Dismal

I had the misfortune of attending yesterday's debacle at Sanford Stadium and it just furthered the depression I have been feeling about our football team. There are a million details to go over and discuss but as has been the case recently, I simply do not have the energy. It comes down to the basic problem that we are incapable of playing enough defense to win. Our offense by no means was perfect yesterday but we scored 42 points. If you can't win with that, you don't deserve to. I preface this by saying that I love Mark Richt, I would want no one else as our head coach and I hope he stays as our head coach until he is ready to retire...

However, in my opinion yesterday was the 5th time he was out coached this season. Now I am aware that he does not set the defensive game plan nor call the plays but he is the man in charge and the buck stops with him. We came out flat in the second half and gave up 26 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter, I find that unacceptable-particularly allowing that to happen at the hands of a team where we have far superior physical talent. It is baffling, depressing, ridiculous...

The other games I feel he got out-coached in:

-Alabama-Came out unbelievably flat, we weren't ready to play. 31-0 in the first half, really?
-Florida-Granted they probably had us out maned but to be dominated that badly, and for there to be murmurs that the team gave up or quit, hmmmmm.
-Kentucky-Not a bad team, tough game. But again, we have far superior talent and the team got lackadaisical. Where's the killer instinct?
-Auburn-An awful team this year, seemed to be more ready to play than we were and nearly got us.

Again, I love Richt and realize he can't help players not doing their jobs, his assistants not having their units properly prepared, etc. I just know he can do better and I think we've got the talent here to do so. I don't know what exactly needs to be done, but something has got to change.

And now, we have no fun bowl game to look forward to. Ohio State is likely now in the BCS since Oregon State lost so I would assume we will have the distinct honor of playing Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl. Whoopty damn doo.

Anyway, one thing yesterday's game did do for me was re-ignite and further my hatred for GA Tech. They are like a little brother trying to be as good as his big brother. I despise that school and their fans, case in point...

A young GA Tech fan and his girlfriend are in the UGA alumni section where I am sitting. He is probably 22 or 23 and is loud and obnoxious the entire first half. He felt it appropriate to turn around to us and point after 1st downs and to taunt us after big plays. After we took the lead 28-12 a brawl nearly ensued as he was unmercifully taunted by about 10 UGA fans, yours truly included but we aren't talking about drunks here-other than a couple of younger guys-most of our fans were 40-60 and dead sober. This jackass continued to run his mouth in the second half and again nearly incited a riot when he grabbed a probably 17 year old 'kid' in front of him to taunt him. This 'kid' was probably 275 lbs and the Techie was probably 5'9", 165 lbs, so no match. The 'kid's' dad had to be restrained and was within inches of killing the Techie. Other than a couple minor dust-ups that was pretty much the end of his obnoxious behavior, but I was just baffled. How do you think it would be appropriate to go into another school's section and talk trash to everyone and taunt them? Did he really think he wouldn't get his ass kicked?

Regardless, that idiot and others I encountered re-ignited my hatred for Tech and I can't wait to beat them again and go reign blows upon their fans. This picture below about sums it up...

Oh and one other thing. I caught to 16 year old Tech fans discussing doing something similar to this player. Let's just say physical harm was threatened and would have been carried out should they have gone through with it.

And now...the finale. Oh and other stuff too

After a very frustrating UGA season where expectations were not met, we now are about to close out the regular season.

I'm not saying this has been a bad year, can't complain about 10 wins but my main gripe has been the fact that I finish every game feeling like we could've played much better. I just feel we have so much talent and the right coaches to really be a much stronger team. That being said though, we've been decimated with injuries and 2 gut wrenching blowouts yet have still managed to take care of the rest of our schedule. Let's hope we can finish it off right with 2 more wins.

Now I'm not even close to being 100% correct with my opinions or predictions on anything but I'd say my initial gut feeling is right quite often. The past 2 seasons I verbalized my gut feelings about the Florida game and was correct both years. This year against Alabama I had a negative vibe, I still thought we'd win but something was there deep inside my 'chi'. I say all this because that feeling of misery and doubt has again creeped inside me this week as we host the biggest bunch of Nerds this side of Mars. I don't want to say I think we'll lose but I just have a bad feeling. Our defense has been nothing short of inconsistent and our offense has issues finishing drives. I'd love to think we'll have this corrected by Saturday but I just don't know. I fear that we may need to summon the ghost of Reggie Ball to help us pull out a victory, but we shall see.

I've had difficulty summoning the passion to write about UGA football lately but it is never far from my mind. As we near the finish of this year we face the uncertainty of this year's "Who's Staying/Who's Going?". I pray that both Knowshon and Stafford stay for a potential run at a title next year but I'm not holding my breath. With the rookie salaries in the NFL likely to dwindle after this year, I wouldn't be surprised to see them both gone. I have another 'gut' feeling that Stafford is the more likely to stay but again, who knows? I can't talk about it anymore, it's making me upset.

And now I'd love to share a random thought/idea of how to enhance the human experience. Given that this would likely be considered a hazard and highly illegal by law enforcement, I can only offer this idea as a hypothetical but I would secretly support it to the max should any loon actually put it into action.

The idea is this: 'Interstate Dance Party'
Many Americans sit in gridlock traffic on our highways on a daily basis. Many of these highways have 4-6 foot median walls that could easily be stood or even danced on. It would provide me, and I imagine many others, much pleasure to see a group of activists attempt to cheer up the traffic by having an interpretive dance party on the median walls. Granted, this may cause accidents but I certainly would look forward to my commute knowing that some broke hippie may be waiting to entertain me through the art of dance on my way home. This really is hard to explain my vision of how humorous this would be, hopefully some of it came through.

One final thought/story/rant:

I'm walking through a Mall food court last week and pass a black gentleman as he approaches a black female pushing a stroller. I am right beside him as he smiles at her, a total stranger, and says "Change is Coming" and continues walking. It is certainly understandable for there to be excitement that a black man has been elected President, but how pathetic is it that people like this guy are so focused on race that they feel the need to say something like that to a stranger who just happens to be the same race as him (3 weeks after the election no less). Our country will never move past these issues until people realize a few things:
-We are all human
-We are all equal
-People can't help what color they are born-you can only help how you act
-You can't change the past, just affect the future
-Asian people hate us all, don't trust them

God Bless.

Sodomize Intolerance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI4XLhY10VA

Post-Election Thoughts

I am torn with conflicting thoughts and emotions today as I ponder the impending Presidency of our President-Elect Barack Obama. Throughout his campaign I have been a vocal opponent of his because of his record and his ideas for America. I am a Federalist and do not agree with or support the idea of a large national government so there is no way I could ever see myself seeing anywhere near eye to eye with a Democrat. I do however acknowledge that good leadership does not always involve pushing one’s own beliefs onto others who may or may not be of like mind. I hope and pray that Barack Obama is the leader he portrays himself to be. As Americans, we get the distinct opportunity to elect a leader every four years. Whether or not we vote for the person who wins, it is our civic duty to support the decision of the majority and to respect the office of the President of our United States.

So as I sit here today I am waving my white flag and preparing to support a man as the leader of my country. I pray that he will be a true leader, not a partisan politician as we have long seen in this country. We all need to respect and allow Mr. Obama the chance to lead and to see if he lives up to his word that he will be everyone’s President, not just the leader of those who voted for him. Good leadership is not a partisan quality; my ideals align fairly close on many issues with the current President but that does not mean I feel he is a good leader. George W. Bush’s divisiveness and inability/unwillingness to clearly communicate to the American people has left the country in the state it is in today.
People are hungry for leadership and now someone, Barack Obama, has a chance to truly attempt to lead.

I honestly feel that this will be a chance that Mr. Obama will waste but I have learned not to assume. For when you assume, my friends, you make an ASS of U and ME. I am burying my preconceptions and opinions for a few months-show me Democracy Mr. President Elect, show me unity: please don’t show me a socialist agenda and try to ram it down my throat.

God Bless America

Massacre on the St. Johns

My lack of posting as of late has been a disgrace to the handful of friends who apparently enjoy the ramblings on this blog. For that, I apologize.

I had a lot of positive thoughts a couple of weeks ago after the Dawgs trounced LSU but in all honesty my joy was short-lived. I woke up on Sunday after the LSU game with the realization that we were in all likelihood going to get overwhelmed on Saturday against the Gators. I just had a bad feeling in my gut. Now I tried to envision some positive scenarios and even sought some advice from some sages (Scott,Karl,Matt T.,Mookie) but nothing I heard could give me any true relief from my gut feeling. Unfortunately the feeling I had was correct. We were out-manned, out-coached, out-everythinged...

I can't even bring myself to watch a replay for any insight into this game. Did we play bad? Yes. Is Florida that much better than us? No. It was just one of those days. They had a better game plan, had more intensity, got the breaks, etc. Was it classless of Urban Meyer to call 2 late timeouts? Yes. But you know, what really irks me is that it even came to that. We have too good of a team and too good of a program to play against ANYONE and have that be an issue. We should never have been down 49-10 like that but... it is what it is.

One area that the Gators lost in, at least in my experience of the weekend, was partying. I saw some of the most hardcore partying (not the porn site) I have ever seen and the majority of our group is 4 + years out of college. We had a lovely little home a block from the beach on St. Simons and turned that place into an absolute breeding ground of mayhem and destruction. We had an absurd Halloween party w/ ridiculous costumes which included; Joe the Plummer,John McCain,Sarah Palin,a Construction worker,2 Scottish horndogs,an inmate,an 80's mom and prom queen,Tequilla Man,Superman,Wonderwoman, and my personal favorite-some sort of Richard Simmons-esque fitness class leader. Too much happened to go into but I am stunned the house was still standing at the end of the night.

Saturday culminated with a lot of hangovers and the arrival of a bus to take us to Jacksonville. The ride was filled with a lot of people dealing w/ very full bladders and no bathroom. Of the numerous exits off the bus to urinate on the side of the road, the best had to be a female who got off the bus and attempted to enter a doctor's office to pee. When the door was locked she decided to squat behind a column about 5 feet from the door of this office. Oh, and in case you were wondering-the lobby was full of patients who no doubt were in sheer amazement at what they saw. Among other events yours truly also nearly incited a riot with some ill-timed remarks in bad taste which I truly regret making, but it was dealt with and the day went on. Oh and before I forget, another favorite moment from the ride to the game involved our man Mook-Dawg getting off the bus on the highway to keep a Gator's car from merging into us.

Let's skip the game. Had great seats and watched us get killed, I think someone lost their girlfriend and some other folks about got in about 60 fights over a 2 hour period but that's neither here nor there.

And then came the ride home. Never in my life have I seen such a scene:
-Nearly 30 drunken people yelling and dancing to any music that came on the radio.
-At least 4 impromptu dance parties where probably 10+ bus patrons got off the bus and attempted to seduce pedestrians and other vehicles with their erotic and exotic dancing.
-A man who we believe to be 30+ years old stripping down nude and giving almost every single person on the bus a lap dance and swinging all up and down the bus with his over-sized package flopping around
-A gas station stop with 10 men peeing on the side of a Subway
-Two men hanging from rails at the top of the bus engaging in the single most acrobatic simulated dance/sex act I have ever seen and will see. Words cannot begin to do this particular scene justice.

I'm sure I forgot some things and events worth noting but hopefully the feeling of the weekend will come through in the words that have been written.

And onward we go; we've still got 3 regular season games left and a chance to get back in the top 10 w/ a 10-win season. Then we can spend 8 more months talking about how next year will be 'the year'. I, for one, will savor the rest of this season though. I still love this team and want to see us start to realize our potential.

God Bless,

Les