And a Puff of White Smoke Rises Over Dawg Sports Headquarters. . . .

The voting is at a close in the most hotly-contested Dawg Sports poll question ever.  

Kristin Davis calmly reassured an anxious Bulldog Nation that there would be a smooth transfer of power to her successor, free from any partisan rancor.

Ordinarily, I try to close out the balloting after 100 votes are cast, just to keep the numbers round and the percentages simple, but, between the time the 100th vote was cast and the time the new poll question was posted, a 101st ballot was slipped in under the radar.  It did not, however, affect the outcome.  

Thanks to an almost disturbingly dedicated voter base, Mary-Louise Parker came away with a 31 per cent plurality, receiving 32 votes to the 26 cast for Ashley Judd (25%) and the 25 cast for Catherine Zeta-Jones (24%).  

Ironically, Herman Talmadge may have voted posthumously for Mary-Louise Parker.

While these ladies all are fine choices and each is "Dawg Sports worthy," I don't know that my top three choices aren't the three contenders who finished at the bottom of the balloting:  Marcia Cross and Nicole Kidman, each with seven votes (8%), and Helen Hunt, with a measly two votes (1%).  

In light of the division of opinion within Bulldog Nation, it seems only fair to run something like the two-quarterback system Mark Richt had in place when David Greene and D.J. Shockley shared time under center.  Mary-Louise Parker has earned the role of the starter, but the others will take significant numbers of snaps.  

For now, though, congratulations are due to Mary-Louise Parker as the torch is passed to a new generation.  

Mary-Louise Parker celebrates her Dawg Sports poll victory by hoisting the commemorative trophy . . . which looks suspiciously like an Emmy.  I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

Go 'Dawgs!