The Dawg Gone Podcast Show 44 is ready and notes that the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Note: I completely forgot to do this, so I'll definitely plug it on the next show, but the Goat Roast has been scheduled for October 20. Mark your calendars. No goat is safe.

UPDATE 12:47 PM 7/12/12: iTunes has updated the podcast feed. Every link should be working fine now, but if you experience any issues, please feel free to email me (address below).

Hello again kids. We've had quite the nice layoff while the news was slow. "Was" being the key word there.

However, with Isaiah Crowell's dismissal, it gave us a chance to talk about something that no one is comfortable saying, but everyone knows is true. This episode, Kyle and I wax Dawg Poetic about something that hits close to home. Are we, as a fan base, enabling the "entitled athlete" mentality that has brought down some of UGA's most promising players?

No, we don't cause a kid to jaywalk, forget his turn signal, or drive a scooter down an alley that ultimately leads to a ridiculous arrest for which most of us normal folks would just receive a citation. There is a growing concern though, that while our intentions are pure, is our fandom creating a culture and mentality that "Big Team, little me" is dead?

Personally, I'm proud of this episode. I can tell you that it's not the smoothest production I've ever done while mixing it down, but the content is killer. No other sites are talking about this. Why? Because they need the fandom. It drives message board posts and article hits. It drives revenue. UGA has three paid subscription sites, uncountable blogs, multiple podcasts, hordes of Twitter users, and the print journalists come in droves. Let's face it, we're plugged in and for the first time I've seen anywhere, Kyle and I talk about whether or not that's really a good thing.

I will say that I expect this episode to come under some intense scrutiny. I expect to lose listeners over it and I expect to get some hate mail regarding it. All that said, I'm glad this episode exists. I'm glad we had the guts to ask the question.

Let's get you some links and let you decide for yourself.

To listen, SUBSCRIBE, review and rate the episode on iTunes, click here.

To stream the episode in MP3 format, click here. To save it, use "right click, save as."

To listen on Stitcher Radio click here.

To email me about the podcast, click here.

To subscribe to the podcast with your RSS reader, copy this link.

As always, you can listen to the entire episode via the player at the bottom of this post.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.