Listen to the radio.

I owe you folks an apology.

I saw the recent news about David Pollack joining the broadcast staff at 790 The Zone, gave him a mental ‘attaboy for the gig and didn’t think much more about it.

Quite frankly, I blew it.  I forgot about the most sensitive fanbase in North America and how it would react to someone like Pollack being hired to appear on its team’s “flagship” station.  His “irrelevant” comment in particular doesn’t seem to be sitting too well with the Tech faithful.

Nor did I anticipate the opportunity the AJ-C would see in this controversy, namely, to take a cheap shot at people who had nothing to do with the decision to hire Pollack in the first place.

… What do you think UGA fans would do if Joe Hamilton or George Godsey were suddenly added to a big sports talk show on a “flagship” UGA channel and it was broadcast from George O’Leary’s house? The aggitation (sic) in the GT fanbase would pale in comparison to the outrage and ugliness you’d see from the “dawg nation”. Just look at the silliness over the Moreno “hurdle” this past week. (You didn’t see GT fans get upset when PJ Daniels hurdled a Clemson defender a few years ago…talk about a thin-skinned fan base…)

So, in response, let me start by taking a cheap shot of my own:  has this guy heard Joe Hamilton lately?  I don’t know why Tech fans would want to listen to him, for God’s sake.

Seriously, I’m not sure what the most ironic part of all this is – that disgruntled Tech fans threaten to take their listening business over to Buck Belue, of all people, or that they demand that the Tech AD find another “flagship” station to accomodate the enormous throngs of Yellow Jackets listeners.

And to spell it out for Mr. Boggs, the reason 790 The Zone is considered Tech’s “flagship” station is because it paid for the privilege, not the other way around.   And the reason it’s hired David Pollack at the risk of displeasing its loyal Georgia Tech audience is because it doesn’t feel like it’s getting a sufficient return on that investment.   In other words, if you’ve got a problem with the hire, look in the mirror, sport.

That is all for now.  I’ll do better next time, I promise.

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Urban Meyer, beware: Warren Sapp is ready to rumble.

Presented without comment:

Ex-Canes star Warren Sapp, on a Showtime conference call Tuesday for Inside the NFL, called UF coach Urban Meyer ”a classless dirtbag” for kicking a field goal late in Florida’s 26-3 win against UM. ”But it’s coming back in a big way” when the teams meet in 2013, he said.

Our (Dawg)nation turns its lonely eyes to SC

Jody has his South Carolina preview up here.

Two great factoids from him for your ingestion:

Under Spurrier, SC is 17-6 when they score first. They are 5-11 in games when the opposition scores first.

Do you realize that Mark Richt’s 74 career wins would rank 1st on SC’s all time coaching list? Rex Enright currenty holds the mark with 64 wins (in 140 games…yes, that’s a losing record).

And Doug has his usual entertaining preview up as well.  With monkeys!

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UPDATE: Shame on me for almost missing Travis’ succinct summary.

Hey, Rocky… watch me pull a Garcia out of my hat!

One more time – Gary Danielson on Steve Spurrier:

“This may be THE game of Steve Spurrier’s coaching era at South Carolina. If you look at Spurrier’s history, he is not one to stress or go back to fundamentals for a big game. He tends to search for something to pull out of his hat.”

Now, ESPN.com’s Chris Low reports at his blog that the

… bigger question is whether or not the Head Ball Coach will pull the trigger on redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia. Spurrier told reporters earlier this week that Garcia still wasn’t ready, but he’s since told others that Garcia was getting closer.

To which The State adds

… Beecher also offered an intriguing nugget: Redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia is getting more snaps.

“Chris (Smelley) and Garcia have been getting most of the work,” Beecher said.

Asked if that meant he was third string now, he answered “I have no idea.”

So what’s the OBC thinking here?  Headgames with Martinez’ preparation?  Motivation for Smelley?  A belief that the Coiffed One is ready for some SEC action?  Genuine indecision over his options?  Or just basic desperation?  Who knows?  You could say it might blow up in his face, except it’s not as if Smelley or Beecher have set the world on fire to date.

As for Garcia, it has to be gratifying to see all that all that effort working out and bonding with his teammates over the summer may be about to pay off.  Er, um… wait a minute.  Never mind.

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UPDATE: Low adds a follow up here.  I still don’t know whether Garcia will play Saturday, but Spurrier sure doesn’t mind letting people think he may.