Hoo, boy.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have watched the game if the Vols weren’t playing.
Daily Archives: October 9, 2019
He drinks a whiskey pod, he drinks a vodka pod…
The pods are a super limited-promotional item, available in a single bar during London Cocktail Week, which ends on Sunday. They were devised by the staid scotch brand The Glenlivet and the award-winning bartender Alex Kratena, who have said the capsules, which are bound by seaweed protein, are a stunt of sustainability marketing. Such boring strictures of reality did not prevent people from making jokes about how the pods would soon be omnipresent at outdoor concerts and frat houses. The pods drew quick comparisons to everything from Jell-O shots to Gushers fruit snacks, in addition to the laundry-detergent capsules that became a meme in 2018 after several dozen teens ate them on YouTube.
Many other people looked upon the scotch pods and saw nothing but pure, open-container law-circumventing brilliance. The capsules seemed perfect for sneaking booze into nearly anywhere. When asked if the pods were intended to be a futuristic evolution of the flask, a representative for Glenlivet seemed vaguely horrified and assured me that the capsules were intended to be consumed by adults as a novelty during the week’s cocktail convention. They’re “almost like a cocktail version of El Bulli’s spherical olive,” she said via email, apparently distressed that the internet had taken up a litany of less luxurious comparisons.
I’m just sayin’.
Filed under I'll Drink To That, Science Marches Onward
Reggie Ball’s final legacy: 50,000,000 hits
It’s hard to believe that three words, three simple words — “Come on, dog.” — could have taken me on the journey here, but such is life. It is surreal to watch the hit counter cross a milestone like that and something I never foresaw when I wrote my first post here all the way back in 2006.
Get The Picture started as a quasi-diary, but over the better part of thirteen years has evolved into much more of a communal experience, kind of like a virtual bar without the good bourbon and beer taps. You guys have made this place a better blog and made me a better blogger. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your continued interest and give-and-take here. As long as it’s a labor of love for all of us, we’ll keep it going.
Oh, and thanks, Reggie. I couldn’t have done it without your initial spark.
Filed under GTP Stuff
A couple of random Florida thoughts
I had a similar thought to Ian’s when I looked at the conference passer rating stats earlier this week. Trask is fourth and to me it looks like he’s a poor man’s Jake Fromm in that Mullen is trying not to load too much onto his shoulders as a passer, while still getting good production from the position. His completion percentage has been above 60% in all three of his SEC games. He’s only thrown two interceptions since becoming the starter.
No, it’s not the stuff legends are made of, but it’s certainly functional. I know we all love to knock Mullen, but if there’s one thing he’s been good at at both UF and Mississippi State, it’s been generating good quarterback play.
Speaking of Mississippi State, I don’t know if anybody else shares this thought, but I find myself wondering if there’s much of a parallel between the vibes following the Gators’ big win over Auburn last Saturday and a certain game from 2017.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
Your 10.9.19 Playpen
Casually genteel racism is the best racism.
And doubling down on genteel racism is the best genteel racism.
He said he was not trying to make a racial or cultural statement, telling the newspaper, “I would just like to see the coaches get the guys cleaned up and not looking like Florida State and Miami guys.”
Give him some credit, though — at least he didn’t refer to anyone as a thug.
Funny how the lyrics to Randy Newman’s “Rednecks” is in my head now. Can’t imagine how that happened.
Make college football great again!
Filed under GTP Stuff
2019 Mumme Poll, Week 6
I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. Here’s how our first top 25 of the 2019 season turned out:
Others receiving votes:Â Appalachian State 5; Missouri, Texas A&M, Cincinnati 4; Arizona, USC 3; Florida Atlantic, Michigan State, North Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Oklahoma State, Louisiana 2; Oregon State, UCF, Washington State, Duke, Wyoming, California, Georgia Southern, Navy 1.
As the percentages indicate, there wasn’t a single team that received votes on every ballot this week. The total number of ballots cast was 338. The average number of teams on a ballot was 9.3. In all, 45 schools received votes, although I think it’s apparent there were a few misfires in there.
Here’s how the votes break down by conference:
And here are a few random observations:
- I know a couple of you had questions about ties at the top, but as you can see, that wasn’t an issue in this edition. With this many voting, it’s a less likely possibility. What happens as the season progresses and the field begins to thin out is something to watch.
- Yeah, Georgia is a little higher than you find in the AP and Coaches Polls.
- Speaking of which, we’ve got four SEC teams in the top ten. AP has… four SEC teams in the top ten. Coaches Poll has… four SEC teams in the top ten.
- The two biggest variations I see between the MP and the other two polls are SMU, which we rank 16th, but doesn’t crack the top twenty in either the AP or the CP, and TAMU, which is 24th in the AP and 21st in the CP but isn’t listed in our top 25.
- For those who think there are enough teams to fill out an eight-team playoff field with ease, that’s not what those results show. You’ve got a clear first tier of six schools with over 90% support from the voters, and a drop off to the next two. Again, something to keep an eye on over the next few weeks.
I couldn’t be happier with the turnout. I hope everyone stays interested, because it makes for a better Mumme Poll.
Share your thoughts in the comments.
Filed under GTP Stuff
This week in FPI
For what it’s worth, ESPN’s FPI sees a rosier future for Georgia through the rest of the regular season, mainly because of a slight decline in the strength of the rest of the schedule.
Georgia’s FPI rose from 25.5 to 26.4. Georgia’s remaining strength of schedule dropped from No. 5 to No. 15 in the country. Georgia’s chances of winning out, per the FPI, improved from 8.7 percent to 9.6 percent. That went from the ninth-highest percentage to the 13th.
FPI now has Georgia favored to win on the road at Auburn.
However, “(t)he Bulldogs’ chance of winning the SEC dropped from 30.4 percent to 28.4 percent.”
That’s kind of how my gut feels about things right now, too.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Save us, Obi Wan SCOTUS. You’re our only hope.
Former head of the NCAA openly pleads for the US Supreme Court to grant the NCAA an antitrust exemption in order to “limit financial influence on student athletes, whom he believes should prioritize their education.”
Maybe he’s got a point. It’s not like the schools are going to prioritize their education.
He goes on to say,
“There are a number of schools that pay $30 million to $40 million a year in amortization of the facilities that they have built,” he explained. “We have become so obsessed with the money aspect of overbuilding costs and inflated salaries, it has become very difficult to control.”
California’s new law will only complicate the situation further: It basically turns student athletes “into professionals,” Dempsey said. “We would certainly need a new description of amateurism.”
I’d like to say you can’t make that shit up, but the NCAA pumps it out by the barrel.
Filed under Academics? Academics., Political Wankery, The NCAA
Advanced stats still ❤ the Dawgs.
Is this good?
Yeah, I think that’s good.
This team may not be as explosive on offense as we’d like to see, but it’s very efficient on both sides of the ball. You can win a lot of football games doing that.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Counter-intuitive
If, like me, you wonder why Georgia had Fromm in shotgun on its two short-yardage situations that flopped in Knoxville Saturday night, Kirby has an explanation:
Smart explained why the Bulldogs went to a shotgun formation. It made sense, even if the play failed.
“I know defensively it eliminates a lot of plays once you’re under center, (so) it allows the defense to be a little more aggressive and they don’t have to defend as much area,” Smart said.
Okay, I guess, except it wasn’t like Georgia was mixing up its shotgun calls in those situations.
Here’s a second reason:
“And, there’s a lot of teams that teach submarine-cut techniques, where they go down low and they try to submarine you and it doesn’t allow you to use your advantage, which is your size.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to do a better job as coaches. We’re not getting it done in those areas and we’ve got to improve.”
If he’s saying Georgia needs to be less predictable in its playcalling in those situations, I think that’s a thoughtful reaction, but if all he’s saying is that the coaches have to coach manball better, I have a sad feeling history’s gonna be repeating.
Remember, it’s not like this is something new. I know Kirby’s the football guru and all, but at some point in time between what happened on the goal line in Jacksonville last year and what just happened in Knoxville, you’ve got to ask yourself if there’s a better way to skin the short-yardage cat.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
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