Envy and jealousy: until I met a bulldog who had no shoes edition

Jerry Hinnen is a funny man.

What the logo tells us about their football team: This is a program both proud and dignified, even though they’ve never been good enough to afford shoes.

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A little more on Georgia’s 2009 turnover margin

We know that final minus-16 was bad, but what you may not be aware of is the historical suckitude of that rate.

Since the 2000 season, 100 teams have finished a season with a per game turnover margin of minus-one or worse.  Only nine of those finished with a winning record.  And of those nine, only four were members of BCS conferences.  And of those four, only Georgia finished with as many as eight wins.

But it’s even more staggering than that.

If you use a cutoff of Georgia’s minus-1.23 average from last season, then 49 teams have performed as badly or worse than last year’s Dawgs in that department in the last ten seasons.  Besides Georgia, the number of teams on that list with winning records?  Two:  2000 Miami (Oh.), 6-5 and 2003 Marshall, 8-4.

In other words, you’ve really got to work at pulling off that daily double, especially in a major conference.

The last, absolutely last, thing I’ll say about Damongate.

I recognize the possibility that this post is going to be misconstrued, but this Dennis Dodd cheap shot pisses me off so much that I really don’t care.

I’m not condoning driving under the influence by any means, but his blurring of Evans’ arrest and the tragic death of Jordan Griner is shoddy, hypocritical, shrill rubbish.  Evans displayed a pathetic lack of judgment, but he didn’t kill anybody.  If we’re going to go down the road of equating the two situations, there are a host of other conditions which impair drivers.  Where’s the hue and cry to test older drivers rigorously and the demand that the potential deaths they risk while driving are sufficient cause for them to be criminalized and stigmatized accordingly?  Or the call to rid cars of any driver distractions like music players and car phones?

And don’t forget items like road conditions or vehicle design and maintenance, which are contributing factors to vehicular deaths at significant levels as well.  We as a society tolerate fatalities caused by road collisions in the tens of thousands every year, yet there are very few areas where we make much of an effort to criminalize behavior that contributes to those.  So Dennis Dodd can spare me the hand wringing.  Especially when he has the gall to paint others with Damon Evans’ brush:

It is not the state university of Georgia’s best day, but don’t cry for the Bulldogs. Your pity and prayers are better directed to the Griner and Scott families. The only damage done, in this case, was to the school’s reputation.

The school’s reputation?   Damn, why not blame the school for the George Zinkhan murders?  After all, he was an employee at the time the crime was committed.  That crime didn’t involve hypothetical deaths, either.

I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m not the biggest fan of Michael Adams.  But it’s hard to fault him or the University for how he handled the situation after Evans’ arrest became public news.  Would it reflect badly on the school if Evans remained employed by it?  Sure.  But that’s not how things played out.

So shove the hyperbole.

And while I’m on my soapbox, I’ve had about enough of this, too.

mmurschel: Despite being a holiday weekend, still lots of good stuff going on in the college football world.

Monday July 5, 2010 3:00 mmurschel

3:01	mmurschel: Damon Evans out as AD at Georgia… not really a surprise there. Monday July 5, 2010 3:01 mmurschel

3:01	Andrea Adelson: no, i am eager to hear what fans think about that one Monday July 5, 2010 3:01 Andrea Adelson

3:01	Andrea Adelson: i am going to write about how this potentially affects Mark Richt on www.orlandosentinel.com/collegegridiron365 tomorrow morning so be sure to check that out. Monday July 5, 2010 3:01 Andrea Adelson

3:02	mmurschel: Sounds good. A new AD could really affect Richt. Monday July 5, 2010 3:02 mmurschel

3:02	Andrea Adelson: definitely. evans was a huge supporter. it’s interesting because mark bradley of the AJC thinks this is a good thing for richt.

Ooh, yeah, Damon Evans out at Georgia – “good stuff”.  And this Evans out = bad news for Mark Richt?  Meaningless.  Evans didn’t hire Richt.  He wasn’t invested in Richt.  He was lower in the pecking order at Georgia than Mark Richt.  And, as Matt Hinton rightly asks,

What was Evans supposed to be protecting Richt from? Criticism of his pace to become the winningest coach in Georgia history? Antsy boosters looking to grill him over four straight top-10 finishes, or two SEC championships in four years after a 20-year drought since Herschel Walker’s final season? The unlikely late-season run to No. 2 in the final polls in 2007?

It’s not a new AD that Richt has to worry about placating.  It’s the people making the decision on the AD hire.  There’s absolutely no sign of a problem on that front.

Besides, if we’re supposed to believe that the school has suffered an enormous black eye as a consequence of Evans’ actions, how much sense would it make to dismiss the most visible member of the athletic department whose personal behavior has been beyond reproach?  Unless, of course, we’re going to admit that wins and losses matter more than arrest reports and red panties.

If that happens, I’m sure Dodd and Adelson will be more than willing to shake their fingers at us about that, too.

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UPDATE: I suspect the new AD will be familiar with this chart.

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UPDATE #2: Sanity from Chris Low, who writes in part,

Ultimately, I still say there’s a better chance Richt wins an SEC championship in the next two or three years than there is that he loses his job.

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UPDATE #3: Groo gets there before I do on the Jordan Love arrest.

Revenge is a dish best served with an orange garnish.

Derek Dooley is pleased to announce the opening of a pipeline from Los Angeles to Knoxville.

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UPDATE: Per Bruce Feldman, this is a boatload of awesome.

Weeks ago, Vols faxed over a list of every JR & SR on USCs roster to the Trojans’ compliance office to alert them of their recruiting plan.

If there’s a human being who actually could make steam come out of his ears, I bet it’s Ed Orgeron.