Monday's Meatloaf - Mett Masters G-Day

This could end up to be relatively short. After spending Saturday in Athens I chose a little golf course in Augusta for some Sunday worship. Many thanks to Mac for the passes. Semper Fi ol' Dawg! It was a beautiful day to walk a golf course with your dad, even if the sticks were left in the trunk. However, the one downside to a weekend spent absorbing God's great beauties is not much free time to construct a well-shaped loaf of ground meat. But let's see how it goes.

About the only person who had a better weekend than Zach Mettenberger was the now three time Masters champ Phil Mickelson. Lefty came within a couple birdies of the course record, just one day after Mett treated receivers as if they were clay pigeons during target practice.

While many weren't necessarily surprised by the redshirt freshman's performance 'tween the hedges, it was easier to be bewildered by Murray's. I'm sure a lot of us were walking away from Sanford Saturday cautioning ourselves. Cuz as Coach Richt and Bobo ponder the depth chart there's a lot of variables to consider.

Perhaps first and foremost....does Mett get a mulligan?

Today's Ingredients

• And by mulligan I mean, does Zach get to skip the first tee box yet still play through. That scenario is difficult to imagine. If he continues to progress and neither Murray nor Gray seize the opportunity, we may just be looking at at two (maybe three...??) headed signal caller come September. More here later.
• Even before G-Day, CorbinDawg had a superficial reason for liking Coach Grantham.
• Hale summarizes the QB battle while Page recaps a pretty well wrapped 3-4.
• Although the defense we witnessed wasn't extremely tasty, I for one found the attitude and hustle very satisfying.
• I think the Senator used my Sanford seat to take in his thoughts from the 35. Some other G-Day type posts: Battle Hymn Notes, ecDawg, Weiszer, Dawg Stephen and Noops.
• (cue age old soft piano intro) Back at Augusta...Longest drive we personally saw was from Lucas Glover, which pleased Pops to no end...until some kid named Sweitchel (sp?) took the same tee shot from Yellow Jasmine another 10 yards.
• But then Freddie teed off from Carolina Cherry and outdrove the field I think from that hole. It's gotta be the shoes.($149.95 retail, fwiw. Socks obviously sold separately)
• That knife we felt Friday slipping it's way into the middle of our collective back was only the beginning I fear. Even for Coach Dooley, blood runs thicker than Herschel's thighs. Don't say I didn't warn ya.
• Speaking of Knutsville, they're roster is being treated like an Evite to a fall kickoff party. RSVP if your overalls still fit. Unfortunately for the HillBillys, more and more kids are volunteering themselves for a bus ticket outta Dodge. And to add insult to attrition, the new kid ain't catching on too quick.
• 2010s QB battle aside, Georgia is after some high profile QBs in next year's class of recruits. Perhaps none bigger than Christian LeMay who spent some time visiting what appear to be his top three (Clempson, Abuurn and Georgia) this past week. As usual, Chad Simmons is over it ($$) like a dab of butter on a bowlful of grits.
• Daugman updates us on the recruitment of Dwayne Polee, especially as it pertains to UTEP.
• Bama safety Robby Green has been officially ruled ineligible for 2010.
• And Mackie hit a milestone recently, evidently in large part to his better half. He makes it sound like he's retiring. If so, the FCC will be breathing a sigh of relief.

One thing that really stuck in my craw over the weekend was some of the reaction to Billy Payne's comments about Tiger. If you happened to have missed it, the Augusta National Chairman used his own personal stage to rip Tiger a new one on Wednesday. He wasn't answering questions from the media, just reminding everyone that this was his damn tournament and not a tiger paparazzi parade.

If you're keeping score at home, Tiger has adulterous affairs with all but two able-bodied women, gets caught, eventually decides to have a public pitty party for invited guests only and ultimately chooses the Masters as his coming back to Birdie party. For those unaware, this is the event that provides the greatest screen for Tiger to return...and I'm sure gives the members of Augusta National the greatest headache.

Now I get the fact that this is a personal issue between Tiger and Elin alone. But the playah can't have it both ways. You can't tell everyone they're crossing a line and then approve of this ridiculous advertisement. You can't keep that many skeletons in a closet and then cry foul when someone flips the light on.

When asked about Payne's comments after the first round Thursday, I heard Tiger say he was disappointed. After all that's happened since Thanksgiving, I still can't help but believe that Tiger is more disappointed that he got caught rather than anything else.

The reactions to the public sparring match between Payne and Woods was naturally mixed. Sir Charles called Billy an Uncle Tom while Mike Norrish of the UKs Telegraph thinks Payne did Tiger more favors than that Nike ad.

I really like Sir Charles. When he got caught with his zipper undone on the wrong side of the law, he took full responsibility. But along with Martha Burke, Barkley needs to realize that Augusta National is a private club. If you don't like their dogwoods, go sit under a pine.

And in the end Tiger couldn't catch another golfer who had the gall to take time off from the links to be by his wife's side during her battle with breast cancer. I guess in the end all the sexual rehab in Mississippi can't cure the three putt bogeys from inside six feet.

Well Reader...that turned out to be a full portion. Go grab a clean plate. There's plenty there for seconds.

Bernie