I dunno, for some reason I find this a little unflattering.
Smart said the G-Day for coaches represents nothing more than another opportunity to evaluate personnel in a competitive atmosphere. And, he has emphasized, he does not view it at all as a “show” for the fans.
So basically, they’re pushing hard for 93,000 of us to show up Saturday as little more than props for player evaluation and recruiting? Thanks, guys. I’m glad we can help.
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UPDATE: More on that.
“There’s a lot of kids I talk to each night that are talking about that day and saying, ‘Coach we want to see that stadium full and it’s going to help in recruiting,’” Smart said. “Other kids are talking to each other so they’re talking about it, which is what you want to generate. It makes it easy to go recruit when you’re an assistant coach and you walk in a school and you just finished spring ball and you had 93,000 people at your game. I think that speaks volumes.”
Get The Picture 
hmmm…..
smart seems to not remember the adage about opening your mouth and removing all doubt.
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hmmmm….
You seem to have a set-in-stone way of assessing anything the new coach does, regardless of whether that assessment is based in fact or objectivity.
Goodness gracious, I can’t imagine why that might be.
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calls em like I see em.
can’t help you can’t handle the truth.
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Eh. This doesn’t bother me. As far as I’m concerned the more he worries about coaching and the less he worries about “entertaining,” the better off everyone will be.
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His job. My entertainment. At least that’s what I thought.
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From the end of August through December, yes. If he wants to focus on squeezing every drop out of practice that he can until then in order to ensure fall will be entertaining, I’m all for it.
Besides, I don’t think it sounds like they’re taking any steps that would cause G-Day NOT to be entertaining for Georgia fans. I think he’s just saying that his staff is not putting together a playbook filled with nothing but four verts and chucking it deep all day just to make sure the non-paying fans have something to talk about.
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Kirby needs to understand that he needs to make sure one QB is live in a contact jersey and that real time QBR needs to be on the west end scoreboard at all times. That’s all that is involved in selecting a QB anyway.
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Right. But he’s also requesting (if not demanding) that 93K+ show up to watch his coaching…which we all know is a form of entertainment for the fans. Talk about a disconnect. If he wasn’t yearning for a complete shattering of G-day attendance records, I’d have no issue whatsoever with him warning us that this indeed will be business as usual for the purpose of evaluation.
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I don’t see it as a disconnect. Maybe not smart (no pun intended) – as in not the best way to accomplish his dream of 93k fans, but I’m not offended that he’s asking everyone and their grandmother to show up while also tempering expectations by essentially saying, “It’s going to be business as usual for the players and coaches” (my words, not his).
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I think this is the issue.
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I don’t have an issue. He is serious about this being another practice. Sure, it’s a public practice but it’s still a practice. Can’t you still demand fans show up to see G day while being serious about the product you are putting on the field??
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Not necessarily, IMO. The problem is — both from my perspective and my roughly 10-12 UGA friends — is that watching a G day game, historically or otherwise, is akin to watching paint dry on a cool and cloudy day. After all, the G-day product itself is grossly watered down compared to a typical UGA home game, even against the weakest of foes.
For typical G day games, with 40-45K tops in attendance, that’s okay, as often families use this an excuse to make a fun trip into Athens for a relaxing spring day. But when you requesting/demanding that 90K+ show up for the same product with no real changes, that’s a bit shortsighted. After all, the traffic and overall hassles getting to/from alone will be greatly compounded.
If you want or demand that 90K+ show up to the spring game, the least you can do is give a cursory thought about them and make it as entertaining as possible. You have a slew of spring and fall practices to do all the other evaluating that you want without the distractions; setting that aside for a few hours on a nice Saturday afternoon in effort to re-energize and reconnect with the fan base shouldn’t be a big sacrifice.
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My prediction: +-61,000.
Kirby’s way too invested in the 93,000 number. Not too …..smart.
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I think they will figure out how to push the official number up to 70k or so, and then try to save face by making a thing out of it being the biggest G-Day crowd in school history.
The bottom line is that, on the whole, UGA fans just aren’t quite as passionate about football year round. Maybe Kirby can change that, but that will probably take a little time. I
And I know it is becoming a bit repetitive around here, but there sure doesn’t seem to be anyone in B-M who understands public relations. Or CKS has converted the B-M staff on the the law of attraction. Or both.
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I’m convinced Saban used a huge turnout in their first spring game to jump start his success at Bama. Momentum and excitement can help.
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No one could have predicted that those following orders to make the G-Day Invasion SRO would be fewer in number than those following orders for the annual Running of the Gumps
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I will be astonished if 92k show up. I’m prone to avoid just in case they do.
That said, I like a quiet, down-played, G-day game. I also like out-of-conference scheduling that sends us to exotic and interesting places like Arizona and Colorado.
But then, I’m what’s wrong with Georgia by-God football. We’re losers and it’s my fault. So, I’ll just stay home and wait for the real thing.
Signed,
Disney Bean
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I haven’t heard the term Bean when used in the context of Georgia football in about 8-10 years.
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I’m not getting prettier, but I am getting older.
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I resemble that remark. 🙂
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Kirby is just trying to duplicate what he was involved with at Bammy. It seemed to work for them. Will the G’s show the same level of loyalty as the A’s? Does this really entice the 5 Stars? Time will tell us, who is trying to sell us>
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Georgia football: It’s not a hobby. It’s an obligation.
I’m sensing priorities getting out of whack here.
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Agreed. I think it is an obligation in Alabama. That’s the question – do the Dawg fans want to go there, or maintain the hobby level? Who knows?
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If it’s an obligation, shouldn’t they be paying us, instead of the other way around?
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Blind Faith. It’s not just one of Eric Clapton’s incarnations. (I Can’t Find My Way Home)
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(That’s what she said)
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LOL!!! The greatest daily UGA sports blogger on the interwebs calls it a “hobby” not an obligation. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Next you’ll be telling me its not my job to comment here. Pfffffttttt!
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Just open the gates, the restrooms, the concession stands, and play everyone who is healthy.
That’s enough for most of us.
No reason to make G-Day into something it’s not. There are plenty of other entertainment options in town.
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Like not walking the scant mile and a half to watch practice. I haven’t in 31 years and I’m not starting now.
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Good for you. I wouldn’t walk twenty feet to watch that steaming pile of crap they put on the field at Illinois play a real game, even if you paid me.
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Im tired of the cynicism. I spend time on sports to get away from the tensions of real life. I used to check this blog a couple of times a day and now I’m cutting back to maybe once every couple of days and if it continues to be largely snark about the NCAA and UGA I’ll just move along. Anyone know of a blog covering UGA football maybe w/ some Moneyball stats and X’s and O’s for fans that want to learn more about football?
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Dude, it’s the offseason. What you want simply does not exist this time of year.
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Plenty of links on the right sidebar. Check some of them out.
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Win an SEC title. Then you can start asking fans to up their commitment. Our fans have a pretty high commitment level for the results we’ve seen over the last decade. If Kirby wants to put a feather in his cap, make it some hardware. Then you can expect higher G Day attendance.
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So, does this mean we won’t have Herschel coaching the Red team, and Buck coaching the Black team?
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