Good Morning, Dawg Folks. Here we are, exactly fourteen days from the beginning of REAL LIVE college football. If I were able to legally use google images to post a picture of a Georgia player to coincide with the 14 days thing, I'd post a picture of David Greene. I can't, though, so just imagine David Greene in his number 14 jersey throwing a pass to Verron Haynes in the endzone against Tennessee in 2001, or to Michael Johnson in the endzone against Auburn in 2002, or to Fred Gibson in the endzone against LSU in 2004...well, you get the point. Seriously, on a scale of 1 to Jessie Spano, how excited are you about this? Skip on down below the jump and let's get to some links...
The Junkyard Dawgs (is it okay to call them that again, given our defense's current prowess?) completed their second scrimmage yesterday, the last scrimmage the team will hold before turning their attention to the home opener against Buffalo. Georgiadogs has a nice wrap of the day, with some quotes from a particularly frustrated sounding Mark Richt.
Bluto picked up on the frustration of Mark Richt as well, and he builds a great case here for why we're witnessing the emergence of a new Richt. In all seriousness, the quotes from Richt following this scrimmage seem about as raw and uncut as we've ever seen. In my years following Georgia, I can't say that I recall Richt being as outspoken in his admonishment of his football team as he was yesterday. Far too often, we've heard the complaints of Mark Richt being too soft, of not having the mean streak, not having the killer instinct that a head coaches like Saban or Meyer seem to have. Now, I don't subscribe to the latter portion of that theory, but one piece is evident: we ARE seeing a new Richt. Why, you ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps there was some complacency that crept in for a few years after 2005. Perhaps Richt simply became too nice a guy, or perhaps the obligation of being the 'nice guy' in media and social circles led Richt to veer away from being a true 'football coach'. One thing is clear, though...Mark Richt is no longer complacent. I think it's very obvious that he wants the national championship as much as any of us do, and I think it's a good sign of things to come.
If you'd like to see the post-scrimmage video of Richt, you can catch it here, thanks to Dean Legge. The bonus in this one is that it'll be the only time you EVER get to hear Mark Richt say on camera "Is that the way you like it? Okay, I'll do it the way you like it."
Building on the scrimmage, Chip Towers highlights Todd Gurley's stellar performances in the two scrimmages so far. I'll say this...I think Gurley's numbers are a bit inflated thanks to two breakout runs, but if those runs continue, you won't see me complaining.
Seth Emerson posted an excellent recap of where the team stands so far, and while I disagree with him on the importance of finding a returner to replace Brandon Boykin, he's quite right that it's going to be particularly fun to watch the defense knock some heads off this year...there's a LOT of talent on the board.
I'm going to go back to the well for a second time here (you taking notes, Bobo?), and point out how Senator Blutarsky brought our attention to the sad state of affairs that is the University of Tennessee's current ticket situation. Seriously, when you can't sell out your two biggest rivalry games with two weeks left before the season starts, you've got problems, Precious. Man, am I glad I'm not a Volunteer right now.
Speaking of tickets, chuckdawg wants you...to buy basketball season tickets. No, really.
As Dawg2011 pointed out recently, JUCO Safety Shaquille Fluker committed to play ball for the Dawgs recently. This is particularly good news, as our defensive secondary can always use the added depth, especially given our offseason attrition at the position. Fluker is slated to enroll early, and is supposed to be a particularly hard hitter. Here's to hoping he doesn't turn into another Jakar Hamilton.
As you've almost assuredly already heard, the student staff of the UGA independent student newspaper, The Red & Black, resigned from their positions with the publication yesterday. In a move that is indicative of the ever changing culture in media, the announcement was made on Twitter under an account by the name of Red Dead (@reddead815) - not to be confused with this popular video game. The staffers were reportedly unhappy with the fact that the Red & Black Board of Directors wanted to push the paper in a different direction, including putting an Editorial Director in charge of deciding what content would and would not be published within the paper. The Red Dead Crew even posted some pictures with the caption 'Welcome to the Revolution', but there's no word yet on whether those pictures were actually the protesters or just a normal Wednesday night study group for Brickman's Biology 1103 class. Most recently, they've released a scanned copy of the memo that triggered the resignation of the staff members. Personally - and I don't speak on behalf of all staff members of Dawg Sports when I say this, some of whom were Red & Black staff members at one time themselves - after reading the memo, I think the Red & Dead crew is acting a bit childishly. Your mileage may vary, but nothing that I read in the memo would lead me to leave an otherwise desired position with one of the more respected student newspapers in the country. How DARE they ask you to tone down the greek life stereotypes in non-opinion sections of the paper when a fifth of the campus is active in greek life?! They want to discourage you from having a paper whose front page resembles that of a tabloid? The nerve of some people! Of course, in true Red & Black fashion, it wouldn't be complete without a typo in the memo, stating that the new editorial board won't tolerate 'liable' [sic]. Besides, it's not like there aren't valid complaints around the declining quality of the paper. Honestly, once they switched to putting out only one print version a week, I knew they were doomed...the only reason I ever picked up a Red & Black to begin with was for the crossword puzzle.
Finally, in light of the recent lawsuit filed against New Jersey regarding sports betting, I thought I'd highlight how sports betting is handled here in Australia. Specifically, it's rampant...you don't even have to go to a casino. There are literally multiple sports betting bars within a two minute walk of my apartment in Melbourne, and it's commonplace to see advertisements for sports betting agencies while watching sports on Fox. In fact, I'm going to leave you with an example of one such commercial.
Oh, and, as always, Go Dawgs!