#1 Reason Why I Won’t Win The Lottery

LIke just about everyone else in America, I bought a few lottery tickets this afternoon during my lunch break.  I didn’t go crazy like the woman in front of me who bought $75 in Quick Picks (reminds me of Neal Boortz when he said that the lottery is not the poor funding the rich but rather the dumb funding the smart”).  Aside from the fact the odds are like a bajillion to one, I know the ticket I bought is not going to win.

I picked it using Georgia Football numbers of some of my favorite players: 

01  07  14  34  47   MB: 07. 

1- Mohommed Massaquoi

7-  Matthew Stafford

14–  David Green

34– Hershcel Walker

47– David Pollack

MB 07-For the magic carpet ride that was the 2007 season, my last fall in Athens. 

 

My lottery ticket will probably be like the Georiga Football team:  come close, but not finishing to win the big one.

Corbindawg

Today should be cloudy

Because it’s a beautiful rust covered dark dreary offensive day.  MACta Clause has come with his bag full of week night games and although I don’t get my Miami Redhawks I get three nights of Bobcats so it all works out.  Laugh all you want but don’t knock it till you try it.  Nothing is better than a Wednesday night high scoring game where the outcome won’t affect your Thursday.

h/t edsbs & hustlebelt

A Little Silver Lining

Let me preface this by saying the loss of Ogletree and Rambo sucks.  It sucks big time. 

The only silver lining I can see in this is Todd Grantham.  We should be relieved that this news came down in late March, not late August.  Last season, Todd Grantham was handed a bunch of lemons after the first two games when Christian Robinson and Alec Ogletree went down to injury.  The suspension of Ogletree is not as dangerous, in my opinion, as the suspension of Rambo.  There is tons of depth and talent at linebacker.

But Todd Grantham has 5 months to figure this crap out.  If there was a coach on this staff that I can give the benefit of a doubt to turn lemons into lemonade, then it is Grantham.  If the Bulldogs are sitting 2-0 on September 9, it will be a miracle, Commings can play safety until Rambo returns, and all this angst will seem like water under the bridge.  

This situation is terrible, don’t get me wrong.  But imagine how much worse it would be if it happened later on in the year and there was no Todd Grantham.

Corbindawg

BBQ Thursday: Fan Edition

Tim from Watkinsville is a loyal reader of the blog.  Last fall we sent out requests for readers to supply us with their own BBQ reviews.  This is a little late, but Tim sent this in and asked us to post, so we obliged:

This is a whole piglet cook I did on Xmas day. On the BGE at 0800 off at 1600. I smoked it using regular lump with hickory chunks scattered throughout. It was easily the best barbecue I have produced to date. The mixture of the meats is important and the smoke note was just right. I am planning on doing this again!

I thought you guys at the Grit Tree might enjoy hearing about it!   Keep up the good work on the blog, its one of my first stops in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TGT

4 Questions Around Rambo and Ogletree

I wonder what Mark Richt was thinking when he found out that Bacarri Rambo and Alec Ogletree failed a drug test recently. 

After Isaiah Crowell, Ken Malcome and Carlton Thomas, the top 3 tailbacks on the depth chart, failed a drug test and had to sit out against New Mexico State, you could chalk that up to “boys being boys.”  College kids will do dumb things, and smoking reefer during the season is very dumb. 

After Branden Smith was hot boxing in rural South Alabama on the way to PCB, you had to just scratch your head and say “Damn.” After what happened to the tailbacks, and the looming importance of the upcoming 2012 season, it is unfathomable to think that a football player would make the same dumb decision again.

After Rambo and Ogletree fail their drug tests, now some serious questions have to be asked. 

Is there a rampant drug problem within the football program?  Is Coach Richt’s message not being heard?  How much will Greg McGarity and President Adams tolerate? 

I think some of those questions are warranted and little extreme at the same time.

Many on other Dawg blogs are enamored with TCU’s Gary Patterson.  TCU had a similar problem last month when a former player said that there was a rampant drug problem within the Horned Frogs and as many as 60 players could test positive.  5 of their football players tested positive for weed, so it wasn’t as severe as originally feared. 

Georgia has had 6 players with drug related infractions since last November.  That is 6 too many.  I can’t keep up with the number of players Georgia has on Scholarship right now, but let’s say arbitrarily it is 80.  6/80 is roughly 8%.  I wonder if you random tested the 34,000+ students at UGA, how many would test positive for weed?   That 8% of 34,000 comes out to 2,720.   Is that reasonable?  I don’t know, I am just asking.  Georgia has a more rigorous drug policy than the other SEC schools.  I wonder if you drug tested every other football player in the conference, how many of them would test positive?  I wonder how many have tested positive that we never hear about?  So to answer the first question, I would say “No, not for now.”   

But the other two questions, I can’t be so sure about.  After the first failed drug tests from the 3 running backs, you know that Coach Richt and the other Coaches and probably Greg McGarity had a come to Jesus meeting with the team, or at least I would hope so.  It is not frustrating that the players make dumb mistakes, it is frustrating that the players (in some cases, the same players) are making the exact same dumb mistakes. 

I was talking to a friend today that used to be a sports journalist for a local TV station.  We were talking about some of the athletes he has interviewed in his career, and he told me that in his opinion, most players don’t care if they win or lose.  He told me that, as an avid fan, I probably cared more about if a team wins or loses than most of the players on a particular team, in this case UGA.  I kind of scoffed at that opinion.  I am a fan; I have no skin in the game.  I go to the games, I follow it intently, and I write a blog where I can express my opinions.  My livelihood is not tied to the games.  It is a hobby, one that I thoroughly love.   

But when news likes this breaks, in the middle of spring practice, in a year when Georgia is the sheik pick to make a run at the BCS, and after the other players that have been popped, you have to start asking the three questions I listed above in addition to one more question:  do the players who constantly make the same infractions with no regard to the consequence care? 

If they don’t give a rip, then why should I?

Corbindawg

Lewis Grizzard Wednesday

They may be quick and convenient – but there’s a big difference between mashed potatoes and those which come in a box. 

Real Mashed Potatoes Don’t Come In Boxes 
  
   
For weeks, I had been seeing a television commercial for this certain chain of restaurants. The commercial claimed the restaurant served home cooking, “The kind mom used to do.” 

I’m not going to name the restaurant chain. I’ve already got one libel suit pending. 

But I will say I’ve spent the nearly three decades since I left the cooking mama used to do looking for something, anything, that came close to it. 

I grew up at a fried chicken, pork chops, pot roast and fresh vegetable table, with corn bread or mama’s homemade biscuits on the side. 

I must have this sort of food at least once a week or be struck by the dreaded bland-food poisoning. 

That’s because I have to eat a lot of airline food, as well as hotel food. The airlines and hotels get together each year and plan their menus. Steak au gristle and chicken a la blech. 

So I gave this chain a try. I walked into one of its restaurants and looked over the menu. There was no fried chicken or pork chops. 

But there was country fried steak and pot roast. I decided to go for the pot roast. 

“Can I get mashed potatoes and gravy with the pot roast?” I asked the waitress. 

“Sure,” she answered. 

The pot roast was so-so. The gravy was suspect. One bite of the mashed potatoes, and I knew. I called the waitress back over. 

“I would take it as a personal favor if you would be perfectly honest with me,” I said. “These mashed potatoes came out of a box, didn’t they?” 

The waitress dropped her eyes for a brief second. Then, she looked up and said apologetically, “Yes, they are.” 

I hate mashed potatoes that come out of a box. When God created the mashed potato, I am certain the Bible points out somewhere, he had no intention of anybody goofing around and coming up with mashed potatoes from a box. 

He meant for real potatoes to be used. You peel them, you cut them into little pieces and put them in a pot of boiling water. You put in some salt and pepper, and then you add some butter and maybe even a little sour cream and then you beat them and stir them and you’ve got biblically correct mashed potatoes. 

I realized the waitress didn’t have anything to do with the fact that the restaurant served mashed potatoes from a box in a place that advertised mama’s cooking, an affront to mothers everywhere. That was upper management’s doing. 

So when I paid my bill – reluctantly, due to the fact there should have been a warning on the menu that the mashed potatoes weren’t really mashed potatoes – I did have a word with the assistant manager, who took my money anyway. 

“May the Lord forgive you for ye know not what you do, you potato ruiner.” 

I think he thought I was some sort of religious nut. He was still waiting for me to hand him a pamphlet and ask him for money as I walked out the door. 

Mashed potatoes from a box. That’s what’s wrong with this country. That, and non-alcoholic beer, instant grits, canned biscuits, soybean anything, frozen french fries, fake flowers, staged photo opportunities for politicians running for re-election, tanning salons, and I bought some Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream at the grocery store recently, but when I went to eat it, I realized I had gotten yogurt instead. 

What’s real anymore? Computerized voices talk to me at the airport. I phone a friend and I talk to a machine. Musical stars are lip-syncing. 

Did somebody mention silicone implants? As soon as I make the world safe from boxed mashed potatoes, I’ll get around to that. 

It’s a matter of priorities, you know.

 

Only At Tech

A good  friend of my both wife and I lives in Atlanta with her husband, both of whom are  avid readers of TGT.  Although she is a Double Dawg, the Mrs. recently took a position at Georgia Tech.  It was a great opportunity for her, so it was hard to hold her new employer against her. 

She sent me this picture this morning from the Starbucks next to Georgia Tech.  One word:  typical.

Corbindawg

BBQ Thursday-Sconyers BBQ in Augusta

Had the fortune of spending the night in Augusta couple of weeks ago.  Our friends at fellow blogs EC Dawg and CC Rider have told us to give them a call when we head to Augusta, and if they read this, I apologize.  My work doesn’t take me over to Augusta often, and I was going over there unexpectedly.  So next time I am in the Richmond County area, I will be sure to give you proper notice.

I had to be in Lavonia one day, and Augusta the next, so I decided to travel down Hwy 77 and just stay in Augusta the night before instead of driving to Middle GA and back to Augusta.  One reason I don’t go over to Augusta much is there is just no good way to get there from Macon. 

I got done with my work in Lavonia around 2:00 and decided to hit some golf balls at Cateeche in Hartwell.  I am not very good at golf, although I enjoy playing.  I am terrible.  I was especially terrible in Hart County.  By the Par 3on either 16 or 17 there I calmed down and hit a beautiful shot with my 6 iron off the tee and missed a 5 foot putt for birdie and had to settle for my lone Par of the day.  And I crushed my next drive, so I guess there were some positives to take home from it.   The course was in great shape for late Winter/Early Spring and it was very nice, and aside from the crappy play, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I headed on to August and I knew I wanted some BBQ.  I Googled BBQ in August and the first place that came up was Sconyers BBQ.  I wanted some of the famous South Carolina Hash.

So I put Sconyers in the GPS, listened some Pat Green and Robert Earl Keen, and I was on my way.

I didn’t know what to expect when I reached Sconyers and pulled up around 8:00 PM and the restaurant parking lot was packed.  I went in and got a table.  I hadn’t really eaten lunch that day, and since a biscuit that morning had only had a pack of crackers at the golf course.  So I was starving, but since it was late, I decided not to order much so I just got the half BBQ plate.  It came with two sides-I got the hash and potato salad. 

The waitresses all wore these UGLY uniforms.  Their dresses looked like something you’d find on Little House on the Prairie.  I thought “Oh Boy.”  I wanted to snatch a picture of them, but those that know me know that discreet is not a word in my vocabulary.  So not risking get beat up by a gang of waitresses and going hungry, I decided not to snatch a pic.   A very friendly waitress took my order and brought me a small pitcher of sweet tea and a basket of white bread.  I liked that.  Some folks think there is not a thing as too sweet tea, and Sconyers definitely fits in that group.  The tea was very sweet.  It reminded me of Grandma’s tea.  I had to let the ice melt some to dilute it. 

Before I could get settled down very good my order was brought out very quickly.  I was impressed by that.  The BBQ was really good.  I wish I had ordered a full order of it.  There were some sauces on the table that were very good also.  I would grade the ‘cue with an A.

Onto the sides.  I was not overly impressed with the potato salad.  It had too much mayonnaise for my liking.  It was OK, just not my personal preference.  I like a little squirt of mustard in my potato salad, and this was full of mayonnaise. 

The hash.  For those of you that have not had hash, it is like a BBQ paste served over rice.  It doesn’t have the corn or lima beans that is typical in Brunswick Stew, and it wasn’t as soupy as stew.  They serve the hash over rice.  The rice was good, but it just fills you up too much and you feel bloated.  The hash tasted good, but I would much prefer Brunswick Stew.  It was my first experience with the famous South Carolina hash, and if given my druthers, I would rather have stew over hash.  It is definitely worth trying if you have never had it. 

Overall, it was a good BBQ experience and if you are every in the Augusta area, I would recommend you stop by Sconyers (off I-520) and give it a try.

The only thing that didn’t help my meal were my fellow patrons sitting across from me.  There were two couples talking.  They were Georgia Tech fans.  The whole time I ate, I had to sit there and listen to how great Georgia Tech is and how much they are going to be better next season.  One couple at the table struck me as odd.  The fellow and his wife were an odd combination.  The wife was  a fairly attractive lady in her late 20s.  But her husband was a character.  He was about 6’3” and probably weighed 140 lbs.  He wore Khaki pants and black turtleneck..  Yep, a turtleneck.  He was pale skinned and had a blonde curly hair. 

Do you know who this guy could have been twins with?  For you Seinfield fans out there, remember the episode where Elaine is dating a guy, and he thinks she is Hispanic and she thinks he is black? At the end of the episode they realize they were just a couple of white people and go to the Gap. This guy looked exactly like Elaine’s date in that episode. 

So aside from the loud Tech fans talking about their football team, Sconyers was an enjoyable experience.

I started my day at 5:00 AM that day, and by the time I got to my hotel and ironed my clothes for the next day, I was wiped.  I watched UGA take Mississippi State to the woodshed in the SEC tournament, and with a belly full of BBQ, I fell into a peaceful smoked pork induced coma with the TV on sometime in the 2^nd half. 

Corbindawg

Let the Chipper Jones farewell tour commence

This’ll be the final year for Chipper Jones in baseball. Multiple outlets are reporting he will retire at the season’s end.

Well, Crap

I have been away from the computer and smart phone all morning.  I get back to my desk to check the AJC Headlines and BOOM-It says that Sean Payton from the Saints is suspended for the next season.  I go to ESPN.com and on the right hand side the second headline says that the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets have aquired Tebow. 

Busy afternoon for the NFL. 

I will say this:  Tim Tebow just thought the media scrutiny was alot while he was QB in Denver.  The blood thirsty sharks in the New York media will eat him alive.  And ESPN will continue to ram him down our throats.

Corbindawg