You thought I was serious about that?
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UPDATE: Besides, I don’t think I can top this.
- Bloviation for the Dawgnation
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Quote Of The Day
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
Thanks. I needed a laugh this morning.
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I assumed you were just going to post a picture of a dog turd or something.
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You know what really does need further review is why we keep getting destroyed in games like this. It has happened so many times in a row that it’s hard to conclude that there isn’t something amiss inside the arena.
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Let it go for a while Gas. You’ve got more important things to worry about.
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Certainly true, Hogbody. I’m not angry; just really, really disappointed.
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Just hope that everyone gets their mind and body right this week and we have a nice even week against Kentucky. Heading into Jacksonville is going to be a big one.
The road to Atlanta goes through Jacksonville and the plains. It always has and always will.
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Not concerned about what happens from here on out in 2012. I am more concerned about what McGarrity has to say. We have proven we are not capable of beating a good team and now we don’t even bother to show up. Time for a change. I am not happy with 10 wins a season against sisters of the poor. We are a mid-tier SEC east team. USCe and Fla are better than us. Watch out because UT is on the rise (the defensive coordinator is there to turn that side of the ball around). I am afraid it gets worse before it gets better.
McGarrity – please say and do something that gives diehard fans hope. Right now, I don’t have any hope.
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Sounds more like a “die easy” fan to me. The reality is that we have a helluva chance at 11-1 and I can’t see any worse than 10-2. Any coach that feels he’ll get run by fair weather fans such as yourself will simply go elsewhere.
There is no reason for panic or jumping off if buildings or firing coaches or egging players houses. We showed up got beat and we move on. We may be playing a #3 UF team for the east in 3 weeks.
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I would beg to differ on the “we showed up part”.
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Derek, with all due respect, I am a numbers guy. The numbers say we will lose to Florida. I know, I should “throw out the numbers” because UF is a hated rival and who knows what will happen when we play them. I watched the UF vs LSU game and UF plays with heart. I am not sure we have a heartbeat. They will be ranked top 15 and UGA will be under prepared and overwhelmed because that is the way it has been for the last 5 years. What have you been watching? What gives me hope that it will be any different? We will have played two ranked teams and lost to both of them but you are telling me I should be excited about the other 10 wins. Sorry, but I am not. I expect more from UGA.
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I’m not telling you anything but to either deal with it or leave. We laid an egg in Knoxville and then ripped UF a new asshole in 2007. So I’ve seen it with my own eyes. And guess “numbers guy”. UF was far better than UT AND we nearly lost to vandy right before we beat UF. These are kids. Sometimes they disappoint and sometimes they make us very proud. I’m not gonna turn my back on them even though after driving 14 hours round trip I could justify it.
I used to the losses ruin my day, week, the off season whatever. Finally I have aged to the point where I try to enjoy wins and let the losses go. Nothing we can do about it anyway. It’s a diversion. It’s entrtainment. I know we want the world to bow down when they see us in our gear, but for those players it is only about them. They took the whipping. We just watched. They have to respond or lay down. We just have to wait and see.
I say we beat UF in 19 days. Whose with me?
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Why not?
“Stay with me…. hold the line.” AND HUNKER IT DOWN DAWGS!
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“die easy fan” Good call Derek!
I showed up for work Sunday morning with my GEORGIA shirt on. Hell yeah. South Carolina may have whipped us but they still suck at life and they know it.
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Damn right!
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Georgia should win 9-10 games a year. The recruiting base alone mixed with a couple in-conference gimmies. Georgia fans bitch when they don’t get respected by ESPN. WIN A DAMN BIG ONE, and let them talk. Georgia doesn’t deserve respect. Fans call others out because not “supporting” a team that has no desire. It is like watching politicians come up with some bullshit to explain why it is ok for a member of their party to take a crap on the steps of the Capital Building. Call a spade a spade. Kind of like seeing Athens Homer Dawg say he would rather have Ray Drew than Clowney. Or John Theus is going to be fine. To hell with stats. Look at the stats against real competetion. Pass protection against Clowney and how it was drawn up was plain shit. No two ways about it. Can Bobo call a game against top talent?
I am tired of watching Georgia be out coached.
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Todd .. this is the second time you’ve called me out about The Pastor and Big John. This started post game Sunday. I have a sense that you must require some measure of edification per you choices vs mine. Fine. So here we are at 5-1 and our young 5 star tackle is not quite ready for prime time. OK. Our Pastor of Disaster is not yet a Mr. Clowney value player. I get it. Now will you please stop posting your “I told you so…” pablum. It is growing tedious. I don’t do well with tedious. We good? In addition… if you are tired of watching this Bulldog football team stop watching. If you contribute. Stop. If you have season tickets sell them to opponents supporters and gloat. AND if you want to strut a winning teams color I suggest Alabama. Saban has done a fine job of moving that school to semi-pro status and will be winning there for a while.
just sayin’
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Very weak.
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From one who has a very close relationship with weak, I have no doubt.
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I’ll bite. How so?
I think I have pissed in your oatmeall before. Obviously the lesson didn’t stick … but please continue.
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which dingus are you talking about? If that’s directed at me consider me sulking now…I may cry….yep, here it comes.
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Scorp… you got no reply button….. I guess i got to get on Bluto about that. but …. we’re good.
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Yeah, I thought you were serious about that, and what’s worse, I thought you were right, and it turns out you were, just not in the way you hoped.
You were worried about the same damn things that got us our asses handed to us. You, and I and everybody else just did not want to believe our eyes.
Nothing stirs the vitriol in the soul of the Dawg Fan like being right and not believing it.
One thing is fer damn sure, them football coaches better work they butts off this week.
Kentucky gave Spurrier more throw-downs than we did.
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I think it’s more accurate to say I was half right. The glass turned out not to be half empty, but bone dry.
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I blame Bluto.
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So you are saying your confidence was half-assed? Ok, I can accept that judgement, especially, again, since I thought you were right in your reverse half-assedness (there would be an emoticon here, but I fergit how to do them, but….:)
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Get back to worrying, dammit. 🙂
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Hail Cojo, they ain’t much to worry about now.
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because no way spurrier would ever overlook UK to be sure he was primed for us…
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Like somebody said before. A person who knows football can guess where the problems are. Then we drink the kool-aid. Then , at the end of the season, all those concerns we knew about and forgot………..well they were true.
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It is not who executed the plan, but who planned the execution. The Generals of great wars do not blame those soldiers when their planned maneuvers fail. They should always accept the fall when they fail. Numerous Generals have been sacked to find that one individual who can just have the right plan and attitude to win.
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Seriously, upon further review, I will throw one thing out there. And I don’t know if it’s been discussed much, but my Dad, who always goes through games with a fine tooth comb, pointed something out to me yesterday on the DVR. The punt return. Basically the play that broke our backs had two legitimate holds and one legitimate block in the back that were not called. The way our D was starting to get their legs under ’em, if they don’t get that play, I would have to think that the game ends very differently.
But given the punt return TD, the real killer was when we didn’t get the TD at the goal line. There just wasn’t any fight in us after that. Obviously, that’s on coaching.
Speaking of holding, has the SEC just made a conference-wide decision to not call that anymore? To, I don’t know…perhaps make games more exciting? Lots of holding. Hardly any calls. 2 weeks running…
Not making excuses, just wondering. With all that said, there’s something not right with our program, especially when it comes to the big games.
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I completely agree on the punt return. If that is not a TD, and then we score the TD, it’s a 1 possession game. But if “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts we would all have a merry Christmas.
The fact is that the team basically quit after the goal line stand and that is unacceptable.
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Speaking of holding, has the SEC just made a conference-wide decision to not call that anymore?
Actually I noticed they called a holding penalty in the AU/Ark game. Needless to say, I was shocked.
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Your Dad is a smart man. If he has the game recorded ask him to look at the first 2 passing TDs scored by the Cocks. At least 1 (and maybe both) was an illegal “rub” route where a WR blocks a DB covering another WR so that the second WR comes open unguarded–a form of offensive pass interference. Also, on the 3rd down pass play from South Carolina’s endzone (after UGA failed to score on 4th down) there is clear holding by an O-lineman which is supposed to be a safety. I thought all this officiating BS was supposed to be over but it continues. I’m not saying that the Dawgs would have won but the score clearly would not have gotten out of hand like it did if this were an honestly reffed game.
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Best Uga since 6.
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I think he looks a little too dopey (don’t everyone jump ME!-just a personal observation in light of IX’s weight.)
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Russ/Uga doesn’t have time for that shit.
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LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
I just now noticed—-belatedly I admit——that next year, we play Bama, LSU and Clemson in addition to our usual Floriduh and SC. And if we lose the Weiner.com Bowl, that will mean at least SIX losses. And then it’s good-bye to Markie and all those other genius assistants. And it might take a while, but then we can start to recover. Given our recruiting base around here, one national championship per lifetime is not nearly good enough…..and for those of you younger people, that’s ZERO national championships per lifetime.
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Wow. I have no words. Please go find a different team to cheer for.
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A lot of foreign correspondents weighing in,Ginny. I never see posts from Muckbeast and Skeptic Dawg, et al when we’re winning. They just lurk about, waiting, secretly hoping their own team will fail so they can publicly roll around in a pile of nasty smugness, like this joker here.
There is a character problem at work when you are engaged in a group enterprise with others with good intentions, and prefer to see the whole project fail rather than be wrong or not get your way.
I am very unhappy about the lackluster performance by our whole program on Saturday, but crowing about the failures of The Georgia Bulldogs, by definition, means you are something that is not a GA Bulldog, and you ought to be given the same shabby treatment as somebody from Stingtalk coming over to gloat.
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Let me retract the phrase “character problem”. We are on a sports blog and I am in no position to judge anyone else’s “character” in any event.
I just think you guys ought to reconsider your tone when criticism is warranted, show up to give some praise when the team does well, and generally find a more positive way to root for your team.
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You folks are awfully good at peering into the future. Hell, you even know the schedule before it’s been set!
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I asked one of my friends who is a long-time Bama fan how he deals with the constant, unending pressure of being a Bama fan these days…he said he has discovered a lot of very good California wines.
In wandering dazed through the morning I have discovered, unfortunately, I no longer need the case of wine he sent me.
So at least the pressure is off.
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Watched part of the ESPN rebroadcast of game late Sunday pm between the MLB games. Reds & Nationals are tough teams. Then you think of how good South Carolina’s baseball teams have been. Then you have Perno teams. Richts teams. Same old finish the drill for we alums.
Last comment about Saturday. What is going on with this defense? Where are our defensive ends for QBs like Shaw who run the ball. The defense Saturday was like the game against Auburn and Newton. And on offense the line could not stop a player like in that game. I’d burn Hutson Mason’s red shirt.
I terminate Richt. Hire the head coach at Mississippi State. Make sure the Dawgs recruit the QB at Camden County. That coach and that QB would be Tebow II in the SEC.
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“Reds & Nationals are tough teams.”
Therefore, fire Richt.
“Hire the head coach at Mississippi State.”
Dan Mullen was dogsh*t last year. So far this season, he’s learned the trade of beating lousy teams by two scores or less. Meh.
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Additionally- I do recall some of your ilk desperately clinging to the notion that Georgia should fire Richt and hire Brian VanGorder back in 2009. What a delightful idea that would’ve been.
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Wow that hurts.
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can’t let one loss turn into two.
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I’m not sure I understand all the “second tier SEC” comments. Tiers, to me, means something longer-term, structural, and programmatic. One game doesn’t promote or relegate a team to a lower or higher tier.
Did UGA get stomped by a team whose strengths lined up perfectly with our weaknesses? Yes. Is UGA consistently underperforming USC, UF, or UT? No. Richt has fielded some Natty-worthy teams (notably that weren’t based solely around one player, *cough* Newton, Tebow *cough*). But he’s been unlucky at times and underachieved at others. We overestimate theories of effort/skill/innate characteristics and downplay the random/luck/chance elements that greatly affect many important outcomes.
That said, man, it sure feels like there’s something to this “UGA can’t win big games” thing. If anybody watches soccer, UGA is a lot like Arsenal. Both consistently field pretty good teams that finish near the top of the league, and occasionally compete for the very top. But who have no shot in the Champions League, where every game is a big game. I don’t remember the last time UGA surprise-crushed a good opponent. Auburn Blackout?
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there’s something to this “UGA can’t win big games” thing = second tier SEC team.
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Right– but to avoid losing the forest for the trees, compare that to USC. Last year, their big game against Arkansas, they got destroyed… After dropping a game to Auburn. UT and UF have been too bad to really participate in big games over the last few years.
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Think about it this way: looking at their body of work over whatever timeframe is relevant, who do you want generating your “Maybe gonna win a Natty” lottery tickets over Richt et al? Spurrier, SOD, Muschamp? No way. Saban, sure. Miles, probably.
We still hold this irrational fear of Steve Spurrier from his UF days. People, he’s been at USC since 2005. He had six 5+ loss seasons in a row before last year. SIX! That’s six years in which the probability of holding a Natty-winning lotto ticket as a USC fan was zero. He’s 67 freaking years old. Right now, he’s enjoying the benefits of an elite running back and DE tandem- both of which are cyanide to this UGA team.
Did this loss expose us as a pretty good team masquerading as an elite team? Yeah. But win out, including Atlanta, and your lotto ticket still might hit. (Remember, UF dropped a stinker to Ole Miss at home before their last Natty.) For sure, this is unlikely, but Natty-winning is a long-shot, happenstance riddled business.
And this Dawg isn’t ready to give up the bone just yet.
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UF lost by *ONE POINT* (31-30) to Ole Miss. Florida lost 3 fumbles in that game.
Please do not compare that to the way SCAR absolutely destroyed and embarrassed us.
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Florida, who lost 3 fumbles, lost by ONE POINT (31-30) to Ole Miss.
Do not compare that to the embarrassing destruction SCAR put on us.
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You’re missing the point. The point is not “We are Tebow-UF.” Nor is the point that this team has a good chance of winning a title. The point is- one game doesn’t rarely defines the trajectory of the team within a particular season, much less across whole coaching eras.
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The point is a great program on the right track can lose a bad game on a rare occasion (Florida losing by 1 point) and recover.
We aren’t a great program. We lose 1-4 BAD GAMES every single year. We get blown out far too often.
Your comparison is completely invalid.
And “natty” is short for natty light, a shitty beer. If you have to use an abbreviation, go with the accepted MNC.
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WHOA!!! HOW DARE YOU SIR!!!! Natural Light is not a “shitty” beer. It is an inexpensive beer, lovingly made from the finest ingredients by artisans of the hops and will get you very drunk for not very much money. A national treasure. TAKE THAT BACK!!! IMMEDIATELY!!
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Thank you Mayor.
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No, the comparison to make if you want a really rosy view was 2003 LSU, who laid an absolute turd to a Ron Zook Florida team, but still won a National Title.
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+1
And yet, we have not had but one truly bad season in 12 years. When we have variation from the norm it is up, not down…
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Really? What year did we win a national title in the last 20?
5 other SEC teams have won national titles. Where’s ours?
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Muckie, that has been my line going back 3 years. Give it a rest. CMR coached teams have finshed 2nd and 3rd in the nation. Winning the BCSNC is about getting into the BCSNC Game–and that’s luck, even if you are a damn good team.The Georgia 2002 team and (by the end of the season) the 2007 team were both the best teams in the country in those years and never got the chance to play for the title.
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Yes, MR has has two teams that could have gotten into the BCS title game if not for having 1 loss vs there being undefeated teams…but unfortunately that’s how the cookie crumbles.
This isn’t to pick on you Mayor, I just don’t get the guys that pull out the “We can still win 11-12 games and maybe if other teams lose we can back into Atlanta again…lots to play for!!!” I’m a UGA fan, I’ll watch and pull for them the rest of the season, but no, I won’t be excited if they finish with 12 wins against a crappy schedule.
Yes, last night was just one game, but to me personally it was enough of a pile of crap to have removed any true excitement as to what this team may achieve for the rest of the season for me. Not to say I won’t enjoy the games, I just no longer have any expectations. 12 or 13 wins against an easy schedule, a non BCS bowl against a mid tier Big 10 team…those don’t excite me anymore.
If we did back into Atlanta this regime has shown me nothing to suspect they’d have this team ready to beat Bama. To me being a UGA fan is starting to resemble being a Braves fan in the 90s. I hate to think what might happen once the playoffs start.
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“we have not had but one truly bad season in 12 years”
It was a short post. What part of the above would you like me to explain? What does anything I typed have to do with a national title?
2010 was the only “truly bad” season we have had under CMR.
As far as I can tell, none of the other teams in the SEC except for maybe Florida have had such consistency over the last 12 years. I’m sick of hearing, “oh, sure we beat Auburn, TN, and FL last year, but their programs are in a down year.”
Well, doesn’t CMR get some credit for his program almost *never* being in a “down year”? The teams that beat us may rotate in and out, and while I appreciate that we haven’t been at the very top of the SEC the last few years, we are always in the top third, and that ought to at least get a nod.
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Derek said, “Sounds more like a “die easy” fan to me. The reality is that we have a helluva chance at 11-1 and I can’t see any worse than 10-2.”
I concur. I just became a huge LSU & Mett fan. USCe will lay an egg, hopefully two. We beat gayturds we’ll be in the Atl.
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I’m still there with you, bro.
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While I’m as pissed as anyone about the game, I don’t quit on my team.
The Coaches and the players are equally to blame and they’ll go back to work and get ready for the next opponent. I also agree that we have to get better talent in areas on the offensive line. We also need the defensive ends to step up their game and get pressure on the QB. Our defensive backs need to learn how to play tighter coverage. With all that being said we need to keep recruiting hard to get the players that can fill the voids to get us to where the elite teams are. We are not that far off, but the difference in winning and losing can be one great player or one big play!
I will not bail on my team or the Coaches, let the season play out and see what happens.
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I fully expect USC to lose this weekend, following that up with a trip to Gainesville, which is probably a toss up at this point.
Dawgs dont control their destiny, but that doesnt mean that this thing is over with. Though should it play out “my” way, i think the rest of the nation gets what it has been wanting, a BCS title game without an SEC team. Would probably make sense to have UGA bookend the MNC streak as SEC Champs w/o a BCS title appearance.
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I disagree, but I guess of all weeks to have this debate this is the silliest one. But a one loss SEC team who wins the SEC Championship, granted that one loss is on the road against a top tier SEC team, will be playing for the MNC.
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Anybody who can see our record against ranked opponents and still try to make a case for the team or the coaches not being second tier is no longer living in the realm of reality.
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I hate letting facts and truth get in the way of my reality, but 69, your conclusion is my conclusion. SJ3’s worry talk became a comical, even somewhat annoying side-plot. But today worry, angst, handwringing, frustration is easy.
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And Derek Jeter is, like, the clutch-est baseball player of all time! He’s just so…. clutch!
Show us the data. Compare it to other SEC coaches. My money is on Miles-Saban-Richt.
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exactly…the numbers don’t lie…2-16 in our last 18 against ranked teams
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Or, we could look at the actual win percentages (cfbtrivia.com)…
UGA vs ranked (at the time) since 2005: 0.50
USC vs ranked (at the time) since 2005: 0.37
UGA vs top ten (at the time): 0.38
USC vs top ten (at the time): 0.27
UGA vs ranked (year end): 0.27
USC vs ranked (year end): 0.30
UGA vs top ten (year end): 0.15
USC vs top ten (year end): 0.14
If USC is somehow “top tier” now- which is what all this hand-wringing seems to imply- then these numbers don’t exactly scream “second tier” to me about UGA. (Full disclosure, UF kills us on these metrics. UT’s numbers are worse than USC.)
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And didn’t the Dawgs win the SEC East just LAST YEAR?!!!!
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That right there is downright horrifying, pard!
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Persistent problem that I’ve been harping on for a while now, self-destructive offensive turnovers:
So far this season:
“Bulldog opponents now have 43 points off 10 Georgia miscues this season.”
In 2009, after the GaTech game:
“It marked the Bulldogs‚ 27th turnover this year including 20th inside their territory. Opponents have scored 105 points off of Georgia’s miscues this season.”
I don’t have any numbers on hand for 2010 and 2011, but I have a hunch they’re quite bad as well. Why do we execute so badly? Why do we kill ourselves with mistakes season after season, time and time again?
That problem and special teams mistakes have been a huge weakness for this program for several seasons now. Now, just when we thought the D was going to be something special, it looks like we’ve taken a step backwards there too.
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According to the Senator turnovers are totally random.
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According to the Senator, you have a faulty memory.
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I believe the Senator has argued that recovering a fumble is a random act. Unless you think that Richt can influence the way that oblong ball bounces.
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Parsing words today?
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I just like to be paraphrased accurately. It’s not that hard – just look at Hacker’s response to you.
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10-2 this year simply means that for 5 years now…
Georgia has zero wins that exceeded expectations.
Georgia has 12 bad losses – blown out or lost in a head-scratching fashion to a clearly lesser team.
Georgia has a 43-21 record against a schedule built to guarantee 9-10 wins a season, which means the baseline performance standard should be somewhere between 45-19 and 50-14.
When you reduce the sample to “show me games,” games against quality opponents, the record falls well south of .500: 2-11 by my count. And many of those 11 were simply embarrassing. Embarrassments like Colorado and CF don’t count in this accounting.
A win against Florida doesn’t change the fact that a significant chunk of the fan base has lost trust in Richt, and a win against Florida isn’t bringing that trust back.
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bullet 3 should rad blown out by a better team or lost in a head-scratching fashion to a lesser team
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Great post.
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Pretty much sums it up. We’re pretty obviously a second-tier team in the SEC and we have been since 2005. The question is whether we want to risk a change.
Is it worth trying to become something better and taking the risk of becoming something worse (eg Tennessee post-Fulmer), or do we just ride out the mediocrity with occasional peaks and valleys (eg late years Bobby Bowden model)?
I’m not a shot caller at UGA and I don’t have an answer. It’s just what I see as the ultimate question facing the program.
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We have nothing to lose while UT under Fulmer had a proven winner who consistently had UT in the top 5. They beat ranked teams repeatedly including us many times. He also had a NC in the previous 10 years. Yes, they were slipping in his last few seasons which got him canned.
Georgia however by firing Richt would risk giving up what we have now which is a pretty average program that never beats anyone that has a pulse and every now and then loses to bad teams as well.
We’re Ohio State under John Cooper. Just make the change already. We’re on the cusp of being great. What are we afraid of?
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“… and a win against Florida…”
I can’t say I believe in such a thing.
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Our goal is to win the Eastern Division, that dream is not dead yet; Carolina plays LSU and Florida the next two weeks. Lets see what happens and not forget that the life lesson to be learned is how you get up after you’ve been knocked down.
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We should have learned that lesson well, given that we’ve been knocked down in nearly every big game we’ve played the last 4 years.
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backing into the SECC game makes for a very ugly game. See last year. Pretenders. Nothing like an SEC east champion losing to Mich. St.
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Yep, but not as bad as not being SECEC and losing to U Conn.
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Would appreciate some light on this Clowney snap count issue. Was this only with Murray under center? We were in the gun more often than not, yea?
Jarvis said the same thing about Mizzou. Do offenses have a hard time realizing this or is as simple as a baseball coach recognizing that a pitcher is tipping his pitches?
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Senator,
I am calling for temperance here. As far as Richt’s Job status with Mcgarrity is concerned, I think that the direction of the program is more important than individual game results. The dominating teams in CFB are not built overnight. You need good coaching at all positions, you need depth… quality depth throughout. When you have stellar depth + talent + coaching, then you may have a team that can sustain a high level of play x 12 games…and even not skip a beat the next year (Alablama under Saban). Richt clearly lost his way during he Martinez / early Bobo years. Spurrier at SC over the past 5years had many painful defeats at the hands of top ten teams and teams not in the top 25. Plus, they will likely lose one of the next 2 big games. But he has clearly improved that team each year and they have a legitimate big time program there at SC for the first time in school history. If they had fired Spurrier after year 3 b/c he “hasn’t won the big games,” their program would be shit out of luck.
Those calling to fire Richt / the staff / and questioning the players motives etc should temper these short sighted opinions. Lets see where the season takes us and we can have a rational discussion about the direction of the program and the fate of the coaches when we have all the information necessary to critique.
What happens if we correct our problems, crush UF and win out? Then, what was the point of all this angst?
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First of all, Richt is the longest tenured SEC football coach, so attempting to act like he hasn’t been given time to establish himself is just silly.
Secondly, if we beat UF, then we’ll be 3-14 against ranked teams in the last 4 years. Thats a big improvement, huh?
You are right about one thing, jhough…Richt has lost his way. I just haven’t seen any evidence he can find his way back, and I’m tired of waiting.
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I am treating the Martinez years as if the program bottomed out and Richt was sent on a mission to pull the program out of the gutter. Granted it was self imposed / under his watch, but last year (to me) was the first years we saw improvement from the relative house cleaning richt did when Martinez, fabris and Co were sent packing. So yes he is the longest tenured coach, but I am giving him a fresh start with the program after the disastrous assistant coaching adventure we went throught with Martinez / inexperienced OC Bobo. Lets see how this plays out. People are angry about the loss and series of losses x 3-5 years. I get that and concur. But I have seen pretty steady improvement on offense and defense over past 3 years (although you can certainly make the argument that the defense has regressed this year, but again, the season isn’t over yet). I say, let see how the season plays our and then start the silly name calling / hot seat / program implosion talk. Seem ill timed right now.
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You don’t get a “fresh start” from your own bad choices.
Those crap coaches were there because of Richt.
Richt was the one who refused to fire Martinez and now refuses to fire Bobo.
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Are there any candidates (realistic candidates not pie in the sky Gruden, Meyer, Saban, et al) that you actually think would take this job? I am disillusioned with Richt as well but I would sure as hell rather have what we have now than what we had in the Goff years.
I honestly don’t have a solution for our problem. It is obviously a systemic issue since the players have changed but the results seem to stay the same. If we clean house we run the risk of a Kiffin/Dooley/whoever is next scenario or a Zook/Goff/Shula coach. If we don’t make a change then we get these super talented teams that play soft and sh*t the bed in at least one big game per year.
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I’ll answer the same way I answered essentially the same question on another thread…That is a question best asked of, and answered by, our Athletic Director. That is his job and his area of expertise. Universities find better football coaches all the time…Southern Cal fired Paul Hackett and hired Pete Carroll; LSU fired Gerry Dinardo and hired Nick Saban; FL fired Ron Zook and hired Urban Myer, etc., etc. At this point, I have more faith in McGarity’s ability to find a better coach than I have in Richt’s ability to cure what ails us.
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Yeah, and UT fired Philip Fulmer and hired Kiffin/D.Dooley, Bama fired Mike Price (newly hired coach hired from the then PAC 10 Champions) before he even coached a game for the Tide for going to a titty bar and hired Mike Shula. The woods are full of stories of colleges firing HCs that were good coaches and everything came down on their collective heads because of it. Ole Miss fired David Cutcliff after he had the program turned around because he had a 5-6 record during a rebuilding year and essentially has never recovered. Be careful what you wish for. Just sayin.’
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Well we aren’t winning a title with Richt, so firing him for someone else who doesn’t win one is the same result.
But at least with someone new there is a chance we actually get someone good and finally win.
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” The dominating teams in CFB are not built overnight.”
Facts do not support that.
Number of years for HC to win national title at that school:
2011: Alabama (5 years)
2010: Auburn (2 years)
2009: Alabama (3 years)
2008: Florida (4 years)
2007: LSU (3 years)
2006: Florida (2 years)
2005: Texas (8 years)
2004: USC (4 years)
2003: LSU (4 years)
2002: Ohio State (2 years)
2001: Miami (1 year)
2000: Oklahoma (2 years)
Average: 3.3 years
Most Common: 2 years (4 times)
Longest: 8 years
Shortest: 1 year
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Good post. Thanks for bringing the data.
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Every one of those examples you provided above had a team already loaded before the new HC arrived except Bama, which Saban totally revamped by oversigning (actually, he invented oversigning). Tuberville left Auburn in great shape. LSU was loaded for Miles when he arrived as Saban had won a BCSNC and then left for the NFL. Same for Miami when Larry whatshisname took over. Florida had multiple top 10 recruiting classes under Zook for Meyer to use. Ohio State had a stacked team when ol’ 4 eyes arrived, too. Is your argument “change coaches so the new one can use Richt’s players?” Sounds like you want to abandon the whole offensive system which will require a new skill set for O-players and new players to carry that out. No quick fix there. At least 5 years in the wilderness before winning anything if that ever even happens. Remember when Holtz revamped South Carolina? They went winless one season and won only 1 game another. 5 years later Holtz was winning 6 games a year. Big deal.
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“second-tier SEC team” Is that like saying we are “almost good?”
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Haven’t seen it mentioned much here, but I hope for the best for Murray’s father in his cancer treatment.
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Generational Divide
I’m wondering if we’re not split down the middle on this in a GENERATIONAL way? We old folks who remember as far back as the 60s remember what our championship teams were like. No, we didn’t win every game, but we almost NEVER got embarrassed by anybody—4 times in 25 years under Dooley. But Richt has one major advantage over Dooley—-the size of the state has exploded in relation to our neighbors (except Floriduh and they have 3 teams competing there), so our talent base is much much better than what Dooley had. And yet………we get embarrassed at least once every season and/or seriously underachieve in several others.
Maybe that’s what us old folks want a change. We know what success looks like and this ain’t it.
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This may have something to do with it. I’m on the “chill out, y’all” side… but I was born in ’83. My fondest UGA memory was seeing people weep at the Ga Dome when I was in college, saying “Man, I’ve been waiting so long to see UGA win the SEC again.” So years where a Natty was possible, even if it didn’t happen, are a treat more than a disappointment.
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What, please tell me, the fuck is a Natty?
If you are going to make up shit, at least use a little imagination.
If your fondest memory is watching people crying over an SEC Championship, I feel real sorry for your little ass that you have never seen anything special.
Maybe that explains an apparent lack of real perspective that must be difficult for you momma to bear.
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Agreed. “Natty” is a cheap beer, not an abbreviation for national title.
My fondest memory of UGA football is Herschel Walker dominating fools.
There’s no reason we can’t get back there or even better.
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You keep saying this, but I don’t know where you’re getting it from. His ’69 team was ranked 8th in the preseason and finished 5-5-1. His ’79 team lost to the likes of Virginia (a homecoming blowout) and Wake Forest. The ’84 game against Florida was a complete debacle. I think there’s an embarrassing loss to Miami of Ohio tossed in there somewhere. And those are just the things I can recall off the top of my head.
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What, please tell me, the fuck is a Natty?
If you are going to make up shit, at least use a little imagination.
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Don’t drag me into this. 😉
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Oops…stuck it in the wrong…….
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Assuming this is directed at me- National Championship. I’m also not lying about the crying thing… this drunk dude grabbed me and gave me a hug and was like “I hope you don’t have to wait long to see this again” with waterworks flowing.
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I don’t understand yer point here, are saying that it is surprising that drunks cry, or that Georgia fans cry over SEC championships or what exactly?
I was there, I got all goosebumpy my own self, but I save the joy tears for something a little more special.
Natty, indeed, I bet you call Pink Floyd, The Floyd….
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I don’t know who Floyd is- was he the Beatle that left for the chick with the weird haircut?
The point was- some people seem to think it’s panic-button-time. I don’t. Uncle Tom guessed that it was a generational thing, and I was giving a supporting anecdote.
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And it was a good one to many of us. Scorp is on the other side of the wall today and is scratchin’ to return to his true bloggin’ self. Don’t take those words too seriously. Just remember that we are all anonymous in regards to each other and tough unfeeling replies from an otherwise sensitive Dawg (as described in his own words) don’t mean ratshit in the long run. Scorp will get well (not too sure how long considering the cases of wine he’s going thru and how long the sobering takes), hopefully soon enough to reenter the cheering fray by Wed.
When you get on here and take a reasonable approach, you have to wait for the patients to get well for a reasonable reply otherwise the “Downer Virus” can infect us all. Scorp will be ok and probably embarrassed after rereading what you typed that was taken the wrong way. Every once in a while you have to send the smiley face just to bring him back to reality. 🙂
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The term Natty, for national championship, was coined by Marcus Howard, who played defensive end for the Dawgs. (Sugar Bowl MVP, 2008) He was a Damn Good Dawg, and the term desreves to live on in Dawg lexicon.
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Yeah, I thought I recognized your boyish charm…Oh….I guess you are out of school today, it is a holiday some places, by now I guess your momma has turned off your Web access. That silly term, which may or may not have come from Marcus Howard, who was, in fact a good Dawg, is silly.
Maybe if you were a Bama fan and you had bucket loads of national championships, then you might need to shorten the term to be able to text the rest of your home room.
We have less of those than Bama, so I find your silly term silly.
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When you say “silly”, do you lisp slightly and bend your wrist?
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Here’s the full quote from Mr. Howard…I encourage you to tell him he’s silly:
“SI.com asked some Georgia and Ohio State players what they planned to do this weekend, and Georgia senior Marcus Howard used a term that I hope will stick.
“I’m going to just be doing what everybody else on the team is going to be doing,” Howard said. “We’re going to be glued to the TV, just watching the games hoping West Virginia lose and Missouri lose so we get a shot at that natty.”
That’s a step up – most college students plan their weekend around a case of Natty Light.”
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Send me an actual link….we have had this stupid argument before, I don’t care who you say said it or when, it is a stupid nickname, and silly….I am surprised your momma has not turned off your web access so you could finish your social studies homework.
As to your suggestion I might be gay….glad to know you are so sensitive to the signals, sweetie.
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Here you go…
Now, STFU.
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I like Scorp… but you got game kid.
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This kid in my Social Studies class, one time, just started coming into class with his nails painted black and thick blue eye shadow. Combat boots with neon pink laces. Wrist bands. The works.
Wanted everyone to call him Scorpio. Dunno what made me think of that just now…
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Somebody isn’t playing well with others today, reminding me of Coj…..OOps!
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We’ve had 12 seasons of essentially the same thing from CMR. He is a textbook example of a person who’s set in his ways. Any criticism of CMR is going to fall on deaf ears – he doesn’t do significant changes unless backed into a corner – and even then it’s cosmetic change. Now that’s a bad thing if you want an mnc once in a while, because he’d have to stretch beyond his comfort zone to attain a higher level. But winning 10 games a year is no small achievement either. I think all UGA fans need to resign themselves (like I have) to the fact we’re a step down from the top teams. CMR is not a championship coach and he gets his butt whipped when he runs into a championship coach. Like CMR, we have to be satisfied with the 10 wins over poor or mediocre teams.
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Great point.
CMR, good christian that he is, needs to hear a few sermons on pride. Because he is overburdened with pride and never acknowledges his own weaknesses or the weaknesses of his underlings.
He has been given 7 years to change.
He didn’t.
So we need to make the change for him.
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Both of these posts are spot on.
If the point of Georgia’s football program is winning championships, Mark Richt is not your guy. But Richt is a good option if the point of the program is to field a pretty good but not great football team, to have a “nice guy” as head coach, and to run a reasonably clean program.
I also agree that Richt has shown that he is too proud to change on his own. He almost sank the whole ship with his reluctance to shake up the defensive staff.
I also think he may have gotten too comfortable and I question whether he has the hunger and ambition that he had earlier in his tenure.
So what are we content with? What do we want? Is changing coaches worth the financial damage and the risk?
Practically speaking, I think the debate will remain “academic” for the time being. We’ll probably go 10-2ish, play in a decent bowl, and be content with that. Richt has mastered the art of doing just enough to hang on.
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You’re right. He does do just enough to hang on a lot of years.
I’ve been reading this blog for years and know the Senator’s work from when we both used to post on the old ABH forums…I haven’t always posted here but I’ve posted after every game this year and spoken of my excitement with the freshman RBs and other positives. I had bought into the new Aaron Murray.
The reason I take the time to say this is to say that I’m neither Disney Dawg nor Captain Negative…and that I’m not some guy that just comes out of the woodwork after a loss. Seems like being a Dawg fan these day is liking following politics: no room for being middle of the road. Either Richt is the best coach ever and how dare you not recognize that or he sucks and should be fired tomorrow…and if you don’t agree with my view then you’re not a “real” fan.
Personally I find the blind homerism as annoying as the over the top gloom and doom, but I don’t think anyone that feels either way is less of a fan than me. We’re all dawg fans or we wouldn’t be here…we want the team to do well, we just have different ideas as to how to make that happen.
Me as a middle of the road guy am truly starting to think that this staff as currently constituted is never going to win the big one. I’m starting to lean towards change because I’d like to see UGA win a MNC in my lifetime. That doesn’t make me a traitor or overly negative, I just have an opinion.
If winning 10 games a year and gagging in a few big ones and having a chance to get to Atlanta every few years is cool with you, then it’s not my place to say you’re wrong. I just disagree.
I just wish we as fans could stop identifying our personal opinions with our own and others’ levels of fan hood. Just because someone disagrees with you don’t make them the enemy…this is a game..not politics.
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Couldn’t agree more with your post. I’ve thought the same about being a Georgia fan for the last few years — the moderate middle seems to be eroding, just like in American politics. I’ve actually posted that observation on this very blog.
I’ve never called for Richt’s job and I still won’t, but I think the reality of our current limitations is almost impossible to deny at this point. Even my old reliable defense that it would be too difficult and too expensive to hire a proven candidate better than Richt is losing steam. With every loss like this, we just have less and less to lose.
Anyway, great post and I totally agree with your bottom line. Tough time to be a Georgia fan, but you’re right — we all have that in common.
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As good a comment as I’ve seen on this blog in quite some time. Very well said.
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Thanks for the kind comments guys. I’m as guilty as the next guy of overreacting after a bad loss or taking comments on here or other places personally, but I’ve been trying lately to remember to just take a step back and realize that not everyone is going to agree with you all the time. We are all Dawg fans and many support the team a lot more than I do, monetarily and such, but we all want the team to do well. I believe this even of the people that are mostly negative.
I just get sick of the who is and isn’t a fan stuff that always seems to come up, just because we have different ideas of what should or shouldn’t be done doesn’t make us better or worse fans. And it does seem that the middle grows smaller and smaller. On of the of the reasons this is one of the few UGA related blogs I read is that even if I don’t always agree with him, I’ve always known the Senator to be a guy that thinks things through and doesn’t go off half cocked.
In the end we’ll all keep watching and rooting for the Dawgs no matter what, I just think that the middle of the road guys like myself are starting to wonder if this group will ever win the big one, and that may or may not eventually lead to change. Doesn’t mean that I don’t like and respect Mark Richt as a person and appreciate all he’s done. I just think it’s a personal decision as to what you’re willing to be satisfied with, and I’m starting to feel unsatisfied as the years go by.
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Cheers. I’m with you middle of the road Dawgs
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Would anyone be interested in sending me your Disney Dawgs tickets? I can put them to good use.
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