"I'm gonna show you who how great I am"

"Somewhere along the line you changed, stopped being you." I like everything about this video. The history...the highlights...the music...the message.

courtesy of RussDoogin

Newcomer Impact: pretest

Camp's almost here. And I'm evidently in a ranking mood lately. So this will be the pretest for where the newcomers sit in my mind heading into camp as far as their impact on the upcoming season. In about a month we'll re-rank them just before the season, in October we'll give them a midterm and then the final will be in December.


Be sure to let me know who I've missed.

1. John Jenkins - You can make an argument that he's already made the most impact given Kwame Geathers' spring. I think Jenkins was our biggest signee in both stature and importance. Crowell's gained some on him given the RB attrition, but this big guy is going to transform the defense and have a bigger impact in Athens than Mt. Cody did in Tuscaloosa.
2. Malcolm Mitchell - "Tampa" is sounding more and more like the real deal. Not just an eventually finds a role on the field kind of deal. More like he might give Orson a run at grabbing the season's first TD kind of deal. There's a reason Bobo spent more time in the Valdosta HS parking lot last Winter than he did in his own house. He wanted this kid because he can score from anywhere on the field. And now he gets to play with what Santa delivered.
3. Isaiah Crowell - Unlike Mitchell out wide, Crowell doesn't have big AJ shoes to fill but every tailback who comes to Athens is forever in #34's shadow. Crowell could easily be #2 on this list, maybe even #1. He's that good. I think the biggest hurdle for Crowell could be himself. On the one hand it was cool seeing the nation's top RB hold up a bulldog pup on national tv in February. On the other it was a glimpse at just how big the kid had become. The transition to just another scholarship player is a hard one.
4. Ray Drew - The good Reverend will play. Despite OLB's depth of talent he'll be in Grantham's mix. However he has to learn a new skill, covering passing routes. He's a terror rushing the passer, but now that he's moved from a HS defensive end to an OLB he won't be rushing to get into the backfield every down. I'm anxious to hear how quickly this transition goes.
5. Jarvis Jones - While Tavarres King and others try to fill AJ's cleats, Jones is charged with filling Houston's. And all indications are he's more than ready. In fact, it sounds like he's already steps ahead in the locker room and could be even better on the field. Not sure why Kiffin wasn't interested in Jones, but since when has anything that guy done made a damn bit of sense? Assuming the mess in Columbus gets resolved at a reasonable pace, Jones will be every bit the playmaker we need on the defensive side of the ball.

Of course assuming any NCAA process involving UGA goes smoothly and fairly is a stretch. Now, back to Crowell...the starting tailback position has gone from a challenge to obtain to getting dropped in his lap. How well he accepts that responsibility will determine whether he's this season's Lattimore or Carlton Thomas' backup.

Others looking to crack the future rankings - Damian Swann, Corey Moore, Nick Marshall, Chris Sanders and Jay Rome.

Setting the away game table

Was checking out Phil Steele's blog yesterday where he ranked all 120 teams according to home field edges. Naturally I wanted to see where our home ranked; Sanford is 14th.


But as I delved deeper into his explanation for how he arrives at the final ranking I was even more curious to see where our hardest away games would be. Teams' stadium capacity, attendance, % of capacity, and home records are taken into account. So I lined up our schedule with Steele's rankings and here's what we've got:

1. Tennessee - ranked tied for 26th with an edge of 4.5
2. Georgia Tech - ranked tied for 32nd with an edge of 4.25*
3. Ole Miss - ranked tied for 57th with an edge of 3.75
4. Vanderbilt - ranked tied for 104th with an edge of 2.5

First off, we're lucky we get Boise State and Florida at neutral locations. They rank tied for 1st and tied for 6th respectively. Plus it only gives us four true road games this season. This may not seem like a large factor at this point and is gathering dust compared to the fact that UGA evades Bama, LSU and Arkansas in 2011. But should we lose an early game (especially to a conference opponent) it's going to help that the highest team up there for us is a team still reeling rebuilding...and has a quarterback who needs his named ink'd to his back as a reminder.


*one could argue that this one isn't a true road game. All Dawgs eat free hot dogs and guzzle cokes at Historic Mark Richt Field.

Changes...

Some say they're inevitable. If you're not a fan of the new layout, chances are it'll change again soon. Just felt the need to rearrange and fine tune. And there's actually more fine tuning to do...whenever there's time.

Coach T said it was necessary and Thomas Brown insisted I GATA. Stay tuned.

- Posted using BlogPress from Bernie's iPhone

More benefits linked to Jones in latest report

A report released yesterday identifies further benefits to UGA linebacker Jarvis Jones from former Georgia Blazers coach Tony Adams.

A report Wednesday linked possible further financial benefits provided by the former coach of a Columbus AAU basketball team to Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer cited police records showing that then-Georgia Blazers coach Tony Adams withdrew $700 from an unauthorized city bank account set up for the city-sponsored team.
Adams, the former director of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department, withdrew $400 from the account on Feb. 16, 2010 and labeled it “Jarvis laptop” and took out $300 on March 12, 2010 and wrote “Georgia Blazers Jarvis Jones,” records showed.
Jones was attending Southern California at the time.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity has said the school hopes this week to complete an internal investigation into possible NCAA violations of improper benefits involving Jones and freshman basketball guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, both former Blazers players.
Georgia would then send that report to the Southeastern Conference and NCAA.
McGarity said Monday that he expected the school’s report to include any prior relationship that Jones might have with those involved with the Parks and Recreation Department. That could impact how the NCAA views the Jones case.
Jones played on a team coached by Adams as early as the summer of 2003, according to a published newspaper article.

More "addition by attrition"

It started after losing in Memphis.

“Since we got back from after the bowl game, coach Richt has made it very clear that we’re going to work and we’re going to make everybody understand that you got to pay a price and it’s something special to wear the ‘G’ and be part of the University of Georgia,” Bobo said. “It’s not going to be easy, and we’ve made it extremely tough around here. When you turn up the heat, sometimes you’re going to have guys that don’t want to be a part of it. That’s their choice.”

Richt (with some help from Tereshinki) effectively spent the next few months cutting the cancer out. Now it's time to fret a little over the consequences of losing players like Dowtin, Ealey, Harmon, Benedict, King. As Richt said last week a couple of those were "helped" off the bus. So will the bus run better with a lighter load? Will more yards be gained from subtracting a few players?

“Coach Richt did a fairly good job of letting people go,” Charles said. “I guess they didn’t want to follow the Georgia way. I felt like it was building up and it was time to happen now. Last year, we had a couple of people that didn’t want to follow and they were still on the team. This year, I guess coach Richt said, ‘No, not this year.’ ”

“Some guys that aren’t here, they made their decisions, whether they were right or wrong,” junior linebacker Christian Robinson said. “I think the guys we have here, the guys that are left want to be at Georgia the most. There were some guys that didn’t always fit in and do what they were supposed to do, didn’t behave. Nothing against them, but they didn’t fit into what we need right now.”

My hope is that this won't be an issue once the actual season rolls around. The coaches like the starting offensive line we have and Bobo mentioned yesterday that Dallas Lee is doing pretty well since sitting out much of the spring. As far as running back, we should be good there too. More on that later.

Not so memorabilia

h/t Heath


In case you didn't see this investigative story by Randy Travis at Fox5...I hope none of my readers got taken by this slimeball.

I-Team: Fake Sports Memorabilia - Part 2: MyFoxATLANTA.com

If you missed the whole thing altogether, here's a link to the first part of the report. This POS needs to spend some time worrying about dropping the soap.


On the bright side, if you'd like to contact the real artist in the story, you can email him with this addy: Burchettkl AT yahoo DOT com.

Fist bump for Damarcus Dobbs

"The big man just keeps on running..."

He saved our ass in Lexington a few years ago and now he's signed on as a free agent with San Fran. All of us here at BDB wish Dobbs the very best. Talk about a guy who's made the most from nothing. Damn proud of this Damn Good Dawg!

Coach Richt vs Chris Fowler

Mostly softballs, but here's the interview from yesterday.

Humpday Hilarity

I've seen some crazy (crap) at weddings. But...

...that! That is insane. I mean you just knew from the bride's face early in the clip that something was gonna happen. But I had no idea she'd end up with a bloody nose. I just wish the camera person had caught the Elaine Benes stripper wannabe post apocolyptic catastrophe on film. 


I bet she was already back at the open bar though.

Last night in Cobb

The short and sweet of it:


1. Richt is thankful:

[after a standing ovation] “That made me feel great,” Richt said at the final offseason Bulldogs’ speaking tour stop.

Some 35 minutes later when he was finished, he thanked the fans.

“This room could have been empty,” Richt said in his closing remarks. “Everybody could have been in the tank. …The Bulldog Nation has supported us….after a subpar year. I thank you for that.”

You're welcome Coach. Now...to be perfectly direct...get after that ass! 


2. Prayers for Kasyn. Kirk Olivadotti's 4 year old daughter has leukemia and they ask for our prayers.


3. Bowman and Turene aren't going to be in Athens next week unless they're cleared to be. I think we'll know Bowman's status before camp starts on 8/4. Turene's timetable is set by the NCAA Clearinghouse and is more ambiguous. Stay tuned.


4. “When guys get off the beaten path, you’ve got to part ways,” Richt said. A stricter curfew, cussing at fans who question his ability to coach, telling Ealey the door is aimed at his ass...who is this guy?


5. I'll believe Marlon Brown is ready for SEC play when I see it. But Coach Richt emphasized that #15 has gotten as much lip service as Malcolm Mitchell. If you're like me, at this point some competition at wideout sounds like a damn good thing.


39 days...

Jarvis Jones update

At last night's Atlanta Bulldog Club meeting, AD McGarity shed a little light on where things stand with Jarvis Jones as far as starting the season.

Speaking at the final Bulldog Club meeting of the offseason, McGarity, along with Mark Richt and Mark Fox, spoke about the eligibility status of Jones and basketball freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Both were involved in an investigation into a Columbus-based AAU team.

Georgia is expecting news on Jones before fall camp begins Aug. 4. As to what the ruling will be, McGarity is still unsure.

“I quit trying to guess how things will turn out because bottom line is, it is what it is, and you report whatever you find out and uncover everything—try to report everything at one time with honesty,” McGarity said.

A few notes of interest involving the case: Georgia is involved in an inquiry, but this case is different than what A.J. Green faced last season because Columbus police are conducting the investigation.

“I think the difference was, as I understand things, this was either the city or the state that conducted the investigation,” McGarity said. “So this was a separate entity that had done all of the legwork, so in essence there was a whole investigation done—not by us, so we’re just basically finding out what was in the report and reacting.”

It doesn't appear that the Jarvis Jones case will amount to much. And I say that in full remembrance of the AJ Green raping that we took.  But like Fletcher said above, the cases are vastly different. A lot of people inside and outside of Butts-Mehre would be very surprised if Jones missed any games at all. 

Monday's Meatloaf - Beer Fest..."Doh!"

Had a great time Saturday in Suwanee. For surviving 14 years with Mrs. Bernie I presented myself with a ticket to the Suwanee Beer Fest. If it hadn't been hot as hell I'm pretty sure it was a decent glimpse at what Heaven is like on a Saturday afternoon. Endless beer, good food and music. Ahh...Brian McGee....Duff Beer...

Not surprisingly a lot of Dawg fans in attendance. Nice to see Donna as usual and I also got a chance to meet Kevin from over at SicEmDawgs. He brought a Clempson fan with him and is neighbors with an Auburn fan, but from what I can tell we shouldn't hold that against him. Hell, I grew up with parents who sing Tiger Rag. It's not a beat I can dance to but I understand most of the words.

But I digress. Unfortunately, it wasn't over before we ran into what Kevin aptly described as the typical floriDuh fan: greasy, spiky hair...impressed with the volume of his voice...and never attended class there. What's worse is he's dating a nice looking UGA girl who allows this douche to fly a florida flag outside their home. I did a double take and then asked her to confirm that she shares a home with him. When she did just that we all told her she could do much better and then left them to sort out the details.

I'm sure she'll still be sitting beside him come October 29th. And I'm sure that one barner with the "Nat'l Champ" t-shirt will still be putting ice cubes in his beer. O.M.G! y'all. Proof that the world's imperfect. Which is what I tried to communicate to Mrs. Bernie after she picked me up Saturday afternoon. But evidently after a "few" beers it came out more like..."she ghys wgheds dydvqs doucshhhbag..."

Today's Ingredients

• What was the best beer I had? Hard call. The Weyerbacher Hop Infusion was a new one for me and it was very good.
• Don't know about you, but I've really enjoyed ecdawg's guest poster Zodiac and the Starter Analysis. Yesterday it was more on the offense. Good stuff.
• Fletcher wraps up Georgia's Media Days ($$) with Milani Beaudrault with lots of insight into the team, especially on offense. 
• And I like the way Matt Stinchcomb differentiates between the first and second games of the season for Dijana.
• Bottoms up, Senator!
• Big Muddy found some skeleton 7 pics on the twitterwebs.
• It's the off season and Dawgfan17 can't help but dichotomize UGA fans after reading some message boreds.
• Readers of Phil Steele have the UGA-chicken game pretty close, but think Garcia ponykegs us in the end.
• No one knows what kind of record this season will bring. But Kimberley's take on leadership this season is a safe investment if you ask me.
• Over at Holy Turf, Dayne discusses how the Boise State game has helped pump some energy into the coaches and the players.
• All Nick is saying....is give peace a chance.
• Smart Football uses the 2000 Outback Bowl as a way to illustrate why going for a 2-point conversion in the 2st half is almost always a bad idea.
• John Swafford is sick of UNC and Tech's sh*t.
• Tennessee senior LB Austin Johnson was involved in "a situation" early Sunday. They are "looking into it".

Saturday's events remind me of a drunken summation my mom would recite every once in a while. The end goes like this: Besides, I've got all day Sober to Sunday up in. I'll impart the rest in a Beer of the Week post later on. And speaking of BotW, if anyone would like to guest post for it send me an email. I'd love to hear what some of the Brewsual Suspects are drinking. And it pays in one PBR tall boy at our tailgate this Fall.

Where else are you gonna get an offer like that?

But back to Mom, God bless her. She and Pops took the kids for a week. You go from refereeing a fight over a Barbie that has no head to watching Louie's sexual education episode without worrying if the kids are around the corner expanding their "non-scholarly" vocabulary. It's like I'm 27 again and only have to share the house with one female. Granted it's the one female that has the power to construct a honey-do-it! list, but at least I can give the ref whistle a rest for a good stretch of days.

I'm sure by Friday the serenity will be overwhelming...and Barbie will be ready for another headless tug o war. Here's your fork Reader. Grab some meaty goodness before those NFL players get back in line.

Bernie

Tuscaloosa Mens Where?

This is either a developing story or just another Wartigesman's wet dream: T-Town mens store at the center of signed jersey controversy.

After Outkickthecoverage.com reported on the odd relationship between T-Town Menswear and Alabama football, the university provided word to OKTC and ESPN that it had sent a cease and desist letter to the store in December of 2010 and found nothing improper in the relationship between the store and its players. But as further investigation ensues the connections between the program, the store, and the store's owner, Tom Albetar, are becoming deeper and more troubling. In fact, OKTC has discovered that Albetar was well known enough to Alabama officials to receive sideline passes to Alabama games in both 2009 and 2010.

The only thing that's safe to say at this point is that Tom Albetar won't be on the sideline for the Bama-Arkansas game in a couple months. Where the story goes from there...who knows.