These are wild times for your humble correspondent, both here at Dawg Sports and elsewhere in life, so I beg your pardon for delivering this to you in the form of a rundown, but, as you will see, it has been quite busy in these parts of late and it's all I can do to keep up; viz.:

• Sometimes it's hard to tell around here, but, yes, the University of Georgia does field varsity teams in sports other than football! My thanks go out to NCT for pointing out that the men's tennis team won its second straight team indoor national championship and retained its No. 1 ranking in the most recent Fila collegiate rankings.
• While we're on the subject of Georgia sports that are not football, yes, I am aware that the Diamond Dogs defeated Mercer in Macon to claim their first win of the season by a 6-5 final margin this evening following a rain delay. I would have covered it, as I did the Red and Black's first three games, but I wasn't able to locate an operable real-time feed for following the action live. My bad.

In his defense, CW told me I'd be hopelessly out of touch until I got a D.V.R.!

• Burnt Orange Nation called it "The Great Debate," which may overstate the case, but Sunday Morning Quarterback and I have exchanged good-natured volleys over whether to have a Division I-A college football playoff. SMQ has fired the latest salvo, to which I will respond when the opportunity arises . . . although, regrettably, that may take a few days. In the meantime, you are encouraged to continue the conversation in the comments, both at SMQ's site and at mine, where some fine observations from first-time commenters like Red Blooded and 5th and minus 1 have made this effort worthwhile. For his part, The Realist has chimed in at SMQ's place and at his own, and Senator Blutarsky remains on the case, as always.
• In the wake of Jim Delany's recent remarks and Michigan's subsequent scheduling of Appalachian State, I offered a few observations, which brought down the wrath of The Lawgiver. I still had some questions, though, so I am glad that The Blue-Gray Sky had some answers. Like the recurrent playoff debate, the squabbling between the Big Ten and the S.E.C. over academic standards is nothing new, as evidenced by this passage from John Sayle Watterson's College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy:

Jim Delany claims that "winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process," with "discipline and restraint" being defined as signing 20 players per Big Ten school instead of 27 players per S.E.C. school. It behooves us to remember that, when the S.E.C. invented the athletic scholarship as an alternative to under-the-table payments and bogus no-show summer jobs, Delany's predecessor thought 20 athletic scholarships per Big Ten school were 20 athletic scholarships too many.

Oh, if only the Big Ten's heritage of healthy relationships between disciplined coaches and amateur athletes had not been sullied by the shameful introduction of scholarships!

• Keep your eye on Pitch Right, where you can find some interesting ruminations on Division I-A matchups with Division I-AA teams and a breakdown of major college football's most obscure teams. It's a site you need to be dropping by regularly if you aren't already.
• Peter Bean has directed the blogosphere's attention over to Corn Nation, the first of the SportsBlogs Nation weblogs to receive the site upgrades that eventually are expected to be implemented network-wide. As SportsBlogs Nation continues to improve and expand (adding a New York Giants weblog even since the additions of three other new blogs), these fan-friendly refits will find their way to Dawg Sports, as well, so you are strongly encouraged to offer your feedback on the look and feel of Corn Nation. What do you like? What don't you like? What did we forget? Let us know, because we are committed to providing quality content and a reader-involved community here at SportsBlogs Nation . . . which means we need to know what you think.

For instance, if a reader tells me he wants to see a picture of Mary-Louise Parker, well, then I'll do my best to give him one! (If you like a little exposed midriff, too, I can accommodate that, as well.)

• There are other noteworthy developments forthcoming here at Dawg Sports, above and beyond the scheduled site upgrades, so please stay tuned for a couple of changes that I believe will be to your liking. Unfortunately, these positive events remain on the horizon and have not yet been finalized, so I will have to remain vague for the moment, but trust me when I tell you there's some good stuff coming your way . . . including, but not limited to, the soon-to-be-announced plans for Bloggerpalooza '07, assuming, of course, that Doug Gillett and I can get organized enough to keep this year's festivities from becoming quite the fiasco that last year's were. G-Day is April 7, folks, so save the date, 'cause it'll be here before you know it.
• There are events of interest upcoming this weekend, including the Diamond Dogs' three-game series with Purdue and the Gym Dogs' home meet against Auburn. (I hate Auburn.) My reports on these contests, like my reply to SMQ, may be delayed by intervening obligations, for which I apologize. While the official athletics site and the invaluable Dawg Bone are sure to keep you informed in the interim, I would encourage you to keep checking back here at Dawg Sports, where much is going on and almost all of it is good.

That's all I have for the moment. I'll be back to point out an anniversary or two of note tomorrow and your patience is appreciated during this busy but exciting time.

Go 'Dawgs!