Everything is possible

Huff: Maybe the team will show up, because the fans sure didn't.

Me: Is there anyone down there who thinks we can win?

Huff: Yeah, a lot of people, actually. But they're all stupid. And mostly students.

I still think it's unreasonable to expect to win today based on what we've all seen.

But we have seen heart from this team all year, and they've got enough speed to catch lightning in the bottle from time to time.

All they really have to do to win this game is live up to my expectations from before the year started, and prove me smart. Go Dawgs.

54 is 5 > 49

Aha! The fact that Herschel Walker still has five more touchdowns than Tim Tebow begins to break loose. From Chris Low at ESPN:

I agree that Walker deserves those five touchdowns he scored in bowl games. But the fact that he left school early to go to the USFL and didn't play his senior season should have no bearing on the record. That was Walker's decision.

Charlie Day: Uncontrollable laughter

This is from the second season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The payoff comes at the end, and it's worth it.


Thursday nights at 10 p.m. on FX.

Note: These hulu videos cycle off.

4:02 p.m. -- Leaves me confused and disappointed

David Hale, who was just as furloughed as me last week, gets back on the job this week with a pretty funny piece of satire breaking down Offensive Line Coach Stacy Searels' own furlough day

2:25 p.m. -- Calls Vince Vance. Tells him to switch apartments with Cordy Glenn.

5:23 p.m. -- Upon check out at the grocery store, the clerk asks whether Searels would prefer paper or plastic bags. Mrs. Searels quickly interjects, reminding the clerk that her husband doesn't do interviews.

Me: What the hell has happened to our offensive line last year. I mean, I love Stacy Searels, right?

Joe: All this cross training on the offensive line .. I don't know. It wasn't like that back in the day. It used to be, "Oh, you're an offensive tackle. Be ready."

To be the man, you gotta beat the man

Verily, Ric Flair is right. (youube)










Image: U of F Athletics.

Beat Florida Saturday and you're .500 against Tim Tebow. Lose, and he's 3-1.

Florida looks beatable. Superman is pressing, because there are weaknesses to be exposed.

I don't know that we're the team to do that. On paper we are, so long as that paper doesn't list 2009 college football statistics.

...

I will miss my first Florida game in 10 years Saturday.

Joe Cox and I will both be going as this on Halloween. One size fits most (children), available at the Tom Hill Sr. Blvd K-mart in Macon and at amazon.com.



Me: It's called "Deluxe Muscle Ninja." It's got a rubber cobra belt.

Joe: I know a guy who wants to name his son Cobra.

Me: What's his wife think of that?

Joe: What do you think? He said he's just going to start calling him that, and get it to stick.

AC PUP: This dog may be worth $1 million

Update: AC came in a distant second. Thanks to all who voted.
---
This is AC the Pup, mascot for the Macon Animal Shelter. If he gets enough votes this week in a Cutest Dog contest, the shelter could win $1 million.


$1 million for me. Or is your heart filled with evil?

Go here for AC's page. You have to register in the top right corner, giving your email address. You should then be able to vote for AC. If not simply search for "AC PUP" in the Gallery.

You can vote once a day, per email address, and the contest continues until next Sunday. Tell your friends.

Kupets: Seven 10's, 2009 Sportswoman of the Year

Damn right, Courtney Kupets.


Image: UGA sports communications staff (galleries).

The official announcement:

NEW YORK --- Former Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets received the Sportswoman of the Year Award for individual sport athletes Tuesday at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. She was honored at the Women's Sports Foundation's 30th Annual Salute to Women In Sports Dinner.

As a senior in 2009, Kupets led Georgia to its fifth straight NCAA Championship title, and she won the all-around, bars, beam and floor individual competitions. She became the first gymnast ever to win a national title in all four events and received five First-Team All-America honors, making a total of 15 for her career, the maximum for only competing three years.

Kupets is the all-time NCAA leader with nine individual championships and was named SEC Athlete of the Year, as well as the AAI National, NCAA Southeast Regional and SEC Gymnast of the Year. Kupets became the third Gym Dog ever to record a 10.0 in all four events, and she had seven 10.0s in 2009, including three at the NCAAs.

Star Spangled in Texas

Singing your National Anthem capably at a sporting event = lifetime achievement.


Also available at Cowboys Stadium.

Today's Lucid Idiocy

The general consensus is that this is not a real Amish Web site.

...

Completely unrelated, but I think it's important to note that Soldier Boy's contributions to society reach their inevitable conclusion at the 59 second mark of this trailer:


Can you combine the Oscar with the Grammy?

Hale: Why has Georgia struggled?

It is the editorial position of this blog that David Hale is the best Bulldog beat writer, and it's not because we both work for The Macon Telegraph. The editorial board voted, and it was unanimous.

His piece today is just chock full of honesty:

ATHENS — There are nearly two-dozen first- or second-year players seeing significant action for Georgia this season, but none of them threw a ball up for grabs to avoid a sack Saturday against Tennessee. That was senior quarterback Joe Cox, who threw a killer second-half interception.

None of them fielded a punt at their own 1-yard line Saturday. That was senior Prince Miller.

It gets worse from there, partly because Bryan Evans is discussed.

...

As for Hale's coverage plan the rest of the season, it's a good one:

I don't think I need to take the time to put into perspective just how far Georgia has or has not fallen with respect to its chief rivals. You'll see plenty of columnists, like Bradley, do that this week and in the weeks to come. It's not my place.

What I am interested in are these questions: Why has Georgia struggled, what are the players going to do about it and what changes will the coaches be making -- or more to the point, should they be making -- in the weeks to come.

No one is getting fired tomorrow. Georgia can't go sign a few free agents to help the defense. There's not much point in debating any of that until there is actually something to be debated.

118th in turnover margin, No. 1 in your heart

Our 97 rushing yards per game are significantly less than our national ranking in turnover margin, which is 118th.

We're also 118th in penalties.

A couple of weeks ago Dan joked that Coach Richt should whip up some red JELL-O the way Jim Donnan did a few years back against Kentucky.

That joke's not funny any more.

I used to think the football team had more problems than I could easily count. But now I'm afraid we only have one problem, and everything else is a visible shoot from the same buried root.

I don't like the obvious conclusions this line of thinking leads to. I do agree with Dawgs Online, which I always look to for reasoned analysis:

If the start to this season has made any difference in the way fans view the program, it’s that their dissatisfaction can no longer be put on a specific area or assistant. There is a program problem now, and it’s Richt’s problem to address.

And I agree with Paul Westerdawg:

The good news (is) all of this is fixable. And all of it is fixable by Mark Richt. ...

But not without introducing new personalities into the mix. Something will have to change on that front, and Richt will have to make moves in the off season to address the issues.

The question is, will Coach Richt see it that way?

Life officially = Joe Cox

Part of me thinks I saw this coming.
Image: Daniel Ussery.
...

"I guess the point I’m making is that is where we are right now is a culmination of everyone. I’m not pointing the finger at any one individual. I’m pointing the finger at all of us as a whole. We must all improve, period.”

- Coach Mark Richt Sunday teleconference (Hale).

Mikey Moore in The AJC:

"The way I feel is we're playing for the fans right now. I know they're getting beat up, they're torn up and I just feel like we've got to put on a better performance for them."

Richt Saturday, in The ABHDN:

“My only true concern right now is to get back home, watch the film, see what the heck happened and make corrections and move forward getting ready for Vanderbilt. That’s what I’m worried about.”

We're at a moment where we're worried about Vanderbilt. And not Munson worried. Actual worried, and telling people.

Recovery through music: Merle Haggard

Dan: I suggest you find video of Merle Haggard's "Are the Good Times Really Over" and post it.



Stop rolling down hill like a snow ball headed for hell.
Stand up for the flag and let's all ring the liberty bell.

The Tennessee game is the season

Beat Tennessee or quit the game.

Update: Well, that didn't go well.

Michigan cop "overdoses" on marijuana

This is the funniest thing that has ever happened in law enforcement.

Normally, Eric Berry would destroy Lane Kiffin

Eric Berry for Heisman . com would be funny, if it were possible to laugh at Eric Berry.

EDBS is the best sports blog, possibly because they're from Florida.

That is one of several videos on berry4heisman.com. Note that the "label" is KIFFIN RECORDS.

Me: A.J. Green is better than Eric Berry.

Joe: (Silence).

Joe: A.J. is gonna get his. Don't worry about that. I'm just saying the chances (deleted) are going up exponentially.

Joe: Our backs are against the wall. Either you're going to do it or you're not.

Me: I think this is a pretty good team. Good enough to beat Tennessee, then Vanderbilt.

Also, Washaun Ealey.. opinions reserved but, you know he was a Bulldog in high school too, right?

Hale quoting Bobo from Tuesday:

“We wanted his first time out of the box put him in a situation where he could be successful and not rattle him with something where he wasn’t successful and would lose confidence,” Bobo said. “But he’s very capable.”

Also Hale:

This week’s meeting between Georgia and Tennessee marks the first time the two teams have faced off while neither was ranked in the top 25 since 1937.

See also what Rennie Curran thinks of Washaun Ealey.

What's wrong with this picture?

I could have left this town this morning..

...

If you answered, "those markers show the locations of Saturday's Widespread Panic / Allman Brother's concert, the gun show at the Birmingham civic center that same day, the Sheraton Hotel bar where you plan to watch the Georgia game and the SEC's headquarters building across the street," you are correct.

Recipe for disaster.

Update from Joe: "Why wouldn't you watch the game at SEC Headquarters? Seriously, what happens at SEC Headquarters on a game day?"

Throw my ticket, let the green grass fool you

All I'm sure of is that Bob Dylan, Wilson Pickett, A.J. Green and Rennie Curran have all been badasses.

Dan: This punt return situation is pissing me off more as I think about it. Why would we not try to return the ball, or try to block the punt, especially when they're backed up near their own end zone? Why would we just concede that kind of yardage?

Dan: I still want Coach Richt to stay there forever, but I really want him to coach differently.

Dan Starnes is head of Lucid Idiocy's football analysis division because he's the most reasonable person I know on the subject. If Coach Richt is starting to lose him a little, and people are throwing the word "stubborn" around ... well, I guess it's not the first bad sign.

Me: I don't need to hear about how great Joe Cox is. We had no business throwing that last pass, except that it was to A.J. Green.

Joe: Well, you're the one who.. you know. I think he's mediocre, still.

Let me add that Soulsville, USA, is a great place to claim as home, that I'm hoping the new "V" remake on ABC is even better than I remember the original being, and that I didn't really know until last night that this Bob Dylan song even existed.

Some people are like that. They did so many things that you turn around a corner and think, "Man, you did that one, too?"

What am I trying to say here? Beating Tennessee is really important if you want to be better than 7-5, and it's pretty damn important if you want to be 7-5, period. That's not a good place to be in. But Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You.

And Bob Dylan knows his stuff. I love that YouTube takes pirated music and offers to sell it to you. That is the art of taking your weakness, and making it your strength.


You do have to click twice for the ad, though.

That is a two way street in life. Right now Coach Richt and his staff, bless them, ain't going the right way on it.

Update: But of course that can change quickly. Beat Tennessee.

Botching that kickoff: What kills you, kills you

If you do something badly, eventually it does you in. Eventually a ref calls a B.S. celebration penalty and exacerbates it. Eventually you lose your freaking mind, kick from the huddle for the first time in the game and get an illegal formation penalty.

Eventually, everything you do wrong goes wrong all at once, because you're dumb. Like a skipping record that scratches.

I think that's the lesson from this piece by David Hale:

By my count, that's 22 miscues on kickoffs following either crucial Georgia scores or to start a half in just the past 18 games. Twenty-two! In 18 games!

Georgia football as a 3-2 501c3

This season is brutally tantalizing. Thoughts from the Lucid Idiocy Division of Analysis:

"I don't know that we gave the game away. I mean, we didn't have any turnovers. At least until they announced that, after further review, you could clear out of Sanford Stadium. How close are we to being 0-5? Not as close as we are to being 5-0."
- Dan Starnes

"If we got points for being in 3rd and 8, we'd be off the charts."
- Brett Unzicker

"Did you enjoy watching Kevin Butler play football? The only thing you can say about the defense is that they saved us from losing worse. If the offense plays good the defense can't. And if the defense is good the offense sucks. Were lucky to be 3-2. Count your blessings on that."
- Ryan Mohs

We're unranked for the first time since December 2006. Auburn looks fast. Tennessee's defense looks like a real problem.

We put as much speed and talent on the field as I can remember us having in the last 10 years. But if we don't take care of the little things soon, this season will slip past mediocrity into territory I'd just as soon not discuss.

A.J. Green for Heisman goes online

A.J. Green for Heisman is now a blog. No word yet on whether, if you visit it, you get stuck and score 6 points.

There's also an unrelated Facebook group.