My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/bulldogs-blog/
and update your bookmarks.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Wednesday Links (12/9)

Some odds, some ends and some links for your Wednesday afternoon...

-- For those of you wondering -- no, my email still isn't working properly. I'm sure by the start of next football season we'll have the whole thing resolved.

-- I did get some confirmation from UGA that both A.J. Green and Bacarri Rambo are expected to play in the bowl game against Texas A&M. Both players missed the final two games of the season, Green with a shoulder injury and Rambo with a concussion.

-- OK, Roger Clarkson of the Banner-Herald -- you've got some explaining to do! We are officially not on speaking terms until this gets rectified.

-- Speaking of ballots, you can see how each coach voted in his final top-25 poll of the regular season.

-- Well, I can't say I'm remotely surprised by this -- other than that it took this long. Tennessee is under investigation for recruiting violations. The money quote from the story comes in the first graph:

"A significant part of the investigation is focused on the use of recruiting hostesses who have become folk heroes on Tennessee Internet message boards for their ability to help lure top recruits."

Remember that scene from "He Got Game"?

-- If Georgia's hoping to land Kirby Smart, the price tag may have just gone up a bit.

-- And Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press Register reports that Smart isn't looking to bolt Alabama -- or so he says.

-- On the coaching front, info leaking out is murky at best. There have been some names reported -- Smart, Kevin Steele at Clemson, Vic Koenning at Kansas State to name a few -- but I really don't think much of that (if any) is coming from inside the UGA athletics department. This is being handled very much like the basketball search was nine months ago. When you hear "sources reporting" there's a good chance those sources are coming from the coaches' sides of things, which means that those reports can be as much about negotiating ploys (remember the Anthony Grant stuff?) as it is about actual conversations between UGA and a coach. So far, the school is playing this pretty close to the vest.

-- If locker-room shenanigans are what you wanted from a new defensive coordinator, well Kevin Steele might just be your man.

-- ESPN's rumors page -- a true bastion of journalistic integrity -- notes that there's "an 80 percent chance" that Arizona defensive coordinator Mark Stoops gets Georgia's DC job. Here's the full "rumor"...

"The buzz in Athens is that Arizona defensive coordinator Mark Stoops is a candidate for the Georgia defensive coordinator gig.

"Stoops is the younger brother of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Arizona coach Mike Stoops. ESPN affiliate The Big Spur reports that there's an 80 percent chance the job goes to Stoops or Alabama assistant Sal Sunseri.

"Another name that might be mentioned is South Carolina associate head coach Ellis Johnson, but that's purely speculative.

"Stoops led Arizona's 21st ranked defense in allowing just 315.83 points per season."

Let's take this point by point:

* "The buzz in Athens?" I'm curious as to who has been "buzzing" about that since this is the first time I've heard either of those names seriously discussed.

* And by "in Athens" they surely mean Columbia, S.C. since it's a Gamecocks Web site they're taking the information from.

* And it's an ESPN-affiliated Gamecocks Web site, too. I'm sure this has nothing to do with driving traffic to an affiliate. That would be well beneath ESPN.

* Where could that 80 percent number possibly be coming from? That is utterly made up. Even if it happens, I assure you that number is completely made up.

* Sal Sunseri? I'm sure he's a fine coach, but in 20-plus years on the sideline he's never been a Division I DC. How's that gonna fly with fans if Georgia goes out an hires someone with zero experience for the job?(Who, it just so happens, is the understudy to the guy fans actually wanted to hire.)

* Last week I compared Mike Stoops to Chad Lowe. I'm now struggling to come up with a proper Mark Stoops comparison. Perhaps Cooper Manning?

* Of course, the best part of all this comes from Marc Weiszer at the Banner-Herald, who points out, "The problem with that is The Big Spur report doesn't link Stoops to the Georgia job. It links Stoops to the Florida State defensive coordinator opening."

* I'm going to guess that there's a 74 percent chance that Georgia hires Robert Loggia's character from "Necessary Roughness" as its new defensive coordinator. Now let's see how long it takes ESPN to report the rumor.

-- Another thing on the coaching situation: I understand why fans are currently a bit worried about the future of Rodney Garner at Georgia, but I think many of those same fans are painting with the same broad brush they used when endlessly speculating that Mark Richt wouldn't fire any assistants.

Does Garner want a head coaching job somewhere? Absolutely. But if he doesn't get an offer that he deems the right one, he's not going to leave. Garner has worked at Georgia for more than a decade without being a coordinator and has turned down a dozen other offers along the way, so why is everyone so sure he'll leave this time?

Garner has close ties to many of the players and Richt obviously doesn't want to lose him, so there's a good chance that Garner stays no matter what. But the idea that he'll leave just out of spite because he wasn't named DC is silly -- just as it was silly to assume Richt would put his personal feelings ahead of the good of the program.

Both of these guys are very successful in a very competitive industry. They didn't get there by being stupid or short-sighted. If Garner sees a DC job as the track he needs to be a head coach and a position with a good team opens up, sure, he'll probably think about it. If a head job opens at a smaller school that wants him, he'll probably think about that, too. But both of those moves would benefit him and be wise moves for his future. Quitting because he's mad about being passed over at UGA is not.

Oh, and just a tip for the message board folks: If your source tells you "Coach Gardner is resigning," your source is probably wrong. His name is Garner. Just a pet peeve of mine.

-- A big congrats to Ty Frix, who managed to have a strong season on the field and an even better year off of it.

-- My San Antonio reports that Texas A&M sees an opportunity for success against Georgia's understaffed defense.

-- FWIW, Georgia will be the designated home team for the Independence Bowl.

-- Georgia Sports Blog has some hotel details for the greater Shreveport area for your perusal. It sounds like I'll be spending Christmas there by myself if anyone's interested in an afternoon at the blackjack tables.

-- Did you know that Caleb King and Washaun Ealey's performances against Georgia Tech both ranked in the top 10 best rushing days by a back during the Mark Richt era?

-- Back when folks were reading tea leaves in everything Mark Richt said, his quotes about the turnovers seemed like an excuse to keep Willie Martinez around. Now? Well, as the Senator puts it, they're a perfect place to start when we think about what might have been this year.

-- Dawgs Online has a nice compare-and-contrast between the preseason and postseason All-SEC ballots.

-- The Banner-Herald is in favor of charging for parking in North Campus after this season's problems with trash.

-- A UGA professor is making sure we're all officially disgusted by the food we're eating.

-- If you read regularly, you know I'm a big numbers guy, so I found this story from the Wall Street Journal on how aggregate data can easily be misinterpreted very interesting.

-- The Washington Post ranks the top 10 TV achievements of the past 10 years.

-- Apparently Shakira is not an adult.

-- You know what this week was missing? Another "Family Ties" controversy.

-- The creator of "Flash Forward" says the long break for the show's hiatus will be a good thing. Why does this sound so much like a GM's "vote of confidence" in his coach?

-- We were this close to having a mayor of New York build a giant contraption to block out the sun.

-- The creator of "How I Met Your Mother" promises big shake-ups in the second half of the season.

-- And finally, a couple more lists for your enjoyment: The best TV episodes of 2009 (I think I've only seen three, which is odd) and the worst movies of the decade (Ah, Pacino, Murphy & Meyers, how far you have fallen).

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's that top 10 rushing performances under Richt:

1) Verron Haynes, '01 vs. GT
2) Knowshon Moreno, '07 vs. Troy
3) Verron Haynes, '01 vs. Ole Miss
4) Knowshon Moreno, '07 vs. Florida
5) Washaun Ealey, '09 vs. GT
6) Thomas Brown, '07 vs. Ole Miss
7) Knowshon Moreno, '08 vs. Vanderbilt
8) Knowshon Moreno, '08 vs. CMU
9) Caleb King, '09 vs. GT
10) Knowshon Moreno, '08 vs. LSU

Knowshon Moreno was pretty good, I think.

Ginny said...

David- Please tell me one of the three episodes you watched was the season premiere of Glee. Please?

David Hale said...

Indeed it was... that, The Office and Curb.

I liked the first episode of "Glee" but I've been mixed on the series as a whole. I feel like the characters don't ring true from episode to episode... they change based on what needs to happen for the plot in that episode rather than developing and evolving throughout the show.

Bernie said...

I remember packing for the CapOne bowl last year and asking you on your now infamous Online Chat who the home team would be. Your answer was somewhere along the lines...good question, yet don't know.

Kudos to you Mr. Hale for nipping this one in the bud for all Dawg fans. Maybe I'll actually re-arrange some family obligations now to make the trip. I just hope you also have the foresight to check Shreveport's weather forecast before you pack. Just as shorts and t-shirts didn't cut it in Orlando in January, it likely won't cut it in Shreveport just after Christmas. ;)

Unknown said...

David;
Not sure yet if I'll be making it to Shreveport, although I am working on it, but are you gonna try to swing by New Orleans while you're in the area? Only 300 ish miles away...

Ginny said...

I can totally see that but I am too blinded by the drama and music to care.

Kathleen said...

Thanks for ruining Glee for me! I hadn't noticed that and now that you pointed it out I can't ignore it....

I'd say that teenagers really are like that, but it's true about the adult characters, too.

=(

The 3rd Richt said...

I'd have to put The Office halloween episode, Koi Pond, on my top for this season. We finally figured out what Creed did with the blood from the bloodmobile last season. Michael dressed as "Dick in a box".... Good times!

David Hale said...

Kathleen -- my apologies! I'm terrible about things like that. There are plenty of shows I like but that annoy the heck out of me because I want them to be better. 24 is the ultimate example of this for me, but Glee is right up there.

3rd Richt -- totally agree. The dick in the box costume was so perfectly hilarious. And then hanging himself in front of the small children...

Anonymous said...

Check out Kirby Smart's Wikipedia page. We can lay the rumors to rest since Wikipedia is never wrong!

SCdawg said...

hahaha yeah everyone should go to his wikipedia page.

BZ said...

David, Can you check out our strength and conditioning numbers and see how they are compared to years past. I would like to see if these rumors of our strength and conditioning program not being up to par are true. Do you think we can compare strength wise to Florida, Alabama and Tennessee by positions??? Just curious how we stack up...

Andy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andy said...

David, I love the Robert Loggia idea. He is more likely than some of the names others have dropped (i.e. Tubbs and Muschamp). What are the chances he brings Kathy Ireland with him? We may not need a kicker, but I'm sure we could make room for her on the roster. Also, he could bring that ninja linebacker with him. He would be an excellent replacement for Curran should he leave for the NFL, even if he is penalty prone.

Kathleen said...

This is a random question so I guess it belongs in a random topics post. Why do teams not travel together to bowl games? Is it some kind of weird NCAA policy or is it that the bowl sponsors pay for everything but the transportation?

I think it's weird that players have to find/pay their own way to an event that makes money for the school. Or am I missing something?

(As a weird aside.. the word for word verification just under this is "train".. what a coincidence!)

Anonymous said...

I finally got up the nerve to read the Bleacher Report open letter. This is the best line:

"Me, along with thousands of others, cringed at the sight of..."

I hope SO much that is not a current or former Georgia student. Chills...