I just want to follow up my last post with a quote from Kirby Smart ($$) that should, in its own way, be blindingly obvious.
– And in this age of dwindling attendance, even fan bases at the most passionate and winning programs will not show up en masse for the “little sisters of the poor games.” So, economically, these series make sense as well.
“We want our fan base to get (these games),” Smart said. “We want our fan base to get potentially what might be seven consecutive home games, nonconference, Power 5 opponents and we’re trying to get that lined up for them and play some good rivalries. I think it’s going to help us in recruiting, I always do, and I like to play in Atlanta, too.”
I’ll take my dose of fan-friendly management wherever I can get it.
Yeah, it’s a shame that the head coach is having to do the athletic director’s work here, but at least McGarity’s not blocking it. I can certainly live with that.
Get The Picture 
We’ve come a long way from McGarity cancelling the game (or games) with Oregon. As I recall that was one of his first orders of business as AD.
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He also put money in the bank by trading in a home-and-home with Louisville for a one-off in Power Ranger costumes against Boise. The only good thing (well, the second, if you count UGA getting a shit ton of cash) was that no one will ever recognize the Georgia Bulldogs in the disaster.
He also managed to convince Ohio State that neither of us wanted to play the other and got a series there mutually cancelled.
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Smh, the power ranger costumes were the height of embarrassment.
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If I remember correctly, lots of people were excited about McGarity’s hiring, right? It’s too bad he’s been such a disappointment and letdown, and we shouldn’t let his hiring of Smart get him off the hook, either.
Remember, Alabama backed into hiring Saban, too, and saved that AD’s legacy.
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If, by “hiring”, you only mean he was the AD when Smart signed his contract, I guess that’s technically correct.
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Well hiring McGarity did excite a lot of people. It is kind of like at Christmas and you got that shiny new toy. You were all excited looking at it in it’s new packaging…..until you opened it to find it was defective and did not function nearly as advertised.
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This is true. We thought he was going to take all those amazing lessons learned from Florida.
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If you think McStingy was solely responsible for the hiring of CKS, then you are sorely mistaken.
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Maybe McJughead isn’t complaining because he knows he will be long gone by 2023, much less 2031.
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It’s a sweet gig, so why would he leave?
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If by “fans” you mean “McGill Society donors” then yeah, sure. None of these games are in Athens again until 2026 – for now. What was it? 4,000 tickets for Texas? Can you imagine what you have to sink into the McGill Society to sniff those tix?
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Seth’s article and Kirby’s quote are about scheduling home games.
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Well, sure, but my fourth grader will be a senior in HS when we host our next P5 OOC that isn’t Tech. At least there’s some hope for 21-25 since there are gaps in the schedule and we don’t seem to be shying away from 3 P5 OOC games in a year.
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I see 3 power 5 OOC games a year basically the same as suicide. Especially until I see one of our rivals commit to 2 EVERY year.
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Have you called Kirby to tell him how crazy you think he is?
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I’ve said it on here before, I think Kirby feels we are going to 8 playoff teams. But yeah, he knows what 3 means unless our rivals do the same. I think we have that lined up once in the next 10 years.
2ndly, Kirby isn’t taking my calls. 🙂
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Well that’s some nice doublespeak. It’s suicide until you’re called out on it. Then you suddenly understand what Kirby is thinking.
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I commented a few days back on the 8 game thing….hell, maybe Kirby doesn’t give a shit, and just wants to play the big boys..fine by me.
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Just poking around, but I wonder if USC would be interested in coming to Athens in ’21 with a return in ’24?
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I mean, it’s possible I’ll just buy season tickets to Texas that year to make sure I’m in the door.
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Kirby counts the games in Atlanta as home games…we should fill the joint. He has said repeatedly he likes playing there.
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If we could play a full 60 minutes there every time we’re in the building, it’d be even better.
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Being a McGill donor has done little to improve position because so much money is pouring into the program. I’m actually losing position. Trust me…..I know.
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Try the perspective of a 39 year Hartman Fund donor/season ticket holder who has fewer ticket purchase opportunities since the creation of th ed Hartman Fund. I will bet your loss of position is less than my loss in position.
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As a 27 year donor, I feel your pain, Gaskill.
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I meant “since the creation of the Magill Society.” Hate it that there is no edit function.
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The schedule has been upgraded tremendously in the last few years…we are scheduling way over what any of our rivals are doing, it’s obvious that some do not want to be happy with anything in this regard.
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Says the guy who doesn’t donate or buy season tickets.
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You know nothing about my donations. Correct on buying tickets.
Are you saying the schedule hasn’t been upgraded? Are you saying our rivals are doing the same?
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No, I’m saying that you consistently state on here that people should be happy with the schedule while conveniently leaving out the fact that you don’t donate to the Hartman Fund or buy season tickets. And yes, I know you don’t donate to the Hartman Fund b/c you’ve admitted so when pressed on it (and you basically admitted it right here by saying you don’t buy tickets – if you don’t buy tickets, you don’t donate to the Hartman Fund…nobody does). If you donate to the university elsewhere, fantastic. But that has nothing to do with putting your money where your mouth is with regards to the schedule.
It’s also relevant to note that you were doing this before the recent wave of home & home announcements.
But you’ve been called out on this before, so I’ll admit that it doesn’t do any good.
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I haven’t donated to the Athletic side of things in years..
Are you saying that someone can’t comment if they haven’t?
I see the schedule being upgraded…I like it, my HD TV’s like it. I do like to HIT up Jax at least once every other year. And a road game in Tennessee (Vandy or UT) is nice too. I still regret not going to the Rose Bowl…tickets were easy to come by to that one.
My main point, is that it doesn’t matter what we do on the schedule to many…or so it seems. YMMV.
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Are you seriously this dense?
I’m saying you shouldn’t lecture the people paying for the product about how they should just accept it, especially when you aren’t one of the people paying for the product.
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We all need to remember that McGarity was asst. AD at UF when they were winning titles. This was the Florida model. They had numerous weak sisters of the Poor games and they absolutely mastered the scheduling of an off week before a big game, i.e. UGA. I understand us fans want ND followed by Clemson and a trip to Austin BUT it definitely makes winning the games harder and it absolutely gets more of your front line players hurt. . Do we want entertainment or do we want to win. I for one like winning better….your mileage may vary.
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Yes.
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If your implying by your response that this is a false choice… I just have to disagree…..besides I included a disclaimer….so there’s that. You can have both but you do make winning more difficult. Besides I kind of like reminding Georgia Southern and maybe eventually Georgia State that we run this State.
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Nobody’s suggesting that they do away with all cupcake games, just that limiting those to a couple per season is enough.
If it’s a choice between losing a close game to a top five opponent or an extremely ugly win over Nicholls, I have to tell you I’d likely choose the former.
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I haven’t looked at every year going forward..that said, which years do we have more than 2 “gimme” games on the schedule? And before the jokes start, GT is a power 5 team. 🙂
Obviously, many folks here still think we have to many “gimme” games…hell, maybe including Kirby.
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Right now, I don’t know of any.
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Ed Zachery.
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Are you pretending that the fans put together the schedule?
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There is a compromise here. Power 5 games are much better for the attendance and the rankings than FCS games that is not debatable. We still need some easy games on the schedule as a warm up for the season before we hit the meat and potatoes of the schedule. Why not schedule a lower tier P5 team to fill a gap in the schedule instead of Directional State. A game with Indiana, Illinois, Wake Forest, etc is going to look better than Louisiana Monroe. That would eliminate the outcry for games against non P5 opponents while still providing a relatively easy game in most seasons. Imagine the committee trying to ding UGA for Indiana on the schedule and having to explain why they did not hold OSU or Michigan to the same standard when it is a regular conference game for them. Yes we may have to do a home and home, but done properly, it could allow for some really cool road trips to parts of the country that we don’t get to visit often. In addition, with Kirby recruiting nation wide, it would spread the brand a little thicker across that region that year.
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You can’t schedule a lower tier P5 now without breaking the bank for 1 home game or agreeing to a 2 for 1.
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