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.