Preview

Last night, Kensingtondawg and myself ventured over to Hawkinsville to watch Nick Marshall and his Wilcox County Patriots play Hawkinsville. It was nothing short of a clinic put on by the boys in blue. I have not seen that many dunks in a high school game in my life. 

We had the pleasure of sitting with CMR, Brian McClendon, and a few coaches from Wilcox. There were also coaches from FSU, GSU, and a handful of other schools in attendance. We also had some fine bbq from SowBellies.

Nick Marshall is a kid to be excited about. I don’t know how to describe him besides saying that he is incredibly smooth and terribly athletic. Mark Richt raised his eyebrows more than once.

Next week I will run a series about what it is like for Coach Richt visiting small towns, featuring his perspective,  Bryan McClendon’s perspective, the fans perspective, and some of the things that come with being the biggest celebrity in a small high school gymnasium on a Friday night. Needless to say, it was incredible to hear his take on the game and the atmosphere.

I look forward to writing about it, and I hope you look forward to reading it. Enjoy your Saturday.

ucheedawg

More on Rural South Georgia Recruiting

Earlier in the week I talked a little bit about recruiting and the process for kids from rural Georgia towns, specifically Nick Marshall. I had some insight shared with me from the Superintendent of Schools in Wilcox County about the daily activities of Nick and his family. He also shared with me about some of the visits that have been made by different coaches. If you missed the article, you can find it here.

That said, I got a text message this morning saying that Saban and Kirby were going to be at Wilcox County High to visit with Nick. A little while later, I received the picture that you see at the top.

I won’t reiterate all that was said earlier in the week, but it really is interesting to sit back and think about the life of Nick Marshall from rural Rochelle, Georgia. Right now, Nick is wrapping up a conversation with the man who is lauded as the best coach in college football. Tonight he’ll again be talking with our own Coach Richt, widely regarded as a Top 10 coach in the nation. I bet it’s a lot more fun than 11th Grade Trig.

Finally, as a reminder, Nick and his Wilcox County Patriots are traveling to Hawkinsville High tonight to take on the Red Devils in basketball. CMR and CMB are going to be in attendance. So will I. If you’re in the midstate, it’s probably worth checking out.

Update:

The game tonight was great.  We’ll give a better write up later.  Coach Richt says hello.

ucheedawg

This is just funny

Apple launched a new product yesterday as I am sure you are all aware.

Read this story for a good (sophomoric) laugh.

PETA at it Again

Well, this week we have delved into a lot of non football topics.  Tuesday we touched on the touchy Tim Tebow Super Bowl Advertisement mountain of a molehill controversy.  Yesterday we touched on men’s fashion and felonies.  Today we will delve into everyone’s favorite topic:  PETA.

PETA is a bunch of egnoramooses; although that is talking bad about a moose, so they probably wouldn’t like that.

The reason this is relevant is because we have seen this before.  PETA came out after Uga VII passed away and called for a robotic dog.  Now the organization that wants you donate money to save the animals in Haiti (forget the women, children and all the orphans down there) wants to have the Groundhog Day groundhog be robotic. 

Much like with the Ugas, the groundhog in Punxsutawney is probably treated better than most. William Deeley, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, said the groundhog “being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania.”  According to the story, Punxsutawney Phil is kept in a climate controlled room and inspected by the state’s Department of Agriculture annually. 

The animal has adequate food, shelter, warmth and health inspections.  That is a whole hell of a lot more than most people-most children, even-receive.  My wife works in education and you should hear some of the stories of her students.  It will rip your heart out. 

Most importantly though, this groundhog and our bulldog have people who not only treat them right physical, but love them unconditionally and care for their emotional needs.  That is more than a lot of children can say. 

PETA, shut up.

Corbindawg

Go Dawgs (no matter what PETA says)!

Thursday Links

Hope you enjoyed our Second Edition of the weekly BBQ feature. On to some links to help get the day going:

Four star prospect out of Florida has narrowed it down to UGA and FSU.

While on recruiting, our coaches are making the rounds during the final push.

Good read from the R&B about CRG coaching the D-line.

This is one story that I don’t mind dragging on. More from the Leach debacle.

Sure you have, Timmy.

Kurt Warner finally hanging it up. Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn into a BF saga.

Recruiting challenges at Notre Dame? Say it ain’t so!

Keep your day job, Coach.

Mid-majors can kick and scream, but they still get some big bucks.

The Laner is making another move, to another dream job. (Comedy)

Finally, here’s a fun test to see if you can tell the difference between a place kicker and a quarterback.

Have a great Thursday folks.

Southern Soul Barbeque, SSI

This past weekend I had the great fortune of heading south and spending a few days on Saint Simons Island.  While the weather was a little too cold for my liking, it was a great excuse to let my dogs run on the beach for a few hours and sample some pretty good barbeque.  Saturday I tried out Southern Soul Barbeque, located in the roundabout by the airport.  From the outside it has the feel of a small local bbq joint with a large smoker grill and picnic table out front, small sitting area to the side, and counter for ordering and a few stools.  Inside the place was packed for one o’clock and from the conversations it was mostly locals.  That’s always a good sign in my book.  We ordered the pulled pork sandwich, Brunswick stew, and beef brisket chili and had a seat on one of the bar stools.  The staff was busy but great to us, maybe a little too townie for some crowd but my tea never went empty and they were playing Drive by Truckers so I was happy.  Now on to the food.

The sandwich was nice and large, the meat was pulled in large chunks but not cubed, had a nice smoky flavor to it but was slightly dry if you ate it without any sauce.  That’s okay because they didn’t overly sauce my sandwich before it came and I had the choice of a Carolina mustard, standard vinegar, hot vinegar, and a sweet thick vinegar.  After trying all four I went with the hot vinegar which was slightly thick and not over the top hot, just a touch.  All in all, the sandwich was above average.  Their Brunswick stew was thin tomato base best described as a vegetable soup with bbq cooked in.  I was a fan but my wife was not and I’d order it again.  Now strangely the best thing we ordered was the beef brisket chili.  It was a thick based chili with a spicy sweet taste and filled with a few beans and a lot of beef.  These were chunks of tender brisket with just enough fat to give it a great taste.  Not your run of the mill chili and I’d order this again anytime as long as it’s not blazing hot outside.

Long story short, if you’re down in SSI and looking for a good lunch, grab yourself some bbq and a cup of chili from Southern Soul.

Granite

Joe Cox Playing Point Guard For Dawgs

This is the only explanation as to why there are so many turnovers vs. the Gators.

Seriously, the turnovers were an absolute killer.  19-10 in the turnover battle is going to get you beat against just about anyone.  Especially with the Gators capitalizing and getting 33 points off turnovers. However, there are still flashes of brilliance and the game AT Florida is the first conference game that Fox’s Hounds have not been competitive the whole 60 minutes.

The key going forward is for the loss against the Gators not to stymie the confidence of this young team.

After taking Tennessee to the woodshed, they were a little over confident I’m sure.  This was probably a good lesson for the young team/coach for the rest of the season and for the future.

I still feel as good about the future of Georgia basketball as I did last Saturday.  Before the ship that Dennis Felton sank gets afloat, and to get to where there are more nights like we had against Tennessee,  there will be more nights like this one against the Gators.

Corbindawg

Go Dawgs!

Coach Richt Getting Some ESPN Love

The Senator linked to the story first, but it bears repeating.

Chris Low has a nice piece echoing what Marc Weiszer said last week about CMR’s tenure here in Athens.

It is late in the afternoon and this is a longer topic for another day, but basically put this way:  ANYONE who thinks UGA is a better football program without Mark Richt than with him ought to have their head examined.

Corbindawg

Why Pro Sports Suck

WARNING:  TWO TOPICS TGT TYPICALLY STRAYS FROM: THE NBA AND FASHION

I, to the behest of my wife, like short shorts.  The Polo Andrew Shorts are my favorite.  She tries to get me wear shorts to my knee, but I won’t do it.

Makes you look taller

I have stopped following the NBA closely since the shorts have gotten obscenely longer and MJ stopped making game winning shots with his tongue dragging the floor. 

The Man

However, unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard about Gilbert Arenas and his gun problems. 

The big talk on the good ol’ fashioned AM sports radio has been going back and forth on how long he will serve a suspension from the NBA. 

I want to pose this question:  look around your place of employment.  If you a) committed a felony and/or b) brought a handgun illegally and brandished it to a co-worker in a threatening manner, do you really think it would be an issue whether or not you were suspended.  The answer is no, because you would be fired!

Corbindawg

Premature Hype

I meant to say something about this on Sunday, then again on Monday, but you know how things go sometimes. I can admit when I’m wrong, and now is one of those times.

Last week, after the Lady Dawgs beat UT, I was very premature in celebrating what was seemingly a road to a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

So, what do the Lady Dawgs do? They lose their very next game. I was warned in the comments section that the road wasn’t clear, but I continued to disagree. Surely, I thought, if we can beat UT then we can remain focused and take care of business. Shows how much I know.

So, my apologies to Cojones. You were right, and I should have listened. The Lady Dawgs play Mississippi State on Thursday and Auburn on Sunday. Maybe they won’t prove me wrong again. But I will shy away from making outlandish predictions in the future.

ucheedawg