Misery is kind of miserable.

When is the last time we have heard something positive from the UGA athletic administration?

— Kevin Kisner (@K_Kisner) May 3, 2017

An old voice from the recent past:

“I think 15 years is a long time,” Richt said. “I think the expectations have been built to the point where if you don’t win a championship, it’s kind of miserable around here. When we don’t make it to Atlanta, I’m miserable, too.”

A current voice from the more distant past:

McGarity, who played and coached tennis at Georgia and worked in its athletic administration before leaving for Florida, said “there is nothing greater than being part of championships. That’s why we do what we do.

“At the end of the day,” he continued, “all the time you put in at the office, the fun comes when you’re competing for championships and you see what these coaches have done over a number of years to finally get to the top of the mountain and you’re able to be just a small piece of that.”

Another current voice from just the other day:

“What I can say to our fans is to first, look at our teams,” Morehead said. “I think with the exception of baseball, all of our spring programs are nationally ranked at this time, some as high as No. 3 or No. 4. If I remember the women’s tennis ranking. So overall, the state of our spring sports is that except for one sport in the top 25 in the country.

Georgia’s final Director’s Cup points and standings, 2015-6 edition:

• Fall – 76
• Winter – 407.50
• Spring – 466
• Total – 949.50 (15th)

Georgia’s current Director’s Cup points and standings, 2016-7 edition:

• Fall – 101
• Winter – 389
• Spring – TBD
• Total – 490 (22nd)

So much for looking at our teams, Jere.

I know this is a football blog and I’m wandering a bit from the main subject.  But after reading yet another infuriating article about an athletic department that, when it comes to management, apparently finds it impossible to walk and chew gum at the same time…

The NCAA tennis committee announced last week the sites for the next four championships and Athens wasn’t among them. Since it was already going to be held somewhere else next year (Wake Forest), that means we won’t see this storied event back here at least until 2023, and Georgia can’t be sure it will get it back then. It hopes to.

As one might imagine, for a school with a tradition-rich tennis history such as UGA’s is, this did not go over well.

“I was just sick to my stomach,” Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity said of getting the news the morning before it was announced. “I couldn’t eat I was so disappointed. It hurt me to call Manny and tell him. That was a phone call I was not looking forward to. It’s just part of the disappointment. It’s unfortunate but we respect those who have to make these tough decisions.”

… After Athens hosted the tournament in 20 of its first 23 years, the NCAA determined that it wanted to move it around geographically to different regions of the country. And that has been the case to the most extent. Since Georgia won its last national championship on its home courts in 2007, the tournament has been held in Tulsa, Okla. (twice); College Station, Texas; Palo Alto, Calif.; Champaign, Ill.; and Waco, Texas.

After this latest bid cycle, the new hosts are UCF (twice), Oklahoma State and Illinois.

Those places all have one thing in common. They’re all have new facilities, or at least relatively so.

The newest and most significant player is UCF. The host site its two years, starting in 2019, is the new USTA facility in Lake Nona, Fla. It’s a state-of-the-art place with 100 outdoor courts – and six indoors. It’s so nice that former UGA player John Roddick, who was head coach at Oklahoma, left there to take over at UCF.

Oklahoma State just built a new facility and Illinois did for when it last hosted in 2013. So clearly facilities are a part of this deal.

“We understand there are new players in the game every year that have made commitments to their tennis facilities and that’s what the NCAA is trying to encourage others to do, to invest in facilities like we have,” McGarity said. “Some schools have done that, not many, but some have. These are things that you learn going through the process.”

Actually, Georgia was all set to go forward with a project that would either add two new courts to the Lindsey Thompkins Indoor Courts or tear it down and build a new six-court facility either at the Dan Magill Complex or out on South Milledge Avenue at the soccer-softball complex. But McGarity put all that on hold shortly after coming on the scene as AD in 2010. And then it got de-prioritized again after Georgia moved to improve its football facilities with the construction of the $30 million indoor practice building and now the $63 million stadium project to build a new locker rooms and recruiting lounge into the west end grandstands.

“We’ve been so focused on so many other things,” McGarity said. “At some point finances come into play. We’ve had to kind of prioritize things. Whatever we do (with tennis) is going to have to be donor driven. A final location has not been determined at this time.”

… I have to ask:  is there anyone associated with the administration of Georgia athletics who is committed to excellence?  For all the recurring crap some here gave Mark Richt for not being appropriately fixated on the cause, in that regard, he ran rings around the guy who fired him.  All Greg McGarity appears to be good for is feeling bummed out when things don’t go his way and claiming the buck stops at his desk without being held accountable by the man he answers to. As I keep saying, it’s one helluva way to run a railroad.

I’ll make a rare, non-football related prediction here.  Scott Stricklin’s record as Georgia’s baseball coach can be charitably characterized as disappointing.  Once again, there will be no postseason for Georgia baseball.  To fire him will call for payment of something like a $1.2 million buyout, though.  Bottom line — pun fully intended — he’ll be back next season.  You tell me what kind of commitment is indicated by that.

I’m not really sure how much longer I can give a shit about Georgia football.  I’m really not.

Oh, and speaking of commitment to excellence, Manny Diaz deserves better.  I shudder to think whom McGarity brings in to replace him one day.