Halloween Pumpkin

Sorry for the light posting...PPPTTpTtppttt. Sorry couldn't pull that off with a straight face. Been busting my tail with work, travel, and fine tuning my yet-to-be-picked-up television pilot where I dress up as an old white woman, say crotchety old things to young folks, and have a bunch of mis-pronounced catchphrases...OH LERRRD!

But every year I do a UGA themed pumpkin. This year I originally had a stencil for a Wrath of Todd Grantham pumpkin, but decided against it.
Too much detail, not enough motivation, so instead I decided to do a funny clown!

If you're familiar with Muschamp Stare...
...then you'll LOVE...


...MusCHUMP Stare Pumpkin!


Just a warning for the children who come to our door for candy this year, if you stand in front of Muschump Stare Pumpkin for too long the eyes will burn the phrase "BOOM MOTHERF%#KER" across your forehead. Not a good idea if you plan on having a professional career one day.

...and as always, I'll provide the official Halloween sign for Dawg Fans to be printed out and nailed to your front door.


Happy Halloween, kiddos! Hate a Gator today.

Alabama fans...

...being Alabama fans.


While doing some covert-ops in Birmingham, @OliveTheTweets and I stumbled across this little gem at a College Sports store at The Summit.

Being that my wife is a graduate of the red elephant school, I had to talk her out of purchasing 37 of them (one for each of their National Championships by her count), but I still love her.

Pantsless Predictions: Parts IIII - IIIIIIIIIIIII

Working out of state this last couple of months has really screwed up my ability to write meaningful, quality predictions of UGA's upcoming 2011 football schedule...

PPSPSPSTTTPTPPTTTTT!!!1

I couldn't really write that without laughing in my hotel room, everyone knows my blind faith that UGA should win every game and a few "C-"s is what hold me back from quality journalism and writing good and doing other stuff good too.

So while I'm taking a break from surviving massive earthquakes (that could have passed as a violent gaseous emission and/or a brief encounter with 2 beers at lunch) I figured I'd spend a little time on the ol' blog wrapping up my season predictions for the Dawgs.

9/24 - at Ole Miss
I'll go out on a limb and call this one a "W". With a little luck one of their 3 QBs will get into a fight and cap off the night in a jail cell after popping a cop in the lip. Nah, that'd be far too unrealistic to expect in the SEC. Lets just hope we show up and play a solid game and get some back-ups in early for reps.

10/01 - Missy State
Part of me fears this game more than the Auburn matchup later in the year, the other part reminds me that they are Mississippi State and up until last year we hadn't lost to them since '74 ten meetings prior. Unfortunately for us these aren't the same lousy Bulldogs that base a good season on winning the Egg Bowl...Dan Mullen has these guys wanting the West (however unlikely that may be).
This is a toss-up, but for S's & G's I'll call it a loss because running on the South Carolina theory of "I don't know if we suck or are teh awesomexorez" I'll play it safe and call it a Loss. Please prove me wrong in October, I'd love it.

10/08 - at Tennessee
To win this game you've got to have opportunity, and by now we all know where opportunity is in Knoxvegas. "W" for the good guys.

10/15 - at Vandy
Hope they get that bull semen cleaned up off the floor because we're going to drop a lot of Vandy jaws. Not just a "W" but perhaps the biggest hurtin' we've put on Vanderbilt in the last 20 years.

10/29 - Florida (WLOCP)
I'm not entirely convinced Florida will win a single game in the month of October. Bama>LSU>Auburn>UGA...that's a helluva stretch and even with their bye week before the Cocktail Party they've faced some real bruisers leading up to us. Toss in a new coaching staff and the fact that everyone but UF thinks John Brantley sucks and I think we've got a win over the team I like to beat most. "W"!

11/05 - New Mexico $tate
...give 'em a paycheck and send 'em back west. "W".

11/12 - Auburn
(prior to reading, press play on YouTube player below)
Phil Steele said these guys are gonna go from first to worst, I love Phil Steele. If you were as pissed off as I was about Auburn's foul play last year...AND DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME A SORE LOSER BECAUSE I DIDN'T WAIT 6 LOSSES INTO THE SEASON TO MAGICALLY START THINKING THE WINNING TEAM IS PLAYING DIRTY...then you'll agree we've got some demons to exercise. Therefore I hearby declare Slayer the official house-band of Blogging Pantsless during the week leading up to the Auburn game, and "Raining Blood" shall be our National Anthem.
I don't want to beat Auburn this year, I want to absolutely dismantle them. I want to see John Jenkins with a piece of Auburn jersey in his mouth a la Ben Jones dining on Tech's field. I want to see the ENTIRE Auburn coaching staff have to sit through a game we dominate from start to finish. I want us up by 50 at the end of the first minute. I want the student section to photoshop Cam Newton's face on a bunch of $200,000 bills and make it rain onto the Auburn sideline every time we score. Honestly, if we're kicking ass all season and Auburn is haplessly flopping around with a losing record, I wouldn't mind us breaking out the black jerseys again just to completely obliterate this team emotionally as well. Last year's game lit something in me that burns with the fire of a thousand suns in the Hate-O-Sphere. If there was ever a time for Todd Grantham to prove to me that he cares about this team and will hold a grudge, this is it. If we're up by a million in the 4th quarter with :10 left, BLITZ 11. If they get a first down with :09 left, BLITZ 12. Put your hob-nailed boot on their worthless mullet-covered necks and squeeze the love of T-Top Camero's out of them. We will win this game, and we will destroy Auburn. "W" period.

Well, that was cathartic...now where was I? Ah yes...you may stop the YouTube player now.

11/19 - Kentucky
Lots of people calling this a trap game, I'm not one of them. Kentucky will be horrible this year. We'll still be so jacked up from beating Auburn we'll handle them easily. "W".

11/26 - at Nerds
The in-state rivalry game always tends to be a little close. If we're the real deal this year Tech will try and play spoiler to a great rebound season for the Dawgs. What exactly will Tech be playing for? The ACC Coastal?!? One man's trash is another man's treasure...I guess. Anyway, Coach continues his streak of away wins against Tech and we keep calling it Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Mark Richt Field. "W", Tech fans finally begin to question whether or not Coach Manboobs' is actually going to live up to Mark Bradley's expectations.

So with a little quick math that puts us at.....(scribbles on paper, mumbles somthing)...(carry the 1)...(rabblerabblerabblerabble)....10-2!

Does that win the East? Dunno, depends on if South Cackalacky decides to fold under the pressure of Media expectations. Everyone assumes they'll win the East, I hope they sincerely believe that and assume the East will be a cake walk...makes it easier for us.

GO DAWGS!

Random Thought

With every passing day, I want to win the first 2 games against Boise State and South Carolina more and more.

So considering the condition of our backfield, I thought I'd throw this out there for Isaiah Crowell...whom I'm sure is an avid reader of blogs who post sparingly.

If you turn out to be the real deal and we start the season 2-0, I'll buy a super-thuggin' Georgia hat like yours and wear it for the rest of the season.

If we win the East I'll wear it through the end of your college career.

If we win the SEC championship, I'll wear it until the damn thing rots off my head.


Now I understand the team will not win or lose on Isaiah's shoulders, but I have faith in our defense, QB, and for the most part the wide receivers (hearing some INCREDIBLE things about Malcolm Mitchell's amp going up to 11)...but if our O-Line can bust open some holes I'd love for Isaiah Crowell to give us the offensive weapon we recruited him to be.

GO DAWGS!

Redcoats...up your game.

As a former drum-major and band geek I didn't find it hard to appreciate this.



...I'm thinking the Redcoats should do an AC/DC show and utilize the low brass for a closer of "For Those About To Rock".

Pantsless Predictions: Part III of IIIIIIIIIIII

September 17, 2011
Coastal Carolina School for the Paycheck
Athens, GA

Looking back, I've got us at 1-1 going into this game, but I'll make this quick since I want to get started on my long weekend.

Dawgs 100, Chinnuts 3

I'm assuming these guys are earning somewhere in the upper hundred-thousands to come to Athens and play the Dawgs. But as you can tell, I'm also assuming we win heartily.

I know very little about Coastal Carolina, but last year they got a 31-0 paycheck from West Virgina, and were co-champs of the Big South Conference with a 6-6 overall record...so that gives me a little insight.

They aren't actually called the Chinnuts, Coastal Carolina's mascot is the Chanticleer...

...which appears to be a teal rooster with set of these under his beak, the eyes of Raiden, and a sweet arm tat!

Aside from making fun of their mascot, I got nothin'. I'm hoping our offensive line makes it safely through the first 2 games of the season and we give our back-ups the chance to earn some playing time. Lord knows we need some experience and depth up-front in case any starters get injured later in the season. Fingers crossed everyone's ankles/knees/extremities stay connected and safe throughout, but you can never be sure due to how often these guys get piled up.

Have a good July 4th weekend ere'body! If you have a desk-job avoid Alabama firecrackers. Just try hitting "Enter" with your ring-finger, you'll never hold a lit M-80 again.

GO DAWGS!

Les Miles > M. Night Shyamalan

Over Twitter this morning we were discussing Les Miles and his brand of football. I'm a fan of ALL college football, but lets face it...LSU football under Les Miles is extremely entertaining and enjoyable for those of us without an emotional attachment to the Bayou Bengals.

Whether it's eating grass, mismanaging the clock, or no-look-pass "Field Goals" (h/t @BernieDawg) even as a die-hard Georgia fan I find Les Miles to be wildly entertaining in a Faces of Death style football sort of way.

This reminded me of the ending to last year's LSU/Tennessee game. I watched this game at The Golfsmith in Kennesaw while putting around with my father-in-law. In case you don't remember how this ended...here's a refresher.


LSU football (since Les Miles took the reigns back in 2005) has done what M Night Shyamalan has failed to do in every movie since The Sixth Sense, he gives the game a final plot twist that you don't expect. In every one of Shyamalan's films you go into it thinking, this is not how the story goes...something odd will happen at the end. But since football is such a conservative sport, even with a "Mad Hatter" type character in charge one is bound to think "Perhaps this time he'll play it safe and attempt a field goal for the win." ...Nope.


Now don't get me wrong, this isn't meant to be a Les Miles schmooze-fest. I'm merely pointing out that he brings a lot to the table when discussing the entertainment value of college football. LSU fans have an affinity for deep fryers at their tailgates, so when that much cholesterol mixes with stressful, intense sports management I'm sure Coach Miles has thrown the occasional corndog aficionado into cardiac arrest.

I find LSU to be the most watchable college football team that I could care less about. I root for them against the SEC East as long as they aren't playing Georgia, and if they want to pound Auburn on occasion I'll gladly cheer them on. Deep down, I think most of us would enjoy small amounts of crazy in our head coach. If it prevents all future field goals from the UCF 2 yardline, I'd take Timothy Leary drinking a Big Gulp of Mercury (Hg) rather than suffer through that frustration again.

Less that 75 days 'til football starts, oh how I long for thee...
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
GO DAWGS!

UPDATE:

Just saw this at Get The Picture...talk about timing.

UGA/Bama '02

Since we are sub-80 days until college football starts, I get in the habit of searching out old YouTube videos of the Bulldogs. I came across the UGA/Bama game from 2002 and it reminded me of how special this game is to me, personally.

When @OliveTheTweets (OTT) and I first started dating, the first college football game we went to together was UGA at Alabama in 2002. Many of you know this as the "Man enough, Dawg enough" game because of Pat Dye's redonkulous claim that UGA wasn't "man enough" to beat the Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium.


Since OTT was still a student at Alabama during this season, she was sweet enough to get us tickets to the game...in the Alabama Student Section.

I wore my UGA gear and cheered when the Dawgs played well, and took my lumps when the Dawgs blew their lead later in the game. As Billy Bennett sent it through the uprights for the game-winner I WOOFed even as the cups came raining down.

OTT and I would eventually attend 3 future UGA/Bama contests where the Dawgs hold a 3-to-1 record (yes we were at the Blackout Game). But the '02 game is special to me because it was the first time we didn't cheer for the same team. The week leading in to these games is ALWAYS fun, and as I sit here reading Phil Steele predicting UGA and Bama in the 2011 SEC Championship Game I get all excited and tingly. I promised her anytime our 2 teams play I'd do my best to get our butts in the seats, so in this regular season when we don't faceoff a Championship on the line would be pretty sweet.

This isn't a great post, if you've been reading Blogging Pantsless for the last 4 years you understand mediocrity is the norm and greatness should be left to the awesome bloggers in my blog-roll (column right). But when I saw this game on YouTube I felt compelled to dedicate a post to my wife, who gave me Alabama as a team-in-law, and makes me laugh with her trash-talk on the rare occasions our 2 teams meet.

I long for the days when Alabama was just an okay team and Georgia found a way to win. I've got high-hopes Coach Richt will turn our team around, but I'm a self-professed Richt apologist so even if he doesn't I'll probably be the only Dawg fan left saying "give him one more shot".

Keeping the faith in 2011, happy Friday folks.

GO DAWGS!

Helmet Archive

I stumbled across this the other day and thought it was cool enough to share. It's a website of historical helmets encompassing college and pro ranks called, The Helmet Project.

Perhaps the coolest thing I found was regarding my most hated rival, the Florida Gators.

"In 1962, Florida put the Confederate Battle Flag on the side of their helmet for one game. That game was the Gator Bowl game with Penn State. Florida was 6-4 and Penn State was 9-1 and Penn State felt that playing Florida was a slap in the face since they were 9-1. Since Penn State felt that way Florida put Battle Flags on the side of the helmet to pump the team up. It worked when Florida won 17-7."

...as a fan of college football, history, and the South I'm neither appalled or offended (remember this was is 1962). In fact I find that to be pretty damn cool that an SEC team shoved it in Penn State's face. Perhaps the most shocking thing was discovering the Gators played football prior to the 1990's.

Another interesting bit of SEC history is what Tennessee did with their 1965 helmets...good luck to anyone attempting a design like that in 2011.

No real shockers in UGA's helmet history, but I take great pride in saying I saw in person how HIDEOUS the October 31, 2009 helmet was in person. Never forget, never use again.

Pantsless Predictions: Part II of IIIIIIIIIIII

September 9, 2011
University of South Carolina
Athens, GA

Raise your hand if you SERIOUSLY thought Stephen Garcia would never play another down for the Gamecocks after the Old Balls Coach suspended him for the 5th time in his college career?

Alright, those of you with your hands raised lower your hand onto the hot eye of a stove because that's your punishment for stupid thoughts.

...yeah, this guy takin' a whiz at Augusta looks like a real rules Nazi.

5th year senior Stephen Garcia will in fact return to drive the Chevy Cruze of college football we know as the South Carolina Gamecocks. Why is USC like a Chevy Cruze? Well, one minute you're enjoying a fun ride in what you think is a quality, low-budget automobile...then next thing you know, disaster strikes and the steering wheel falls off.

Not that I'm slinging mud, because Lord knows Georgia fans aren't really in a great position to trash talk, but the Gamecocks are notoriously streaky. They usually end up with a few baffling losses each year after knocking off a big boy here and there and it costs them serious contention in what used to be a relatively difficult SEC East.

Well that's no longer the case. As I sit here reading prediction after prediction of South Carolina as the preseason favorite in the East (sans Phil Steele WOOT WOOT) I can't help but realize that yes, this Gamecocks team has the stability, experience, and talent to indeed win the East.

...but that doesn't mean the Bulldogs, Gators, and (oh why not?) the Vols are gonna just roll over from 20 years of division dominance and hand it over to them.

The Gamecocks play us like we're their 2nd biggest rival, we play them like they're our 4th biggest rival. That probably has a lot to do with why Georgia appears to embrace the shootout culture surrounding this game and occasionally loses it.

Last year's game in Columbia was frustrating.
...given, ANYTIME we have to travel and play at Dead Cockroach Stadium tends to be incredibly frustrating.

The only good thing to come out of that game was that Washaun Ealey got to see an example of what a program's premier running back looks like. That introduction to Marcus Lattimore exposed our weak tackling, and our inability to score a touchdown only compounded problems when #3 coughed up the ball on a relatively solid 3rd quarter drive toward the end-zone. AAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!1

But the game wasn't lost by Washaun, it was lost as a team.

So this year, our TEAM went out and got our own Marcus Lattimore, bulked up our D-Line, and spiced up our S&C program. We as fans get to enjoy the game in an environment where trees grow and you're not in the middle-of-nowhere's warehouse district. I don't think there's a Dawg out there that doesn't know the importance of this game. Since South Carolina is the team to beat, we sure as hell need to beat 'em.

The only problem is South Carolina is a good, balanced team. If SOMEHOW we shut down Marcus Lattimore, we have to focus on Alshon Jeffrey. If Stephen Garcia doesn't get suspended for a 6th time and starts this game he's got the experience and know-how to pick us apart if we show a weakness. I'd love to get Big John in there and get some grass stains on the back of Garcia's jersey, but for a team as fundamentally sound as South Carolina the opportunities may come few and far between.

MY CALL:

UGA 20, South Cackalacky 24

I hate picking the Dawgs to lose, but until I see them play September 3rd I have no idea how this team looks.

Too many question marks and a thin O-Line makes me question whether we can keep Ellis Johnson's defense out of Aaron Murray's face-mask. Plus it doesn't help that this year we have to worry about the nation's #1 high school recruit, Jadeveon Clowney (who made grades).

If Isaiah Crowell lives up to his billing, our defense melds into the juggernaut we're hoping for, and the crowd makes Sanford Stadium's atmosphere electric this prediction could go out the window. I think Aaron Murray is twice the baller Stephen Garcia is, and if Orson Charles and Tavarres King pick up 1/2 the slack free'd up by AJ Green's departure we'll be in good shape.

I love the Dawgs, and I want them to win, but since we all know there is no such thing as WILLING your team to victory (even against a Conference USA opponent), at this time I'm not quite ready to say we can beat South Carolina.

Please prove me wrong, I would be delighted.

GO DAWGS!

Pantsless Predictions: Part I of IIIIIIIIIIIII

September 3. 2011
Boise State
Georgia Dome

Let me preface this post with a little-known fact about yours truly.

I EFFING HATE HORSES.

I hate the way they smell, the way the prance around, and their stupid Sarah Jessica Parker faces.

On my honeymoon I was viciously attacked by one of these beasts on a nightmare experience I refer to as the 1st/last/only time I went horseback riding.

Long story short, after 2 hours of being bounced around uncontrollably by one of these monsters, my horse takes off galloping. Apparently the lead horse didn't like the way I was managing my horse...because we all know these horses listen to first time riders and not their owners who direct them with a series of whistles. But anyway, my horse gallops past the group and as we approach the lead horse, that MF-er reached out and BIT me on the leg like it was an ear of delicious, grilled silver queen corn.

I'm not over-reacting and saying he nipped at me, that horse LATCHED ON to my leg just above my right knee-cap. So I did what anyone in my position would do, I yelled "SON OF A BITCH!" and punched him in the nose.

...yes, I punched a horse in the face. IN THE FAAAAAAACE!


And then, the world went in slow motion, just like in Rocky 5 when Rocky punched a horse, the 1000 lb animal reared back on his 2 hind legs, whinnied, and then fell over like a little bitch.

I felt sorry for the woman riding the lead horse, I immediately hopped off my horse and went to make sure she was alright. I (and most of the civilized world) knew I was strong...but I didn't think I was knock-out a horse strong. So I apologized to the woman (but not the horse, he can rot in horse Hell because there is no way those soul-less, dead-eyed savages are welcome in Heaven) and I said SCREW THIS and hopped on an ATV to go back to the ranch while my wife finished the ride.

So now, with that background knowledge, you can understand why the Boise State Broncos are not quite in my circle of trust due to my history with their mascot's breed.

Aside from this, myself like most people in the SEC, don't take Boise State seriously. They've got a nice, shiny 0'fer going against Arkansas, South Cackalacky, and us in 4 attempts. Not the conference's worst trio, not our best, but I'd say that's a good middle-to-upper echelon of SEC opponentry.

My only problem with this match-up is that now most people in the SEC don't really take Georgia seriously either, and who can blame them?!? We've had two real stinkers of a season the past couple of years. But here's my call on this game (keep in mind, predictions 100 days out tend to be as accurate as government forecasting and incredibly bold).

UGA 26, Boise St. 17

I think our biggest problem going into this game is going to be our offense. If the line holds up, if the running game gets going, and if our receivers can hold onto passes we're golden.

I think Boise State has a great team that will win a lot of games this year, but the Chick-Fil-A College Kickoff ain't one of them.

I'm so pumped up about our defense this year with Big John Jenkins (6'4"-340 lbs) and Kwame Gathers (6'5"-350 lbs) at Nose. Watching either one or a combination of the two plowing over Boise States starting Center (Thomas Byrd, 5'11"-284 lbs) should be a lot of fun. If this puts pressure on *COUGH* Heisman *COUGH* candidate Kellen Moore to rush his passes and hopefully not give him the opportunity to pick apart our weakness at Safety, then the score difference might be greater than I predicted.

Can't wait to see Isaiah Crowell on the field to see what this kids got. I doubt he'll get the first round of carries, but you're smoking crack if you think homeboy is sitting out this dawg-fight. There's a lot of hopes/dreams riding on this young man's shoulders and if he's got the motor and the legs to give our running game new life, UGA could have a great season.

Go to the :21 mark, if you think Washaun Ealey wouldn't be downed BEHIND the 40-yd line, then go ahead and make him your school's Premier Running Back.

Go Dawgs!

New Enemies for 2011

If you'll scroll down and take a look at the "Know Thine Enemies" section of the blog, you'll notice links have been provided for the scheduled opposition. Feel free to click around and troll their posts with trash talk.

GO DAWGS!

Pantsless Predictions: Preamble

We are less than 100 days away from college football. In fact, 98 would be the exact count until the Dawgs head downtown to tee it up between the hedge-funds.


But this brings us to the time of year where college football junkies like myself start to declare this the "Year of the Dawg" and slowly begin a downward spiral towards "OMG HOW R WE GOING TO BEAT (insert worst team on schedule)!?!1?" by the first game's kickoff.

For the guy that once declared Joe Cox would shock the world and lead the Dawgs to victory over the Gators, 2011 year is going to be different.

I expect great things year to year from Georgia. Every Summer, I assume we're going to win the East and then play for a National Championship...then Fall comes around and for the last 2 seasons reality sets in and next thing you know, you put all your hopes and dreams on beating Tech just to save face.

It's been a REALLY long time since UGA had a season as craptacular as last year's. In fact, I believe the Olympics were in town if that tells you anything.
A losing season?!? WHATIZIT?

The SEC East is a bust, South Carolina is the expected to win the division by people OUTSIDE of Columbia?!? When the Gamecocks have established themselves as a front-runner in football, we've GOT to figure this thing out.

I'm a notorious Mark Richt apologist, and I was furious with the guy after we started out kicking a fieldgoal in the red zone against UCF in our post-season celebrity appearance (please dear God don't tell me that was our bowl game). He has a way of melting my heart with his Mayberry smile, his Slingblade haircut, and his overall nice-guy-ness. But dammit under things I want separate, I file my church, my state, my football, and my football coach's likeability.

For Pete's sake the guy can't even sell his lake house out of fear of losing his job!

Aside from what an awesome human being Mark Richt is, we wouldn't know his name if he wasn't the coach of the most popular football team in our state. Sad, but true. We expect this man to lead our football team to Championships every year, so there's a lot on the table for Markie-Mark. My hope is that he shuts up his critics and gets to stay around for another 10 years, but my next few posts will focus on whether or not I think the Dawgs have got what it takes to rebound from an AWFUL season and make the Bulldog Nation fall back in love with Mark Richt.

GO DAWGS!

Columbus-Carver

...perhaps Coach Richt should ban all Columbus-Carver players from visiting until Coach McGee apologizes. That would be poetic justice.

I perhaps they'll get the chance to play with Zach Mettenburger someday in the prison yards (or LSU).

News Quickie

The Senator does a good job of summing up the story on Al from Dadeville. Pro-choice Al perform this Arbortion after being provoked by seeing a Cam Newton jersey on the Bear Bryant statue in Tuscaloosa.

This admission is a complete shock to me. My initial accusations went to Yella Fella whom I presume had a beef with the Auburn Athletic Department. That guy knows all about treating lumber and has told the ticketing office NUMEROUS TIMES to change the nameplate on the Osmose Suite to the YellaWood Suite.


Calls immediately went out for crimson colored Spike 80DF t-shirts to be printed (and I'd be lying if I told you I wouldn't throw $20 toward that investment). But seriously, Al, if you're reading this. Please send some Spike 80 this way so I can finally kill off that holly bush that rears it's ugly sprouts every year in my landscaping. I've tried everything but it keeps coming back.

Aside from the Barners whining about someone poisoning their old-ass trees, the other big news yesterday dealt with the hiring of a new coach for our defensive staff. On Twitter yesterday there were several "knock out" lines being thrown around regarding who the new coach might be...

...this of course led ME to believe the Dawgs were going to hire...



...unfortunately, Iron Mike was NOT the hire our friends at UGASports.com were referencing. Looks like Todd Grantham landed a guy actually capable of coaching and not just a former-boxer-turned-actor-slash-Phil-Collins-enthusiast who will scare the hell out of our players into making plays.

So allow myself to welcome Kirk Olivadotti to our Coaching Staff. I always love bringing NFL experience down to the college level because my assumption is the kids you're coaching respect where you've been and trust your advice to get them there as well. I shouldn't have gotten my future hopes up to purchase a noble-looking, Irk Russell-esq portrait of Mike Tyson with blood running down his chin...but that falls on me, not Coach Olivadotti.

I'm making the same yearly mistake of getting my hopes WAAAAAY to high on the Dawgs, but all signs are pointing to a solid foundation for the 2011 season. I shouldn't assume 2010 is in the distant past, but we gotta move on and drink that memory away. There's a lot to be excited about for our defense this year, but I'm most pumped to see Big John Jenkins (6'4", 340 lbs) going nose-to-nose with Boise States' Center Thomas Byrd (5'11", 281 lbs). Here's hoping for a massacre in the Dome September 3rd...Lord knows both the fan-base AND Coach Richt need a big win.

Go Dawgs!

Milestones > Kidney Stones

While I wasn't blogging I happened to notice I crossed the threshold of 150,000 hits.

Thanks for your support during busy work season (aka slow blogging season). Hope to have a season worth writing about this year.

GO DAWGS!

@Reverendraydrew

I hope it's not her Favorite Things episode, I don't want every other school to have their own Ray Drew at DE.

QB Trickshot Vid

Your move, Aaron Murray. (I think he should film his video set to the music of The Clash's "Straight to Hell" as a rebuttal to M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" sampling)

Thanks, Dr. Saturday.

Dawg Suspended.

If the rumors are true that Washaun was just being a punk with an attitude, I really hope he gets his act together. It's beginning to look like Caleb King was feeding his homework to UGA VIII and we'll need a veteran RB out on the field this Fall.

We're all pumped about Isaiah Crowell getting some carries, but in addition to him Ken Malcolm and Carlton (Banks) Thomas would be our only other options if Caleb flunks and Washaun decides he's more important than the team he plays for. Malcolm is a question mark, Thomas is undersized, and we're looking at a true freshman to be our own Marcus Lattimore. I'm glad to have him, but lets keep the horse before the cart.

Last season I had no faith in our running game. I wanted fresh legs to play because our corp was NOT getting it done. I had high hopes after watching Washaun run all over Georgia Tech in 2009, but he started to buy into his own hype and he's looked like a thug ever since. I hope the new S&C program teaches him some humility and gets him prepared to be a leader for these new guys. Otherwise keeping Ealey around to "mentor" highly touted freshmen is a recipe for disaster.

For Coach Richt's own good, here's hoping for an off-season where our players don't attempt to emerge from any alleys. Go Dawgs!

Ray Drew

A lot has happened in the last month. For one thing, I haven't posted a dadgum thing. Secondly, Georgia dropped a deuce of a game at the Liberty Bowl and Dawg fans were slightly less than sunny toward Coach Richt. Then out of nowhere we start landing huge recruits for the DreamTeam and now people are ready for Coach to turn things around and get UGA back where they SHOULD be.

Today's big recruit started my day off right. Ray Drew's 10am-ish announcement put me in a fantastic mood and the day only got better.

After his announcement he issued the following statement:

"I just want to say, after the end of Jay's (Rome) announcement, I heard your call," said Drew. "Isaiah Crowell, we're waiting on you. Antonio Richardson, we're waiting on you. John Jenkins, we're waiting on you, and Jeoffrey Pagan, we're waiting on you. Come join what we have put together as the Dream Team. But remember, a dream is only a dream, until you make it a reality. I'm calling you out on this one. I hope you're not afraid to be thrown into the fire, I hope you're not afraid to be the ones who make the change."

Immediately turning around and trying to recruit our next biggest targets will get you brownie points, but NOTHING will make the fanbase love you more than if you turn into David Pollack reincarnate.

It'll be good to see the old #47 jerseys in the stands again (another beautiful reason to love college ball...constant turnover of uni-#'s).

But heres a vid of our new Five Star recruit, The Pastor of Disaster, the Minister of Defense, whatever you want to call him...lets hope he pans out and makes the Dawg Nation proud we waited anxiously for his decision.