Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Sorry to have been "offline" for so long, but I had a lot of holiday stuff going on and after we swatted the insects (again), there hasn't been much to write about.

The DC coaching search (though I think the decision has been made, the deal done and it's just a matter of the season ending to make the announcements) is ongoing. The team has been practicing and preparing for Texas A&M for our (disappointing, yes...thankful to be going bowling, yes) bowl game in Shreveport. I understand that ticket sales are a little "stale", especially by UGA standards. That is a shame, but considering that it is played on the day after Christmas weekend and represents a good deal of travel it is a little bit understandable. Texas A&M has been somewhat irrelevant over the past few years, so the fact that their fan base is excited about it is easy to understand, as well. Besides, that "neck of the woods" over there is most-likely rife with LSU, Arkansas and Texas fans. Hopefully the SEC homers from that area will snap up a few tickets and at least make the crowd respectable.

The last bowl game like this one that I remember was the Music City Bowl against Boston College when we got "shafted" by a better bowl and had to settle. This year, we shafted ourselves by poor play, so hopefully the team will be better motivated in this game than they were in that Music City Bowl. If you will recall, a mediocre Boston College team beat a pretty good UGA team that year that played like they just didn't want to be there. I hope this year, the team realizes how "lucky" they are and plays like they are capable of playing. The fact that we are missing 3 defensive coaches, this time not only in the normal mental sense but also in physical presence may or may not even play into the outcome. A&M brings a pretty potent offense that we would most likely struggle with even fully staffed. A&M's defense is actually worse than UGA's has been, so I am holding out hope that UGA will bring their Arkansas offense with them to this game.

Our most valuable offensive weapon in A.J. Green returns and should help us on that side of the ball. You have to like how UGA's running game developed over the last half of the season. If Joe can cut down on the mistakes, they can keep A&M off the field and not hand them the ball via turnover, UGA should certainly out-talent them to a win. If the team plays like they don't want to be there, then we will see a replay of the better team losing to a lesser squad and fuel speculation going into next season about the the leadership of the program.

I think the Dawgs will win, but even if they don't, the year after that Music City Bowl loss turned out to be a very good season for the team. In any event, I will be watching, wearing my UGA gear and cheering the young men on to victory!

Go Dawgs and Go SEC! See ya' next year!

7-5...The Hard Way

Well, the Dawgs made it to 7-5 despite their best efforts to throw the already disappointing season completely in the toilet after giving Kentucky the game the week before. I was hoping and praying for a 7-5 season before the Kentucky game, but figured they'd get there by way of beating the Wildcats and then being run over by the Gnats of North Ave. Wow...was I wrong and, honestly I could not be happier about it.

I didn't post anything after the Kentucky game for obvious reasons. Anyone who watched the game, and every Kentucky fan, coach and player knows why Kentucky won that game. It was not because Kentucky was the better team or because they played better than the Dawgs that night. Kentucky won the game because the team that the Dawgs had been all year manifested itself during halftime of that game and charged out of the locker room in full FAILURE regalia. They came out of the locker room with the same vigor and zest that American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert did as he busted out of "the closet". Full frontal assault including same-sex kissing and hip gyrations akin to the fumblitis, penalty-filled interception prone team we have seen all year. Enough about that pitiful excuse for a performance. (The Dawgs, not Adam Lambert, though both made my stomach churn)

So, the Dawgs silenced the chest beaters of the insect world, only to open the door for the excuse-laden bees to spew their continued hatred and jealousy of the only true "BIG BOY" football program that really matters in the state of Georgia. Try as they might (and did), GT will never be the flagship football program for the great state of Georgia. You heard it here first (or even if it was for the 1,000,000th time you heard it here).The Nerds were so full of themselves after a 3 point win in 8 tries this century. How fitting was it that UGA doubled the margin of victory they termed as a "beat down" or "a$$-kicking"?! I guess if 3 points was a beat down, then 6 points has to be viewed as an annihilation, right? I will enjoy this next year, flyswatter in hand for the lunatic fringe of the Techmite fan base as they try to look for any reason to be happy about being #2 in the state of Georgia. The only thing that would complete my satisfaction is if Clemson wins the ACC Championship game.

Go Tigers!!

Now the team sits and waits to see which bowl they will be invited to. The team and their fans travel well, so it may come down to a bowl that's further away since we, as fans are more apt to follow our team better than another fan base might be. Frankly, living in North Carolina, I will be hard-pressed to travel anywhere further than my La-Z-Boy, but I will watch regardless of where or when they play. The Chick-fil-A bowl would be a nice draw since it's a bowl with a little bit of prestige and it happens close enough to New Year's Day that it has THAT FEEL to it. Honestly, any bowl after how the team played this year is a blessing and I will be cheering the Dawgs on no matter what.

For now, enjoy the conference championship games, and may the best teams truly win their respective conferences so the bowl teams will at least be evenly matched against one another. Anything with a Clemson win and a Florida loss suits me just fine!