The weekend is upon us, so life should be a bit less hectic for the next couple of days, but, even so, there are places to be and people to see, so why tarry? Here's what you need to get you up to speed:
- My recent explanation of why I am a Georgia fan produced a fair amount of feedback, including a suggestion from Paragon SC that I write a follow-up posting on the roles our spouses play in how we root for our respective teams. I think that's a fine idea, particularly since I have touched upon some of those issues already while explaining that my wife, Susan, may have been responsible for my weblogging, Georgia's 10-2 season in 2004, and the Bulldogs' 1996 quadruple-overtime victory over Auburn. Look for a future posting addressing this very subject.
- You win some, you lose some, and some are scheduled for times when you have family get-togethers planned, so my postgame report on this afternoon's rubber match between the Diamond Dogs and the Bat Cats will be delayed. No, this is not an attempt to weasel out of a bet.
In a crucial game against Kentucky, Gordon Ely-Kelso put down a perfect sacrifice punt.
- Yesterday, I introduced a new feature here at Dawg Sports, which may or may not recur with any degree of regularity. It's called the Friday Random Crazy Idea and this week's nutty notion is to bring Hank Aaron out of retirement as a designated hitter for a last-place American League team. How crazy is that?
- Speaking of crazy ideas, the N.C.A.A., in its infinite wisdom, has decided that, despite the fact that the Yellow Jackets annually fielded multiple players who were academically ineligible over a period of several years, Georgia Tech gets to go back to claiming credit for the victories they won on blown officiating calls while they were cheating. For those of you keeping score at home, that means Alabama fielded one ineligible player in 1993 and had to forfeit every game in which he took the field, while the Ramblin' Wreck fielded a myriad of ineligible players over seasons too numerous to mention, yet they no longer have to labor under the ridiculously light sanction of having those games "vacated" instead of counted against them as losses. I am now officially in favor of removing the carving of Teddy Roosevelt from Mount Rushmore, since he's the one who was responsible for the N.C.A.A. in the first place.
After the ruling on Georgia Tech's appeal was announced, Jim Tressel reportedly placed a telephone call to The Flats to congratulate them for cheating flagrantly and getting away with it. (Not pictured: Bobby Dodd rolling over in his grave.)
- Football season will be here before you know it, as evidenced by Every Day Should Be Saturday's look at the first of the preseason publications, Sunday Morning Quarterback's assessment of the aforementioned Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and I'm a Realist's (or is it Ocular Precision's?) analyses of South Carolina and L.S.U. If you're interested in checking out future S.E.C. schedules, check out this diary entry.
- When Tommy Perkins exhorted Damon Evans to come off of that cash pile, it sparked some discussion. It turns out that Paul Westerdawg was right:
Among the uses to which the money will be put is the creation of seven endowed professorships over the next four years. Unfortunately, the academic programs to be strengthened by this gift are to be "determined by the university president and provost," the former office being that occupied by Il Duce, Michael Adams, whose most recent embarrassing antics include attempting to micromanage tailgating activities with nitpicky regulations and taking an asinine stand against the name by which the Georgia-Florida game commonly is known, who is sustained in his position by men of questionable character and dubious qualifications.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that this generous donation will be subject to the poor judgment and pernicious meddling of that preening blowhard Il Duce, it demonstrates that Damon Evans is putting the athletic association's unallocated funds to good use and rebuts effectively the contentions of those who claim that a university's academic mission is undermined, rather than enhanced, by intercollegiate athletics.
Thanks to the success of Bulldog athletics, one of the top public law schools in the United States may be among the many academic programs at the University of Georgia to receive additional funding.
On that note, I will sign off with my best wishes to each of you for a good weekend.
Go 'Dawgs!