Offtopic....China and the Olympics

Ok...lets say you live on a street....lets call it league of nations road....you have a cross section of different nationalities. Across the street are the Ricechex, er...Rizchecks, whatever (thankyou Molly Ringwold); next door are the Smiths and the Gonzales family(I was going to make a joke about the kids sneaking over the border but thought better of it - lets keep this on track). Down the street is the Hung family (wait for it...its coming later....thats what she said....stop). The Hungs are a friendly family but you just cant put your finger on it. You shop in their import store for their cheap prices but not sure that the quality of goods are that good (but what the hey, its cheap and the quality is almost good). Plus, they buy a lot of stuff at your family business. Therefore, when they invite your kids over to their birthday party along with the rest of the street its an invitation you feel obligated to accept. Why not, your kids have gone to every other birthday party of the kids on the street. The problem is that you dont like the way they treat their kids and have on good authority they arent very good parents. However, you still shop at their store and never say anything when they shop at your store. SO.....when you find out the local paper is going to take photographs and put them in the paper of the birthday party. Well, you dont like the fact that the party will be publicized. What do you do? You told them months ago that you were going to attend and looking forward to it. Some of the other parents are looking at you and hoping that you will not attend. However, you still plan on doing business with them and hope that they will keep your store in business.

My point is that this whole boycott thing is silly at this juncture. All of a sudden a bunch of people are reacting to the Olympics being in China like it just happened. Folks, the Chinese were awarded these games years ago - why the outrage just a few months before the opening ceremonies. I was almost in college the last Olympics we boycotted and have known a number of people around my age that missed out on the Olympic experience due to that boycott. Everytime I think of the number of kids my age who never got to get their face on a Wheaties box , appear at Disneyland or do a cameo on the Love Boat or a saturday morning cartoon I get upset. Sorry Jimmy but it was the wrong decision then and it would be the wrong decision now - the Olympics are about athletics and advertising not politics.

Like a surgeon.....whooooo

Moderator: Dawger would you like to go next......

DD: Sure, Hi my name is Devildawger and I was a Tebow- hater
Group (in unison): Hi Devildawger
DD: I never really thought about what my level of Tebow hate was and how it was affecting my life.....but now I just need to come out with it and admit it.
Moderator: go on
DD: well, I guess it hit me Saturday afternoon while I was watching the Florida spring game. Chris Fowler told an amazing story he learned about Tim Tebow while he was having dinner with him the night before. Tim had performed surgery with a scalpel after two days of training while he was on spring break in the Phillipines. Which reminds me of the time I decided to slip my scalpel into my girlfriends hand while we were on spring break and she said, " No thanks, I dont smoke".
Group: (crickets chirp)
Moderator: Please go on and try to be serious
DD: Anywhoo, I was getting all indignant on why Tebow thought he could be a surgeon after two days, when he hadnt had the medical schooling or residency even. I was about to contact the AMA on what the heck was going on but ESPN had more Tebow coverage I couldnt miss. They interviewed his parents and I couldnt help but chuckle when his mom calls him Timmy. Then Erin Andrews interviewed him. Corso, Fowler and Herbstreit all talked ad nauseum about Tebow this and that. He has a 102 temperature....yadda yadda yadda. It finally hit me. I dont hate Timmy. I hate the media. They had blown him up into this easy to hate folk hero. Tim is probably a decent guy if I got to know him. However, I couldnt get past the Florida Gator demagogue who pranced about after every 2 yrd score like he had done it all himself tugging on his jersey for all to see... it wasnt Tim who droned on and on about his exquisite jump pass ....it wasnt Tim who called himself Superman and it wasnt Tims fault that his parents homeschooled him and called him "Timmy". Sorry Tim, you are a fine short yardage QB but I still want to see how you perform surgery in the 4th quarter with an orphans life on the line before I will give you full credit.

Gameday visits - wheres my stuff??? y'know stuff???

Over on the GA sports blog today they were picking the likelihood of who was getting the Gameday crew to visit this season. Now we all know that the "best" game is not always picked and it appears that the boys in Bristol do have their favorite places to go (ND, Penn State, TN) but it baffles me why no visit to GA. The name of my blog picks up on Fowlers not so flattering comments about their lone visit in 98. However there is an article reprinted by the UGA.edu that claims the GD crew called Athens a #1 spot! http://www.uga.edu/gm/1298/FrontSpo.html

My wife and I have had a running argument on when the last time Gameday visited Athens. I kept telling her it was before we were married in 99. Anyway, I was right but since she doesnt read this blog I think I am safe in telling that. Which brings up.....why the hell doesnt Gameday come back? This blog would like to know? We have been the Gameday game 7 times since the 98 season when we had the GD crew in town for the UGA-TN game. However, 3 of those were for the GA-FL in Jacksonville and the rest were all away ( Alabama, SC, LSU, and Auburn)....what is the deal here????

Why the BCS plus one system wont work

Over the last month and a half as the college football system has come to an end there has been an increased amount of attention for a playoff system. The month of December revealed ongoing debates on who deserved to play Ohio State.... Should it be Florida? Michigan? USC? Ahhhhh...once again the plus one system is being trotted out as the solution....and in some ways I think if the plus one system is implemented it will act as the final poison pill in the tempestous history of the BCS.....with each tweak the BCS poobahs claimed that they now had it right and that the BCS would be soooo much better. However, like a detergent that never takes the words "new and improved" off the labeling we have all come to know better that even with their changes the BCS system is deeply flawed and we are stuck with it till 2010.


Why wont the plus one work? Let me tell you why... I will use the 2006-07 bowls to show my reasoning. With the plus one system in place you would most likely have seen an Ohio State vs USC matchup in the Rose Bowl (#1 seed vs #4) which would have made the Big 10 & Pac 10 purists very happy and in the Fiesta Bowl you would have Florida vs Michigan (#2 vs #4) which would be a great game too since there definitely is some bad blood (maybe there could be a Carr-Meyer bout on the undercard)....then a week later the top 2 teams meet in the BCS championship game in Glendale AZ.....so why Dawger is this a problem?????....did anyone forget about poor Boise State? No, I am not suggesting that they are one of the top 4 teams....the problem is that with this format they get left out since the plus one format takes away a BCS bowl from two teams....with the added 5th game in the BCS series that was supposed to placate the non BCS conferences since every few years we would see a Boise State or Utah in the mix. The plus one eliminates that.....like the 12th game that was added to NCAA schedules this year I see that the 5th BCS is here to stay for a while....What other problems exist with the plus one? Glad you asked! Let me list a few:

1) Bowls - do you think the Rose Bowl wants to play the role as a playoff site. No way....the last thing they want is the players, fans and announcers to be talking about the next game as the biggest game. The Bowls want the focus on this being the final game of the season and this is the granddaddy of them all....not just a preliminary game

2) Fans & students - here is where the BCS designers really fall flat in their thinking.....your team plays in the Rose Bowl....do you make plans to the Rose and the natl championship (this would cause most fans to be on the road for more than a week....why? Hotels would require minimum stays for fans....so you come in to town for the Rose Bowl on the 30th or 31st of Dec and leave on the 2nd....do you go home till just before the 8th?....or do you fly to Phoenix....think of the airplane, rental car nightmares and hotel issues that would occur after midnight.....yeah!!! we won the play in Rose Bowl game...now how the hell do we get to Phoenix....and where do we stay?....or oh crap, we lost and now I have worthless air tickets to phoenix and the hotel will be assessing me a cancellation fee. If you have endless amounts of cash this wouldnt scare you.....but what about the students? They have no money....but hey screw the students and forget the bands...they dont need to be there.

3) non BCS schools - ok so with the plus one system not only do you miss out on BSU but also $$$$ going to the WAC or other non BCS conference...with only 8 schools making the BCS again there are less opporunities for those conferences...doubt that they would sign off on the new arrangement.

How could the plus one work??????? Glad you asked. The only way to make it work is if you have 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 play each other in early December....there simple solution...after the conf championship games you play the next week.....you would have a pretty good idea a month before the game what the possibilites are.....#1 and #2 get to host. Then after that game you have the BCS championship game set....then the other 4 bowls can set their lineups....bowls dont get used as playoffs and still are viewed as rewards for a good season.

Off to Jacksonville.....

the night before heading down to Jacksonville....many thoughts go through a Bulldogs head. You know you have packed enough red and black clothing. The route taken and the stops made along the way are carefully planned. Should we stop in Forsyth? Hell no, remember what happened the year we stopped there for lunch?....Hmmm how about Cordele? well, ok we can eat at the Cracker Barrel but remember what happened the year we stopped ate in Perry?.....last year I had said ...."thats it! I am never spending another night in Florida - we will only spend our money in Georgia". Of course, now my parents have relocated to Fernandina Beach so I will be spending every GA/FL weekend there....oh well, its tough but someone has to do it. I think of some big Dawg friends I know that have never been to the "game formerly known as TWLOCP" - how sad. The game should be played on campus every few years - I would love to see a game in the "swamp". I-75 calls my name and I obey the siren song of the GA/FL game calling my name - always optimistic but ready to drown my sorrows in lots of seafood on the drive home if need be. Should we stop in Savannah? Hell, no ...remember what happened the year we stopped there after we won?

More Cowbell.....and CMR

The Bulldog nation is on high alert now that CMR has lost 2 home games in a row. It was quite interesting Monday night to listen to the Bulldog hotline....nothing like listening to the coaches call in show after a loss. I have to say that CMR handles himself so well and is so patient as call after ridiculous call comes over the air. There werent any classic calls Monday night. However, the Richster did seem to get testy. He was quick to point out (2 times) that this coaching staff has won 2 SEC titles and played in the SEC championship game 3 of the last 4 years. I realized that CMR just stopped short of saying, "Our coaches put our pants on one leg at a time like any other coach....its just when we put them on we win SEC Championships". The problem is that the offense has not put it together once this season. We are averaging a pathetic 311 yards offense a game which is almost 80 yds less than the average since 2002. The offense needs to man up and get the job done. I say if CMR (Bruce Dickinson) wants more offense (cowbell) lets give him more offense (cowbell).

Sunday night.....and it just keeps getting weirder

First, the mild shocker of Joe Cox being #2 at UGA and now the "mistake" of naming Keller the starting QB at ASU?????