Golf anyone?

This comes courtesy of a buddy who, when he's not brewing Miranda's Climate Friendly Ale is obviously scouring YouTube for golf courses that can challenge his game. (As a side note - I once saw him win a fight with a driver....bent it right across his knee and threw it to the bottom of a pond to chase his Pinnacle 3.)

Epic. Just like this hole...sheeeeesh! At least yelling FORE! isn't really necessary.

Percy Smokes Million Dollar Doobie

This news could cost this gator millions. 

Hope it was worth it Percy Harvey. Go gator...

Optimism Meets Reality, Both Can Be Wiley

At 11am this morning Damon Evans will introduce the biggest hire of his tenure as UGAs Athletic Director. The second guessing... well, that began long before he made his decision.

Mark Fox may one day be recognized as good a coach as Pearl, Donovan, Calipari...but on April 3rd, 2009 in name recognition only, he couldn't be any more a polar opposite. Fans are left wondering how we went from Anderson to Fox.

And for that I believe Evans must take some blame; his words set the fanbase up for a BIG hire. He set his sights high and the media and the fans took off running. From the sublime (Capel) to the ridiculous (Knight). While the mutha and the AllJackCrap pimped their supremely vetted candidates, fans ran rampant with names from Anthony Grant to Tom Izzo.

But give credit to Evans for putting the faith and the resources into a program that has lacked both for years. He aimed high and has given this alum reason to believe hoops is on the rise in the Classic City.

This hire will immediately and continually be compared to Bama's with Grant. There was a public "discussion" between Donovan and Adams re: Grant; both Grant and Fox have been successful at comparable programs; Bama went sans search firm, while Evans added the support of extra eyes and investigative resources; and there was the obvious "pass" on the interview as Bama zeroed in on Grant.

I am of the opinion that Grant would have made the better presser, but fall short of feeling he's all that with a side of chips. The one advantage Grant has over Fox at this point is that he is more familiar with the recruiting roads in GA.

But sometimes a fresh name/face/blood can do wonders in sparking an interest, developing and repairing relationships. My guess is Fox will be able to hold his own there. At least until Jacob Dominique Wilkins turns 18 and chooses UGA for his hoops scholly....in 2024.  : )

I think in the end this hire and the process as a whole fully represents where our program is: looking for the best, but forced to settle for potential. It was nice to dream about Capels and Izzos, but if we wake up with a hidden gem I think we're just as happy.

Friday's Feedbag

• Had a real nice bit on Logan Gray and the QB situation this spring in the can; then Evans decided he'd rather me post on hoops. Note to Damon: I am your pawn, move me in the direction that best serves our blessed institution. (I'll give you your props a little later Logan....)
• Speaking of QBs, Tucker of the AJC adds another log to the freshman QB blaze with this piece that shows a little of JCs sense of self-deprecating humor. And Tucker also promises to feature Gray in a feature Sunday. It may be more in-depth than mine, but I bet mine gets a fraction of his reads - HA!
• Clempson's Saratt bedazzled Georgia batters for eight innings Wednesday night, but had to hand the ball to Vaughn outta the tiggers bullpen in the ninth. Just what Cerione, Poythress and Lewis needed to open up a three run ninth and a come from behind win to sweep a two-game home and home with the urranjah clad diamond dwellers. Will Harvil shut the door in the ninth. Big three game series with LSwho this weekend at Foley for our #1 Diamond Dawgs.
• By the way...if you're going to Foley this weekend, you already have a ticket. All three games are sold out. Hopefully mudda nature shines as brightly as the bullpen did Wednesday night.
• Carvell has the latest in what is the witless wonder's escapades up in the hills. It's a KiffyBaby World, the rest of us are just using the gravitational pull with greater success. And credit the AJC recruiting guy for getting in print what may be the only instance of Laney being humble....albeit in relation to his torso, not his tackle football coaching ability.
• The Queen rules. Literally. But I wonder if the very hip Obama left any Miles Davis or Snoop Dogg on that music player doohickie.
• The pissin' contest in Mile High is finally over. And the winner is....us, the fans that really don't care.

Some programming notes: if you are looking for this week's discussion on Athens' battle against trans fat, it's here. And BDBs official welcome to Coach Fox is here.

I'm on vacation as of Friday after lunch, but have a few things in the can that will keep you occupied while I'm away reader. Of course, if Jenn and I don't win our tennis match tonight, she may have me pack the car just to watch it leave without me.

Don't leave me with the lawn to mow. Don't leave me with the lawn to mow!

I'll leave ya with this: a month ago tomorrow, I laid out the facts for ya reader. I posed the possibility that Evans could be at the table with pocket jacks or trying to draw into a flush. I think he has four clubs and as a fanbase we'll wait to see what the river card turns up.

And hopefully it doesn't come up Eustache. Happy weekend!

Bernie

Welcome to Stegeman Coach Fox

...an eager, deserving fan base awaits.

Bernie's take:

• the swing and miss at Anderson takes away from this hire most of the shine
• the time Evans had, the very public and debated hiring of a search firm, the telling omission of Grant for the interviewees list, the ridiculous rumorings of Capel and the size of the checkbook Evans was working from made this hire a spectacle early and often
  
• Fox is a quality hire that reflects where this program is on the college basketball landscape: eager to dunk (Anderson), settling for a modest layup (Fox) and avoiding the turnover (another year of Felton)
• I'm eager to find out details of the deal
• Terrance Moore is NOT gonna like this one at all

Reader, link yo'self!

Towers broke the story

Mark Fox Bio

PWDs rundown (plus a plethora of comments, most of which are coherent)

The Schlabach & Katz Show

A Hale-ian Wrap-up

Hungry? Let's Grab Some Lunch

Recently the hardest working man on the Georgia Dawgs' beat told us of a new business opening in Athens: a place called Rita's Water Ice. As an Athens native and a UGA alum, it got me thinking (as dangerous as that has proven to be) about eateries around campus...

A hmmm....turned into an uhmmmm!.

An empty stomach after a hard day of frisbee on the quad and playing pool at Tate is a bad combination for a college student. Let's take a trip up Baxter and grab some Guthrie's!

My doctor likes to tell me that I'm still carrying some of that Guthrie's special sauce in my arteries and that all those hot wings from Steve's have taken their toll on my HdL, ....or is it LdL.What the hell! It's probably both.

But I just smile, grab that cold metal disc he's placed on my chest and holler into it, "What can I say Doc? Me likes me some Taco Stand!"

So far we've lent our ears to the southwest corner of Sanford and sobered up in some memories of big wins on campus. Today let's grab a handful of Herbie's Balls and talk about our favorite "meals" around campus.

I don't want to restrict you reader to just food on campus. Afterall, I worked a decade one year inside Bolton. I know how they made that chocolate pudding. So imagine a large triangle from South Milledge all the way up to Prince (grab me an order of onion rings, a chili dog and a frosted orange on your way by the V) and then head over to the East Side and cop a squat at Mama Sid's for a slice.

Pass the bleu cheese and tell me what Athens eatery is clogging your vessels?

Wednesday's a New Day

Issues, topics and otherwise random propositions for your mid-week ponderings:

• Anderson said no thanks, but that wasn't the worst news out of Athens yesterday...
  
• We're down to two (2) DEs for G-Day! No April Fool's. Two...that's it!
• The Diamond Dawgs topped Clempson 6-5. Perno's top ranked team will travel north along I-85 to play the Tigers again tonight, undoubtedly passing the 4-Hers on their tractors somewhere south of Commerce.
• Sounds like Stafford had a good day in Detroit. He's surely done everything he can to impress the holders of the first pick in April's draft.
  
• The news that barely broke wind Monday - Tony Bennett signed on with UVAs hoops program. What surprised me was that it will be to the tune of $1.7 million clams over 5 years. Wow!
  
• Saban is out to prove he's satan's spawn. Whatta cad!
  
• As bad as we'll feel when Capel turns us down and we end up at the table with Haith, we're still having a better week than this guy.

And lastly, David Hale is reporting in his links today that Ron Jirsa is serving as an advisor to Evans at this point in the search. Let's all meet later at Burger King for a left-handed Whopper. I hear they don't come with pickles.
Don't look now but your shoelaces are untied.

Mike Anderson Has Been Offered UGA Hoops Gig

UPDATE: ESPN confirms that Anderson has re-upped with Missouri ending the Anderson to UGA saga.

______________________________

UPDATE: Towers of AJC fame has spoken to the supercilious Sexton (Anderson's agent) and he refuted Schlabach's report saying UGA has yet to make an offer to his client, which he implied is unfortunate. 

Bernie asks: is it possible an agent is working more than one angle? 

_____________________________

As expected (and hoped), Mike Anderson has been offered the Head Basketball Coach position at UGA. Multi-year, 2+ million per, according to Schlabach of ESPN.  

Now we wait....

If Calipari goes to Kentucky, Anderson will likely have a decision to make and word is Evans has another offer to another candidate ready to go. If Calipari stays, then this may be a slam dunk.

Either way, the Felton chapter will officially close in a couple of days and a new era will begin.

The Coaching Search Just Went out for Recess

And it's kinda like a free-for-all.

The only thing that is relatively certain is that Damon Evans is not set to hire any of these guys -

Another relative certainty is that Calipari is headed to Lexington. PWD at Georgia Sports Blog has a rundown of the rumor mill including what is fact, speculation and just plain fun to read. And David Hale has two shiny pennies that easily add up to his two cents.

What do I think will happen? I think we're about to sit down at the high rollers table and hopefully will walk away with our new hoops coach. If someone has a better hand we may know by the weekend what our Plan B is.

And I'd rather never find out.

UPDATE: Calipari decided to "lemme sleep on it" before he travels to that paradise by the dashboard light, AHEM!. Lexington. And PWD has his eyes on travel logs.

Monday's Meatloaf Unplugged

Sometimes the answers to life's puzzling questions are right under our nose.

I noticed this weekend that our computer was not connecting to the world wide web. After tapping the monitor with my finger a few times, rebooting and then lightly kicking the CPU with my left foot I refused to panic.

I went to bed.

The next morning it didn't take long to realize that the internets fairies had not visited my home office. So I tapped the monitor a few more times, shook the keyboard a little and then prepared to call Ma Bell.

Ma and I go way back, but we don't always communicate well over the telephone; she has a tendency to transfer me to someone else who can help, then repeats every five minutes.

So before resorting to that drastic measure, I decided to check things over one more time. It wasn't long before I saw that the cable the world wide web comes through and into my home was unplugged. For those of you less knowledgeable than I am about technical thingiemabobs, this would be the equivalent of someone unplugging the picture box in your living room and turning the screen black.

So I plugged the cable back in and immediately found out that while I was away from the internets there was a wealthy businessman in Zimbabwe that needed my help and banking account to hide his money. 

Whew! Disaster averted.

In other recent news, Georgia signed another kicker - Brandon Bogatay of San Diego. This is being hailed as another opportunity to cure what ails our dreadful kicking game. But like an unplugged cable, the answer to that problem could be as simple as a quick fix.

The Senator has some statistical analysis that is worth some digestion. As bad as our rankings were in kickoffs last season, it may not mean a hill of beans. Then he follows that up with the path that led us to recognizing the name of Bogatay.

Personally I didn't see a whole lot wrong with Walsh's technique, other than some freshman jitters at times. I always welcome competition and maybe this new kid can bury the ball deep into the endzone more routinely and is more consistent in placing the pigskin between the uprights.

Then again, maybe he's just another kicker that we teach to kick to the left hash on the 20 yard line. Plug that thought into your circuit and see if you think it's wired correctly.

Today's Ingredients

• Calipari likes Lexington and the feeling might be mutual. It becomes even more apparent that UKs head round ball coaching search should not directly interfere with UGAs.
• Sure Calipari is a good coach. But this alum would just rather not have a coach who is on the NCAAs speed dial.
• Two names that Evans could have been waiting on are now done dancing. Capel is a perceived longshot and was ousted by UNC yesterday. Meanwhile Anderson seems ready to sit down at a table and sign off on a personal stimulus package. Mizzou lost Saturday to UConn.
• The Diamond Dawgs held on to sweep the voWels up in Knoxville. The bullpen and some untimely errors made for some shorter finger nails, but the series win was the Dawgs first in Knoxville since '01.
• Meanwhile the mens tennis team didn't let travel delays disrupt their court swagger as they dominated the Hogs in Fayetteville.
• Trump boardroom update: I do believe Jesse James told Rodman to "Shet up!" and bow down to the greater man in Herschel Walker.
• Now that Rodman's gone I guess the chances of seeing 34 giving him the Bill Bates treatment drops significantly.
• The Final Four is set. Which means we are about a week away from being subjected any longer to Obama's bracket. At least until next March. 
• Good article by Weiszer on Bryan Evans and his transformation from the goat at corner to potential stud at FS.
• And Bubba 'N Earl have their latest edition of Bringing Back Traditions with some Old School Cheers. If you wanna know what song Streit will be singing after this years' GA-floriDuh game - give it a click.

Should be an exciting week with spring drills nearing their apex, Evans poised to make the signature hire of his tenure as AD and Bernie making final preparations for a little vacation next week. Yup! Hitting the ESC key on the keyboard did little to repair my internet connection Saturday, but loading up the Tahoe Saturday will help the Bernie family escape the perils of civilized life.

In the mean time, stick a fork in it reader and call it lunch.

Bernie

Bernie Plays the Role of MLB GM

If I were to start my own professional baseball team...the first player I draft is this guy....

Rich Poythress is a man among boys in collegiate baseball. He wore his cape again Saturday in Knoxville and helped the Dawgs to an 11-9 win, ensuring their first series win there since 2001.