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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Do you feel LOST?
Sorry, but it's been a relatively slow news week in the Land of the Dawg.  Aside from a few tasty nuggets of goodness about UGA vs. Alabama being an ESPN night game and getting confirmation that A.J. Green is academically eligible and will report to campus in June, there's really not much going on.  It would be wrong of me, however to note that Ally told me weeks ago that A.J. was fine.  Apparently news like that gets around in South Carolina, but doesn't filter to the rest of the world until weeks later.

In other news, Cordy Glenn has qualified as well, which gives us some much added depth along the Offensive Line.  Glenn looks to be a monster, but I think it's still up in the air as to whether or not he actually plays this year.  You never know with Stacey Searels, who could turn all 5'8" of me into a raging, road-grading badass with one good coaching session.

The bad news is that Toby Jackson may not qualify.  Apparently his ACT score was too high and didn't jive with his GPA, which I think is a crock of sh*t.  He's got to take the test again and if he scores as well, then it will no longer be ruled "abnormal" and people will just realize that he tried hard and made a good score.  If he doesn't make it though, then he's Hargrave bound.

So, in light of the "not much news thing" going on, I'll go ahead and tell you not to expect a post tomorrow as I will be celebrating the upcoming Lost finale with good friends at Beer Blog Pong This' house.  I hope you will do the same with your own friends, but don't show up to BBPT's house without calling first.  He doesn't like that.

Also, expect a nice post soon from my Memorial Day/Bachelor Party Weekend (no, not for me) in Biloxi, MS.  Highlights include random pictures of me waking up and video of myself getting punched in the stomach, a la "Fight Club."

I want you to hit me as hard as you can.


Until next time kids.

Be safe.

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Journalistic integrity compromised at 8:56 PM.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
UGA's '08 Impact Players
Earlier this week I was approached by the good folks at Bleacher Report to try and identify the impact players for UGA for the '08 season.  Here are the criteria:

1)  Must be a nationally spotlighted player.
2)  List said player's strengths.
3)  List said player's weaknesses.

The only catch was to keep this to 250-500 words.  So, in an effort to actually make that happen (see: unlikely), here we go.

Matthew Stafford (QB) -- Arguably the most important player on any given team is the QB.  This year Stafford has set some lofty goals as he is aiming for a 65% completion rate on top of the small goal of winning the SECC and the MNC.  Strengths include, ironically enough, strength.  Also, Stafford's command of the offense grew greatly over the '07 season where he spent more time looking at the defense and changing the play at the line.  Weaknesses include occasional brain farts (see: forcing the ball instead of throwing out of bounds) and throwing off his back foot way too much.

Knowshon Moreno (RB) -- The biggest thing to carry the football for UGA since some guy wearing #34, Kno-Mo is absolutely electric when he touches the football.  He's a playmaker if there ever was one and his attitude is what you look for identifying someone who has the "it" factor.  His strengths are damn near endless it seems, but you could include his balance, vision, speed and pass blocking in the backfield.  His weakness (seriously I could only find one) is he hasn't been a 30-40 down back and wasn't really "the guy" until late last year.  Also, he hasn't been the focus of opposing defenses that want to rip his head off.

Mohammed Massaquoi (WR) -- It's his time.  After a stunning freshman year, he had a case of the drops in his sophomore campaign.  Last year he proved he could be a big play receiver and a valuable 3rd down guy who goes across the middle fearlessly.  Strengths include his route running and blocking ability.  Weaknesses include his "sometimes" unstable hands and his lack of a 5th gear to become a true "holy crap he just ran right past me" receiver.

Trinton Sturdivant (OL) -- Being a stud as a freshman on an offensive line is not an easy thing.  Not only do you have to be badass in general, but you have to be a major badass against SEC defenses.  Trinton did this in spades and we should expect his ability to be the key in what we hope is a very successful running game.  Strengths include his physical presence, excellent hands and impeccable dancing ability.  Weaknesses include his youth and inexperience in being the "anchor" of the line.

Rennie Curran (LB) -- This kid swam all the way from Liberia to kick your ass.  No, really, he did.  An underrated prospect by many recruiting services, Rennie has shown an uncanny ability to be a ballhawk and his feet never stop until he's past the guy he's already tackled.  As a sophomore, you can expect this linebacker to make waves and continue to impress on the defensive side of the ball.  His strengths include being a ballhawk, having remarkable speed and looking like a black Incredible Hulk.  His weakness is his youth and the fact that he's only 5'8".   He could also work a little better in pass coverage, but that will come with time.

Geno Atkins, Kade Weston & Jeff Owens -- Seriously, I can't pick out a single guy out of those three and find one that's more important than the other.  Strengths include being big as hell, reigning thunder on opposing quarterbacks and stopping running backs for minimal gains.  Weaknesses include the Tennessee game last year.  No more of that, hopefully.

Asher Allen (CB) -- UGA has typically had many cornerbacks shine and come into their own roughly around their junior year.  Well Mr. Allen, welcome to your junior year.  He's a very physical back who is excellent in coverage and plays the run very well.  Although he's not the quickest guy on the field, or the tallest, he's a very good player and should do well in the INT department this year. 

Reshad Jones (S) -- He's got a temper and that's been proven on more than one occasion, but if he can keep it under control he could be the type of safety in the mold of Sean Jones.  He's explosive and very physical.  He lacks a little in the pass coverage department, but part of that has to do with the fact that he was only a redshirt freshman last year. 


So there you have it.  My impact players for '08.  This list does not include dark horses like Carlton Thomas, John Knox, Tavarres King, A.J. Green or anyone else.  These are my ESPN highlight makers (excluding the linemen...unless they score a TD or something) and will be the guys analysts refer to when they're talking about "keys to the game."

Thoughts?


Until next time kids.

Be safe.

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Journalistic integrity compromised at 9:32 PM.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Worst Blogger Ever
Sorry everyone, I know I've been extremely bad about blogging as of late, and by as of late I mean the past 2 and a half weeks.  Work has been busy (see: Job Security) but it makes for a very tired and writer's blocked Kit.

So what's been going on with the Dawgs?  To be honest, not too much other than the recent commitment of Michael Gilliard on the football side of things.

On the "all other sports" side, we've just been doing the norm.  You know, winning National Championships in Gymnastics and Men's Tennis, and outright winning the SEC in Baseball.  Other than that, not much to talk about.  Nope.

The hot topic lately has been about about college football and the possible "need" for a playoff.  PWD and The Good Senator have both weighed in on the topic with very well written posts.  I share their concerns over Mission Creep and "Devaluing" the regular season.

However, my main concern is not over playoff vs. no playoff.  My concern is the polling.  You see it's the polls that have screwed up the BCS this entire time.  And as many bloggers have proven, a plus one wouldn't have solved many problems over the 10-year life of the BCS.  

The formula in and of itself sucks.  Humans, computers, it's all bullsh*t.  And as long as you have coaches calling the shots and having their voice heard, you're going to get more politics than anything.  As we've all been told, money is the root of all this evil, and with large bucks at stake time and time again, someone is ALWAYS going to have an agenda.

And don't give me any of this propaganda about "well so and so didn't even win their conference."  So f*cking what?  Are you seriously going to tell me that the Big East or ACC Champion from last year was better than the third place SEC or Big XII team?  Really?  

Here's what needs to happen in college football.  It's all very simple.

1)  Every conference must play a conference championship.  You either win your conference or you don't.  If you only have 10 or 11 teams in your conference, then it's time to get some more.  Until then, I'm sorry.  IN FOOTBALL THERE SHOULD NEVER BE A THING AS CO-CHAMPIONS.  The extra game right there should eliminate some folks that don't deserve to be there.  

2)  Take the coaches and media out of the polls.  A panel should decide who is playing the best football at the time, has played the toughest schedule, and to put it bluntly, deserves the honor.  If you're not going to do all that, then I really like The Good Senator's idea on polling.  Seems to take a lot of the bias out of it when 1-10 doesn't matter anymore.

3)  If you play more than 1 Div- 1AA team, you're disqualified.  Sorry, but if we're going to go with this "the regular season is a playoff" talk, then we need to back it up with not scheduling more than one cupcake.  I'm looking at you, Clemson and Georgia Tech.


Now, will all that work?  Hell no, but it's a start.  Personally, if I thought a plus one wouldn't become a plus seven or plus 16 years from now, I'd be all for it, but I like knowing that the UGA  vs. UF game this year could determine the outcome of who goes to the SEC Championship and possible Nat'l Championship.  It's what makes Saturdays into Gamedays.  The day when a loss in Sanford Stadium doesn't hurt our chances for something is the day I'll actually die a little inside.  

So, if you want a better system, let's take the politics, money and greed out of the whole thing.  I mean look at our government.  It's a perfect model.



Until next time kids.

Be safe.

P.S. -- Coming up next an article written for Bleacher Report listing the UGA impact players for 2008.

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Journalistic integrity compromised at 10:11 PM.
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
A few things happened...
And I'm JUST now getting around to commenting on them. Let's just take it one by one, shall we?

1) Joe Hamilton gets caught with weed, hit and run, open container, and DUI. Now the real surprise here is that Joe Hamilton actually got arrested, which is something that rarely happens to any Tech player. Note to Athens cops, TREAT THE PLAYERS LIKE THE ATLANTA PD TREATS TECH PLAYERS. Anyway, there's a ton of commentary on the whole thing, but no one has covered it better than PWD over at the Georgia Sports Blog. Honestly, that's been my post of the week so far. I mean let's be honest, people. I hate everything Georgia Tech. They are our biggest rivals in my eyes and regardless of how incapable they've been lately at stopping UGA, they will win against us before I die (assuming my liver makes it for the next 50 years or so) and when they do, no one will question who our biggest rival is.

2) Meanwhile, everyone from Congress to Bloggers have weighed in on the recent non-progress of the BCS meetings that took place a week or so ago. Nothing new happened or was hardly even discussed, but I do know one thing, I hope Fox doesn't get the SEC when our contract runs out with CBS. I HATED their coverage of the Sugar Bowl and damn near every other game for that reason, but I do enjoy how they really hype the whole thing. Fox is a marketing machine when it comes to their money makers, but when the BCS came along it's like the geniuses created the commercials and hype and then handed it over to poorly trained monkeys. The whole f*cking thing was like a Career Builder commercial.

3) In Non-Dawg related news, I found out through the power of Google that Coldplay is releasing their next album in June. Most people are not like me, but if you are, then you'd be as absolutely-off-the-wall-like-a-Florida-grad-at-Walmart-excited as me. I am probably the biggest Coldplay fan that's never seen a show. I guarantee you that when they come to Atlanta next, I will not miss them. Write it down. Anyway, their new tune "Violet Hill" is out and, as always, I've got the damn thing on constant repeat. At least I know what I'll be humming for the next few months.

4) In recruiting news, there's really not that much to report other than Zach Metterberger showed out at the most recent Nike Camp in Alabama. He took top QB MVP honors and is really pushing for an Elite 11 spot. If he gets that Elite 11 spot, then how amazing would it be if we had two QBs committed to us and both of them be a part of the Elite 11? I don't really know if that's EVER happened. Of course, we could ask Urban Meyer. He already knows the completely history of college football and could tell you if it's been done or not.

Well, that takes care of me for right now since there's not much else report. Hopefully I'll have the chance tomorrow to update and post up a new List. I really enjoyed last week's.


Until next time kids.

Be safe.

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Journalistic integrity compromised at 8:35 AM.
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Thursday, May 01, 2008
The List
Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know it's been a while since I wrote a List (or even blogged in general for that matter), but when your boss tells you at lunch one day "I really like your blog.  It's REALLY funny," you kind of back off the thing for a moment.

But my sabbatical couldn't last forever.  Hell, there's enough on here to probably get me fired from ANY job as it is, so there's no point in stopping now, right?

So in the spirit of a long day and a bad day (both today) I give you:

The Ten Things I Really Truly Hate At This Very Moment:

10.  Mock Drafts -- Honestly, do we really need another 2009 Mock Draft?  How many times can Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno be cursed for the upcoming season? It's not enough to say that the Dawgs are the team to beat, but then to essentially place college football's version of the "Madden Curse" on our two studs just puts Murphy's Law into overdrive.  So, all you pundits out there, shut up.  Please.  My team, myself and the National Championship trophy we yearn to have at the end of the season needs you to just shut the f*ck up.  

9.  Being Stuck in Atlanta -- I can't even begin to tell you how badly I want to haul ass to Athens for an extended week of relaxation and cheap drinking.  Sure, my liver is against it, but the rest of the flesh is dying for it.  2008 has been an absolute whirlwind for me so far (which I've very thankful for), but I need a break.  My brain is like Barack Obama's PR director; overworked and f*cking tired.

8.  Facebook -- Damn you for making me addicted to you.  I have personally wished more people happy birthday this week than I have in the past two years combined.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to finally have the ability to tell a friend happy birthday instead of doing what I always do and forget and apologize profusely afterwards, but still.  I live for the day when someone says "Facebook Me" and I say "Huh?"

7.  Drunk Ass Businessmen -- Like the ones sitting to my immediate left.  No, the four attractive girls in this place DO NOT think you're hot sh*t and laughing louder does not mean that you're more fun than anyone else in this place.  Don't get me wrong, I'm envious of the ability to travel around with your buddies and drink on the company's dime, but then again if I were to do it, I wouldn't constantly be on the prowl for girls who I know I have no shot with.  Drunk Ass Businessmen act like they never left the strip club and it's annoying.

6.  Fox -- Yeah, the cable giant.  Since I'm still without cable, it's annoying when a company tells you their episodes of House will be online 8 days after the show airs and then 9 days later it still hasn't happened.  Not like you guys care or anything.  I mean with that Emmy you won for being lucky enough to broadcast the Boise St. vs. Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl.  

5.  The Offseason -- Did anyone realize that some of the biggest playmakers we're expecting still haven't arrived on campus yet?  Seriously, can August get here quickly enough?  Hell I'll just take practice reports for right now.  Thankfully the Dawgs are getting studs like Austin Long (the self-proclaimed lifelong Florida fan) to join what is shaping up to be one of the best recruiting classes I've seen in a long time.

4.  Not Being Able to Sit Outside -- Hey, remember this list is the Ten Things I Hate At This Very Moment.  Sure, that's a weak one, but it's really digging on my nerves for some reason.

3.  The Boston Celtics -- Earlier this season I really wanted them to win it all because I really like KG.  Paul Pierce also deserves some credit because he's been on really good teams and really bad teams and stuck it out.  But when you play the hometown Hawks and you let them WIN, then I'm going to start rooting for the underdogs.  It is what it is.  I still kind of hope Boston wins, though.  I really don't want to see the Hawks advance only to lose in the next round.

2.  My Bank Account -- Oh, health insurance, you fickle mistress.  Not only did you drain me for the tune of $700 for 2 1/2 months of coverage, but then the new health insurance kicks in LATER than I was originally told.  So here I am, at a bar, drinking, pissed off and doing all this without health insurance.  So, when the time comes and I either a) get drunk and all or b) get my ass kicked by someone for mouthing off, you'll understand why I'm all of a sudden in the hole $20,000.  Ok, so I'm kidding about the getting drunk and falling thing.  But don't be surprised if I finally tote the ass whipping I've deserved for years now.

1.  Sports Journalists -- I'm not of the mindset that Buzz Bissinger is the devil.  I'm sure he's written plenty of WONDERFUL articles about some sh*t.  His prose probably kicks my prose's ass and then spits on it when it's down.  BUT, I'm sick and f*cking tired of being considered stupid, pointless, ridiculous, lonely, poor, and a failure because sports journalists like him are worried that they might be out of a job soon.  Look, the internet has opened up a myriad of different avenues for plenty of people.  Do I agree with Will Leitch (Deadspin author) that he should have posted up pictures of Matt Leinhart having fun in his jacuzzi with scantily clad women?  I don't know.  Maybe.  I mean he's a public figure, but I do think it was a little bit of a cheap shot.  However,  because I can write doesn't mean that I'm reckless or irresponsible.  

It DOES mean that I have the access and ability to express my OPINION however I choose.  I'm not trying to break any news stories or denigrate any players or anything like that.  I occasionally take cheap shots at coaches and schools, but isn't that the f*cking point of being a fan????  Just because I have a keyboard doesn't mean that I'm encroaching on your territory.  Hell, you'll even notice that at the end of every post it says "Journalistic Integrity Compromised at (time)."  I ain't denying that I'm not a sports journalist.  I just used a double negative for heaven's sake!!

Now, when I sit in the press box, I'll be a little more objective, but guess-the-f*ck-what?  I'M NOT IN THE PRESS BOX!  I can be as biased and ill-informed as I want to be because it's my right as a fan.  I'm here to see what I see and slap down some opinions about it.  I'M the one that's lucky enough to be able to have people read the stupid sh*t that I write.  One day, Mr. Bissinger, you'll realize that there is room for both of us at the table.  Well, there's room, but your table is a dinosaur and my table is the next big thing.  You see, as a member of the advertising world I can tell you that print is dying and it would serve you well to get the hell out ASAP.  Of course, you could just ask your paper to let you have your own blog online.  That might help some.

Asshole.



Anyway, so there's my List.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

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Journalistic integrity compromised at 7:03 PM.
1 comments