08 Predictions and Thoughts:: The Schedule

I'm going to do a series on some various items I want to talk about for our 08 season....First up is


Obviously it's tough nobody has to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Here's how I feel this is going to breakdown.

Georgia vs. Georgia Southern-- Knowshon makes the opening statement. I truly feel like he's going to have a ridiculously sick year. He has everything you could want in a back and he's going to run all over this team. Look for a few bombs by Stafford in this game as well. This really is an afterthought game with the talent we have.
Prediction:: 42-7*
*Garbage time TD we generally concede one of these over time. Joe Cox gets to display his arm some, and AJ Green enters the game late in the 3rd Quarter for his first completion....more on this in another post in this series.


Georgia vs. Central Michigan
PWD asks if we really are worried about this one and I provide an empathic NO. The numbers do not lie folks. You could put 5 tuba playing band members on the OLine and still be golden against this bunch. We have so much talent along the OLine now I'm not worried about our Oline--as long as Searles is in charge we will be golden with anyone along the line. And yeah, I do know that Dan LeFevour is a special talent, but he isn't SEC bad ass. Just ask Colt Brennan what big stats against piss poor teams is good for against a potent, fast Willie Martinez coached D. This is not even close--- Dan prepare to see turf ALOT. Two players make eye opening performances here Rennie Curran and Asher Allen. Lots of tackles from the Liberian Dream and some INTs from Asher. On Offense-- I feel this is Stafford's coming out party. We established the run last week, we need to show off our air assault. This is a tossup for me I'd liek to say Mike Moore can do the job, but I am not feeling it. Israel Troupe was my favorite recruit in his class and a little soft spot for him says he's going to break out. Demiko Goodman may play a role as well, but my gut instinct is Kris Durham shines in this game just like he did against Hawaii.

...Next post we get to the nitty gritty...

Stay Tuned::
-RDD

Pay Per Tailgate

Well it hasn't gotten to this quite yet at UGA... but the way that people are talking you figure it will come someday.

PWD and The Good Senator have posts up regarding this so I'm going to chime in on this real quick.

1) I'm a poor recent post grad that's over worked and under paid-- I likely will not be in the market for one of these spots and I'm damn glad too. To be honest I tailgate with a large group of Alumni like myself, and we have awesome spots over near the Music building. Hopefully these won't be staked out for purchase anytime soon and I hope it stays that way. Its been mentioned in those two posts that the mystique about going to college games is the overall atmosphere and it really is the true draw of SEC football.
I have friends from Northern states that just have no idea what it's like---you can't compare it and you never will. Souring specific areas with some deep pocket donors pushes out the little guys, and it's not good for the over all product. It may be good for the bottom line but seriously we pay out the yin yang for football season why take the one true great thing about our season?

2) It just isn't right. The idea of tailgating is that sense of satisfaction that you got a great spot, or the sense of disappointment that you didn't this time and will try harder next go round. It's like hunting for a Christmas tree or finding the right pumpkin or sneaking into a sweet parking spot downtown. When you find your tailgate spot and you get their early it makes the day that much better. Something I've seen and detested from seeing the donors and people in the suites is the complete lack of care for the tailgate tradition.
Seriously how would you feel if you had been tailgating on North Campus for years and suddenly had to take a back seat for some big donor or corporate sponsor. The worst thing would be to go back and see your old spot sporting some sucky kind of corporate display abortion. Or the party isn't as bumpin' as you had it when you rocked that spot. And -gasp- maybe it's empty for the entire day and this old fart rolls up with his Hummer, imported beer and bifocals-- an hour before kickoff and then has the nerve to try and high five you as his trophy wife bends over to get the caviar.
F&%$ That.

And that's the bottom line...
-RDD

Dear Football (Americano & Proper)

Jaysus I'm getting antsy over here. Bulldawg Blawgs's got it right indeed....football please get here soon in any form.

What I have to live off of right now::

Litany of CR7's transfer sags:: Translation: holy hell shoot me now. CR7 apparently has conflicting thoughts now about Real Madrid AND ManYoo. WTF dude?! Dear Glazer family-- Offload this douche bag and buy Kaka. NOW! Personally I think he stays, and I think alot of the reasons he wanted to go to Madrid were in the form of two large breasts he got rid of in whatsercellulite. Now that she's gone, talk of Madrid has cooled to an icy halt.

Pre-season rankings:: Yep nothing better to do in July than bloviate over something so arbitrary as who is the best team without even taking a snap. I'm only glad that we're at least getting a top 5 nod from most everyone. As well as some big ups for our schedule. Last year we said all year long that this was a rebuilding year. "Wait till next year..." Every Dawg fan on planet earth never expected we'd be as good as we were last year. And now we have AJ Green, who'll lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil.

Dimitar Berbatov's Transfer saga:: Is he or isn't he coming? It's basically Pot calling the kettle black for ManYoo in that they are publicly courting another team's star player. Personally, I think he ends up at ManYoo...where he'll be greeted by CR7 saying "How'd you do it?"

Camps/Pre-Season:: For UGA the summer months are time to tune up for the next season, camps, workouts etc.. are a big part of that. For Man United it involves traveling to a foreign country and playing games against random teams, and having people generate heart attacks at the slightest slip up. I compare United's preseason to that of an elongated Spring game. Someone always does well and is touted as the next star but come that first game it's back to the status quo.

August 30th can't come soon enough.

RDD

Crootin' News

Some may know this from looking at the recruiting sites. But according to Rivals the Dawgs landed commitment #12.

Jordan Love of Glen Allen, Virginia is a talented ATH/CB speedster posting a 4.41 40 yard dash. And decent leaping (37 vertical inches) and strength numbers (225lbs). -- a 6ft tall 185lb athlete.

That 40 time is slap your momma fast, with size and strength. From what I can read the UGA staff offered him immediately after evaluating him in person, which speaks volumes about this kid.

So knowing we have limited numbers to offer a 3 star recruit after seeing him once there must be something there that Rivals and Scout must have missed in allotting stars. I don't hold too much to recruits rated 3 stars and lower, because its virtually hit or miss with them. David Pollack, Odell Thurman, Thomas Davis I believe were all three star recruits. Naderris Ward was a 5 star. So this isn't exactly rocket science.

The thing that gets me is that we beat out several other SEC schools that offered him, including one of his finalists (Florida, Penn State and UGA) --- But for the most part the folks that have offered him aren't all that Jaw dropping. I think the coaches know what they want we they see it, and they clearly did with this guy. Ben Jones was rated as a 3 star guy as well, and you see where his hard work has gotten him.


Final thoughts on him: I like it. His reel is entertaining--- he's got great ball skills and you simply can't teach that kind of speed especially on such a built guy. Assuming Van Halanger can beef him up with some muscle and not lose a step-- we could be looking at a shut down corner that can return kicks with the best of them. I'm all for cutting off part of the field if everything comes to fruition.

Another get from out of State= always a good thing.

-RDD

Real Life called

Well..Just as I started this thing work turned into a bitch...and family pulled me away as well.

Lets recap shall we?

--Latest news: Lemon dismissed I posted on this earlier and it should come as no shock to anyone that he's gone. Richt did mention Lemon expressed a desire to find a path back to the team, but that will pretty much depend on whether or not he's ever enrolled at UGA again.

Honestly, I understand pressing charges against someone that roughed you up for no good reason. But, I seriously have to doubt that Lemon attacked this kid unprovoked. He must have said something possibly smarted off. And when we're talking booze, testosterone and women being involved all bets are off. Yes he made a bad decision. Should he be punished? Yes. But, I truly hope this isn't something that screws up his life, otherwise that will be the most expensive punch he'll ever throw and hopefully the last for no good reason.

I often think about a certain best friend of mine that used to find himself in altercations like this. He is an unassuming 5'11 175 lb Jack Hammer. I know in at least once instance 4 guys get dropped one punch a piece and he'd get away with it...not once caught. That's what I want to get at here, you never know what's going to happen when things escalate to fisticuffs. In this case it's a million times worse because he's a high profile person, and they will likely make an example out of him. Here's hoping for the best for Mr. Lemon and his victim.

The Winnepeg Sun has nice article up about one of my favorite UGA players: Terrence Edwards. Some may know, Edwards has found a home in the CFL where he's put up strong numbers for the Montreal Alouettes. He and his brother Robert have found new homes on the same team and are flourishing. Good for them always good to see post college Dawgs getting things done -- whether it's in the sporting arena or otherwise.

Go Dawgs!

-RDD

Discipline follow-up

PWD has a post up over at GSB regarding the recent legal troubles with the football team. Since I just touched on this last night I figured I'd thrown in my comments::

I couldn't agree more.

Basically it boils down to this..
1) If you hit guys (especially nobody average students) you deserve to get kicked off the team or suspended for a lengthy amount of time.
2) If you hit women you deserve a swift kick in the balls .
3) If you do drugs you've got bigger problems. (I'm looking at you Jimmy Johns

4) If you get a DUI or other alcohol related arrest more than once you've got bigger problems. (I'm looking at you Billy Humphrey)

Most other stuff gets too much press for it's own good.

I whole heartedly agree with his comments regarding "thugish" behavior. It's bad for our media image (see Miami of the 90's), and it attracts the wrong kind of recruits. If it becomes a trend can certainly foreshadow a downturn for a program.

And for the most part I've seen comments from players and coaches about what the majority of the team is doing during this off season and it sounds as if Stafford is stepping up, AJ Green is the real deal, Asher Allen is ready to step into the lime light on defense and all the pieces are settling in.



Suspense Builds...

-RDD

Feast or Famine:: The Off Season --ManYoo

Much like the off season of UGA, the off season for the English Premiership and particularly Manchester United is just as much a crap shoot as college kids running around knocking the shit out of people, drinking ungodly amounts of alcohol and keepin' it real.



So during the summer, there's absolutely nothing going on in the way of the sport we love (typically) and the only thing that keeps us going is news of our star players. Throwing a wrench in the gears for Man Yoo is they have the pleasure of having the English Press to entertain us with rumors, dealings and often incriminating photos to keep us through the downturn.

This season's Drama Du Jour centers around someone even my UGA fans might recognize-- Christiano Ronaldo



His protracted saga spans several months. At various points hes sounded like a giant douche bag by declaring his dream move would be to play for Real Madrid. WTF??!

Real Madrid:: Where good players go to sell shirts and that's all. Real Madrid is the Soccer Equivalent of the Yankees and Notre Dame combined. Minus all the titles. But deffinately including their TV contracts. Over the past several seasons they've done decent enough winning the league, but have failed to really produce the way a team with that kind of star power should (see: salary cap).

The one major appeal would be the weather, so I can't fault him there.

But overall, Manchester United has built the next great team, and have made Ronaldo the centerpiece. He started as a petulant child, and he's swiftly become a legend. If he were to stay he would cement his status and possibly surpass the likes of Cantona, Charlton and Best. If he goes he loses all he's worked for at Manchester United and runs the risk of being a flop in a dying league, for a dying club.


Ronaldo is to Manchester United what Knowshon Moreno is to UGA. He's had an excellent, truly breakout season that has him at the top of the world and touted as the best player on the planet. And for all their hard work Manchester United have been put in the terrible position of being either forced to bench their best player just to prove a point, or be backed into a corner and forced to sell him.

There simply is no other comparison in major American sports. Because in America we trade players, we don't outright buy them like the Soccer world. It's a ridiculous system one that is proving broken and needs repairing badly.

If Manchester sell their prized asset it will set a stake in the ground that all gloves are off when it comes to courting contracted players publicly. Real Madrid historically makes their shopping list known and they often get what they want. Madrid came in for Beckham, Zidane, Robinho, Ronaldo and they always seem to get their man.

I for one could care less if Ronaldo stays or goes. It would be bad for the game if he does go, but if Madrid really want to fork over 100 million euros for him then fine...take him.. we'll go out and buy two other quality players and be rid of his circus act.

I'm tired of his selfish play, his lack of leadership or true gamesmanship.

Recently the European Championships took place with Ronaldo's team fairing decently well enough to get to the quarterfinals. Portugal played their heart out but couldn't beat Germany, (an eventual finalist). Ronaldo bitched and moaned the whole game screaming at the ref anytime anyone sneezed on him and flopping around like a fish. He threw himself forward with reckless abandon trying to do it all, but he couldn't. He didn't play total team football. It was a sad day for Ronaldo and as well for Man Yoo, as they saw the stock of their super-stud fall drastically.

Here's the bottom line:: Real Madrid suck for publicly courting a player, and deserve a swift kick in the balls. Ronaldo needs to be slapped around a little-- The Premiership is the most powerful league in the world, and truly provides the best football out there. It's entertaining and all the biggest stars are now finding homes in England. If I were a top class player I would want to play for the best team...and Manchester United is that team. (Bias yes, but we defended the league and are Champions of Europe)