I hope each of you had as happy and healthy an Independence Day holiday as I did.
Now, however, it's time to dive back into the foreshortened work week and, with a Monday ambience being piled on top of a Wednesday workload, there's no time to waste, so here's what you need to know:
- If you were away for the long weekend, it's all right, because here, in a nutshell, is what was happening at Dawg Sports: I told Texas how to handle a quarterback controversy, I provided a brief history of bowl games, and the latest poll question garnered a flurry of votes and sparked some discussion at the Fresno State Football Blog, Pitch Right, and Block U.
- Mark, an old friend from my Kyle on Football days, paid me a visit to point me in the direction of his weblog and, in particular, his description of how he became a Bulldog. Be sure to check out his story.
Mark, I hope you won't take my strong anti-Auburn sentiments personally, but Pat Dye is a hard fellow not to hate.
- Did you know that 2006 was almost the centennial of the abolition of Georgia football? It's true!
- Paul Westerdawg wants to know whether the University of Georgia alma mater was influenced by the German national anthem. Also, an anonymous insomniac who visited Paul's Georgia Sports Blog called me out in an interesting comment thread. Evidently, I am a biased Alabama fan who went off on Mark Richt in an interview in which I stated "that no coach in the Southeastern Conference has greater job security than Mark Richt" and "that Coach Richt will retire as Georgia football's all-time winningest coach." Fortunately, the aforementioned Mark rose to my defense and Paul warned me that the author of those comments "thinks Kathryn Richt isn't Dawg enough either," so I don't feel too badly about it, but it was interesting, nonetheless.
Natalie Shumka's painting Cracked Pot was sold in 2002. In other news, some guy animadverted upon me in a long rambling late-night diatribe over at Paul Westerdawg's place.
- Speaking of Alabama fans, Nico is letting us know what to watch in week one of the college football season. Meanwhile, U-Dub Dish is already scoping out the point spreads.
- Sunday Morning Quarterback, having just broken down the correlation between rushing statistics and winning percentage, gave credit to the College Football Statistics website. When S.M.Q. endorses your statistical database, that's like having Thomas Jefferson endorse your presidential candidacy.
If the Sage of Monticello had written a weblog about college football, I'll bet it would have been a lot like Sunday Morning Quarterback's blog . . . except the capitalization Would have been much More random.
- Picture Day has been scheduled for August 19. As always, my thanks go out to Dawg Bone, the information clearinghouse of Bulldog Nation, for bringing this news to my attention. If the Dawg Bone's not already a daily stop on your internet surfing, it should be.
- Finally, Eagle in Atlanta offers a cautionary tale to remind us that recruiting is an inexact science.
Why should we be cautious in our optimism concerning recruiting rankings? Two words: Jasper Sanks.
That ought to tell you what you need to know and get you where you need to go. Now finish the rest of that morning cup of coffee and get to work.
Go 'Dawgs!