Good Tuesday morning, Dawg fans! First, your public service announcement for the day: For those of you in the Dawgosphere that are domiciled in Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, or Virginia, don't forget that today is your opportunity to vote in your state's Presidential Preference Primary for your party of choice. As for myself, by the time this post goes live, I will be standing at a site in Oconee County with a name tag that says "poll manager" on my chest, politely asking people not to discuss political candidates while they're standing in line at a polling place. So, in other words, please say a prayer for my sanity. :-)
(Note: This is not a politically-slanted message or an endorsement of any candidate running in either party's primary. I'm simply advocating that you take an active part in participating in your country's democracy, or constitutional republican form of government, or whatever you want to call it.)
Mark Richt wants YOU to participate in your government! (Though, if you live in Dodge County, it doesn't really matter... they've already taken care of all that pesky "voting" stuff for you. No need to weigh you down with trivialities of life.)
Now, on to your regularly-schedule Georgia Bulldogs sports news! First, as always, we make with the football storytelling:
- T-Minus 14 days and counting until spring practice starts. I repeat: T-minus 14 days and counting. (The G-Day game is officially set for April 14 at 3:00 PM, for those of you who might be wondering that, as well.)
- Perhaps we can put the torches and pitchforks away, after all: Greg McGarity seemed reassured after the first round of negotiations that the East-West permanent rival setup would survive the new SEC scheduling process. Things seem to be looking brighter, therefore, on the prospect that we will not lose the Georgia-Auburn annual rivalry. The next round of negotiations is in New Orleans, however, and weird crap happens to people when they go down there... so I guess you never know.
- Recruiting never stops, especially for the OMG #1 BEST IN THE WORLD: Robert Nkemdiche, who is at the top of everyone's list as the potential headline signing of their recruiting class, has narrowed the field down to his top 6, which includes the usual SEC suspects (including Georgia), plus Ole Miss and Clemson for some reason. (Did somebody not tell him of Lake Hartwell U.'s lack of Chick-Fil-A availability?)
- Breaking News: Teammates stick up for each other: In a move that should not be surprising at all, fellow upcoming-sophomore Malcolm Mitchell defends his teammate, stating for the record that the expectations of Isaiah Crowell during the 2011 season were "unfair." You know, I can understand where he's coming from, but for the life of me, I can't think of one single blogger who was especially hard on Crowell after his performances last season. (Whistles nonchalantly, trying to stay inconspicuous in the corner.)
And now for other, non-football type sports:
- Every day is an equally great day to be a Georgia Bulldog, but some days are more equal than others. On Sunday, the men's tennis team came from behind in their last singles set to beat the Florida Gators 4-3, and beating Florida, especially in dramatic fashion, makes any day one of the best days to be a Georgia Bulldog in my book. Other sports things happened on Sunday, too... but any time a Georgia team beats a Florida team, that's the only thing that really matters on that day. (To me, at least.) (I hate Florida.)
- Thursday is likely to be a "less equal" day, though, as the basketball team take on the bizarro Bulldogs from Mississippi State in the first round of the SEC tournament. Let's just say it straight: they're going to beat us, and we're all going to feign disappointment that the season is over. (Well, except for Mr. Sanchez, for whom the disappointment will be real.)
- Finally, Georgia's pro day was held yesterday, and full results can be found here. Best of luck to those former Dawgs as they prepare for the NFL Draft. (What? No, this doesn't belong in the football section above. That's for college football. You know, the good football. And anyway, they got our boys dressing in Vandy and sort-of Tech colors. That sh*t just ain't right.)
Wishing everyone a great Tuesday, and...