Its the end of the world as we know it...
by RedCrake on Feb 2, 2010 10:32 AM EST
12 comments
And I feel fine...
I remember now why I don't read or comment at the AJC.
We all know that recruiting is more or less the silly season of the college football year (with the discussion leading up to the presentation of the trophy for college football's "best" player coming in a close second) and that a recruit isn't really committed until their name's on the line. We also know that the AJC is a legitimate UGA hating, hit whoring newspaper (And I use the word news lightly). Not UGA hating in the "we like to complain about it" ESPN sense.... but in a real, substantial way. I usually avoid it for said reason, but being bored this morning and having already gone through all the Dawgbone links, I somehow found my way over there.
Needless to say, Jeff Whitaker selecting Auburn and Telvin Smith selecting the Seminoles has sent the AJC journalists into a recruiting induced tizzy. I'm not going to post the link because I don't want to give the rag any more page hits.
The brilliant Chip Towers headline? "Dogs jilted again" There hasn't been a lot of good news to report lately, but the approach to every article doesn't have to be "The program iz dooooomed!!!" Maybe I'm getting to into semantics here, but this is just too blatant for my "recruiting fever" to let slide.
How can you be jilted by someone who was never with you to begin with. Your wife can jilt you. Your kids can jilt you. The cute girl you saw on the street that winked at you as you passed cannot jilt you.
And the comments section isn't even worth going into except to say that apparently in his 2 weeks on the job, Coach Grantham has completely ruined UGA's chances of being good on defense. After all, he did lose two commitments we never had. These people are straight up idiots who likely jumped on the bandwagon before 08 and haven't jumped off yet. I'd suggest we boycott the AJC, but it won't matter because those mouthbreathers will keep clicking.
As it is, I'll just have to thank Chip Towers for reminding me why I don't read his paper.
If I'm going overboard (and I probably am) blame it on the fever. But the AJC says "what has happened in Athens... its the end of the world as we know it". And I can honestly say "I feel fine".
End Rant. I apologize if I've wasted your time. Wake me up if Stripling, Garrison Smith, or Alec Ogletree commit somewhere else. Then we can all panic about being jilted together.
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Don't forget...
… that Mark Richt is now in danger of being fired. Before March 1.
OH NOES ZOMG SOMEONE SIGNED WITH ANOTHER SCHOOL OTHER THAN UGA! FIRE EVERYBODY
by vineyarddawg on Feb 2, 2010 2:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Thank you...
…for bringing this up. I was thinking the same thing when I read that article. The AJC is the “National Enquirer” of sports journalism…and I use “journalism” very lightly. I can just see Mark Bradley and Chip Towers laughing hysterically when they write some of their headlines. What a joke.
What’s funny is that I remember the same sentiment last year around Signing Day. People were claiming that Mark Richt couldn’t “close the deal” and that the sky was falling blah blah blah and we ended up with another top ten class that included players like Branden Smith and Orson Charles.
Now maybe I don’t know recruiting rankings very well, but from looking at them, it seems that schools like Bama and Florida, who are ranked very high, are also signing a lot more players than we are. Maybe, just maybe, that could be because we didn’t have as many seniors graduate this year as they did and we don’t have as many spots to fill?? Just a guess. If you look at the quality of our current class, though, you will see that it’s ranked right up at the top.
I just don’t get what everyone’s freaking out about.
by DawgGirl32 on Feb 2, 2010 2:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
On that rare occasion...
that I look at rankings I focus on the average (as in the number 3.61 for UGA) The ranking does indeed get skewed as GawgGirl32 points out because of the size of the class.
Looking at Scout this morning I saw UGA was # 10 – however when you sort the group by “avg” UGA is # 7. Sorting by avg Auburn drops from # 5 to # 11. Quality over quantity.
by JRL on Feb 2, 2010 4:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
We've had a number of these smaller classes in recent years.
Could that be because Mark Richt has too much dignity to oversign or pull a scholly from a kid that gets injured?
Just something for those “LOLZ Bama/Florida/Tenn owns Georgia in recruiting” fans at the AJC to chew on.
"I Run This State." - Washaun Ealey and Caleb King
by RedCrake on Feb 2, 2010 4:38 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs
I think there's a lot to that
I also think it’s noteworthy that (as MaconDawg has pointed out, and correct me if I’m misquoting him) we’ve had very good success with getting kids who qualify academically. If memory serves, everyone qualified two years ago and all but one qualified last year.
At the end of the day, it matters who actually winds up making a contribution on the field. Talent is a necessary component of that equation, but so are coaching, character, and chemistry. Bloated classes skew the figures, as DawgGirl32 astutely notes, and Pete Carroll’s Southern California teams confirmed this: USC didn’t always have the nation’s top-ranked class, but they always were in the top two or three in average star rankings.
“Which players did we sign?” is a crucial question, but “Which ones qualified and enrolled?” and “Which ones benefited from coaching and turned into contributors?” are equally critical. Also, “Which ones got booted off the team for using a dead girl’s credit card, firing off an automatic weapon, or holding up a guy at a gas station with a pellet gun and getting away in a Prius while sporting school gear?” matter a little bit, as well.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Feb 2, 2010 5:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I have never seen UGA lose a game for lack of talent
and, until I do, I won’t pay any more attention to recruiting than is necessary for us to be excited about the incoming players.
by first and thom on Feb 2, 2010 5:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
You were obviously not watching UGA in the '90's.
And for that, you should consider yourself lucky.
But your point is correct. We’re bringing enough talented kids in, just like rest of the top half of the SEC. We just have to translate that into results on the field.
by vineyarddawg on Feb 2, 2010 6:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
My daddy (may he rest in peace and lord knows he never lived in peace),
never would allow the Atlanta Constitution (the AJC was 2 newspapers back then__Constitution in the morning and Journal in the afternoon) into our house___why. you might ask. It had Ralph McGill’s photo on the front every day___’nuff said. Not even Lewis Grizzard could make me buy that paper.
by Jujdog on Feb 2, 2010 6:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
With regard to the cowbell . . .
. . . there’s now an iPhone app for that!
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Feb 2, 2010 10:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Why can't my Blackberry contain such awesomeness?
If they come out with a Michael Stipe voice simulator app, I may have to seriously consider buying an iPhone.
"I Run This State." - Washaun Ealey and Caleb King
by RedCrake on Feb 2, 2010 11:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs
Wait a minute here...
Folks, we are right in the middle of some prime “us against the world” real estate here. I can see all kinds of bad, gloomy and otherwise depressingly good things coming out of this for Dawgs everywhere. What’s that?…did you say we actually have to have new players at some point. Well then, that’s all different. Now I’m really depressed about this recruiting class. I still like my first sentence tho….guess we’ll all find out how tight to wrap the noose tomorrow.
by 15henson on Feb 3, 2010 12:24 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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