Thursday Links (7/2)

Happy Thursday, folks. I'm hoping a number of you are already counting down the hours to a three-day weekend -- or in my case, an 11-day weekend. Just a reminder that I'll be out of town all next week and will not be updating the blog. I have posts scheduled through Monday though, and I have a lot of material scheduled to go up between now and then. (By the way, the Columbus version of this blog -- i.e. "the gray one" -- hasn't been properly posting scheduled material for some reason, so if you want to swap to the Macon version -- i.e. "the white one" -- you can find it HERE.)

By the time I get back to work, we'll be just eight days from SEC Media Days, less than two weeks from the start of fall practice and just six weeks from the start of the season. I actually bought my airfare for Oklahoma State yesterday (flying into Tulsa was a good bit cheaper than OKC), and I'm definitely excited to get things going again.

In the meantime, here are some more links for your reading pleasure...

-- I know everyone was pretty excited about the rumors of Georgia's trip to Michigan next season, but it just isn't likely to happen. For the first reason why, revisit this story I wrote just a month ago. Mark Richt isn't going to be thrilled about what the UGA schedule might look like next year.

-- And if you're still not convinced, read T Kyle King's excellent summary of why the game won't happen and you will be.

-- Dawgs Online asks a simple enough question: What kind of quarterback will Joe Cox be? I'm actually surprised there's this much debate. I think the biggest reason people are questioning Cox is because he's following Matthew Stafford. Stafford was the opposite type of QB that Cox is, and people are focusing on the tools Cox brings to the table (or doesn't bring to the table, as the case may be).

Had Cox followed, say, David Greene, however, I don't think there'd be as much questioning of his arm strength, etc. In fact, while everyone wants to compare Cox to D.J. Shockley or Joe Tereshinksi because of their similar career paths, in terms of what they bring to the table as players, he's probably closest to Greene.

-- This is fantastic news: DawgBone promises to be back and better than ever by the end of the month.

-- The AP has a story on Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez working together to find success in their rookie seasons.

-- It's usually Mark Richt's job to thrill fans, but this time a longtime Dawg fan gave Richt a nice honor.

-- If you've been going to Georgia games since the '70s and remember the days of "The Tracks," Rex Robinson wants to hear from you.

-- Georgia Sports Blog looks at Trey Thompkins' success with the U19 team. Thompkins had 10 points in the U.S.'s 106-55 win over Iran last night.

-- Chris Low ranks his favorite stadiums in the SEC. Frankly, I think Chris might have a little home-field bias because other than the location next to the river, I've never found much to like about Neyland Stadium and, while I have yet to hit each location, I'd have to rank Jordan-Hare a bit higher than he does.

-- While we're talking rankings, fellow Albany alum Seth Emerson ranks the SEC quarterbacks from 1 to 12. I'm a little more wary of Jordan Jefferson than he is and I think Kodi Burns has more potential than some of the guys ahead of him, but other than that, I'd agree with his list 100 percent.

-- Speaking of QBs, Pete Prisco thinks the Lions need to stop pretending like they have an alternative and insert Matthew Stafford into the starting lineup.

-- Battle Hymn Notes takes a look at how crazy the race to win the SEC West could be this year. I think it'll be one of the most competitive divisions in the country.

-- A trio of Georgia coaches are off to begin work in Oklahoma --- um, golf coaches.

-- Georgia pitcher Zach Laughlin dazzled the opposition during a Greak Lakes League game this week.

-- I'm all for grading on a curve, and I have no doubt UGA is a good school, but boy does Michael Adams have his institution ranked among some elite company.

-- I know I've been pushing this Twitter thing on you for a while, but if I haven't convinced you, perhaps Bernie's Dawg Blawg can do it. Again, you can follow me @BulldogsBlog or Bernie at @BernieDawg. A couple other recommendations to follow: Mark Richt is @MarkRicht, David Pollack is @DavidPollack47, Rex Robinson is @RexRobinson5 and Jeff Owens is @JeffOwens95.

Also, a big thanks to those of you who submitted questions for players on Twitter yesterday. I'll have replies posted tomorrow throughout the day.

-- If you're not regular Macon.com readers, you might have missed this, but my boss is ripping off Charles Barkley and having his golf game tweaked by the pros at Idle Hour. It makes for some good video.

-- Tired of the same boring lists of the 50 best novels of all time? Newsweek has a great summer reading list of great books that are particularly appropriate for today's world. I have read exactly one of them, and that was for a political science class in college.

-- I had no idea that "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" was even still on the air, but I guess Tom Arnold deserves some credit for having a show that lasted nearly as long as "Rosanne" did.

-- Looks like Lyla and Saracen won't be back full time for Season 4 of "Friday Night Lights." That's a shame, but I thought the show did a great job of sending off some major characters last year, so I expect the same with these two.

-- And finally, in the wake of all the fake celebrity death rumors, here's a list of the top seven Hollywood hoaxes of all time.

By the way, did you hear Tom Arnold died?