Georgia’s athletic director remains enamored of his mad PR skills. Why, I honestly don’t know.
Take, for example, today’s exhortation to the Athletic Board after he acknowledged that overall, Georgia’s athletics performance isn’t where it needs to be.
“Our institution is a very birthplace of higher education in this country. We have a legacy unlike any other. We have a college town unlike any other. So many have committed to the G. And we are now asking everyone who believes in all the good that Georgia does, not only throughout our state, but around the country, to commit to Georgia.
“Let us not be distracted by those who attempt to divide us. We must be united and stronger than ever before to help move our athletic program forward.”
Words fail me. The man needs an intervention. Surely there’s a competent Grady graduate working in some capacity at the school who can step in and provide McGarity with some guidance as to why paranoia in response to criticism isn’t the best look.
Asked later what he meant by “distracted by those who seek to divide us,” McGarity declined to elaborate.
Maybe he’s saving that for his next edition of “The First Word”.
Get The Picture 
There was once a great line from a Woody Allen movie:
Friend: “You know, there’s a word for someone who thinks everyone is out to get him”
Woody: “Yeah, ‘perceptive’ “
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I’d actually take issue with the claim that the fanbase is ‘divided.’ I think we’re all pretty tired of the mediocre play of our teams and the ‘stay calm and pay more’ attitude from the AD.
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Greg, just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean everyone loves you.
The only division among UGA fans, really, is whether we should fire you now, or whether we should have gone ahead and fired you two years ago. I think both sides are wrong. I regret that we ever hired you.
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Nothing so far changes my mind that McGarity needs to go ….and as correctly stated above he should have never stepped foot on this campus!
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he wasn’t the best of hires…after the “Ransom of Red Panties”, McGarity must have looked pretty good…a squeaky clean hire for Adams as he sprinted to the high ground… 😉
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So, McGarity basically just called Seth Emerson “fake news,” right?
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My thoughts, too. Substitute USA for UGA and that could have been a DJT Tweet. Just have to add some misppellings and the word “Sad”. YMMV
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Did you misspell “misspellings” on purpose or am I misstaken?
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😉
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I wonder how many times he’s tried to get this blog removed from existence? Or asked the AJC to fire Seth Emerson?
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How would he get this blog shut down? Asking for a friend… 😉
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HA!!!! After the post a few days back where you considered hanging it up, i thought maybe you had tapped into that 4% of the reserve they are allowed to spend and made you an offer????
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Hmmm… 🙂
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It’s “the leaks”, you dummies, it’s “the leaks” – and open conference doors during Bd of Regents meetings.
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The Society of the Miserable has no legitimate place in the UGA community and I think everyone knows that. We will continue doing what is right, regardless of what a few naysayers think. The legacy of 1785 will continue to live on through our reserve fund.
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The only solace I take from his remarks is that the man is definitely feeling the heat. I am guessing the only reason he wasn’t fired after this spring is that the message might spook Kirbs. If we lose four games this year, no one will worry about upsetting Smart.
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Could this go down in the annals of dawg history as the “Blutarsky Uprising of 2017”?
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I think you guys give me way more credit than I deserve. I’m just a crank with a blog.
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Never underestimate the importance your readers believe they have.
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I think the AD was obviously referring to those outside the program like Stewart Mandel, Herbstreit, cbs poll, UF Alum Ed Ashcoff, and other UGA haters. In other words, those outside of the family.
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You can’t do a list like that without Dan Wolken. Vandy grad with a clear chip on his shoulder towards Kirby and UGA.
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Did anyone else read that with the tenor of a MLK speech, with all the dramatic rises and falls in delivery? Why my inner voice gives McGarity any hint of eloquence in his speech escapes me.
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What Emerson in his piece is too dumb to realize is no fans give a shit about the track team, golf team, volleyball team, tennis team, director’s cup, blah blah. Out of the 21 sports, 99% of fans only give a shit about football, and revenues back that up. And that program is finally headed in the right direction, look at the recruiting class Kirby’s staff brought in and the preseason rankings.
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recruiting…preseason rankings….happy talk
Whatever.
Need to see it on the field before buying in.
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watch the game film of the last 1 minute vs. GT, TN, and Vanderbilt, and tell me you don’t see how close this team is to being a top 5 team.
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Then YOU watch the last minute of Nichols, Missouri and Kentucky
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Nichols and Mizzouri and Kentucky.
sigh
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Mark Richt’s team sucked vs ranked teams, got their asses blownout. Take 2015, blowouts vs both ranked teams +24 point.
Kirby had 1 blowout loss vs 5 ranked teams, beat 2, lost to the 3rd on a hail Mary, and lost to UF by a couple of td’s.
That’s an improvement.
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Georgia message boards…where good losses are somehow better than actual wins.
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McGarity doesn’t agree with you.
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Ok, do you know the revenues of the other 20 sports combined compared to football? The fans agree with me and disagree with dumb ass Seth.
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Based on your rant (s) in this comment section, I wouldn’t be throwing the dumb ass label around, Mr. Glass House. Want to go all in on supporting everyone unconditionally? Go for it, but don’t criticize those who may have a few things they would like to see improved regarding your “all everything” football program, and just perhaps, a few other sports outside your area of concern. Things aren’t exact;y “trending” favorably these days, on any athletic program. You cannot blame the concern being expressed at this point, and no one here is pulling against UGA is involved in….and that is a change from a couple of years ago. Rational discussions with some reservations are justified, at least we got off the lynch mob approach.
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I’m a Dawg fan, so some of that football interest and loyalty is going to spill over to other sports if given the opportunity. So for me, it would be NICE to actually give a shit and apply a little emotional investment into something other than football, but its just not there.
I was in Denver the other week and they had a Kentucky vs. UF baseball game up on the bar tv. I thought to myself, ‘when was the last time I saw Georgia baseball on the tv? Or basketball? Or or Javelin throwing or whatever?” The base is THERE. The money and interest is THERE. And all we get is ‘blah blah, ‘commitment to excellence’ blah blah, ‘wait till next year’…blah blah ‘send us your money’.
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I read it as a Pat Robertson speech.
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Another memorable line from McGoofy when talking about the financially poor and desolate other colleges….“Their reserves have either been depleted or their debt service are so high that future occupants of athletic director’s chair is going to make it tough 20-30 years out. I think it’s a story that’s not very popular in college athletics. It’s a great story.”
Talk about long range planning and being overly cautious! Let’s not get too focused on being the best today or 5 years from now because my predecessor’s predecessor may regret it 20 or 30 years from now if they only have $15M left in the reserve fund. BTW, being able to dip into 4% of the $34M (partial) reserve fund is pointless. It would barely cover the cost of painting the restrooms. If they really are that concerned about the finances, don’t even bother throwing chump change at the problem because it’s more embarrassing than anything else.
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Is it too early in the day to start drinking? It appears it’s not too early for mcgoofy.
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Greg says “let them eat cake.”
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“…but first make them stand 30 minutes in line.”
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But at least you can put it on your debit card now.
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Excellent work, you 3
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You mean, of course, the dump that the AD can put on your debit card when you enter the “new” bathrooms.
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“those who seek to divide us”
Who in the hell is he talking about? I guess everyone in the fan base is supposed to have the same perspective as the members of the athletic board.
As someone who thought he would be a great fit as AD when he was hired, he has disappointed me at every opportunity. I still hope we achieve athletic success even though it will reflect positively on his term as AD.
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recruiting is never been better since the blogs went after the admin-Kirby just landed the best class in school history, so pile on blasting the admin, the recruits don’t read or care about the haters anyways and it seems to be really helping recruiting.
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I’m hearing the team is really buying into what Kirby wants to do, everyone is participating in the off season workouts, the seniors are really showing leadership and there’s a new sense of focus around the team. Oh wait…that’s from before the 2010 season.
Every year we hear about how great the recruiting was and how things are really different this year and every year we get the same disappointing results. I’m ready to see something change on the field.
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Have you checked this years recruiting rankings lately, a punter and a 3 star DB???
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He’s channeling his inner Abraham Lincoln.
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That isn’t what he said. This is what cognitive dissonance feels like.
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Seems to me if he wanted to clear that up, he certainly was given the opportunity.
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That is not an argument. Declining to comment to the click-bait generator known as the AJC is not change the meaning of what he said. He isn’t saying “it’s not us, it’s you”. He is saying that bitching wont’ fix the problem.
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He is saying that if the fan base is disgruntled it shouldn’t be because of Butts-Mehre.
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There is the cognitive dissonance again. He said no such thing. Your problem is with the messenger. Get someone who knows nothing about McGarity or the Athletic Department to read the article and ask them. The problem with cognitive dissonance is that the brain can not differentiate it from reality.
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So, he’s saying disgruntled fans are correct to fault B-M?
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That’s two different statements on making the program better/moving it forward…one is “it’s on me” the other is ‘it’s on you’ …couldn’t be anymore clear.
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Responsibility without accountability is meaningless. And McGarity knows that.
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Well, the first thing he said was this:
This is where our biases check in. For full disclosure, my bias is that I think he is an excellent money manager and would make a great #2, but doesn’t have the leadership qualities to be the HMIC. The Athletic Department is slow to recognize problems which tells me that they are not systematically reviewing every aspect of what they are doing. This is a common failure of most of humanity. I also think that Adams was the cheap one and not McGarity. With that out of the way, when I read that article I get the following message.
“Yes, our athletic programs are down a bit right now, especially the more high profile sports. I understand the consternation amongst the fans, and I understand that it is my responsibility to fix this. We are working on fixing the situation. I believe our strategy will work and evidence of that will manifest next season. So support our programs and quit your bitching. Bitching doesn’t help solve problems.”
Now, I have less confidence in his ability to address the issues facing our athletic programs than he does, but doesn’t change what he said.
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Appreciate the response. My problem with it, as I said in my comment to Fletch, is that it’s a meaningless responsibility he claims.
When he was hired, he stated that the overall success of the program would be measured by championships. By that standard, Georgia athletics have declined since he’s taken the helm, and yet, not only is McGarity still the AD, he’s received raises during his tenure. It’s great to talk a big game, but when you know your bosses won’t hold you accountable, it’s nothing but a cheap sentiment. Exhibit A: the return of Scott Stricklin. The only problem that solves is reducing the buyout from his contract.
The reason McGarity feels compelled to make these comments at all isn’t because he’s feeling heat from the higher ups. It’s because he’s hearing it from the fan base. And he clearly doesn’t want to hear it. Bottom line: it’s our problem, not his.
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Oh, I’m sure it is meaningless. I bet he thinks he is doing a good job too.
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I think you and I just squared the circle.
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Sean Hannity’s latest conspiracy theory leaves room for McGarity to be responsible for the murder of Rich, the guy from the DNC that Hannity said was murdered because he gave Hillary’s e-mails to Assange. It was news to me because I didn’t think McGarity was a Democrat.
It ain’t McG so much as the marionettes (see Urban Dictionary) who manipulate the Marionette.
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Did someone say puppet?
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“those who would divide us”……..McJughead sounds like an older, deep fried Shia LaBeouf. I cant wait for the live feed from the sidewalk outside BM, with a raggedly dressed, unshaven McJ (all there under duress) leading some staffers in chanting THEY WILL NOT DIVIDE US THEY WILL NOT DIVIDE US. Maybe Greg can plant a G flag in the grass and save UGA from the folks who want to win
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That’s basically what his boss told me 18 months or so ago, after I wrote him a letter ripping McG for the way the Richt firing was handled – “everyone needs to unite around the team!” Of course, that’s what everyone says when the boat is starting to take on water; that they are still banging this drum 18 months later tells me the boat is seriously starting to list… That they are feeling the heat, in spite of the blowout fundraising for the JPMIPF and West End Zone projects, is fairly surprising to me.
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Guy is a certifiable idiot.
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Name one sports program in the SEC worst than UGA?
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Overall? Missouri.
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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-24/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble
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