With all due respect to Year2, he buried the lead. When evaluating the open letter to Tiger fans recently sent by Missouri’s athletic director, the Team Speed Kills co-author focused on Mizzou’s efforts to keep pace financially in the SEC arms race, which is all well and good, but inadequate attention was paid to this juicy tidbit:

Football Surface at Faurot Field - We will be replacing the existing artificial surface with a new artificial surface this summer (cost is approximately $1.5M). You'll see that the Tiger logo at mid field will be slightly larger, the SEC logos will be on the field, and the diamonds in the endzones will say "MIZZOU" vs. Missouri.

Wait . . . what? In honor of Mizzou’s move to the Southeastern Conference, the Tigers are uprooting their existing artificial turf and replacing it . . . with more artificial turf?!?!

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Puerto Rico is nice. It's the kind of place where one could get distracted by the scenery, both of a geographical and biological nature. That may have been what happened to the Men's Golf Team today, the final day of the Puerto Rico Classic.

Last week, we noted that the women had a very good Puerto Rico Classic, finishing second in that contest, but the men didn't fare so well after the ladies set the stage. How bad was the loss? Alabama won the event with an 18 SHOT LEAD over second place finisher Clemson. Over the three rounds, Alabama finished 30 under, and the Dawgs, for comparison, finished five over. More details on the event after the jump...

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I know what you’re thinking; just yesterday, we had Monday morning Dawg Bites, so it shouldn’t be time for another set of links, should it? Technically, no, it shouldn’t, but, since I’m giving up writing "Dawg Bites" for Lent, I decided to do a Fat Tuesday edition rather than an Ash Wednesday edition. All right, not really; there was just a lot of note to report, so I thought I’d go ahead and bring it to you a day ahead of schedule. First, though, I’d like to share a cello player’s lament. Hey, it was either that or another William Shatner video, so here goes:

Now, I bring you all the news that’s fit to print:

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I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as our softball squad did. The Dawgs won all four of their games to move to 8-1 on the year. (The weekend's fifth contest against Winthrop was cancelled due to the weather.)

The weekend got off to a strong start, with back-to-back wins against Connecticut (8-1) and Tennessee Tech (6-1). Senior Erin Arevalo handled pitching duties against the Huskies, allowing only two hits against ten strike-outs. Her classmate Ashley Pauley notched six (!) RBIs. Against the Golden Eagles, sophomore Morgan Montemayor struck out ten batters with six hits and four walks. On offense, Paig Wilson hit up the middle in the first inning to bring in two runs, and first basewoman Tess Sito later recorded two RBIs of her own.

Saturday was even better. Junior Tess Sito shutout Western Illinois, and Erin Arevalo continued a strong 2012 with a shutout of Buffalo. The Dawgs scored just two runs against the Leathernecks, both off of sacrifice flies, but scored eight against the Bulls, including home runs from Krystyn Sandberg and Brittney Hubbard.

After two successful home tournaments, the Dawgs head to California on Thursday for the Cathedral City Classic, where they'll face Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Washington, UCLA, and Oklahoma. It's time to justify that preseason number 14 ranking.

Go Dawgs!

Georgia was in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend to compete in the ITA National Indoor Championships and made it to the semi-finals, defeating 13th-ranked Cal and 5th-ranked Florida before falling to No. 1 and top-seeded USC. The Trojans went on to win it all by beating third-ranked Ohio State this afternoon.

While it's disappointing not to win what would have been a third national championship for indoor tennis, the team did a great job against some of the best teams in the country, including the best team in the country. And any time a weekend includes a win over the Gators, there's cause for celebration, especially when those Gators are among the top five in the sport. A few details of the Dawgs' performance at the indoor tournament are provided après le saut, below -- but first, a word or two on the upcoming schedule.

The team starts outdoor play next Monday, 27 February, against Furman at home, and the SEC schedule kicks off the following Friday, 2 March, against the more proximal USC in Columbia, SC. The conference schedule consists of a match with every other SEC member, including a rematch with Florida in Gainesville on 4 March. Tucked into the conference schedule is a home date against Ohio State on 21 March. The SEC tournament is 19-22 April in StarkVegas, and the NCAA tournament will be a fun-filled 11-28 May in beautiful and scenic Athens.

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Good Monday morning and Happy Presidents Day, Dawg fans! Unless you happen to be a government employee, you'll probably be celebrating this holiday by earning some Presidents, so in the interest of concision, I will move right along to the news of the day. Not before your morning BAAAAAWWWWWWWW, though. Per Christian Robinson's twitter account, this is the not-a-puppy-anymore that Isaiah Crowell held up slightly more than a year ago on national signing day:

Everybody together now... bbaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww. (Via)

Now... on to the news!

• In short, it was a good weekend to be a Georgia Bulldog. The baseball team completed a sweep of the Presbyterian College Blue Hose (winning a sort of game in the process that they lost far too frequently last year). The equestrian team defeated the defending national champions from Auburn (and the horses in on which they rode). The lacrosse teams took 4 of their 7 combined games over the weekend, and got to legally beat people with sticks in the process, so that ain't bad. The Gym Dogs managed to score well into the 197's in a crushing defeat of Kentucky, which is a definite step in the right direction. The softball team could only be held back by the weather, going 4-0 on the weekend with Sunday's game cancelled due to rain. And as for the women's swimming and diving team... all Jack Bauerle does is keep winning championships.
  
• Now the bad news: Our basketball teams can't win jack. This has apparently become the style, now. (Not that it was ever not the style for the men... but still.)
  
• Soccer news that Kyle can't get mad about: The UGA soccer team continues to add to its growing list of honors. Ashley Baker was once again called up to international duty with England for the Under-23 Four Nations tournament in La Manga, Spain. She is the only U.S.-based player to be called up for the Three Lions. Also, as previously reported, Nikki Hill will be playing for Canada in the upcoming CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2012 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Good luck to these DGD's and their teams (except when they play the USA)!
• Well, you know he's getting a Christmas card from the Postal Service: Back to football news... Nick Saban mailed 105 recruiting letters in one day to a recruit in Atlanta. Yes, I'm serious. No, it wasn't a mistake.
• And speaking of football: I think this is a perfect metaphor for an SEC football schedule. "Aw, man this place is my playground (crashes into mountain)." Unless, of course, you're Georgia, then your schedule is LOL SO EASY.
• It's the only thing worse than all the stupid puns: ESPN has reportedly sacked those responsible for including a racial slur in multiple articles about NBA rookie phenom Jeremy Lin. This is just about the only story you will ever see from me on the NBA, and I include it because it also mentions the suspension of Max Bretos, the sometimes-overrated-but-usually-entertaining ESPN anchor that got his start calling soccer matches for Fox Soccer Channel back in the pre-HD days. Apparently, Bretos used that same derogatory term live on ESPNews during an interview. Who knew that using a racially-based slur on national TV would be one of ESPN's taboos?
• Finally, tomorrow is Mardi Gras, everybody! Remember not to accidentally sexually assault anybody during the festivities!

Have a great Monday, and...

Go Dawgs!

In the course of the day, we here at Dawg Sports have brought you up to speed on Sunday’s showdowns in men’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s basketball, women’s equestrian, and "The World’s Largest Outdoor Tartan Party." However, there is still more Georgia sports news to report, and I am bringing you my portion of it in the Sunday sports summary; viz.:

After winning comfortably on Friday and coming back in the ninth inning on Saturday, the Diamond Dogs completed the sweep with an 11-0 rout of Presbyterian on Sunday. Winning pitcher Taylor Hicks went four frames in his redshirt freshman debut, conceding two hits and one walk to the 15 batters he faced, and the Red and Black profited from solid days at the plate by infielders Levi Hyams (3 for 4, 2 RBI) and Colby May (2 for 3, 2 RIWWB).

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It turns out that I am still capable of loathing the Florida Gators as a general proposition, even when they are not decked out in that hideous orange and blue, and even when they are bringing attention to a very worthy cause. Sunday the Lady Gators donned pink uniforms in support of breast cancer awareness, then made Bulldog Coach Andy Landers acutely aware of some of his team's shortcomings in a 61-57 Gator victory in Gainesville.

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