King's flunk-out leaves us thin in one more place

To those arguing that the sky is not falling just because Caleb King threw away his senior year of Georgia football: I hear you.

But this sure has a hair-that-broke-the-camel's-back feel to it, doesn't it? Especially combined with Washaun Ealey leaving, Brent Benedict leaving and the fact that we now have 77 players on scholarship, or two more than a team the NCAA dropped the hammer on with scholarship reductions.

Generally speaking, step one to success is not fucking yourself over. And when it comes to proven players, we are now very thin (at best) at safety, offensive line, linebacker (especially if Jarvis Jones has to sit the first couple of games), wide receiver and running back.

And that's assuming John Jenkins and Kwame Geathers are the answer on our D-line.

The Orlando Sentinel sports department has near zero credibility

This is kind of part two of this train of thought. It was Mike Bianchi's column, arguing that Georgia is the most overrated program in college football history, that set me off. But that's not even close to the Orlando Sentinel's biggest blow against its own credibility.

The Orlando Sentinel is just trolling for hits. You know it. I know it. Stop clicking on their sports stories.

When Mike Bianchi writes "Without this fluke Lindsay Scott play, Georgia would be South Carolina," of course that's not true. The very exercise of asking "what if" about the past speaks to an outfit's intentions.

And where does Bianchi's argument that "Georgia fans have way too high an opinion of their program" take us? Is complacency a newly praised American virtue? Is know your place his actual advice?

"Oh, we're the 12th winningest program in college football history. Let's definitely not try to be No. 1."

That's loser logic, and I doubt Bianchi even buys it himself. Saying things you know people will hate has been a newspaper columnist trick for ages. The Internet just offers new proof that it works.

But it's the sign of a man that you should not trust. Take Andrew Breitbart, the unrepentant rumor monger who told purposeful lies of omission in the now well-known case of Shirley Sherrod.

"I realized I liked being hated more than I liked being liked," Breitbart has said.

What a dangerous attitude, particularly in writers not particularly concerned with the truth.

I see the same idea at work in the Orlando Sentinel sports department. Surely they don't believe their own college football poll. The one that ranks Army, Northwestern, Connecticut, Middle Tennessee and Idaho all at least 20 spots higher than Georgia?

Add that poll to Bianchi's click-hunting columns. Then look to the Sentinel's main sports page. As of this moment it features at least six promos for photo galleries of cheerleaders or dance teams. It's got two promos for lingerie football tryout photos, and those tryouts were held May 1.

The Sentinel's online sports strategy is apparent: Pander to the baser instincts and generate controversy, whether the facts support it or not. Angry readers and girls in their underwear mean hits.

This is a formula for short term success, no doubt about it. But, long term, it wipes out your credibility.

I think that day has come for the Orlando Sentinel. When it comes to college football, the paper no longer has any credibility for me. But, if I need a place to find famous mug shots or guess which celebrity these abs belong to, I'll know where to turn.

Note: Before publishing this I emailed Bianchi and the Sentinel's sports editor for comment. I haven't heard back. I'm emailing them a link to this post, and will publish a response if I receive one.

The situation in Haiti

Obviously you don't need me to tell you about the situation in Haiti right now.

But I happened a February 2009 copy of The Economist, with this article about the situation then:

THERE is a new lake outside Gonaïves, a town of 300,000 people and the fourth-largest in Haiti. It blocks the road south to the capital, Port-au-Prince. It formed last autumn when four storms, three of them hurricanes, swept over the poorest country in the Americas in the space of a month. The rain—a metre’s worth on one night alone—fell on saturated mountains, long since denuded of their forest cover, and swept down on to the coastal plain. It seemed a modest victory that only 793 people died, compared with 3,000 killed by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.

Five months later, bulldozers have cleared the mud from the main streets of Gonaïves. Away from them, on countless side streets, pedestrians look down on rooftops on either side. The houses have been dug out by hand, and the dirt piled in mounds on the roadway.

Only 20% of the town has been cleaned up, estimates Olivier Le Guillou of Action Contre la Faim, a French charity, which has paid 1,800 residents to help do the job. The damage was not confined to Gonaïves. Haiti’s agriculture minister reckons that 60% of the harvest was lost and 160,000 goats were killed, along with 60,000 pigs and 25,000 cows. In all, the storms have cost the country $900m, or 14.6% of GDP, according to a donor-funded government study. That is equivalent to 12 times the damage of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and comes just four years after Jeanne wiped out 7% of Haiti’s GDP.

You must subscribe to read the whole article. Perhaps the people at The Economist will not complain if you simply buy a newstand copy of their magazine soon instead, or donate something to relief or rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

It strikes me that in Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue called this week for an extra $300 million a year for transportation projects, for the next 10 years.

If just one of those years were spent on Haiti, you would sit in roughly the same metro Atlanta traffic for a marginally longer period of time, and an area of Port-au-Prince could be rebuilt, probably by Georgia companies.

I'm not saying, I'm saying that's an amazing difference in living conditions for the span of 800 miles. This earthquake has the potential to be a real call for positive change in Haiti.

Tailgating and trash: Please do better

UPDATE: I feel like I should add here: That looks like one hell of a party. Someone needs to invent a better disposable cooler.
...
This video is from Saturday night. Ten years ago I can see myself contributing to this, so I understand. But if you tailgate like this, you should be ashamed of yourself.



It was like that all over the two main quads at 2 a.m. The people who clean that up, I wonder what they think of you?

Thanks to Georgia Sports Blog, Get The Picture and The Grit Tree for getting the word out. You have to wonder: Just how bad is the environmental impact of a University of Georgia game?

It's actually pretty easy to recycle on Gameday. Just bring a bag and make a little sign. There are drop off locations all over campus, as shown on this map, downloadable here in pdf form. And I imagine if you mark it, some enterprising soul will come pick it up.

Beat the rush ...

... hate Tech early.

If the facebook page I stole the picture below from is to be believed, this was taken at the press conference to announce Paul Johnson as the new Georgia Tech head coach.

Two of the non-empty seats work with me here at The Macon Telegraph.

Clearly, the excitement was palpable.

What could have been: Quincy Carter arrested again

From USA Today:

MISSION, Texas (AP) — Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Quincy Carter was charged Friday with drunken driving and marijuana possession.

Carter's blood-alcohol level tested at 0.14, said Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Johnny Hernandez.

Uga VI has died

Don't mess with this Dawg.

Uga would have been 10 next month. From the University of Georgia Athletic Association:

ATHENS, Ga. --- Uga VI, the winningest mascot in the University of Georgia’s history, died on Friday evening from congestive heart failure in his hometown of Savannah, Ga., owner Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler announced.

“He was a good one,” Seiler said. “What can I say? He had a marvelous record. He was a very strong and healthy dog. He was the biggest of all the dogs, and he had the biggest heart. It just played out.”

Damon Evans called him "an outstanding representative of our fine institution." I wholeheartedly agree.

We've had seven wonderful mascots since the Uga line began roaming the sidelines, and each has had his own personality and overseen his own era of Georgia athletics.

But I think this linebacker of a Dawg was my favorite. I hope he's on a big bag of ice in the sky.

Uga VI will be buried in the vault at Sanford Stadium, next to his predecessors, no doubt with an appropriate inscription.



Georgia Sports blog has all the links you need on Uga's passing.

And Dawgs Online has great pictures and video.




















When he was just a kid, 2000 from my paper, The Telegraph. Sign the guest book if you like.






More from The Telegraph:

Uga VI was breathing heavily Friday evening, Sonny Seiler noticed.

“I noticed he had a little congestion in his throat, which usually is not a cause for alarm,” Seiler said. “I gave him a bath, which he always loved, to cool him off. After that, I called (family veterinarian Stanley Lester), whose office is about a four-minute drive from our house. (Uga’s) heart just played out. He suffered no pain and died peacefully.”

Cecelia Seiler, the matriarch of the Uga line, said the family lost more than just a pet.

“He lived right here in my den with me for 10 years,” Cecelia Seiler said. “He was a happy dog.”

And from Athletic Director Damon Evans:
“This is a very sad day for the entire Bulldog Nation. Uga VI was a damn good mascot and a damn good dog. He was an outstanding representative of our fine institution.”

I agree with every bit of that.