Monday's Meatloaf - taking the road less traveled

(Scene: a car along the interestates between here and there. The usual gloom and doom that travels with the car is noticeably absent.)

The tastes of victory

Bernie (smiling): I'd forgotten what this feels like. No endless hangover. The leftover taste of the cigar and a few empty bourbon bottles sure. But no regret and abject despair to go with it. 


Later, Bernie arrives home and greets his family.


7yo: Daddy, we beat Florida!
Bernie: I know Honey! They just couldn't score on our Dawgs!
9yo: Daddy we saw you on tv. You were wearing your red shirt!
Bernie (thinking to himself): Gosh, I hope the mic wasn't too close. 


Our Dawg fan then leans over to kiss the wife, smiles...and reflects on the road. Both the one in the rear view and the one ahead. For once, the one ahead is even better lit and has fewer potholes than the one behind.


Today's Ingredients

• You know I thought there was a costume change with about 4 minutes left. ecdawg has the pics to prove floriDuh fans changed into empty seats.
• The last time Georgia beat Florida and Tennessee in the same season, 1988. 
• And The Senator found another stat from not so ancient history.
• I couldn't care less about any argument on the level of the competition or the schedule. I'll take headlines like this any day. Georgia is back. 
• Coach Richt isn't looking to make any switch from Walsh to Bogatay after another game in which we struggled with field goals.
• Hamp guarantees something Muschamp should have predicted: second half offensive absolute futility.
• Martin Van Dawgin catches us up on a new fad that is taking a knee all across the world. Even little boys in the Phillipines...
• Any talk of a job saving win for CMR should be saved for December. But after giving up a 70+ yard pass on the opening play, the defense shut down the Gators' hobbled offense. 
• So perhaps Richt's first Christmas card should go to Grantham. Thanks for the "decided schematic advantage" in Jax Coach. GATA"
• The winning formula has never been just Nama and myself. So shout-outs to Cord and Fisk for chaperoning. It turned out to not be a thankless job afterall.

Trick or treat Johnny? Either way,
you going down.

College football can be cyclical enough to make you either giddy or sick. It turns and rotates and sometimes you just have to hold on and close your eyes for a while. Florida has had a couple down years since <quote>college football was invented in 1990<unquote>. But they are grasping a little more today than they were in 2002 and 2005, the last years they were rebuilding with a new coach.


Muschamp guaranteed something his sideline antics couldn't produce. It's one thing to throw tantrums when you're winning games in September. Going ofer in October exposes them for what they are. And tomorrow is November. The Gaturds will be trying to salvage a season and earn a bowl berth. 


Meanwhile Mark Richt emerges in the heat of the SEC East race. Suddenly his seat isn't nearly as hot as his game. But it's no time to sit down to test the exact temperature. His team didn't sit down when they were down 17-3. And the fans didn't sit down either. When you're taking the road that leads to a December Saturday in Atlanta, you let your feet do the walking and the talking. Little William might learn that one day. Right now he's having a hard enough time getting through grade school. He promised a fanbase drunk on success a shining diploma. And now a GED seems out of reach.


Have a great Halloween Reader. If you're dressed as Jarvis, try not to scare the kids too bad. Unless they're lil Brantleys. Some things are inevitable.


Bernie