Guess I was wrong about A.J., huh?

Just got back from Athens, and wow...what an opener. I'll have more to say about it in the next day or so after I watch my recording, but there was very little to complain about in that one.

But since I have been so ADAMANT in my stance that A.J. Green would not miss any time due to the whole NCAA inquiry nonsense, I figured I should at least come back and say I was wrong.

Lesson learned...never underestimate the incompetence of the NCAA, nor their ability to mess things up for absolutely no reason.

Off to watch the late games! So glad to have my Saturdays occupied by college football again!

GO DAWGS!!

Two new LOST recaps coming...I promise

I apologize...a combination of a very busy last few days and the fact that I don't have a new episode tonight acting as a "deadline" has caused the recap of last week to be delayed. And I also haven't forgotten that I promised a full recap of Recon several weeks ago as well.

So here's my committment....last week's full recap should go up by tomorrow at the latest, and then Recon will be up by the end of the week.

Speaking of "committment"...I will probably also be back later with my thoughts on the Logan Gray situation. They may be different than you think.

Update on LOST recap

Ummm....yeah, about that. I went back and rewatched it, and found that I liked the episode even LESS upon rewatch. Obviously, a mediocre LOST episode is still better than most television, so I was entertained...but I just did not like the writing in this episode. Very clunky dialogue, some awkward scenes (like the whole "undercover sting" operation at the beginning...I agree with what I saw somewhere else: It was so unbelievable that I thought maybe Sawyer and Miles were re-making "Expose" in this reality).

Anyway...combine my less than enthusiastic response to this episode with some real-life issues that had to be dealt with this weekend, and it adds up to there probably not being a full recap of this one. I may go back and do one later, but for now I guess I said all I really want to say about it in my initial writeup from last week.

This week should be better. For the spoiler-phobic folks out there (which I am, too, but I accidentally overheard something this week), I won't tell you why...but suffice to say that I am REALLY looking forward to this week's episode.

Namaste.

Update on LOST recap

Yeah, I am WAY behind on this one...sorry, real life intervened. I just did my first (and probably only) re-watch last night, and at last check Lostpedia doesn't have the full transcript up yet. I rely heavily on those transcripts to put my recaps together, so if that isn't up soon I am going to have to go back and rewatch again and make more detailed notes.

Bottom line...best case scenario to have the recap up is tonight, but more likely tomorrow.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Well, that's just great...

I thought I had my new American Idol Girlfriend all picked out (last year's was Megan, for those of you who don't remember and actually care).

Janell Wheeler. Gorgeous voice, great stage presence, and smokin' hotttt.

Well, get this: She definitely WAS, and maybe still IS....


....Tim Tebow's girlfriend.

Now I just feel....DIRTY.

LOST recap should be up later tonight, after I recover from my shock and disgust and take a "Crying Game" shower.


*********UPDATE**************
Check the comments section to this post....

Great news....now she can be my Idol girlfriend again! I'm sure she is going to be THRILLED!!

Thanks, Anonymous!! If I only knew who you were...I would shower you with gifts!

I came back for THIS?

Sorry, I've been pretty out of commission the past week...some traveling for business, and then snowed under at work.

And, now....after that game today, I don't really have it in me to write a full recap right now. I feel like I got kicked in the stomach by a mule about fifty times in a row.

So...I'll be back in a day or so with full thoughts. I don't think it's as bad as we all feel right now...but it ain't good.

See?

Told you I was busy...sorry, but the real world is taking precedence right now.

Real quick thoughts:

- Happy with almost all reports out of Dawgs fall camp so far, except that the injury bug is biting us a little right now. Still no major injuries, and virtually all of the walking wounded should be back by week one. This is pretty typical fall camp stuff, nothing major.

Feel free to peruse the blog list to your right...David Hale and The Red and Black have done a phenomenal job with newsy news, and Bernie, The Georgia Sports Blog, DawgSports, MikeinValdosta, Rex Robinson, et al are here to fulfill all your opinion and blogging needs.

- I'm afraid to mention the local baseball team, because every time I do they go in the tank. So...SHHHHHH...

- In TV news, Mad Men starts Sunday night. I don't know what else I can tell you about this show, other than if you're not watching you're missing one of the greatest shows of our era (apologies to Tebow, the GPOOE).

My schedule doesn't get any better for the next couple of weeks...once the season starts I plan on being a lot more active in the blogosphere.

GO DAWGS!!

LOST recap coming...sometime this summer!

Just kidding (kind of)...we are leaving for the beach on Friday, which means much of this week will be spent preparing for the trip (both at home and at work). I fully expect this recap to take several hours to put together (my brain is still broken), so if I don't get to it this week, it will have to wait until after we get back, unless we are forced inside by weather all week.

Sorry about that...I'll do my best to make sure the recap is worth the wait!

Delays continue

Sorry...real life is HARD.

LOST recap delayed for another day or so. It will be up before the finale next week...promise.

Defense....delayed

Sorry, work wiped me out today...no defense post till tomorrow.

But it was nice to get practice reports....now let's just keep everybody healthy.

What is Auburn thinking?

Being reported everywhere (Doc Saturday, ESPN, Rivals, etc) that Auburn has hired Gene Chizik as their new head coach.

So Tommy Tubs wins an average of 9-10 games a year for around 8 years (as well as going 7-3 against Bama), makes one bad decision (the Tony Franklin debacle) that torpedoes this year. And rather then let this proven quality head coach try and correct his own mistake (I was going to say "turn the program around", but it was ONE BAD YEAR...does that constitute needing "turned around?"), you fire him. With absolutely ZERO backup plan, apparently. You get publicly turned down by guys like Boom Muschamp and Gary Patterson, you inexplicably decide not to hire Turner Gill, you interview guys who obviously have no shot at the job (Patrick Nix and Rodney Garner). And now, you hire GENE CHIZIK. Who is 5-19 at Iowa State. And is currently riding a ten game losing streak.

From Tommy Tubberville to Gene Chizik. That's impressive.

It's funny/sad that this whole thing started with concerns that they were going to be out-recruited by Saban, which led to the Tony Franklin hire. So Gene Chizik is going to ride into town and start cleaning up in the recruiting battles with Saint Nick?

I went to Auburn message board on Rivals and they are in total MELTDOWN mode. Can't say as I blame them.

So as we Dawg fans are wallowing in our "disappointment," we can at least think about UT and Auburn's situation and realize it could be worse.

Much worse.

UPDATE...Blutarsky says it better than I can.

Pathetic

This season is now an unmitigated disaster.

I love Coach Richt, but if Willie Martinez is still here next year then Richt deserves whatever criticism is thrown his way. We just lost to a much less talented team, and the blame falls squarely on Richt's BFF.

Stafford threw for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns, MoMass had what seemed like 30 catches (both in their last game in Sanford Stadium), and we lose because our defense can't stay disciplined and refuses to wrap up on tackles.

Embarrassing.

So, in this "dream season," we have been embarrassed by our two biggest rivals, and we don't have a signature win for the entire year.

Ugh.

Observations: Auburn

You know what? I am in no mood to go into a deep discussion of what worked and what didn't on Saturday. You all saw the game, there's nothing new I can tell you. I was there, so I had a birds-eye view. I'll just say this...the last few weeks have reminded me of nothing more than the Jim Donnan era, and those are NOT good times. Great athletes, dumb as rocks. Especially on defense.

Anyway, Doug over at Hey Jenny Slater really nails it this week with his thoughts on the game. I felt EXACTLY the same way watching the guys dance over on our sideline after the game. They were a LOT happier about that win than I was.

I can't add anything to what Doug says, really...the offense played fine, the defense stood up when it had to, but utter STOOPIDITY kept Auburn in the game. Specifically, our "special" teams play (insert short bus, special ed. jokes here) and dumb, moronic penalties. I'm so sick of typing those words. I should just create a macro for "moronic penalties" to use every time I'm recapping a Dawgs game this year.

Yes, I will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day. Yes, I would rather have Mark Richt as our head coach than ANYBODY else. Yes, we are 5-0 on opponents home field this year, 9-2 overall, hopefully heading for yet another ten win season and a New Year's Day bowl. But what this year says to me is that we are not yet an elite program. This is a good team, not a great one...not by a pretty long shot. And next year there is a 90% chance (in my opinion) that we will be without Stafford and Moreno, the best 1-2 punch we have had at this school in my lifetime. Unbelievable that we will have had both of those guys at the same time and not even PLAYED in the SEC championship, much less won one. I'm afraid that this was the window for this team, and I can't help feeling like they blew it. I'm sure that another window will come along, but when you're NOT an elite program, you're not promised the chance to compete for the MNC on a regular basis.

Sigh.

For a slightly more humorous, but just as apt, description, check out Mackie's take.

This week will probably be a little different. With the off-week, I will probably start experimenting with what this blog will look like once football season is over. I welcome any feedback or suggestions.

As always...

GO DAWGS!!!!!

OK, I'm behind...

Massive amounts of work stuff, as well as yard sales in back to back weeks, has put me behind on posting...I've got TONS of stuff to talk about, so I'll be back later today.

Thoughts on the game

Well, the game we were all waiting for finally got here, and it was well worth the wait. That's right...last night was the Hawks home opener! YES!!! It was great to have basketball at Atlanta's Playoff Factory!!! WHOO-HOO!!!!11!!!!1!!1!

Joe Johnson was the MAN, once again. 35 points, including a three point DAGGER with 11 seconds left to put the game away. I love the PA announcer's catch phrase every time he scores..."And now you know." Pretty cool.

Josh Smith had a typical Josh Smith game...one half of not being able to get out of his own way (dumb shots, turnovers, etc) and one half where he plays like Scottie Pippen on speed. Big shots, rebounds, blocked shots...it was like his whole career encapsulated in one game.

Even got some production from the bench...Flip Murray stepped in for an ineffective Marvin Williams and played well and ZaZa continued his aggressive play that started when he went nose-to-nose with KG in the playoffs.

So, we're 2-0...it's a new era for Hawks basketball!!

Oh, the Dawgs played yesterday? I was so caught up in the Hawks game that I was unaware. Did we win?

Falcons thoughts

Well, the Falcons lost the game on Sunday, but I think that was as expected. Philadelphia is a quality VETERAN team, used to winning, who had an extra week to prepare and was playing at home. At this point in the Falcons rebuilding process, it would have been a huge surprise if they won the game. We did learn a few things, though:

- Matt Ryan is still a rookie, but he is certainly progressing. Philadelphia presented many of the same challenges as the first two teams we lost to, Carolina and Tampa Bay. They were all on the road, and they all possess respected, capable defensive coordinators who like to blitz from a number of different angles and positions and put tremendous physical and mental pressure on a quarterback. This makes it especially difficult on a rookie, who is probably seeing many of these defenses for the first time, and especially at this speed. Ryan was noticeably more comfortable this time around. The INT in the end zone was poor...very underthrown. Other than that, I think he played pretty well in adverse conditions.

- Speaking of adverse conditions...the offensive line is NOTICEABLY weaker when Sam Baker does not play. Not sure what that says more about...the impressive impact that Baker has made as a rookie, or the otherwise mediocrity of this o-line. As a comparison, UGA is now on their 4th left tackle this season, and they are probably playing better as a unit than they have all year, while the Falcons O-line performance is considerably weakened when they lose their rookie left tackle. Hmm.....

- Roddy White is a legitimate big-time wide receiver. That's not anything we learned last week, I just like pointing out that the Falcons FINALLY have a legitimate big-time wide receiver.

- Keith Brooking, on the other hand, is one of the more overrated players in the NFL. Again, not anything new we learned, just something I felt like pointing out. This guy racks up more tackles 7-8 yards downfield than anybody since Junior Seau, and I don't think he could consistently cover ME at tight end. Plus, he's a Techie...enough said.

- The officiating in that game was horrid on both sides. We'll get to the "muffed punt" controversy in a minute, but the personal foul that Philly picked up for a supposed late hit on Ryan was brutal. I guess it was called a late hit...they called it a personal foul, but the guy had his arms wrapped around Ryan by the time he released the ball and then just fell on him. The defender would have had to defy the laws of physics in order for anything else to happen. He didn't hit him high, didn't hit him late...I guess he just hit him too hard. After all, that's what Hines Ward has been fined three times for this season...blocking too effectively. The Powers That Be are sissifying this sport, and it's disgusting.

- Now to the "muffed punt" - yes, the officials blew the call, but what in the world was Adam Jennings doing? Either field the punt or GET OUT OF THE WAY. Otherwise, you are just asking for trouble, and that's what he got. In real-time, I thought the ball touched him, too, so I can't really blame the refs...it was a tough call that they got wrong. But if Jennings had done what he was supposed to do, it wouldn't have been an issue. This guy is horrendous as a punt returner, and I really wish Thomas Brown wasn't injured so that we could see what he can do.

One more thing on that play...the TV announcers were blaming Coach Smith for not having a timeout left with which to challenge the play....ridiculous. He used his timeouts perfectly, and was about to get the ball back with 2:15 left on the clock, decent field position, and the 2:00 warning coming up to stop the clock. There was no way for him to PLAN on the refs blowing a call in that 15 second interval before it became an automatic booth review.

Overall, a tough loss, but not an unexpected one. If we can take care of business in Oakland, we hit the midway point 5-3, and I think ALL Falcons fans will take that...I know I would.

Still no update?!?!?!?

Yeah, I know...the real world stinks.

Oh yeah, I'm not going to turn this into a political blog...but Joe Biden is a Pinko Communist moron.

The Heidi Game, part deux?

Anybody got a reasonable explanation for this?

UPDATE: Never mind...AJC has updated the story. Has to happen, due to the game not being sold out.

DARRYL!!! What are you THINKING???

If you go away, who is going to keep Michael up to speed on the latest African American lingo?

I find it interesting that he "appreciates" the opportunity to have his charges dropped, but he never actually admits that he made a mistake or vow to get clean and never do anything like this again. That doesn't bode well for his future.

Oh, well...dinkin flicka, man. Dinkin flicka.