When Keeping It Irish Goes Wrong.

It's been a tough season for University of Georgia football fans. And believe me, I'll make another deposit into to your general misery account this evening. But in the meantime, try to remember that it could be worse. You could be a Notre Dame backer, and your own compatriots could be teeing off on your starting quarterback after his postgame meal with his parents.

Let's take a moment to marvel at the absurdity of this. Now granted, Jimmy Clausen does have one of those faces that just looks like it needs to be punched. Mostly it's the hair. I used to think it was the smug, scrunched up grin, but then I realized it's definitely the hair. In spite of that, however, he has been one of roughly six players on the entire Irish squad who has had a decent year on the field. I suppose sucker punching offensive tackle Sam Young seemed like a bad alternative even to a drunken Irish fan. Let's face it, smashed South Bend football fan: Jimmy Clausen is not the one with one of the worst rushing defenses in recent program history. It's not his fault that UConn and Navy and Pittsburgh blew through you like the Republican Guard on the way to a group outing in Kuwait City. That's all Tenuta, baby. We Georgia fans have been there and have the t-shirt. Because missed tackles don't count when you're blitzing. Thus spake Zarathustra Tenuta.

Thank goodness our fans have a slightly better sense of decorum most of the time. Otherwise poor Joe Cox would look like Bruce Willis at the end of Die Hard by now. Cordy Glenn would be hauling him around in a sling and the poor kid would have more ticks than Barney Stinson at Slapsgiving.

The truly sad part of course is that Jimmy Clausen's career has now come full circle. Like so many of us, he's at least temporarily ended up back where he started. As a Clausen playing quarterback. No Heismans. No BCS Championships. Just Tom Lemming and Beano Cook sniffling mournfully in the background and Casey Clausen boasting in the police station that he could have beaten Connecticut with one hand tied behind his back. Sad, really.