I want to get this on record...I know the Falcons are 5-5 right now, and all of us old school Falcons fans are starting to get a serious sense of deja vu. But I think the schedule works out very nicely for the team from here on out, and I say we not only finally see the first ever consecutive winning seasons for this franchise, but we will be in the playoffs...and NOBODY in the NFC will want to play us.

At the same time...can somebody please locate John Abraham and tell him that Aundray Bruce has stolen his jersey?

- If you're not watching the Hawks, you should be...an exciting young team who plays a very entertaining brand of winning basketball. They are really starting to turn some heads, and this is shaping up to be a nice diversion until spring football practice rolls around.

Sorry to have been gone so long...I missed you guys! I'll be back later today or possibly tomorrow with the Non-Sports edition...aka all Geek-TV, all the time.

Data dump

I love that term...data dump. There are too few business cliches with the word "dump" in them, in my opinion.

Dump.

HEE-HEE.

I'm 35...why do you ask?

First, some Dawg news:

- The first green jerseys of the season are beginning to make their appearance. The biggest name yesterday to go down was Reshad Jones...and, as my brother was nice enough to point out in the comments yesterday, it's my fault. I finally got off Reshad's back and actually gave him some positive commentary for once, and he immediately injures his hamstring. I will now go right back to dogging him at every step...I've learned my lesson.

Good news is that it does appear to only be "tweaked" and that he's expected back in time to be ready for Okie State. More good news was that Quentin Banks was able to step in and take his place, so apparently Quentin is getting close to 100%.

- All other reports out of practice continue to be glowing. I keep waiting for that one practice that always seems to come early when Richt is just completely ticked off (or, as ticked off as he gets when it doesn't involve SEC officials - probably what would be referred to as "mildly agitated" if it was anybody else). But so far every practice has been deemed to be outstanding by the coaching staff. Can't wait til they put the pads on next week and we start getting scrimmage reports!

- More good news...Kwame Geathers actually qualified and will start practicing next week. To tell you the truth I was shocked, but Jody had the best line: "I’m not sure I was certain he was even real." (Great to have Jody blogging on a pretty regular basis, btw).

This means that every one of our recruits qualified and are now on campus. WH00T!

- Coaches poll was released today, which is absolutely ridiculous. I've made my thoughts known before on this, but I hate pre-season polls. It's why I wholeheartedly support Blutarsky's Mumme Poll, where voting doesn't start until around the midpoint of the season. However, in this absurdly early poll, Dawgs are ranked 13, while the gnats are at 15. HAH! SUCK ON THAT, NERDS!!!!11!!1!!

- MaconDawg put up a fun post today looking at what kind of "wrinkles" we may see in our offensive and defensive strategies this year. I think that with some of the personnel we are accumulating, especially on offense, we are going to beseeing some creativity in getting the ball into our playmakers' hands. We already have the little swing passes and WR screens in our arsenal, and we run them pretty well...I was noticing that especially while watching the replay of the Capital One Bowl. I can only imagine that they may be even more effective with someone like Rontavious Wooten catching the screen pass with his speed, or Carlton Thomas going in motion to the slot to catch the swing pass...we really are accumulating some weapons.

On defense, the talk continues to be that we will be moving some of our LB's up to the rush end position on obvious passing downs to try and get more pressure on the quarterback. Great move, in my opinion, and it's encouraging to see the coaching staff going at least a LITTLE outside the box to try and find solutions to probably the biggest problem our defense had last year.

Non-Dawg stuff:

- Falcons training camp is not off to NEARLY as good a start as the Dawgs. First, Harry Douglas (and not HUGH Douglas, as I erroneously posted on Twitter yesterday) goes down for the year, and now rookie safety William Moore is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a knee injury. The team has high hopes for the 2nd round pick, and he was expected by many to actually be the starter at SS. This defense can not afford to lose ANYBODY, especially in the secondary. Only place on defense we may be more vulnerable is at DE, but I'm not mentioning names there after the Reshad Jones debacle from yesterday. I'll just say his initials are J.A. and hope the Football Gods think I am referring to Jamal Anderson and not...that other guy who plays DE for the Falcons with the initials J.A.

On top of that, the Roddy White negotiations seem to be stalled. But don't worry, Falcons fans...Marty Booker is in the house!!! (chirp....chirp)

What, Mark Duper wasn't available? Phil McConkey? How about John Taylor?

But seriously....how about Terrence Edwards? Isn't he still in the Canadian League somewhere?

- Posting may be kind of light for the next couple of weeks...we're entering the busiest time of the year for me at work, and plus I am planning on doing some different stuff with the blog once the season starts that may take some extra time. But stick around...I'll probably still throw up a random post or video every now and then when I get a chance. There may be days when I don't post at all, but there may be days when I get to throw up three or four quick hitters, depending on how the schedule goes.

GO DAWGS!!!

ONLY 29 DAYS!!!

Fair warning...

I'm probably going to be posting some non-Dawg, non-sports stuff today...

So to make up for it, here is one of my favorite Dawg moments of all time...I like everything about it except the black stripe on the helmet.

One of my favorite Munson calls of all time, as well...



37 DAYS TO KICKOFF!!

GO DAWGS!!

Rex Robinson - DGD

For those who haven't noticed, legendary former Dawg Rex Robinson has been doing a great job with his new blog.

Today, he has outdone himself. A must read for all Dawg fans and NERD haters.

GO DAWGS!!!

Weekend thoughts

Some random thoughts from the last few days...

- I guess the biggest news locally is the trade the Braves made that sent Jeff Francouer to the Mets in exchange for Ryan Church. There has been a lot of differing opinions being thrown around on this one, but I come down solidly in favor of the move.

Frenchy has been steadily declining in production ever since his sophomore season, and things don't look like they are turning around anytime soon. For that reason, the Braves were looking at a scenario after this season in which they were probably not going to tender him a contract at all...they weren't going to pay the approximately $5M he would most likely win in arbitration. That is more than they are willing to pay for a .240 hitter with minimal power and virtually no run production, who has a great arm but is only slightly above average defensively.

On top of that, add the growing tension between Francouer, who is still holding a grudge about being sent down to the minors last year, and the team, which is still mad at Francouer for going outside of the organization for help with his swing this past offseason, which they saw as a show of disrespect to Terry Pendleton (which.....whatever, that's stupid and I'm not going to get into the whole thing here)...and really, it was time for Francouer to go.

I think Frank Wren did a good job in what he got back...Church is about equal in his hitting for power, and he will hit for a better average and OBP than we were ever going to get out of Frenchy. I'm not saying it's a HUGE upgrade...we didn't trade for Albert Pujols or anything. But it's an upgrade, and considering the situation I think it was the best we were going to get. Certainly compared to the NOTHING we were going to get once the season was over and we let him go.

As for the people complaining because we did the deal with the Mets, I think it's crazy to say we will NEVER do a deal with our rivals, especially if we can actually come out on the positive side as I believe we have here.

Don't just take MY word for it:

Rob Neyer, ESPN.com: "Wow. Church must really have worn out his welcome with the Mets. Since coming off the DL in early June, Church's line is .290/.336/.402 ... far from good for a corner outfielder, but decent enough compared to most of the Mets' other outfielders ... and of course a far sight prettier than Francoeur's .250/.282/.352 line for the season....So, let's review: The Braves got a decent hitter and fielder who bats left-handed, and thus can platoon (or semi-platoon) with Matt Diaz in right field. The Mets got ... what, exactly? If you figure it out, drop a line to Jerry Manuel. He's going to need all the help he can get with this one."

Bottom line...it's sad to see him go. I had really high hopes for him, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him the first year and a half of his career. For the last two years, though, he has been a disaster at the plate. Maybe the change of scenery will help him, but the Braves were really left with no choice, in my opinion.

Doesn't matter for this year, anyway. This team is done. Had a golden opportunity yesterday to end the first half on a positive note, and even reach .500 for the first time in months, but blew it. Don't know if you saw it or not, but Garrett Anderson made one of the worst throws I have ever seen from a ML outfielder in the disastrous 7th inning...from shallow left field he missed third base by about 30 feet. How is that even possible?

- Another celebrity death....Arturo "Thunder" Gatti was found dead at 37, and reports coming out now are that he may have been strangled to death by his 23 year old wife.

I used to love watching Gatti fight...he would always cut weight like a mad man, and then by the time the fight started he would outweigh his opponents by like 15 pounds and he would just beat the daylights out of them. Not exactly fair, but it sure was fun to watch.

And of course, his trilogy with Mickey Ward was just old school boxing at its finest:

RIP, Thunder....you will be remembered.

- The Dawgs recruiting train continues to maintain speed, with the committment over the weekend of 4-star safety Jakar Hamilton out of Georgia Military. With him and earlier safety commit Alec Ogletree, the safety position looks to be in pretty good shape over the next couple of years.

Dawgs now have 14 committments for the 2010 class, and probably only have about 7-8 slots left. We are already hearing rumors (and that's all they are) that guys are now being told to hold off on committing to make sure we have enough slots for the big-time guys we are still in on (like Mack Brown, Garrison Smith, TJ Stripling, etc). Just have to keep telling myself...Trust the Coaches, Trust the Coaches...

- Tomorrow is a huge day....NCAA '10 comes out for Playstation. As usual, I have a couple of days off planned over the next couple of weeks in order to be able to pull a couple of all-nighters...I'll let you know how it is. I have a Playstation 2, though, so really the only changes we ever see anymore are just the updated rosters.

I do know this...EA Sports released their preseason rankings to coincide with the release of the game...they have the Dawgs at 13, and the Gnats at 18. HAH!!! Suck on THAT, nerds!!!!

Only 54 more days to kickoff!!!

GO DAWGS!!

Stafford was pretty good

First of all, let me preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Joe Cox and I am really looking forward to seeing what he is going to do this year. His attitude during the time he's been on campus has made him one of my favorite Dawgs, even though his playing time has been limited.

But I want to talk a little about the REASON his playing time has been limited. There have been rumblings that this team will actually be better off with Joe Cox, with an implied "Good riddance" to Matthew Stafford...not HUGE rumblings, but enough that I noticed it.

My opinion is that Matthew Stafford is the best quarterback we've had at UGA since Fran Tarkenton. Period. Better than Greene. Better than Shockley (barely). Better than Zeier.

His detractors like to talk about unfulfilled potential and lack of big wins during his tenure...well, allow me to retort.

I'll grant you that it seems almost impossible that we didn't even PLAY in an SEC Championship Game while we had him and Knowshon, but let's look at the numbers...

Games I would consider "big wins":

Auburn '06: On the road against the number five team in the country, in what was shaping up as a disastrous season for the Dawgs. As a true freshman, Stafford goes 14/20 for 219 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT. Also, ran 11 times for 83 yards and a TD.

Georgia Tech '06: Remember, this was supposed to be the year that the gnats finally broke through against us...they were getting ready to play in the ACC Championship game, Bulldawg legend Reggie Ball was a senior, they had the best WR in college football, one of the best defenses in the country. After struggling for most of the day, Stafford drives us down the field on a 7 minute, 64 yard touchdown drive, culminating in a clutch 3rd down TD pass to MoMass, and providing probably the last truly great call from the legendary Larry Munson (on a related note...if somebody can find a link to the entire last drive, I would greatly appreciate it. The whole drive was just classic Munson, and I used to have the link, but I can't find it anywhere, even larrymunson.com).

Virginia Tech '06: I brought this one up a couple of weeks ago...posted here. But this was our third straight win against a ranked team, and served as the springboard to the '07 success. One of the greatest comebacks in Bulldawg history.

Alabama '07: ONE and DONE, baby!!!

Florida '07: Probably the biggest win of Stafford's career. This game is most notable for being Knowshon's breakout game (well, that and The Celebration), but Matt was 11/18 for 211 yards and 3 touchdowns (almost 20 yds per completion, and 12 yds per attempt).

Auburn '07: In what was definitely the trend, we beat Auburn up with the run, but Stafford was 11/19 for 235 yards and 2TD (21 yds per completion and 12 yds per attempt). The numbers from '07 are pretty telling...we were definitely a team that would beat you down with the run and then throw the deep ball off play action.

Hawaii '08: Yeah, it was Hawaii, but it was also a BCS bowl...Stafford was 14/23 for 175 yds.

Arizona State '08: First game west of the Mississippi for the Dawgs in about 50 years, national TV, many pundits predicted trouble for the Dawgs. Instead, it was no contest, and Stafford had a big night...16/28 for 285 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT.

LSU '08: On the road at the #13 team in the country, Stafford was 17/26 for 249 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, and the Dawgs put up 52. We needed everything Stafford and the rest of the offense gave us, cause our defense gave no help. Dawgs win 52-38.

Yeah, the '08 wins are kind of weak...but also keep in mind that without his performance against Kentucky, then the season becomes a disaster rather than a disappointment. In Lexington, he went 17/27 for 376 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, and THIS:

That play shows the kind of athleticism that I don't know that Stafford gets credit for...as much as I love David Greene, if he's the QB there it's a sack.

As for those disappointing losses, let's look closer (I'm taking out the early '06 losses...he was a true freshman and wasn't even named the full time starter until about 4-5 games in):

South Carolina '07: Ugh. Plenty of blame to go around in this one, including a horrible game by our WR and TE corps and an inexplicable lack of touches by Knowshon...but Stafford definitely deserves his share. 19/44 for 213 yds (4.8 per attempt), 0 TD, 1 INT. Again, he got no help from his WR or TE, and the INT was on a desperation pass on the last drive, but still...this one was ugly.

UT '07: Dawgs get the ball first and go three and out...Stafford is 0/1. Defense allows the Vols to march right down the field and score, and it's 7-0. On the ensuing drive, Dawgs run 4 times, pass twice (Stafford is 1/2 on the drive) and then punt. Dawgs D force a punt on the next drive, but an illegal block on the return means we start at our own 12. Three straight rushes (including one of the infamous QB draws on 2nd and long) nets 8 yds and we punt. Two plays later it's 14-0 Vols, after the trick play for a 56 yd TD. Dawgs go three and out, get the punt blocked, Vols drive for another TD, 21-0, and the game is basically over.

I find it hard to put this one on Stafford. Our defense was just SHREDDED in the first half of this game, which took us totally out of what our strength was in '07. UT no longer had to worry about the running game, which rendered the play action game useless. We ended up being outgained 411-243, with a TOP deficit of around 12 minutes.

Alabama '08: Alabama gets the ball first, drives straight down the field, gets helped by a stupid Dawgs penalty, goes up 7-0. Dawgs get the ball back, pick up 2 quick first downs off two 13-yd completions, then bog down and have to punt. Alabama drives right down the field, helped by another stupid Dawg penalty, kick a field goal and it's 10-0. Dawgs go three and out (Stafford is 0/2 on the drive), Mimbs punts the ball freaking 19 YARDS, Alabama takes advantage of the short field, shreds our defense, scores a touchdown, and it's 17-0. Dawgs get the ball back, Stafford completes a pass to AJ Green, who fumbles. Alabama gets the ball, drives STRAIGHT DOWN THE FREAKING FIELD AGAIN, scores to make it 24-0. Ball game. Remind anyone of the UT '07 game?

Dawgs came back and almost made a game of this one in the second half, and Stafford ended up 24/42 for 274 yds, 2 TD, and one interception that came on the last play of the 1st half. He was running for his life for the whole game, as well, and was sacked multiple times.

This one was NOT on Stafford. Dawgs committed 10 penalties for 81 yards, and the defense allowed JOHN PARKER WILSON to go 13/16 for 205 yds, and basically rolled over and played dead the entire first half.

Florida '08: This one is tough...most people forget, the Dawgs were actually in this one early. Missed an early 37 yd field goal, which is when I started having a really bad feeling. After kicking a field goal to make it 7-3 Gayterds, we try a stupid onside kick that UF recovers and turns into 7 quick points, 14-3. We come right back down the field, stall out on the 10...and then miss ANOTHER field goal, this one from 27 yards.

To start the second half, defense stops them and forces a punt. We get the ball, drive to the UF 30, looks like we're about to make it a one score game...and Stafford throws a pick that gets returned all the way to our 1, UF punches it in and makes it 21-3. Ball game.

Lots of bad stuff in this one, including bad special teams play and a generally poor outing by the defense...but you can definitely point to that INT as the turning point in the game. Once we were down 21-3 in the third quarter, it was over. Didn't help that the defense made virtually no stops from that point on, but we would have had to score on pretty much every possession at that point. The Gayterds D knew that, and ended up picking off two more passes that would not have even been attempted under normal circumstances.

So this one is at least PARTIALLY on Stafford.

Tech '08: We ALL know where the blame for this one lies, and it ain't on Stafford. He ended up 24/39 for 407 yds and 5 TD. Defense COMPLETELY let the team down in this one.

So....bottom line? Stafford won more big games than he lost, and the majority of the losses during his tenure were for the most part out of his control. For his career, he was 564/987 (57.1%, including 61% his junior year), 51 TD, 33 INT (including 25/10 his junior year). Passer rating progression his three years was 109-129-154.

7-4 as a starter against the Big 4 (Auburn, Tech, UT, and Florida)...unfortunately, you'd be hard pressed to find a QB with that kind of record against those 4, at least in the non-Herschel era.

This turned out to be a lot longer (and a lot more cathartic, actually) than I originally intended, but some of the criticisms I have heard about Staff kind of ticked me off. He was and is a DGD, and we will miss him next year...anybody who says otherwise is engaging in some revisionist history, in my opinion.

I hope for nothing but the best for him in the NFL.

Now, bring on The Ginger Assassin!

Do YOU remember the feeling?

Per David Hale's blog post today, that is the question that is being asked of the Dawgs every day, by virtue of this picture that is posted in the Dawgs weight room:

To which I say...GOOD. I think it's fantastic that somebody (probably Coach Van Halanger) is making sure that our guys remember the embarrassment of those games, as well as the other embarrassing performances from last year, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

Totally different atmosphere from last year....last year at this time our guys were all hearing about how awesome they were, and what a juggernaut they were going to be. We all saw how that worked out. If this team feels like they have something to prove this year, if they are embarrassed, if their pride is wounded....good. Go do something about it.

GO DAWGS!!

75 Days!!!!

Well, that helped a little...

Kudos to The Hat...LSU's defense finally showed up in a ROUT over the Techies.

That was pretty fun to watch...I'd say my favorite part was the fake punt up 35 points in the 4th quarter...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Although...this makes me even more furious about the performance by our defense against this same Tech team.

Willie, if you're reading this (and be honest...you are) - your D better make Javon Ringer look like Ron Dayne today. Otherwise, this could be a long and painful offseason.

GO DAWGS!!!!

P.S. - Prediction? 38-20, good guys. They can't stop Matt Stafford, they can't even hope to contain him.

Typical Tech

You know, my feelings about Ga. Tech are kind of hard to verbalize. It's a really weird mixture of hate and pity, and I hate and pity them for the same reasons. Stories like this one sum it up perfectly.

Seriously? You're so fascinated by us that you commemorate your ONE WIN IN EIGHT FREAKING YEARS by putting it on your rings? That is truly pathetic.

As a point of comparison, can you imagine UGA putting the score of last year's UGA-Florida game on rings? Yeah, it was a nice win, but I hope our program never sinks to the point that ONE WIN over our rival merits this type of recognition.

So, like I said...I hate them because they are so pathetic, but I pity them because they're so pathetic. It's a paradox wrapped in a mystery, surrounded by an enigma.

A man after my own heart

Big news today...Jeff Owens is in fact returning for his senior season, according to David Hale's blog.

This is, of course, FANTASTIC news. It's going to be tough to find a better 4 man DT rotation anywhere in the country than Owens, Atkins, Weston, and Tyson. Now, if one of the DE's can PLEASE step up, we may not be trying to push Coach Martinez out the door this time next year.

My favorite part of the article was this quote from Owens:

"I didn't have a senior year like I wanted. We lost to (Georgia) Tech, and I
can't leave losing to Tech. I've got to get revenge on that."

That's what I like to hear. Well, not the "We lost to Tech" part...that part still makes my heart hurt. But I can see the disappointment of this year maybe being a source of motivation for next year's team, especially team leader types like Owens.

GO DAWGS!!! Only 259 more days until kickoff!