Saturday full of revelations for the 2008 season

Saturday was not only a tune up for CMR and the players, it was a tune up for our tailgate club as well.

Overall, I felt the team, fans, and our tailgate club preformed to expectations. We didn’t over achieve, we didn’t under achieve. We did our jobs, took some notes on help-needed areas, and got a glimpse of some good things to come. One by one, the faithful began arriving for some yard-bird hors d'oeuvres and light morning cocktails before heading to the battlefield to remind our little southeast Georgia cousins that we still rule the state.

I’m still trying to figure out this blogging thing. After checking the web for what the real writers are saying, wanting to be funny and entertaining, and give something that will spark you to comment and be a part of the story, I find myself scratching my watch and winding my butt. This week, I thought I would give a Blogging Dawg Report Card on my observations from Saturday.

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Blogging Dawg’s Report Card: Week 1

Timing: We left a little after 6 from the meet point at Tater Chip Dawg’s house, putting us in the parking deck around 7:45 and forcing us to park on the second row. We will need to work on this to make sure we get the premium spots as the schedule gets more intense. Grade: B-

Good to see you: For the most part, every one showed up. PhotoDawg and his lovely wife with Daughter of PhotoDawg arrived with cocktails and camera in hand. Heritage Dawg (Tony), Tybee Dawg, Tractor Dawg, Calhoun Dawg and Mary, Lebanon Dawg and Son, TaterChip Dawg all were dressed and ready for action. The patron saint and patriarch of this motley cure, Barker Dawg arrived fashionably late with his Queen to hold court and shepherd us through another season. Missing – CrazyAss Dawg and his band of Low Country Gypsies and Gas Dawg. Grade: A-

Traffic: The most unusual note on Saturday was the wacky traffic pattern. About two hours before game time, the traffic around the East Campus Parking deck was clogged and the buses were having trouble getting to Lower River Road for the trip over to the stadium, and the wait time for the bus made you feel like you were at MARTA Five-points. On the positive side, we drove straight to the loop after the game, stopping only to make the turn at the light. Grade: B

Fan Participation: I thought the fans showed up earlier this Labor Day weekend than in the past, but I think everyone was still trying to knock the crust of Friday night out of their eyes by the time the BullDawg Battle Hymn was played. I can’t think of a time when there was not a unified roar from the BullDawg faithful when the video of Herschel running over Bill Bates in 1980 graced the scoreboard. I was a little embarrassed Saturday – my God people, we had family in the house. Wake up and be proud of your heritage. To be fair, it felt like it was about 120 in the shade. Maybe the heat sucked some of the life from us. Grade: B

UGA VII in the house: After a brief tribute to his dad, the Dawgs got to meet THE new Dawg. On paper, he’s Loran’s Best, to the world, he’s UGA VII – the top mascot on the planet. With the James Bond theme (007 pun intended) VII went to his new corporately sponsored Dawg Mansion and took a nap on a fifty pound sack of ice. Charles Seiler reported he didn’t pace himself, but it worked out OK. Calhoun Dawg sent me a text message confirming that the UGA VII was indeed a man after a shot of the new king’s testicles on the scoreboard. Grade: A +

Puppies Performance: Not a bad outing. After all, we had them 38-0 at one point. The final score reflected a policy of not needing to run the score up on your cousins and giving everyone a chance. I was so alarmed about the 11 penalties that I began referring to the off-sides calls as the Ghost of Inman even though many of these were defensive calls. AJ, Walsh, and King lived up to the hype while Stafford, Knowshon and Co., delivered as expected. Downside? Kick coverage was just plain awful. Injuries on the O- and D-lines leave a big question mark. Glad to see Kris Durham has plans for something other than plant manager at Mohawk Carpets as he was the leader of the receiving corps. Grade: A-

Video: It's Saturday in Athens

Bush Quits; U.S. Commander in chief set to give the one finger salute to liberal America and turn over the keys to Pelosi

Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: there's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.

The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.

Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty.

Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named ' Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Some of you morons were considering another and more evil Clinton for president! Go figure that one. She wants to take your kids away and let the ' Whole Village' raise them via governmental indoctrination - look this one up you dumb asses.

The rest of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nuclear ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to reelect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nuclear weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel. Did you sleep through high school?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'

Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.


I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

So that's it. God bless what's left of America. Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.

PS - You might want to start learning Farsi and Spanish, and buy a Koran.

PHIL FULLMER hiding from a subpoena

This photo was taken while he was at the Nashville alumni meeting. Notice the fake beard and his little tweety bird friend. Watch out little bird, he will stab you in the back too!

FSN South, SportSouth To Preview Dogs

Courtesy: UGA Sports Communications Press Release

ATHENS-------Beginning on Monday, August 4, the Georgia Bulldogs’ 2008 football season will be previewed in a 30-minute show that will air a total of eight times on either FSN South or SportSouth.

FSN South will air the Georgia preview this Monday at 7:00 p.m. (EDT). It will repeat the program the following afternoon at 12:30 p.m. The first of six airings on SportSouth will take place Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., and the final broadcast will be Wednesday, Aug. 13 at Midnight.

FSN South has produced a 30-minute preview show on each of the 12 Southeastern Conference teams. Each features highlights and in-depth interviews with head coaches and top players. Georgia’s preview will feature head coach Mark Richt, as well as linebacker Dannell Ellerbe.

The complete list of show times for the Georgia preview follows:

On SportSouth:
Monday, August 4 at 7:00 p.m. (EDT)
Tuesday, August 5 at 12:30 p.m. (EDT)

On FSN South:
Tuesday, August 5 at 7:30 p.m. (EDT)
Wednesday, August 6 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT)
Wednesday, August 6 at 5:00 p.m. (EDT)
Wednesday, August 6 at 10:30 p.m. (EDT)
Saturday, August 9 at 7:00 p.m. (EDT)
Wednesday, August 13 at Midnight

Long Snapper Busted, Safety and Linebacker Sent to St. Mary’s

Thanks Dr. Spock

My fears are becoming reality. Only three days since the release of the USA Today preseason poll, a key position player gets liquored up and pees on the wall of a bank. Elsewhere in the Classic City, a junior safety and freshman linebacker get roughed up in a bar and wind up in the ER. Maybe they were thinking the boys and girls at Athens-Clarke County would look the other way. After all, we’re number one right?

So here we are Dawg Nation. The eighth player arrested and jailed since returning from New Orleans – and he didn’t even get to make that trip because of a DUI in November of 2007. Two more, a junior and freshman, were involved in a bar-room brawl.

More signs that the latte drinking, Birkenstock wearing liberal agenda of compassionate understanding of our children in public schools is coming home to roost. In a time not so long ago, little league and middle and high coaches had the ability to put the fear of God into each and every player. If you screwed up, there would be hell to pay. No so anymore.

If a coach demands running stadium steps after screwing up in the classroom or on the field, he will be on “Live at Five” for child abuse. Today, every child should get a chance to be quarterback, regardless of the fact that the kid is 30 pounds overweight and the only thing he knows how to throw is a fit when he runs out of Cheetos. Slap a player on the helmet for not paying attention, get a battery charge and probably have to attend an ADD sensitivity training.

Back in the day, playing sports was a privilege and you damn well knew it. You also understood that you represented the school, the teams, the coaches, and the fans. Not so anymore. Far too many have consumed the “I’m OK, you’re OK” Kool-Aid. It’s all about Generation Me and No-Child Left Behind legislation.

I contend that the mold begins at home. My first job is to be a parent, not a buddy. If I do that job correctly, I have children that are accountable, and also my best friends.

With the popularity of single parenting, the schools are often the next line of defense. Teachers should be respected and they too should hold children accountable. Instead of teaching students accountability, our schools seem to be more caught up with fairness. Gifted children have to sit next to the Turrets poster child because segregating him off would not be fair and would hurt his self esteem. Your child failing? Probably the teacher's fault. That's okay, have the child moved to another class. Show your child that when they get that first asshole boss, they are entitled to move to a different one. That's how the world works right?

Don't get me wrong here. I think Coach Richt and his staff are doing all they can. The problems they are trying to correct have 18-21 year roots. They are habits developed at home and a result of outcome based education and entitlement society.

The first thought that came to my mind with the off-season No. 1 hype and the USA Today poll was this – Are these young men mature enough to rise to the occasion and demonstrate they have the talent on and off the field to be representative of that ranking? Three days later, three proved they aren’t.

What say you? Will this ranking be a curse or a blessing?

Target on Their Backs

So the puppies get the nod from the coaches in the

USA Today Coaches Preseason poll and Flori-duh gets picked to win the SEC. Go figure. After the country butt whippings we administered during the last half of the season, I think we have a legitimate claim to being somewhere in the top five.

"Being number one in the coaches' preseason poll does have significance since it's one-third of the formula to decide who playsin the national championship game," Georgia coach Mark Richt said Friday inpress release from the university. "But the postseason poll is the one that isthe most important. However, I know the ranking is exciting for Georgia football and hopefully we can do our part to stay in the race."

That's the key part - staying in the race. For what I'm reading in the AJC, the Dawgs have never been a number one preseason pick in the Coaches' Poll. And in my true pessimistic Munson fashion, I wish they weren't slotted in the top spot.

First, only two teams in the past ten years have taken the preseason poll and gone on to finish as champs; USC (2004) and Florida State (1999). On the plus side, CMR was there and has seen first hand how to get it done.

Coach Richt has stated that this will either be a blessing or a curse. It's a blessing in the overall formula and giving the players a sense of pride. It can end up a curse if the players develop a senseof entitlement and they forget how much blood and sweat will be needed to finish at the top.

I would be much more comfortable crawling up from say number two or three to the top after the first weekend in November after we return from Jacksonville. But that's irrelevant. The target is firmly planted on our backs and now it's time to get busy and keep it there because it hurts a lot more when you fall from the top.