Honestly, I was as amazed as you were to wake up and realize it was Friday. How did it get to be Friday, for crying out loud?
Nevermind . . . there's no time to dwell on that just now. Here's what's going on in your world:
- Last night, I posed a couple of questions to you literary types out there: Has Georgia football ever played a central role in a published novel? If not, why not? I am pleased to report that Bulldog Nation rose to the occasion, as Junkyard recommended Darrell Huckaby's Need Two, Nico reminded us of the important role played by Sonny Seiler in John Berendt's "non-fiction novel" Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, another commenter pointed out that Duke Forrest from Richard Hooker's M*A*S*H played football at Georgia, and A.C. underscored the M*A*S*H reference and mentioned another Huckaby book, Need Four. Nice job, guys, but now I have another question for you . . . if you're so doggone literary, what are you doing reading a sports weblog? (Just kidding. Really . . . don't go.)
- Bryce Jaeck of Athens, Ga., got his question answered in Stewart Mandel's mailbag. For most of you, that fact is of little to no significance, but Bryce is an old friend of mine. In fact, Bryce is a fellow alumnus of the Phi Kappa Literary Society and we each met our respective wives in Phi Kappa Hall . . . so Bryce has that going for him. In an unrelated news item, fellow Phi Kappan E.H. Culpepper is running for the General Assembly as an independent candidate.
Phi Kappa Hall . . . home to future Georgia governors, U.S. senators, state legislators and Supreme Court justices, and guys who talk about college sports on the internet since 1836!
- As part of its ongoing campaign to worry me half to death about the South Carolina game, E.S.P.N. has opted to televise the Bulldogs' September 9 outing in Columbia at 7:45 p.m. Swell. First, the Worldwide Leader in Sports moved the Gamecocks' season opener with Mississippi State back to Thursday night, giving the Evil Genius two extra days to plot and plan. Now, as if the Palmetto State Poultry's home field advantage and the Red and Black's all-time 22-22-1 record on E.S.P.N. were not enough cause for concern, I have to worry about a late kickoff, which unquestionably benefits the Big Chickens. Now I know why Michigan doesn't do night games.
- Speaking of South Carolina, let's not forget that the super-regionals between the Bulldogs and the Gamecocks begin at 11:00 tomorrow morning. Let's hope the Diamond Dogs can take two games in the best-of-three set to advance to the College World Series.
Although she has nothing whatsoever to do with the state of South Carolina, you're probably going to be looking at Courteney Cox pictures around here for the next few days. After that, Viva Roma, I'll see what I can do on the Mary-Louise Parker front.
- Yesterday morning, I solicited comments on net neutrality and I got a good one from Kanu, who pointed us in the direction of a good article on the subject.
- Finally, the recent exchange between College Football Resource and me has gotten Peter thinking and, although he's still playing it close to the vest, he thinks Texas might just win back-to-back national championships. Considering the large number of No. 1 votes being garnered by Ohio State (which has the misfortune of having lost many players from its outstanding 2005 defense) and Notre Dame (which has the misfortune of getting many players back from its nonexistent 2005 defense), I think he might be right.
This just in: Texas has other good players, too.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though, aren't I? All right, I'll let you go for now. Get to work, have a good weekend, and I'll talk to you again come Monday, if not before.
Go 'Dawgs!