0-1, I feel dumb

"It's not like we just had a terrible game and this is it, this is how we're gonna be the whole year."
- Joe Cox, in The ABHDN

It's funny how quickly things change. Just last week I felt a little bit of magic in the air. Now I feel dumb and gullible. I feel like I'm back in 2008, except this year we tackle better and lose more.

I recognize this may not be fair after one game. But having seen the product on the field I have a hard time judging on potential.

My hat is off to Oklahoma State, whom I clearly under-estimated. The game was winnable for us and turned on the sum of a lot of little things, as football games usually do.

To the team: I hope some of you guys can play better than that, or like getting embarrassed.

To Coach Richt: Why can't you fix the kickoffs?

To the refs: That was not an illegal hit. They did not get that first down. I hate you.

I can't believe Trinton Sturdivant is out for a year again. What a test the Lord has put before him.

I don't understand our offense. I'm down on Joe Cox. If you offered me 7-5 right now, I might take it. If you came with 8-4 you'd lose a finger.

I think Oklahoma State is a good team. I'd like to see what happens when Joe Cox hasn't had the flu before a game, and I'd like to see our luck change.

Still, I'll tell you the question that really bothers me, the one I'm not sure I want an answer to.

Why is Alabama so much better than us?

Recovery through music

David Hale reporting:

Head coach Mark Richt said the team would have to wait for the results of an MRI before knowing the severity of the injury, but Sturdivant was wearing a cast down the length of his leg and was on crutches after the game.

How many times will I be subjected to Dave Matthews Band's "Why I am" this year?

Still, I'm glad it's football season.

"And the face of that Duck man tells the story so far. ... The feathers are coming off quickly."

- Mark Jones, ESPN

Gameday, Chipper in Atlanta Saturday

From The Atlanta Examiner:

If you love College GameDay, here’s your chance to see Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard up close and in person as they broadcast live from Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park this Saturday morning. As an added bonus, Chipper Jones will make an appearance as a guest commentator. The show airs from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM on ESPN in advance of Saturday night’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff game between Virginia Tech and Alabama.

UPDATE: Chipper Jones is a gator fan and can go to hell.

Cowboys Forever: Seriously, can this be real?

Click on the play button in the top right corner of this page. Seriously? Seriously, can this be real?

"45's, chaps, bandannas and spurs, we are Cowboys ... forever. ... The prairie wind touches our skin, another maverick morning begins."

Huh. And you've heard of Georgia Tech, right?

The Oklahoman says this Okie State song is very real, but will not be used as an introduction Saturday, which is a shame:

"Cowboys Forever” is not the song that will play as the football team takes the field. It’s not the music for the intro video, which in previous years has featured "Back in the Saddle” by Aerosmith. It’s not going to replace whatever pumping, bumping, thumping song brings the Cowboys onto the Boone Pickens Stadium turf.

"There’s a lot of misconception about this song being the song that the football team runs out to,” Martin said. "The team will not come out right when this video and song are done.”

Tony Barnhart spoke to Munson

“I talked to somebody the other day who told me that when they retired they missed every blade of grass at Sanford Stadium,” Munson said. “That’s the way I feel right now. I’m going to miss everything about that place.”

Coach Dooley: 2009 Dawgs united

Vince Dooley was in Macon today signing books. He predicts a win against Oklahoma State, as do I.

Much has been made about the chemistry on this year's team. With Knowshon and Stafford leaving early, you had to expect the "team is the star of the team" narrative to take hold. But I found this comment from Coach Dooley particularly heartening:

"I think Coach Richt is gonna have more fun with this team than any team he's had in a long time. ... I don't know if they'll be champions, but they'll be champions in his mind. ... The coaches and the players are as united as I've ever seen a football team."

You know, Oklahoma State may be falling apart before our very eyes with injuries, distractions and a defection. Maybe I'm just feeling what I hope, but the closer we get to the season, the more I feel like there may just be a little magic in the air.

The Kiffining of Vol Nation

I can't say I fully approve of my own subject line here. Vol Nation has never been a group you'd turn to for a knowledgeable opinion on much of anything. Still, there has been a noticeable intensifying of the sheer crazy from them recently.

...

JOE, at a gunshow, talking to a VOL Fan: Well, if you guys can just take care of Tebow for a couple of games ...

VOL Fan: Oh, man. His backups are even better than he is.

Church sign wisdom

Cornerstone Free Will Baptist Church near Fort Valley.

Georgia girls and Sanford Stadium: Your only guarantees in 2009

And Rennie Curran.
...
A couple of years ago I think Ford had a commercial: "The only guarantee on Gameday? Tailgating."

My tailgate isn't even guaranteed this year. A parking deck is under construction and the University has temporarily destroyed my tailgating spot to execute what looks like a bad ass master plan.

There are a lot of questions about this season, and we're going to have answers very soon. And that is what I think about this team. I think I was more confident about the opener 2 weeks ago.


Note the new red bridge, and yellow riverwalks.

...

JOE: What about Joe Cox, man?

ME: For all our talk about the o-line, here we are at the end, we're talking about the quarterback.

JOE: Can he complete 60 percent of his passes?

ME: That's the question.

JOE: Nah. Too many questions. But, shit, I guess that's what happens sometimes.

I think these are reasonable questions about The Dawgs on Aug. 29, 2009:

• Starting corner opposite Prince Miller
• Safety
• Defensive end
• running back
• Quarterback
• Offensive line
• Defensive coaching

Now, the question is, how many of those do you really feel confident in? And, if you have six or seven questions heading into a season, how reasonable is expecting great success?


Yes, I'm happy to announce that, one week before kickoff, my supreme confidence has turned to organ-gnawing worry. Worry with confidence at its foundation, colored by an excitement for Sanford Stadium. Now it's football season.


Not even guaranteed this year.

I say we truck these fools in their renovated stadium. Otherwise, what the hell are we doing?

One other thing: The University of Georgia Master Plan is to destroy my tailgating spot this season. But it's to build something better in the future.

I expect a 10 win season like anyone else. And if Tebow gets hurt, a path opens through the SEC East.

But that's a big if to add to 7 questions.

The Lucid Interview: Michael Adams

UGA President Michael Adams was in Macon Monday and stopped by The Telegraph for about an hour. Most of this isn't new news, but it is interesting. The newspaper version of this story is here.

He'd like to raise tuition. Between the hit the university's endowment took in the stock market and state budget cuts, Adams said "there are no more rabbits in the hat" and that layoffs are next if the state makes more cuts.
The Board of Regents already did away with the "fixed for four" tuition lock-in, but Adams said we're still too low.
"Alabama is $3,000 more a year. ..." he said. "You can be too good a buy."



He's likely against banning smoking campus-wide: A proposal to do so is "in the university committee structure," but Adams said he hasn't decided whether he'd sign off on a ban, if it makes it to his desk.
"When you start telling people they can't smoke or use any other legal product... somebody's going to need to make an argument to me that it's harming other people (outside)," he said.
Adams has already signed off on measures to ban smoking in university buildings and at Sanford Stadium.

East Campus smell to improve: A new sewage plant under construction near College Station Road should "eliminate rather than reduce" the strong smell that sometimes permeates parts east campus and the surrounding area, Adams said.
The new plant should be online in early 2012, according to The Athens Banner-Herald. It's one of three Athens Clarke County plants being rebuilt by the local government, the newspaper has reported.

The Butts-Mehre expansion ground breaking will be the day of the South Carolina game.




Sanford Bridge reassurances: Adams said he expects the Sanford Drive Bridge to remain open with its view into the stadium intact. He said the next expansion of the stadium would be along the top of the eastern end zone stands.
"I think if I closed (the bridge) end of the stadium the alumni would go nuts. ..." he said. "The tying of that stadium to the campus is part of the lore of that place."

He'd like to see Tim Tebow graduate. He also said The Dawgs "could" beat Florida this year and threw out 28-20 for a prediction.

Furloughs and closing buildings: Talk about some campus buildings, such as the Miller student center, closing on furlough days is "pure rumor," Adams said. The planned furlough days for university employees are Oct. 30, Nov. 25, Dec. 24, Jan. 4, March 8 and April 30.

On retirement: Adams said he doesn't have an exit plan, but he recently turned 60 expects to leave the university in "another four or five or six years."

Also, he was wearing braces.



The Lumpkin Street area: Adams still favors closing a portion of Lumpkin Street near Baxter Street and building a landscaped mall there. Traffic would be routed over to Pulaski Street, but those plans "haven't gone any where," he said.
Several new buildings are planned further north along Lumpkin where the university recently bought fraternity buildings, including new business school buildings.
The university is also buying up the public housing units along Baxter Street, a bit at a time, to make room for future expansion, he said.

Campus will continue to grow on the east side near the Ramsey Center with the focus in that area being on residential and recreational buildings. There are plans for a new bridge across the North Oconee in that area as well as a riverwalk.
You can get all kinds of master plan documents from the university here, and the East Campus plan shows part of the loop around Ramsey closing in favor of new housing.

Blackouts compared

These videos are from roughly the same place as the team took the field.

2007 vs. Auburn:


2008 vs. Alabama:


I don't think I'm trying to prove anything that isn't obvious.

Warner Robins girls softball rules the world

Full coverage, with pictures and video.


Image: Beau Cabell, The Telegraph.

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.

This must be the place

18 days is tantalizingly close.

I can't tell one from another
Did I find you or you find me?
There was a time, before we were born
If someone asks, this is where I'll be ... (sound)


Share the same space for a minute or two ... (lyrics)

It's just a little too early to say Okie State's scared

I love the very concept of The Dawgbone.com...

I could care less about Zac Robinson's supposed sore leg, but the idea of 60,000 Ok. State fans "collectively hold(ing) their breath" sounds like it comes right out of my game plan.

From The Stillwater NewsPress, which sounds made up:

So even three weeks before the start of the season, Cowboy Nation likely already has started to get a nervous feeling about how healthy its starting quarterback and offensive lynch pin will be this season.

Think the air might be sucked out of Boone Pickens Stadium the first time Robinson runs with the ball against Georgia, as 60,000 Cowboy fans — not to mention 130 or so coaches and players — collectively hold their breath?

If I were Stillwater, Oklahoma, I don't think I'd invite The University of Georgia Bulldogs to the first game in my pretty new stadium.


Image: Stillwater NewsPress.

Chick-fil-A peach shakes going away this month

I am sorry to report that the limited-time-only peach milkshakes at Chick-fil-A will be phased out starting this weekend.


Restaurants will keep making them until they run out of materials, so you might be able to find one for a few days after that, according to a company spokesman.



Said spokesman Mark Baldwin:

"We've introduced limited-time milkshake flavors for the past couple of years in an effort to promote our entire line of milkshakes. These seasonal flavors are not intended to remain on the menu permanently, but we use these special flavors to maintain interest among our existing milkshake fans and also to help raise awareness of our milkshakes to new customers. We of course will consider re-introducing extremely popular flavors, but we can't make any promises about the return of the Peach flavor at this point."

UPDATE: Craig Craddock, who owns two Macon area Chick-fil-A's, said he anticipates running out of peach milkshake ingredients "around the early part of September."

Auburn: Down, but still dumb

Perhaps this picture has been on the Internet forever. But its message is timeless.




In other news about people being stupid, Dawgs Online hit the nail on the head on this Forbes report.

"If you pay $2,000 for a single game ticket, you and your money were going to be parted soon anyway."

Image: If you took this picture I would like to meet you.

"If at all possible"

I am both baffled and amazed by this.

It's Time

I've had a piece of chicken. I've had a little drink. I've seen all the pretty girls, given one or two a wink. ... I been waitin' since last Saturday, to see another one beat. Friends it's time once again, to let the Big Dawg eat.

I miss my old red-tape copy of Bulldog Boogie.
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Season tickets were shipped today, according to the Athletic Association.
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The first two minutes of this video will give you the power to run through walls.
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I'd almost forgotten the absolute boil over of Bulldog information that Telegraph beat writer David Hale's blog becomes during the season. For example:

While it seems to have upset Berry, this quote made me laugh out loud:

"I remember when I went on my recruiting visit, coach (Mark) Richt had my name and stats written on his hand. I guess he thought I didn't see it or something, but I did."

Every Thursday during the season, Richt holds an informal meeting with reporters. Before one of those meetings last year, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas had paid Richt a visit. Richt then came upstairs to talk to reporters, sitting in a chair right next to me. As he discussed his excitement over meeting Thomas, I looked down at his hand. Printed on it in smudged blue ink was this:

Clarence Thomas
Supreme Court
1:30

Hale will also give you today's reason to worry, from Mike Bobo:

"We've got some experience coming back at O line, but we don't have five guys who have played the same position next to each other," Bobo said. "I know everybody thinks we're going to be awesome on the offensive line, but we've got to find some continuity right now."

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Even so, I'm looking forward to lots of this in the coming year...


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And maybe some of this...
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And as much of this as we can get scheduled: