All-Wednesday Morning Dawg Bites of the Year Would Like to Thank Both the Academy and the East Wichita Chick-fil-A

Midweek is upon us, Bulldog Nation is climbing out from under the rubble of the second half of the SEC Championship Game, and, what do you know, the sun is still shining, and there is news---good news, even!---to report, so buckle up, dive in, and hang on, because these are your Wednesday morning Dawg bites:

• The results of last Saturday’s game notwithstanding, it has been a good week for the Georgia Bulldogs. Orson Charles and Jarvis Jones made All-American, nine Bulldogs made All-SEC, Isaiah Crowell was named SEC freshman of the year, Keith Marshall committed to Mark Richt, Jake Scott was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and tankertoad is getting a Chick-fil-A, so, basically, everyone is going home a winner!
• One honor that isn’t yet in the bag, however, is Mark Richt’s much-deserved coach of the year accolade. Coach Richt is one of ten Division I-A finalists for national coach of the year, and you may vote for him here. Somewhat closer to home, Team Speed Kills is conducting a poll to determine whether James Franklin, Les Miles, or Mark Richt is most deserving of the SEC coach of the year award. (Incidentally, Coach Franklin and Coach Miles both ranked the Bulldogs in the top ten in the final coaches’ poll.)
• One would think that his status as a finalist for a national coach of the year award would save Mark Richt from the perpetuation of the insipid “hot seat” meme, but, unfortunately, Matt Hayes of The Sporting News has written one of the five stupidest sports articles ever published on the internet that didn’t appear at Bleacher Report. In a piece ominously (and ludicrously) titled “Richt’s job safe for now, but blowout loss could change things,” Hayes supports his indefensible thesis by quoting Michael Adams on Mark Richt’s job security, writing:
  

  “If we win Saturday, he’ll be back,” Adams said. “If we lose, we’re going to fire him.”
  
  The room exploded in laughter. Once the uproar of the joke subsided, Adams said, “I would be surprised if Mark Richt weren’t the coach here next year.”
  
  And there you have it. Given a chance to secure the livelihood of his coach for a few more years—a coach who has averaged nearly 10 wins a season and led Georgia to 10 straight wins this fall going into Saturday’s SEC championship game against LSU—Adams punted.
  
  He told a poorly-timed joke and then couldn’t bring himself to say Richt will be the coach at Georgia next year. Period.

  
  Reading that tripe, I was reminded of the “West Wing” episode in which the perennially indignant manufactured ersatz outrage over an innocuous comment. “I don’t see it,” said one bewildered White House staffer. “Well,” replied another, “you got to want it.”
  
  This weblog does not often play host to the World’s Largest Outdoor Michael Adams Support Party, but the dude made a joke about how ridiculous the hot seat meme is, and Hayes responded by saying, “See? He’s affirming how serious the hot seat meme is!” No, he isn’t, which brings me back to the aforementioned “West Wing” episode, in which the first White House staffer asked what was being done about the public relations faux pas. “Well,” came the response, “I wanted my office to issue a statement saying, ‘You’re annoying, shut up.’” Yeah, that sounds about right.
• Last night, Andy Landers’s Lady Bulldogs rode Mercer hard and put the Bears up wet, prevailing in Macon by an 80-43 margin. The Georgia women’s basketball team shot 46 per cent from the field (33 of 72), drained 76 per cent of the club’s free throws (13 of 17), and profited by 22 Mercer turnovers (including 14 steals). The Red and Black were up by 16 just before the break, and they extended their lead to 20 points with a little more than four minutes elapsed in the second half. Jasmine Hassell led all scorers with 16 points.
• Not only does Bill Connelly have exactly the right attitude about bowl games, he also picks Georgia to beat the Michigan St. Spartans in Tampa. Although Off Tackle Empire views the Outback Bowl as a toss-up, they also have a picture of William Tecumseh Sherman on their weblog over the caption “I wish I had done more,” so take that for what it’s worth. (Seriously, though, guys, the picture of General Sherman over that caption is in unbelievably poor taste. Heck, we find the memory of that vile man so offensive that, when the Texas A&M Aggies joined the SEC, they thought it prudent to fire Mike Sherman.)
• I don’t know which part of this is more cool, the “Dr. Pepper is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me” line, or the fact that I was in the building to see her do it live. (Come to think of it, that was the last highlight of the night, from my perspective.)
• The Boise St. Broncos deserve to receive bids to BCS bowl games, but the Big East doesn’t, so it is with mixed emotions that I greet the news that Boise State is poised to bring credibility to the country’s least legitimate automatically-qualifying conference. I congratulate the Broncos on their well-earned (and long-predicted) advancement, and I wonder (since the Central Florida Knights reportedly will be joining them) whether this means this year’s season-opening loss, and last year’s season-ending loss, might not be counted against us quite as much. Anyone? Anyone? Hello?

That’s probably about all the news you can handle for one Wednesday morning, so finish up that morning cup of coffee, dive into your workday, and look for the podcast to be posted later today.

Go ‘Dawgs!