The first day of the work week is behind us and there yet remains much to be done, but, before thoughts of diving headfirst into that pile on your desk bright and early on Tuesday morning begin to get you down, take a moment to check the headlines as we run through the news of note.
Although I'll try to be a little more lighthearted as we move along, there are, unfortunately, sad and serious matters to report, with which we begin:
- Drew Landers, a rising senior at North Oconee High School and the son of Georgia basketball coach Andy Landers, was among those injured in a car crash that took the life of North Oconee assistant basketball coach Shawn Smith. The younger Landers sustained a head injury but appeared to be in stable condition. Obviously, our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families involved.
- Shifting subjects to matters of much lesser importance, we've been making friends and influencing people here at Dawg Sports. Well, O.K., influencing people, at any rate. Evidently, my response to a recent posting from The Band Is Out On The Field's Kevin transformed him into "a genuine Internet celebrity," but Carolina March's TH was in no mood for my shenanigans following North Carolina's loss in the College World Series, as he made abundantly clear. (Apparently, my animadversions upon the University of North Carolina "would work better in [sic.] UNC didn't routinely trounce" Georgia as an educational institution. This is in spite of the fact that U.S. News & World Report seems to think I got as good a legal education in Athens as they offer in Chapel Hill.) Fortunately, other injustices required TH's attention, so I don't expect this regrettable and unintended budding feud with my SportsBlogs Nation colleague over my "fairly whimsical reasons for choosing to root as I did when watching two baseball games" to escalate, but, for what it's worth, TH, there ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys; there's only you and me and we just disagree. LD had his say in a somewhat calmer tone and he even got the last word.
In an effort to mend fences with TH after insulting his team's color scheme, I hereby present the foregoing picture of the sky as a peace offering.
- As anticipated, Corn Nation has provided a nice summation of a baseball season that was enjoyable despite being disastrous for the Diamond Dogs and Building the Dam's Jake is justifiably ecstatic, although Sunday Morning Quarterback felt moved by the Beavers' back-to-back N.C.A.A. tournament titles to clarify his pro-playoff position . . . and then clarify it again. My position upon the subject remains unchanged, but I respect the validity of the distinction drawn by SMQ, however much I may believe that his legitimate concern is an inherent problem of any playoff system, presenting differences only of degree but not in kind between a 64-team tournament and an eight-team field.
- The first time I became aware of the views held by Jim Delany, I was less than impressed. It appears that my initial reaction was the correct one, although Dave probably is taking the best approach to the problem.
Believe it or not, Dave's advice was not to start drinking heavily.
- I feel like I've been bringing the room down with much of the foregoing, so let's see if I can't dig up some good news for a change. Ah . . . here we go!
- At the risk of being compared to John Barth, I would like to call your attention to the fact that Athletics Nation's highly influential Tyler Bleszinski recently was quoted by Sports Illustrated, which I think is pretty cool, so check it out if you get the chance.
In retrospect, since TH compared me to Frodo and titled his retort "You're Dead to Me, Georgia" (which seemed more than a little harsh), I have to think a picture of the sky won't quite be enough to get me back into his good graces. Accordingly, I offer the foregoing photograph of Michael Jordan in a Tar Heel uniform. Surely that will earn me forgiveness for my rather benign impertinence concerning the events of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- Much like Senator Blutarsky, I got the word from Paul Westerdawg that Georgia's Kara Lynn Joyce had been nominated for an ESPY. Naturally, Bulldog Nation will want to show its support for one of its own.
- I hope you will forgive me for ending with a personal plug, but I recently answered Five Good Questions posed by Stiles Points, so you'll want to keep an eye on the Mahoning Valley-based weblog for my thoughts on Georgia's biggest rival, the five best Bulldogs to have worn the silver britches since 1970, and the greatest Georgia football game I saw in person. Stay tuned.
Go 'Dawgs!