A real cool hand

I'll be damned. Paul Newman is 83 years old. It's not his birthday or anything, I just didn't know.


You gonna stay for breakfast, or do you already know how to eat?

Beat the Rush

Before things get busy, let us take a moment for something that always matters. Hate tech early.







Maybe one day it will be enough.
But I doubt it.

Image: The antiorange page.

From Beijing to Athens

Two things, and I picked both of them up from Hale's Blog:

19 athletes and coaches with ties to the University of Georgia will compete in the Beijing Olympics.

And I think I'll get this Richt quote, from an ESPN chat session, printed on the back of a t-shirt, so the "down in front" crowd can read it:

I expect our Dawg Walk and our home crowds to be the most disruptive to our opponents in the country.

We're 31 days out. If you weren't already, you should be reading this, among other things, every day. That's some good news on the O-line suspensions.

Urban Meyer is Urban Meyer, Urban Meyer

Hey Jenny Slater is in Urban Meyer's head.

If you don't have time for the full post, scroll down near the end and I'll set it up for you: How would Urban Meyer react to the simple problems life presents us, like a delayed flight, or Starbuck's being out of skim milk?

BARISTA #1: Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get for you today?

MEYER: You want to know what Urban Meyer would like? Urban Meyer would like a double-shot grande latte, skim, and a muffin.

BARISTA #1: I'm sorry, I think we may be out of skim milk -- is two-percent OK?

MEYER: I don't know. Is giving you two percent of the price OK?

BARISTA #1: Uhh -- I'm sorry?

MEYER: It's very simple: I've asked for something, and you've tried to give me something less. And that isn't right. That's a bad deal. I understand the motivation here, but you're trying to give me something different from what I asked for. So do you want to try and get what I asked for, or do you want me to handle it? 'Cause I'll handle it.

College football schedule generator

Just what it sounds like: You tell it what teams you want included and it spits out a schedule for you.

Assuming it works, which it seems to.

Sent to me by a Virginia Tech Hokie.

The Bell is coming home

I hope this puts a smile on your face. We'll put it in tomorrow's paper, and I'm waiting for some recent pictures of the bell, and the new tower, from the University.
---
The University of Georgia's beloved Chapel Bell, which is at an Ohio foundry for repairs, will be shipped home soon and will be in place for the start of football season, according to a university spokesman and the foundry vice president.

The bell itself, which fans ring after Georgia victories, is ready for shipment now, The Verdin Co. Vice President Dave Verdin said. But the timbers that will support it in a newly built tower won't be ready until next week, he said. Verdin's company, in Cincinnati, is one of the few that can do this work, UGA Physical Plant Assistant Vice President Tom Satterly said.
The tower is being built by university workers and will look like the old one, Satterly said. It will be installed behind the university chapel on North Campus early next month. The bell, removed this spring for the repairs and refurbishing, will be in place before the Aug. 30 home game against Georgia Southern, Satterly said. Everything but the bell itself will be new.


Soon. Image by Lucid Athens correspondent Brian Huff.

"It's gonna look terrific. ..." Satterly said. "A lot of pride's going into constructing this tower."

The bell, cast in 1835, will look and sound pretty much the same, Verdin said. But it's been sand blasted and polished, and the broken crown at the top was strengthened, he said. The clapper, which actually rings the bell, was also replaced and the new one is bronze instead of the original steel, Verdin said.

"So it might be a little more melodious," he said.

It's unusual to hand ring a bell these days, Verdin said, and almost unheard of to allow "just anybody" to ring it by pulling a rope "to their heart's content."

The bell "gets 10 years use every time you guys win a ball game," he said.

After last year's win over Florida the bell was rung so hard that it fell from its perch, but was caught by a wooden platform installed just below it for safety. It's a good thing, since the bell weighs 700 pounds.

"Ironically, the same weight as Urban Meyer's ego," Middle Georgia Bulldog Club President Stebin Horne noted.

Temporary fixes were made, and the bell was reinstalled for the rest of the 2007 season. But the old tower dated back to about 1913, and it was taken down after the season. The new tower, as well as the infrastructure that holds the bell in place, will be engineered to modern standards, Satterly said.


Image: UGA photographer Dot Paul, 4.5.2005.

The year is 1987

Why isn't Buck Rogers in syndication?

Revisiting The Celebration, since everyone else is

Over at SEC Media Days, just about everyone's talking about last year's Celebration against Florida, which in itself is proof of its power.

For the record, I'm still exactly where I was on this Oct. 29.

To anyone in the media who didn't like it: We don't care.

And to the Florida people: We're glad it pissed you off.













Image: Grant Blankenship, The Macon Telegraph.

I'll see you in Jacksonville.

Wait a minute... because you never see these guys together, either.

With SEC Media Days underway in Birmingham and Sen. Obama in Iraq, which of these guys do you think is getting more media love at the moment?













NY Times: Obama Overseas! In presidential mode!












Sporting News: Only impossibility for Tebow is Obscurity.

This could take Georgia out of play in a big way. In a related story, sources say Sen. John McCain has hired former Georgia Defensive End Marcus Howard as a senior consultant on bringing the pain.

Images: www.barackobama.com and several of my more terrifying nightmares.

Presumably, by day 3, they'll have lost all hope

Huh. I found something South Carolina related that lived up to the promise.

Garnet and Black Attack's coverage of SEC media days is both extensive and hilarious. The exception that proves the rule, no doubt.

Thanks to the senator. Of course.

So long, Kendall, Ching - and welcome David Hale

As you may know, former Telegraph Bulldog beat writer Josh Kendall and his Columbus counterpart David Ching are moving on. Kendall is leaving the paper and Ching is going to be covering Auburn for The Ledger-Enquirer.

We hired a guy named David Hale to cover the Dawgs for both papers, which are owned by the same company. He starts tomorrow, the first day of SEC Media Days.

Presumably you can follow his coverage on our Web site, as well as on his blog - which exists but doesn't have any posts yet.

With great sadness, I'm removing Ching's absolutely fantastic blog from my links. But I'll replace it with Hale's in expectation.

UPDATE 2: He posted like a million things today.

UPDATE: Mr. Hale is in the house, with his first post and a schedule for SEC Media Days. Sweet:

WEDNESDAY:
• FLORIDA(1:10 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.)
Coach Urban Meyer, QB Tim Tebow and OT Phil Trautwein
• MISSISSIPPI STATE(1:10 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.)
Coach Sylvester Croom, QB Wesley Carroll and LBJamar Chaney
• LSU(3:10 p.m. - 5:10 p.m.)
Coach Les Miles, C Brett Helms and DETyson Jackson
• VANDERBILT(3:10 p.m. - 5:10 p.m.)
Coach Bobby Johnson, S Reshard Langford and WRGeorge Smith

THURSDAY:
• ALABAMA(8:40 a.m. - 10:40 a.m.)
Coach Nick Saban, OL Antoine Caldwell and S Rashad Johnson
• GEORGIA(8:40 a.m. - 10:40 a.m.)
Coach Mark Richt, WRMohamed Massaquoi and DT Jeff Owens
• OLEMISS(10:40 a.m. - 12:40 p.m.)
Coach Houston Nutt, DT Peria Jerry and OT Michael Oher
• TENNESSEE(10:40 a.m. - 12:40 p.m.)
Coach Phillip Fulmer, DERobert Ayers and RB Arian Foster

FRIDAY:
• AUBURN(8:40 a.m. - 10:40 a.m.)
Coach Tommy Tuberville, C Jason Bosley and DE Sen’derrick Marks
• KENTUCKY(8:40 a.m. - 10:40 a.m.)
Coach Rich Brooks, DEJeremy Jarmon and WRDicky Lyons, Jr.
• ARKANSAS(10:40 a.m. - 12:40 p.m.)
Coach Bobby Petrino, LBElston Forte and C Jonathan Luigs
• SOUTHCAROLINA(10:40 a.m. - 12:40 p.m.)
Coach Steve Spurrier, LB Jasper Brinkley and WRKenny McKinley

All SEC pre-season team named

I'll go out on a limb and say more Dawgs make the list by the time the year ends. From The Telegraph:

Georgia may be a trendy pick to play for national title, but the Bulldogs don't have the most, or even the second-most, talent in their own conference, according to SEC coaches.

The conference released its coaches' preseason team Monday and LSU led the way with 14 selections. Florida was next with 10, and then came the Bulldogs, who had nine.

I've got $100 that says Rennie Curran (a pre-season third-teamer) is on the first team by season's end.

The Grand Canyon: Aptly named

Two more pictures from my friends' trip.



Images: Jean O'Keefe and Brian Huff.

We're getting there

I have about eight questions for the season.

1. Who's going to step up at D-end?

2. How many games before the O-line gels? Remember the suspensions.

3. What's the receiving corps going to look like?

4. What will Uga VI's epitaph be?

5. Who is Uga VII? Other than "a badass plus awesome times a billion."

6. What kind of cups will we have at the stadium this year?

7. Will the Red Coats play that 100 year old "Red and Black March" that was discovered this year? Because how can they not?

8. Will Munson be calling home games?

The Banner-Herald tells us that, on the last one, it's looking good.


Soon.

By the way, Coach Richt said at recent Bulldog Club meetings that we'll break out the black jerseys again this season, but he hasn't said which game. I have my suspicions, and it ain't a home game, and I'm not sure I can think of a crazier set of circumstances.

UPDATE: Coach Richt was in Macon last night, and touched on the defensive end issue. He doesn't sound worried. From Mike Lough here at The Telegraph:

Depth is a concern at safety and inside linebacker, true freshman wide receiver A.J. Green is likely to play, the offensive line is still a young unit with no seniors and one junior on the two-deep, and the backups at running back behind Knowshon Moreno and Caleb King will be young.

Richt feels good about the defensive line all the way across and noted that special teams will be of great focus, not just replacing place-kicker Brandon Coutu.

Chris Davis is leading the way at center, but true freshman Ben Jones is improving and making quite an impression.

"Ben is so mean," Richt said. "On the field, he's nasty. He wants to whip you, and he wants to tell you about it afterwards."

Whammy! Season ticket cutoffs announced.

As DawgsOnline reports, it ain't pretty. But that's the price of success.

Brother, can you spare $10,651?

Glacier

Some friends of mine are on a cross-country trip. They were in San Francisco last night, but had been in Glacier National Park about a week ago.

Glacier is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places on Earth.


Image: Jean O'Keefe and Brian Huff.

But is it Chilly Water?

The Science Times (The New York Times' science section) is usually worth reading.

For example: There is water on Mercury, according to the Messenger spacecraft NASA has flying past the planet. Who knew?

An instrument aboard Messenger sampled Mercury’s surface composition by catching some of the charged atoms that have been knocked into space. Silicon, sodium and sulfur were detected. So was water.

“Which is a real surprise,” said Thomas H. Zurbuchen, an associate professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences at the University of Michigan and lead author of another paper in Science. “The first time we took a whiff of the planet, it’s right there.”

One possibility is that the water exists as ice in the shaded parts of craters in the polar regions.

Pressing business: Widespread Panic to join Georgia Music Hall of Fame as 2008 inductee

I believe The Macon Telegraph is breaking rock and roll news tomorrow: Widespread Panic will be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame this year.

Lynyrd Skynyrd was last year's group inductee. In 2006 it was REM. Ray Charles was one of the first two inductees in 1979.

The induction will likely be a black tie event, scheduled for Sept. 20 at the World Congress Center in Atlanta. Tickets are available through Friends of Georgia Music Festival, (770) 491-9494.

According to Phillip Ramati here at The Telegraph, the other Hall of Fame inductees this year are: Keith Sweat in the songwriting category; gospel singer Dottie Rambo in the posthumous category; Fred and Dinah Gretsch of The Gretsch Co. in the pioneer category, and Macon "King Bee" Hamp Swain in the non-performer category.

If you find yourself in Macon, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame is worth a couple of hours. There's an Otis Redding exhibit featured through Sept. 10.

Congratulations to Widespread Panic. This is a very large and very deserved honor.


In other news, we're all old now. Or should we say "classic."

Images: widespreadpanic.com. Music and merchandise available.

Coach Richt in Macon July 17

He'll be speaking at the Macon Centreplex. Program starts at 7 p.m., social hour starts at 6 p.m.

It's free and open to all UGA fans, according to the card I got in the mail.

Coach Richt will be in Jacksonville July 15, Valdosta July 16, at the Cobb Galleria Centre July 28, in Columbus July 29 and in Chattanooga July 31.

It's like every day there's something new

140 photos from the 4th of July around the world. That includes the opening of a new American embassy in Berlin, at its pre-World War II address.

Bozo the Clown has died.

National Geographic's week in photos:




Finally, I have a friend named Brett Unzicker. He and his brothers grew up in the D.C. area.

And he's got these jackass friends who've managed to get The Washington Post to file daily updates about their shenanigans at a golf tournament: Stacy responded by ripping off his shirt and flexing.

America, the beautiful

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Ray Charles singing America The Beautiful on Two Fried Eggs.

She didn't worry anymore

America gets a pretty good working over out there. From other countries, from those of us who criticize without sacrifice, from those of us who deserve to be criticized.

But I was reading this monstrously long story last night, about Sgt. Joe Montgomery's journey home from Iraq, and I thought to myself: America still stands up.

Happy 4th of July.

The Patriot Guard was formed a few years ago in response to the threat of protesters from the extreme-fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, in Topeka, Kansas, who sometimes disrupted the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. There were rumors the church intended to hold up signs along the highway like, "God Hates Your Tears" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." Gail Bond stayed up the night before for a lot of reasons, but partly because she was worried about how her family and friends might react, how she might react, to such taunts. But now she saw the men on their Harley-Davidsons, with their long hair coming out the backs of their helmets, and she didn't worry anymore.

Nobody called anybody a jive turkey

I immediately recommend the movie Semi-Pro.

Coach Perno gets a raise

From Josh Kendall here at the paper:

Perno, the Athens native and former Bulldog player who just completed his seventh season as coach, was given an almost 50 percent raise and will earn $450,000 annually for the next five years under the new deal. His former contract, which was to run through the 2011 season, was worth just more than $300,000 annually.

Vic Chesnutt is your Daddy.

This post is not going to be for everyone. In fact, if you said "Vic Who?," maybe just stop right now before your soul explodes...

A buddy of mine and I got drunk one night and wrote this list, stealing liberally from the greatest concept ever born upon the Internet.

My sincere hope is that it does not anger Mr. Chesnutt.

Vic Chesnutt wanted to fight the war on terror, but realized he could not defeat himself.

On the 8th day God ran away from Vic Chesnutt. Screaming.

Satan is a Vic Chesnuttist.

The song "Bittersweet Symphony" is about Vic Chesnutt killing the guys who wrote "Bittersweet Symphony." And U2.

Vic Chesnutt does not sleep. He stabs Chuck Norris' pansy ass.

Vic Chesnutt lights his cigarettes on himself.

Vic Chesnutt killed Vince Dooley in 1979 and assumed his form.

Vic Chesnutt knows what you did last summer because he made you do it.

Metallica's "One" is about Vic Chesnutt... when he was a fetus.

You think Kurt Cobain killed himself? You're a moron.

The moon doesn't cause the tides to change. Trust us.

The word "shotgun" is loosely based on the Latin for "Vic Chesnutt."

You can stop Vic Chesnutt, but you have to find him first. Check Hell.

The bullet that killed Bruce Lee was Vic Chesnutt. That's the only way it was gonna happen.

Vic Chesnutt stabbed Sting in the neck in 1992, then nursed him back to health and stabbed him in the skull. This is known as "Tantra."

Vic Chesnutt has no soul and cannot be photographed.

Vic Chesnutt kills people who put an extra "T" in his name. With the letter "T."

Vic Chesnutt has committed suicide 175 times. He keeps coming back awesome.

You should see the ones I edited out because they were in "poor taste."

Even if it kills you, I'm not sure it's possible for this to be too loud
: Soon I will be lighter fluid.















Image: Rolling Stone.