Georgia's 2012 Schedule....Gift?

It has been stated now through the SEC Presidents that Mizzou will be a part of the SEC East in 2012 and that there will still only be 8 conference games. Currently each team plays the 5 teams from their division, 2 from the other division and 1 designated rival from the other division. With the league not adding another conference game in 2012, the teams in each division must now play the 6 teams from their division, 1 from the other division and keep the 1 designated rival. Here are the current designated rival games:

Alabama & Tennessee
Arkansas & Kentucky
Auburn & Georgia
Florida & LSU
Ole Miss & Vanderbilt
Mississippi State & South Carolina

To keep this simple, its assumed that Missouri and Texas A&M will be the designated rivals for each other. The other discussion was making Mizzou's designated rival Arkansas and having A&M designated to South Carolina. I personally like the second option as Mizzou and Arkansas are located close together. The advantage currently for the SEC East is big here with the power shifting to the SEC West for the past few years, so this would take one SEC West team off of the Eastern division teams next season.

Being a Georgia fan, here is what their schedule currently looks like for 2012.

9.1 Buffalo
9.8 @ South Carolina
9.15 Florida Atlantic
9.22 Vanderbilt
9.29 Tennessee
10.6 @Alabama
10.13 @ Kentucky
10.20 Open Week
10.27 Florida
11.3 Ole Miss
11.10 @Auburn
11.17 Georgia Southern
11.24 Georgia Tech

The belief is that Georgia would lose their road game at Alabama and add Missouri in that spot, that makes Georgia's schedule much more manageable, similar to this year. The toughest road games would be early on at South Carolina and towards the end at Auburn. I am all for this schedule change, this also means you would rotate the SEC West schools every 6 years.

Faces of the 'Hood (Dallas/Ft. Worth)

A while back I started a "Face of the 'Hood" with the five most recognizable active sports faces in Atlanta. So I wanted to get back to this and figured I would start with my other hometown, Dallas/Ft. Worth (Metroplex). It was tough for me not to include Mark Cuban, but he has been out of the spotlight recently, so he would be #6 at this point for me.

5. Ron Washington - While this may be a weird one, I would say after his off field issues a few years back to taking the Texas Rangers to the World Series two years in a row he is definitely in this top 5. They even named a dance move for him called "The Wash." He has help to revitalize baseball in this market and the Rangers should continue to be a tough out for years to come. They could be the Braves of the 2010s, hopefully they win more than one 'ship if they make it to numerous series.

4. Josh Hamilton - For the same reason as Washington, Josh Hamilton has become a superstar in Texas. He won the AL MVP last season and his life story is now public knowledge. I still tip my cap to the team when they win for having a celebration with ginger ale so Josh can participate, shows you how much respect he gets from his ballclub. Hard to find these days!!

3. Dirk Nowitski - After finally winning his first championship, Dirk has etched his name into a being a sports God in the Metroplex. He took the Mavs on his back again last season and finished the deal this time, it is guys like him that you want to win. He goes about it the right way and never shies away from the media, win or lose.

2. Jerry Jones - This is sad really, if he was not always looking for the cameras and always ready with a quote, he would not be on this list. Being a Cowboys' fan I appreciate everything Jerry has done since buying the franchise in the late 1980s, but sometimes take a step back and let someone else come in to be the GM, please!

1. Tony Romo - Whether it is warranted or not, Tony Romo is by far #1 in this market. Does not hurt being the starting QB for the Dallas Cowboys. Tony takes all the heat for their losses and none of the credit when they win. He gets heat for everything no matter how big or small. I would say he has one more year before Jerry will make a big move to bring in another QB to lead his team.

Did I miss anyone??

Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.....5 of 6

Georgia played the best game they have played in maybe 3 seasons Saturday against Auburn. Auburn was probably the best team Georgia has beat on their 8 game winning streak and by far the best opponent since they lost to South Carolina. The game started with each team scoring on their first possession and then the game took a turn after Georgia went up 14-7. First though, Michael Bennett is turning into a playmaker for Georgia at receiver and is only a RS freshman. Crowell had one of his two fumbles at mid-field and then on the next play Auburn returned the favor fumbling it right back to Georgia. From there Georgia ran away with the game and this one was over at halftime 35-7. I thought Georgia being favored by 13 to start the week was crazy, but I guess there's a reason why Vegas keeps making money. I know a lot of people put money on Auburn to cover that. Georgia should open as a 15-20 point favorite this week as well, but this game always scares me. Do not overlook Kentucky to get ready for the state championship at Georgia Tech.



Auburn was one dimensional so Georgia could sit back and only defense the pass, and without a running game Auburn could not get anything going offensively. Gary Danielson mentioned it on the broadcast, but Georgia has great athletes and an attitude on defense that has been missing for long time on this team. Whether players or coaches wanted to admit it the game from last year definitely was used for motivation for this team. The game last year turned ugly and Georgia wanted to come out and return the favor. Aaron Murray is slowly becoming one of the best UGA quarterbacks in the school's long history. Georgia now has their chance to play back-to-back games in Atlanta with a win over Kentucky this coming Saturday in Athens. That makes 5 out of 6 now for Georgia in the series, but I would take Auburn's one win right now, as there win helped them continue towards winning the National Championship last season. Great picture below! Come on Dawgs get two more then make your trip to SEC title game worth it.

http://www.georgiadogs.com/photogallery/gallery_index.html?school=geo&sport=&

To make the night better, Boise lost to TCU, so that should eliminate the Boise to National Championship discussions. Not sure who watched that game, but I must say that TCU was called for pass interference on a 4th down play for Boise that was one of the worst calls I have seen to keep a game going this season in college football. I found it odd too that TCU is leaving the conference at the end of this season. I realize that's crazy to assume as the game moves too fast, but nonetheless Boise missed a FG, so there is a football god watching over.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oeSTLPD1H34" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Replay...Get It Right

It is hard to believe that there was time when the NFL got rid of replay for a few years. Replay in football is absolutely necessary and more college and pro sports need to follow their lead. The only complaint I have is the NFL and NCAA should take the best of their systems and use one replay system moving forward.

Here is how I feel the system should work.

From the NFL game, take the following, referee looks at the play in a replay screen on the field and makes the call. The referee is supposed to control the game so he should be responsible for the replay calls, not the guy in the replay booth like in the college game. From the college game it is a no brainer to review every play and the booth can stop play if more time is needed to get the call right. It does not make sense to limit the number of times a play can be challenged. Every call should be reviewed, cannot have these games determined by a bad call because you do not have any challenges left. Also, the coaches still have the right to challenge any call they do not agree with. The argument is always that is slows the game down, but the numbers do not prove that at all.

Again the goal has to be to get the calls right, all of them!!

MLB, time to adopt replay on plays on the bases to go along with reviewing home run reviews. Too many plays at 1st or homeplate that determine games, a bad call should not cost a team a win, ever! NBA uses replay when it is needed and for them they probably use it the only way they can, assuming the NBA ever plays again.

Protecting Our Borders

Everyone can now relax when it comes to protecting our borders, Steven Seagal at age 59 is protecting the border between Texas and Mexico. He was sworn in recently and is a part of the team patrolling 98 miles on the border. Do not know if he will ever have to use his martial arts moves from his good ole days, but it can't hurt. He called up a few months back itching to take on this new role. He will start his new duties as Deputy Seagal in January.

There was a buzz that this was a publicity stunt or another reality show idea, but all reports say this is real and he wanted to do anything he could to help the country. He definitely isn't do it for the money. So border runners beware, Seagal is on the job to stop you from coming over to work hard and do the jobs that most lazy Americans do not want to do.

He also cut off the ponytail finally......

Doc Review: A Football Life

It is hard to top the ESPN 30 for 30 or HBO sports documentaries, but the "A Football life: Bill Belichick" on NFL Network was one of the best I have ever seen. It was the first of a series for them, I have only caught the Reggie White/Jerome Brown one and it was good, but nothing has compared to this one so far. Their "A Football Life" for Tom Landry debuted last week, appointment DVR for sure. I was surprised that Bill allowed the access that he did, but this two part doc allows you to see the Coach for more than what you see on Sundays.

By far the best two parts of the doc are Bill talking trash to Derrick Mason when he played for the Ravens, telling Mason to shut to f$#k up numerous times and to look at the scoreboard. The other is him tearing into his team during a meeting about sleeping in meetings. This documetary gives you a perspective to respect Belichick for the great coach he is and what it takes to be a great coach in this league. He eats, sleeps and breaths football 24/7. Too bad he is the coach up there in Beantown or I would even say I liked him. It is not a stretch to say he is the Vince Lombardi of our era.



For this documentary I give it a 5 out of 5 beers, it is a must see!! So look for it on-demand or keep an eye out as no doubt the NFL Network will release them on DVD, probably for the Christmas season upcoming.

Welcome to Mediocrity

The University of Missouri was unanimously accepted into the Southeastern Conference this past Sunday. This move was a formality as it has been known for a while that Mizzou was most likely going to be the 14th team added to the conference.

For the SEC this move makes sense it gives them another large TV market to move into, as the St. Louis market is the 21st ranked market in the US. Giving the SEC their second highest behind Atlanta which is in the top 10. Missouri's facilities will matchup as well as they have spent some money over the past few years continuing to improve their football facilities. The big question left for the conference to answer is where to put Mizzou. It was assumed when Texas A&M joined the SEC a few months back that they would be in the SEC West for obvious reasons, however it might not be the case for the Tigers. There has been discussion as to whether Auburn would move to the East and Mizzou would join the West, but I believe that the conference will put Mizzou in the East that way they just simply added one team to each division making it simple. The last question will be how many seasons the SEC will wait to have 9 conference games per season?

For Mizzou this moves could hurt them in the long run especially in the sport that matters, football. In the first few years I could see them being successful as most other teams in the SEC currently only see one other team with a passing game like theirs and that is Arkansas. That could catch SEC teams off guard, but the defense could be their downfall as they give up a lot on that side of the ball. In the other sport that makes money, Mizzou could compete in men's basketball immediately and raise the level of play in the conference overall.

At the end of the day this makes sense for one reason only, it is all about $$$$$. This should allow the SEC to go after more money in their tv deals with CBS and ESPN as well. So welcome to the best conference in America, hopefully you can raise you play above where Kentucky, Vandy and Ole Miss are currently! Just what the SEC needed another freaking Tigers mascot in the mix.

Not So Fast My Friend

So this Saturday has come and gone and the game of the century ended up being the game of who has the best FG kicker. LSU beat Bama Saturday night in Bryant-Denny 9-6 to prove to all why the SEC still is all about defense.

However, the other top 10 SEC matchup of the night took place in Fayetteville as Arkansas hosted South Carolina. A game which Georgia fans were watching closely, because with a South Carolina loss Georgia took sole position of 1st place in the SEC East. Funny enough there must have been a lot of Georgia fans watching this game, because during the CBS broadcast of LSU/Bama they had a feature called "at&t Buzz" to text in about your favorite team and Georgia was #12. Arkansas should have won this game even bigger than they did, but thanks to dropped passes the game was not over until mid 4th quarter. Arkansas won 44-28 to the joy of Dawgs' fans.

What nobody seems to be talking about and definitely did not talk about leading into the big game, is Arkansas now can win out and most likely play in the SEC Championship winning the SEC West. They still play LSU so Arkansas was pulling for the Bayou Bengals to win this game and they did. Arkansas plays in Baton Rouge on November 25th, the Friday after Thanksgiving. If I was an Arkansas fan or player I would love not being in the spotlight and just be lingering around in the background. Arkansas matches up pretty good against LSU's defense especially with WRs being Arkansas' strongest weapon. It is not easy to matchup against that much speed and skill . A lot for Petrino to use at his disposal. If Arkansas can pull that off then Arkansas, Bama and LSU would all be 7-1. Click here to see the tiebreaker, to say it is complicated would be an understatement.

So here's to an interesting month of November to see who will be playing December 3rd in the Georgia Dome. Georgia has two SEC games left at home against Auburn and Kentucky, they win those two they are in. The West will not be won until the last week of the regular season, my gut tells me it will be LSU, but do not sleep on the Razorbacks!! How do you not love the SEC?

Occupy?

So across the US there have been protests where they "Occupy" Wall Street, Atlanta, etc. The one thing I still do not quite understand is what they are protesting. I get the greed angle and that they have been robbed by the investment banks or Wall Street, but what is the purpose of you occupying Piedmont Park in Atlanta? If you ask them they are all over the place with their reasons why. I can google the "Tea Party" right now and they have a wikipedia page that explains to me what they are fighting for and their purpose for meeting. Just cannot seem to find that for Occupy. I just do not understand if you are protesting greed why would you waste a city's tax dollars for police protection. The city of Atlanta for the last protest spent $450K on extra police presence. Maybe that money could have been used to buy computers for schools or expand buildings to get out of temporary classrooms. Probably should not preach about greed either when you have celebrities who make millions and define the word greed as well. Don't get me wrong I have no issue with celebrities who can make millions, I would do the same. Just do not know if they help the occupy casue, whatever they may be. They also do not follow the law, so they got arrested. You cannot camp in the park and they attempted to do so. Best part was they did not know why and they were calling the cops pigs, even though those cops would be the only thing protecting you should the protest get ugly. One thing for sure from looking at them they need to occupy a shower.

I felt Triumph the Insult Dog got it right on Conan recently, check this out.



The beauty of this great country is you can protest anything, even if you don't know what you are protesting!

Memphis....Deserves What?!?!?!?

The Athletic Director R.C. Johnson from the University of Memphis was recently interviewed by a local tv channel and the subject came up about conference realignment. When asked about moving here was his answer. "Ultimately we would like to be in the SEC. That's where we think we belong geographically. We think we deserve to be." Even typing that just now I almost laughed until I cried or fainted not sure which. I do agree with one thing he said, geographically it makes all the sense in the world. They have been mentioned in talks with the Big East which is their best hope if they hope to change conferences. The conference moves are all driven by football and Memphis, while they have a program, would never be invited to the SEC.

Other than having a basketball program that has made some noise over the past few years, there has not been a lot to cheer about at Memphis. Their athletic facilities are depleted and are in bad need of upgrades, again other than basketball where they play in the FedEx Forum where the Memphis Grizzlies play. The Liberty Bowl is run down and has lost its luster. There have been talks about upgrading the stadium, that is a must to move up to big boy football. This program can be good if the school took it seriously and put money here like they did for basketball. There are plenty of good football players in the Southeast to go around if they started to have some edges in recruiting. Mr. Johnson look at the blueprint from TCU on how to reinvent your program, they have proven it can be done. Here are some stats over the past few years for this 'storied' program:

-2 bowl games since 1980
-131-222-6 record since 1980 (worse than Vanderbilt)
-8 times with winning seasons since 1980
-Never won a Conference USA division since joining the league in 1996

Do we really need another Tigers in the SEC? Between Auburn, LSU and maybe adding Clemson, there are plenty of Tigers to go around. Not only do they not deserve to move to the SEC, they probably do not deserve to go anywhere other than Division I-AA or FCS.

Georgia Does It Again....Is the Hype Necessary Though?

Georgia had a press release yesterday afternoon approximately 30 minutes after Mark Richt's weekly press conference stating that 3 players had been suspended for the upcoming game against New Mexico State on November 5th. Those three players were all running backs (Isaiah Crowell, Carlton Thomas and Ken Malcome). This is extra painful due to the other running back, Richard Samuel, having ankle surgery this week and is not expected to return for four weeks, if at all this season. After this was released the speculation began to fly about whether Richt or McGarity knew last week, why didn't Richt address in his press conference and why was it mishandled.

First let's look at the timeline.....Towards the end of last week there were rumors that Crowell would not play and it was due to a drug related offense. Never heard anything about the other two, only Crowell. However, it was announced Friday that he would play and that was the end of that.

Tuesday, Mark Richt has his press conference and when asked about Crowell's injuries and Malcome being ready to play, he was short and sweet and said they were both healthly and knew the playbook. 30 minutes after the press conference the press release comes out about the 3 players being suspended. Local media members and other on the Georgia "beat" were upset and wonder why it was not discussed by Richt during his press conference. My opinion here is simple, he does not owe you anything if the press release has not been finalized and if you do not ask the question about suspensions or follow up to your initial question than shame on you. You're there to report and ask questions, so do just that report and ask questions!

The other issue was it came out from a source that they all failed a drug test and also through a source it was discovered that the test were administered last Thursday. So then there was uproar whether or not Georgia knew and still let them play against Florida and it is coming out this week since they are playing a lesser opponent. Wednesday Georgia released another statement that they did not have knowledge of the violations until Tuesday morning and therefore the players are suspended for the next game on the schedule. It also came out again through sources that the test were administered Thursday and the results were known Tuesday morning. I am not sure why there are so many leaks or sources, but that is today's society so assume what you wish. Media members were asking about this as well, now that this is known I have no doubt they will want more, even though they got the answer to this question.

Mark Richt and McGarity could have prevented some of this by doing simply this, during Richt's press conference read the following. "Crowell, Malcome and Thomas have been suspended for this week's game against New Mexico State for failure to follow team rules. That is all I will say about this issue. Thank you." This would have eliminated some of the questions and more importantly handled it as other programs would have, they do not divulge more information than that. If there is any issue that creeps up annually now is the off the field issues for this program, that could end up being the downfall for Richt more so than play on the field. So in summary with this issue Mark Richt or McGarity has not given anyone reason to believe they were lying about the timeline here. The bigger issue here is the players not making the right decision. They are no longer kids at 18-22 years old, they are adults who have to make the right decisions. They cannot watch and see everything they are doing, might need to change who is coming in to get back to players with integrity. You have to take risks so Georgia might be a no win situation here.

Another little item that came out today was that Georgia is the only major program in the SEC that suspends players for a game after their first drug related offense. Other major programs (Florida, Arkansas, etc) do not suspend players for any game time until their second offense. So for those fans of these or other teams that want to throw stones at Georgia for this issue need to step back and worry about your own damn team!!

The biggest issue for me here is can Crowell be counted on as Georgia pushes forward, this is now two issues in 9 months with the program. Might need another "Dream Team" recruiting class with some running backs in the fold.

Movie Review: Paranormal Activity 3

As I mentioned in a post last week, Stacy and I went to see Paranormal Activity 3 (@TweetYourScream). Since the first movie the next two have been prequels. This one went back to the two girls as kids living with their mom and her boyfriend. As with the other two movies there are some corny lines, but there are also some jump out of your seat moments. Any time there are kids involved it adds a different element to scare the hell out of you, they play on that no doubt. The only disappointment was the ending, the tv commercials kept saying that last 15 minutes "would change your life." Well it was cheesy at the end with the storyline to say the least, I will leave it at that and let you decide for yourself. The other thing that stood out was there are a lot of things in the previews that were not in the movie, especially the house burning down, never happens!

Overall I give this movie 3 out of 5 beers. Here is the trailer for your enjoyment, especially for those that will never see this movie, Kirn.

November BOM & Rant

November's Beer of the Month: Guinness Black Lager. I was surprised that Guinness put out another beer due to the success of their staple. I really enjoyed this beer, it is not at all what you expect. It is a smooth beer that is not as heavy as original Guinness, so it does not weigh you down after one. It has a barley flavor that is unlike any other beer I have sampled. I recommend anyone who likes dark beers to give it a shot. Click on the Black Lager logo on the left to learn more.

Something happened last week that finally led me to wonder why people are so stupid. I was traveling home down I-75 at 75 MPH when a car on a donut (spare tire) passed me on the right and promptly blew the tire. Why in the hell would you get on the interstate travelling that fast with a donut, those tires are meant to go 40 MPH tops and that is even stretching it? Shocker it was a female driver. Use freaking common sense people, it will get you further in this world.

Would you want to rely on this tire to get you anywhere on the interstate???