This shouldn’t surprise us, since it’s been a rough 25 months in Bulldog Nation, but it’s been a rough 36 hours in Bulldog Nation. Christian Green and Jeff Whitaker opted for other schools after listing Georgia among their choices and a couple of guys who told Mark Richt they were coming to Athens (commonly called "verbal commitments"; the adjective is accurate but the noun is false) backed out on their previously stated intentions when Nickell Robey and Da’Rick Rogers had last-minute changes of heart.
Is this the end of the world as we know it? Probably not, although recruiting is the lifeblood of the sport and the division rival we have the most trouble beating seems to have the top talent on lockdown, so it probably means the preservation of the status quo as we know it. I, for one, blame Senator Blutarsky’s optimism for the Bulldogs’ most recent reversals.
Tomorrow is a big day, and the signing day open comment thread will be up and running by the time you wake up . . . and maybe even before you go to bed. Two things worth bearing in mind are that (a) these are young men, given to the impulsiveness and suspect decisionmaking that typify even those 18-year-old boys who have not received the level of ego-boosting adulation heaped upon high school athletes of this lofty caliber, and (b) youth is wasted on the young.
At least, youth was wasted on me when I was young, so much so that I enjoyed what I surely realized even then was lousy television. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to this, which helps me to put national signing day in its proper perspective:
Wait a minute . . . Liam Neeson as John "Hannibal" Smith?!?! With that accent? Are you kidding me? This is the worst casting since that idiot at Pixar came up with the cockamamie notion that Owen Wilson had the acting chops to carry off a role with the range and nuance of Lightning McQueen!
Yeah, this movie’s going to be lousy. I hate it when a plan fails to come together. So much for maintaining an even keel around here. When you expect the worst, your only option is to be proven correct.
Have a happy national signing day, everyone.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! Go ‘Dawgs!