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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Florida kicker: 'Ridiculous' to demand apology from Grantham

I know, I know, a lot of you are probably sick of hearing about a story that you think has been overblown. Well, the following may put a bit of a bow on it.

Florida's Chas Henry, speaking to the media for the first time since "choke-gate," took the high road. Henry said he didn't expect, or want, an apology from Todd Grantham, saying the idea was "ridiculous."

And Henry confirmed that he engaged in a bit of playful back-and-forth before the kick.

“I see that they’d taken a timeout and I looked over at their coach and I started laughing, like, ‘You’re going to ice me? I’m not even the kicker. You’re going to ice me?’” Henry said today. “So I start looking and I see the guy doing the choke. I look at him again and he does like, ‘You’re gonna choke.’ So I take my helmet off and I gave him a little smooch at him. I blew him a little kiss.

“That might be why he got a little upset about that. Then he did it again.”


The choking controversy was also laughed off by a few Georgia players I spoke to. And head coach Mark Richt said again Wednesday that Grantham's fire is part of what attracted him during the hiring process.

I'll have more on Grantham, with comments from Richt, Nick Saban and a defensive player, in Thursday's paper. Here's a preview of the story I filed:

ATHENS – Earlier this year, when Mark Richt was considering whether to hire Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator, one of the background checks Richt made was to his brother-in-law: Former NFL quarterback Brad Johnson.

Grantham was an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys, where his time briefly overlapped with Johnson’s playing career. The former quarterback, who now lives in Athens, told Richt what to expect.

“(Grantham) had a lot of energy, and he would not be afraid to show his emotions out there,” Richt said. “He had a lot of fire out there in him.”


None of this is to say Grantham has free license to, say, go egg Michael Adams' house. But I suspect that if the choking gesture hadn't happened against Florida, and didn't come on a week the Bulldogs play Idaho State, it wouldn't have received as much attention.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many years ago when I lived in Fla, the unranked dawgs played the number 1 gators and beat them. The kicker for Fla missed 4 field goals and when he came off the field for the last miss, a Fla coach hit him in the arm. I told a gator the next Monday that I could not believe the coach hit the player like that and he said he would have hit the player if he could. So, I am just sorry our coach could not have choked either the kicker or that cry baby coach meyer.

Anonymous said...

I'll buy the eggs.............

I was actually going to use my name but the egg sucking verification is dumb as a stump. How about an upgrade Seth I have seen much better like 5 - 1 + 6 =

Anonymous said...

10! The answer is 10!

Word Verification: beautaxa

Carter said...

If Grantham were to leave a flaming bag of dog excrement on Adam's doorstep, I wouldn't be mad at that.

Anonymous said...

seth, you still suck

Coach Grammar said...

Ha ha Carter, I agree. However, his name is Michael Adams, so it is Adams's doorstep or Adams' doorstep. Both are correct. Never Adam's doorstep. If you were referring to someone named Adam, then please forgive me.

Adam said...

Why all the hate guys?

Muckbeast said...

So retarded to hate on Michael Adams, when he has done so much good for UGA - especially football.

Lockstep haters suck.

BuLLdawg said...

16 losses 1911 to 1920 ten years
23 losses 1892 to 1901 ten years
25 losses 1907 to 1916 ten years
25 losses 1978 to 1987 ten years
26 losses 1941 to 1950 ten years
27 losses 1980 to 1989 ten years
29 losses 1919 to 1928 ten years
32 losses 1927 to 1936 ten years
33 losses 1922 to 1931 ten years
33 losses 1971 to 1980 ten years
33 losses 1929 to 1938 ten years
33 losses 1962 to 1971 ten years
33 losses 1921 to 1930 ten years
33 losses 2001 to 2010 ten years CMR Era

Anonymous said...

Yeah, i don't understand why everyone hates Michael Adams. Is it just because of Vince Dooley or is there another reason?

Riley said...

Well Bulldawg, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Georgia plays more games and has a higher winning percentage than ever before, so your losses count doesn't hold any water. The last few years haven't been great, but count me as one of the fans that thinks it'll turn around in the next year. I just hope Richt doesn't get run out of town by shortsighted fans.

Charlestowne Dawg said...

If you want to understand all the hate on Michael Adams, I would start here:

http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Hedges-Politics-University-Georgia/dp/1588382060

Although, I would like to get an idea of the author's backstory. Seems like he is writing with an agenda at points.

Anonymous said...

The last thing I am going to do is read a book about why people don't like Michael Adams. It was a simple question, I thought someone could answer it in a few short sentences. Geez.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:53;

For fans over 30 (not a shot at you) that remember game days before Adams and the tailgating crackdown, it was a much better time. It seems that he loves the money the program generates, but hates the fans. Areas near the stadium used to all be for tailgating and made the day much more enjoyable.

Also, just one other thing I remember was the Harrick incident where the basketball team was pulled from the tournament. He didn't address the team at all, so they go to his house to talk to him. Adams calls the police. Police come and explain that it's the basketball team and they want to talk to him about why they can't play in the tournament. Adams doesn't talk to them, but instead tells the police to arrest them if they don't leave.

He's done plenty good for the university, but being standoffish hasn't helped him on the PR front. And yes, as head of a university, having good PR doesn't hurt.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Anon@ 9:01. While I am glad the tailgating has been limited to certain areas, I can see why people get upset. I graduated in 2007 when tailgating on north campus was still allowed, and it was terrible going to class because of all of the damage done. I just wish people would realize that and treat it like a place they have to be on Mondays. I do not remember the basketball incident though. That sounds interesting...

Anonymous said...

I started in '95 when we weren't very good, so campus destruction wasn't nearly as bad as it has been the last couple of years. That's probably also why I want to keep Richt around...I remember when we were almost completely irrelevant, and it wasn't all that long ago.

Kevin said...

BULLDAWG:

We were only playing about 7 or 8 game seasons in the 20's. How about showing winning percentage instead? Oh, because it doesn't fit your argument. Sorry.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Todd Grantham, new defensive coordinator for the Dawgs. Now he is the target of the blogs and SEC sports writers. Opposing players and his player like and respect him. Brought in a new scheme, the 3-4, and if you understand the spread and defenses, this is the deal. Why? One thing it helps make the sideline a defender. It pushes the edge plays to the sideline with pursuit.

Here is where the real "choke" is.
At 10/30/10 in D1 stats.
Total defense: UGA is 28
Rush defense: UGA is 18
Pass defense: UGA is 56
Scoring defense: UGA is 39

All with a new first year scheme and coach. A coach with players he did not recruit.

They are trying to take down TG because they do not want us to succeed.

Listen to this. Hey Coach Grantham, this is Henry with the Steelers. How about your young linebacker, corner, and nose guard. Yeah Henry they play like all conference and probably could be top notch NFL players. Thanks Todd we value for opinion since you been on both sides.

Hey recruit, you thinking about a million buck NFL contract. Yes, going yo UGA because they have a lights out DC with NFL experience. You think I'm stupid not to go there.

Anonymous said...

Forgot this about my last post on Coach Choke.

The 3-4 allows you to run more spread plays into the sideline, like a extra defender.

In the SEC UF is consider the premier spread team. Watched the rebroadcast of that game 3 time so I could see how the D played. Trust us UF and their coaches did not put a choke sign out there, but they sure as heck had a very worried and concerned look.

Tell me how many plays did the Dawgs force them to the sidelines. In the 2nd half how many adjustments did you see TG make. In fact UF had 2 wks of prep for that game. We get those two fumbles, Cummings turns back quicker for a pick, UF drops at least 17 pts of the board.

Don'w get caught up in this immature, brainless writing by the kind at the AJC. Those guys don't much about football.

PTC DAWG said...

Good of the UF kicker to take the high road.

The Adams thing is not as simple as a few sentences. And to me, not everything he's done is bad. I don't understand why everyone got upset because he didn't want the campus trashed.

Charlestowne Dawg said...

Anonymous 8:53: The simple fact that there is a book on it should tell you something...

If you really want to know, there ya go.