Monday's Meatloaf - Do you remember when?...

We used to say...

Back in college, Joe Waterloo had this phenomenon he'd point out almost anytime we got into a car, cranked the engine of the old '67 Malibu Chevelle, and then did the same with the car's stereo (appropriately modified for the late 1980's with a Blaupunkt, btw...).

"Hey. This song was playing when we got out of the car!"

The first time this happened I just played along. There was always the chance he was just a bit touched, in a slightly imbalanced kind of way. After all, we'd just met and just because we were at the University of Georgia didn't mean he talked like we do. Maybe I was misunderstanding him.

Like the time he first said "I really smacked that puppy!!" while playing some early adoption Nintendo golf game I believe. We all looked at each other like what kind of sadistic and inhumane male role models do they have in southern Maryland that produces a guy that thinks smacking puppies around is something to brag about. But I do digress.

It didn't matter to ol Joe Waterloo that there was a cassette* in the deck. One that had been patiently waiting for the right key to make the right turn and re-ignite the tales of Pyromania that had so abruptly stopped when we'd finally found a parking spot in the Russell lot (this is before parking decks were invented kids. One had to burn at least a quarter of a tank of gas to luck into a spot back then, gather the groceries cheap beer and packages of Ramen noodles out of the trunk before hiking twelve miles uphill to your dormitory.) No, it was part of the gag I guess.

Which is why I found it so funny last week when I parked the car in the driveway Thursday evening with Van Morrison blaring and the dude just sat there all night long (without the aid of a cassette deck, a compact disc or even an iPod) until Friday morning when he could finish BIP BOP BIPping along about his brown eyed girl. I sat there dumbfounded. A flood of memories returning from decades back just to make me chuckle. I quickly looked in the backseat to see if somehow Joe Waterloo was (screwing) with me.

 As my 12yo said, it's no leg lamp but it's
still a major award!

Then I chuckled again. Turned that puppy up a little louder and...FA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA ti DA.

Just like that.

Today's Ingredients
- Given our victory this weekend (see inset picture and bow to our supremacy fledgling hopheads) the following bullets are all hopped up and ready to be poured as well as eaten.
- Make sure you check out the latest Junkyard Dawg Podcast. We've kegged episode three and are dry-hopping a two week long battle with iTunes for acceptance. Oh the drama!
- Fox's Hoop Dawgs boiled up to a two-seed in the NIT and will host Vermont Wednesday night at the Steg. Go Dawgs!
- Speaking of which, tickets hit the brew menu this morning for Wednesday night's game.
- Tyler has the skinny (or at least as much as teh internets will offer) on Vermont's basketball program on draft, post Tom Brennan.
- Sure the brackets are all set. But PWD is so malt-forward in looking ahead to next season's hoops schedule.
- Back on the gridiron Lugnut Dawg asks if Georgia's contract with its offensive coordinator isn't carbonated enough.
- Andrew has a spring practice primer on tap.
- If your Georgia tackle football expectations have too much yeast in the fermenter Blutarsky has some cogent and sobering thoughts on the year after the Year of the Quarterback.
- Emerson continues his look at the pre-Spring depth chart here with the defense.
- Greg found a mascot fight on the baseline! Whoa. Talk about a brew ha ha...Ahem. Sorry.
- Lastly, met two more friends of the blog Saturday up in Suwanee. Keep that internet connection paid up and the craft beer flowing Jon and Ben! Go Dawgs!

Special shout-out to my homebrewing pahtnahs Nama and Cord, the other two-thirds of BeaverDawg Brews. I'll hand over the winning medal soon enough. Just know that both Kroger and Publix frown on you wearing it up and down their beer aisle whilst screaming the lyrics to We are the Champion!

The dude so abides y'all. In closing, Happy St. Patrick's Day and all that! As the saying goes, there are only two kinds of people in the world - Irish and those that wish they were! So let's close out this end out with an good Irish Joke:

 An Irishman was drinking in a bar in London when he gets a call on his cell phone. He orders drinks for everybody in the bar as he announces his wife has just produced a typical Irish baby boy weighing 25 pounds. 

Nobody can believe that any new baby can weigh in at 25 pounds,
but the man just shrugs, "That's about average up our way, folks ... like I said … my boy's a typical County Clare baby boy." 

Two weeks later the man returns to the bar. The bartender says, "Say, you're the father of that typical Irish baby that weighed 25 pounds at birth, aren't you? Everybody's been making' bets about how big he'd be in two weeks .... so how much does he weigh now?" 

The proud father answers, "Seventeen pounds." The bartender is puzzled and concerned. "What happened? He was 25 pounds the day he was born." 

The father takes a slow swig of his Jameson Irish Whisky,
wipes his lips on his shirt sleeve, leans into the bartender and proudly says, "Had him circumcised."

Thanks for sending that one Mac, ya old bloke! Sláinte Reader! Here's your fork and a pint glass of Murphy's. Call it lón.

Bernie

The ball's in Fox's court

Gonna give you three numbers: 4, 31 and 43. Year four, thirty-one wins and forty-three losses. So after Coach Fox's fourth season we've compiled a sub .500 record (in the SEC, including conference tournament; also, please see addendum below about conference record compilation).

Is this acceptable? No. And I would presume that's the answer you'd get from just about everybody, including Coach Fox himself. But like a road trip that has for one reason or another veered off course, this is where we are. Which is probably why this is one of those posts I've written about twelve times and deleted eleven of those.

So I'm just going to throw it out there. Can Fox get us there? "There" being in the hunt for Sweet Sixteens, Final Fours and SEC banners?

In the last four years Fox has proven to me that he can coach on par or better with every other head guy in the league. What separates the others from our stagnant place closer to the bowels is the talent he's bringing in, more specifically the talent he's not able to bring in. We had one player mentioned among the SEC elite for the season. Florida had five. That's the difference between first in the standings and ninth; the difference between 14-4 and 9-9.

Something has to change or we can just continue to get used celebrating individual player achievements.

Addendum: I found numerous errors in Fox's SEC record. For example, on the official website it has our 2010 SEC tourney record as 2-0. That of course isn't possible. Further digging reminded me that we were 1-1 with a loss to Vandy in the second round in that tournament. So all that to say that the record I've compiled above is the best I can come up with using multiple sites, the most accurate of which I believe is SicEmDawgs.com.

I told you so: the Tony Parker edition

Yeh, about that Tony Parker coming to Athens thing...I'm pretty sure the person that was most upset yesterday when they finally got around to an announcement over at Miller Grove, was my 10yo. By the time Parker's coach finished speaking she had earrings to match the heels and was absolutely giddy. Then things crashed all around her excitement. 


Sad. But it would not have been a pretty picture.


So once again we all feel that lonesome left at the altar feeling. It hurts, but life moves on. We weren't the right fit for Tony Parker. We got to dance with the big boys for awhile but are walking to the parking lot by ourselves.


The one thing I would like to address are the people saying things like "Mark Fox's days are numbered now in Athens". I can see where you get there for sure. That was a high profile recruit from right down the road that we just very publicly swung and missed on. But the truth is that Fox isn't the problem, at least not in the larger scheme of things. I'm convinced he's a great coach that is only going to get better. An honest question for him is who did we miss on that we could've actually signed. 


But I digress....


No, the fact is that whoever were to replace Mark Fox is going to be up against the same seemingly insurmountable hurdle that Fox is: a program that somehow survives in a big boy league on such little support. For a Georgia coach to succeed he's got to break into the AAU ranks with recruiting, especially around Atlanta. Big time. For the Georgia program to succeed there's some people that need to get out of the way and some that need to get into the seats.


And before we totally leave the I told you so meme...why are Dawg fans surprised about the Erk statue "news"? I gave you the heads up almost a year ago.

Coach Fox's report card

I've really been thinking about this post by Corbindawg and this subsequent post by Mr. Sanchez. I've even gone back and read my glowing, kool-aid drenched post from two years ago when Mark Fox was just tuning up. In hindsight it was premature and inaccurate.


Or was it?


Like the bloggers who've touched on the subject before me I just don't know if Fox can turn the ship in the direction we want it to course. To qualify that, I know he can coach at this level. He can coach well enough to be a major player in this league. That much I know. 


But As Mr. Sanchez said, you aren't going to win Talladega in a Honda. And the UGA men's hoops program is surrounded by really fast, well built engines just looking for a showcase. Too often the Tony Parkers find that showcase in other climes and destinations. Which unfairly or not, leaves us uninspired by the recruits we do get.


So yes, the issue is can Fox recruit. So far if we were to grade him out I would give him a solid B for coaching and a borderline C- in recruiting. Those two are hands that must complement each other well. Really well. Good recruits can bring the coaching grade up. Way up.


I agree that Fox needs more time. The product on the floor isn't producing the wins at a rate that anyone would like, but it's a much better product to watch than his predecessor's slow, overly methodical snorefest. The class coming in next year won't turn a lot of heads now. But if they can develop around Caldwell-Pope...and if Thompkins and/or Leslie could start averaging more minutes...granted a longshot...


But maybe it's one Coach Fox can make.

Monday's Meatloaf - Stupidity has run amok

How to implicate yourself in 20 words or less:

Sometimes it's just better to keep your mouth closed. That said, I hate when I lift some chicks purse and then she tells the judge there was more crap in there than there actually was. Pisses me off! 

She doesn't even look like she knows how to use a calculator.

Today's Ingredients

• UGA Athletics news to come. But first, this is the biggest news from the weekend. Welcome home Exile! Whatever shall we call thee now?
• Teams continue to find that it's hard to beat the Dawgs in tennis. Both the men and the women have advanced to the round of 16 and play later this week in California.
• Not a great weekend for the Diamond Dawgs, but they did earn their spot in the SEC Tourney with a win over the Wildcats.
• The softball team couldn't quite win the SEC Saturday, but they will host a regional this week against Georgia State.
• Mike thinks the "Tale" is wagging the Dawg once more.
• Remember, tonight we find out where Dillon Lee intends on playing football in college.
• ecdawg enters into the college playoff discussion with some words he thinks Tony Barhart missed.
• PWD had an intriguing post yesterday about the future of Georgia Sports Blog. Hmmm...
• Although the "should have lost" descriptor makes me cringe, Martin van Dawgin has the first post in an installment designed to evaluate Coach Richt.
• If you don't know the name Nkemdiche, Chad Simmons says you should become familiar ($$).
• Yes! I've been saying this more and more the last couple years - get the student athletes off the social webs as much as possible. 
• Although I do disagree with Mr. Sanchez, I think Coach Fox has the right idea: let the guys who've shown they can handle themselves maturely have a longer leash.
• "Tressel doesn't deny wrongdoing. By hiring Marsh, Tressel intends to not deny himself the best chance of survival." If Jimmy Tressel weren't so slimy he might actually be cute. h/t Senator
• Not long after finding out that Mike Blakely might transfer from Gayturdsville to Skip Holtz's South Florida team, we also find out that FUs Chris Dunkley may do the same thing.
• Lastly, Serena Williams recently graduated from the Erin Andrews School of Attention Whoring, magna cum laude no less.

Always willing to try something different, today I'm coming to you from the luggage compartment of my mother in law's car. She's leaving our home today despite the pleadings of all of its denizens. She intends to head home, a return to retirement living. Peace and quiet reawakened.

But the thought of detoxing two kids who've spent nearly two weeks being entertained by their grandparents, plus dealing with my tonsilless patient...I have decided to leave as well. When the going gets tough on the homefront, dads typically resort to extreme measures. Hence the reason I'm currently huddled up with a spare tire and trying not to yelp when she hits a pothole.

Meanwhile, I'm sure my kids are on the school bus, crying. They'll spend the day trudging through their readings, some math word problems...maybe a visit to the library where they'll mindlessly thumb through a book. Lunch and recess will lift their spirits. And then they'll get off the bus and realize their mom is their own to care for. They'll debate which one has the better measuring skills when it comes to liquid narcotic oral suspension. Mrs. Bernie will whisper at them, with several exclamation points!!!!!

(Crap) just got real in the Bernie home y'all. Everybody might love Raymond, but in my house this dad is getting a different vibe. And yet I'm starting to feel bad about leaving. This was a stupid idea, what was I thinking? When my lady's old lady pulls over to refill her iced tea, I guess I'll hop off and head back south. Any readers around the Charlotte area that are Atlanta bound today? 

I packed a PB&J. I'll split it with ya...? The rest of you enjoy your Monday. 

Bernie

Fox's Paycheck, one step forward

If you went to any home games this past season, you surely saw Greg McGarity sitting at the end of the officials' table. An awkward front row seat indeed. But a telling one nonetheless.

On Saturday, Mark Fox will celebrate his two year anniversary as Georgia's head basketball coach. The workings of a new deal will make it a little sweeter. When it happened two years ago I said that the Fox hire was symbolic of where the hoops program is on the national landscape. AD McGarity working out a new deal for Fox is the next step in the right direction. 

Sure this is a no brainer, but it doesn't mean we can't pick it apart a little:

What coulda been. On the surface this season fell below many expectations. I look back on it and think we never saw a complete 40 minutes except for a handful of times (read: Auburn in GA Dome). The players seemed close to knocking the lid off several times, but goshdarnit!! the rules insist on playing the entire second half.

Despite those frustrations, if the Dawgs had made a little run in Charlotte and perhaps gotten a little lucky...Fox would be inking an even bigger deal. On the other side of things, it's important to recognize that had UGA not made the tourney the huddling between McGarity and Fox would be bigger news. For that I think it's important to appreciate that we not only have a coach who's taking the program forward, but he also knows what it takes to get a dance card in March. In short, that February 8th loss to Xavier sure tasted sour but it put our team in front of a Selection Committee member.

What it is. An SEC East foe just rehired and is at the edge of a steep dropoff. Our chief in-state rival just rehired as well. Giving a successful coach a raise ensures stability and gives these high profile recruits he's visiting something to cross off the Cons list. I don't expect McGarity to empty the wallet too much here. Instead, providing a salary commensurate with the SEC and regional hoops fraternity is in order.

The next step. There's a lot of pieces in play for next season. I once thought there was no way we'd keep Thompkins and Leslie. Now I would be surprised if Leslie left and think there's a fair longshot Trey does too. Then there's the remaining scholarships to delve out and Fox is in the running for some quality kids that would need little development. It's just a matter of how many we need and how many we can get. More on this later.

All that to say that it's the next contract negotiation that's really important. It's the next job openings that tie Fox's name to them that really spice things up. He was never going to leave UGA for NC State.

But...if he keeps making strides we could be real happy with where we end up. If he can keep the letters U-G-A in the mouths of the Selection Committee members, he'll also keep those same letters in the mouths of big time AAU players.

That is when the 40 minute salary contracts and headlines mold together. That's when Coach Fox proves me right...he is our hardwood hero.

Monday's Meatloaf - Tuning my second-hand fiddle

Your bracket's done been busted. The lady made you work in the yard all weekend. Your Dawgs got bounced from the tourney. Might as well sink into some slow cooked comfort food.


You know, I'm real thankful to have a wife that I see eye to eye with on most things that don't involve televised reality shows. That's especially important when it comes to raising a couple of younguns. We're pretty much a united front and complement each other well on the battle field that is parenthood.


All that being said, I am now officially chopped liver. A few weeks ago Mrs. Bernie set out to meet up with some friends, and left me and the girls with a frozen lasagna. As the three of us picked through it with all the enthusiasm of a trip to the dentist's office, I realized I had to do something quick. Or else forever be entrenched as the lame parent that gets left behind to remind them to do their homework, brush their teeth...and wash behind your ears this time!!!.


So we left the dishes in the sink and piled in the car and I drove them to Sonic for dessert. It's a lot further away from our house than the local McD's, but I needed something exciting and I built it up as such for a good 15 minutes. Under the glow of the menu sign they struggled with all the options as their eyes danced from one delicious frozen item to the next (none of which was lasagna), but I insisted the voice on the drive-thru speaker be patient. 


The whole thing paid off big time. By the time we got back home I could've sold them on eating frozen lasagna every night for the rest of their lives. It was a good era in my fatherhood. But it all came crashing down yesterday about noon. The wife had swung a private viewing of some up and coming boy band at the mall. She had VIP passes for my little pre-teen princess and her budding pre-pre-teen littler sister that allowed them full access to what can only be described as pubescent Brad Pitts with microphones and a handful of guitar lessons. I'm doomed. No way a milkshake can stand up to an autographed t-shirt. A slushy doesn't have a shot in hell against a personalized CD. 


Yep, it was a good run. But I am now Gerry Cooney and my wife is Muhammed Ali. I'm that kicker for the Buffalo Bills back in the 90s and she's Joe Montana. I'll be lucky if the kids even make my trips to the beer fridge for me anymore. Sigh.

Today's Ingredients

• In case you missed it, yesterday we barked at some chili dawgs.
• The HoopDawgs barked a full 40 minutes Friday night but came up short.
• Exile dissects the loss rather precisely and Dawgola Tesla recaps their trip to Charlotte.
• While we wait for Trey and Travis to officially pull an AJ, PWD is helping us move forward.
• And Coach Fox has already started adding to his next class; Nemanja Djurisic has committed.
• There's no better place to watch tennis than at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Thom gets us ready for the season, have your calendars open please.
• Tomorrow spring practice begins in earnest. Come on by tomorrow when Fletcher Page sits down for 10 Questions to get us ready. With any luck, we'll also find out if his car has ever hit a water buffalo.
• In his recruiting update, ecdawg has news about Geno Smith visiting Athens among other things.
• Brandon Boykin is part of a leadership group that's helping teammates make better choices and prevent off the field issues.
• The group is similar to one set up by Saban in Tuscaloosa, which is who Mark Barron may have to answer to as he was arrested in Mobile on hindering prosecution (and yes, I did get a chuckle out of the sheriff's website addy).
• The Senator finds Spurrier and Garcia entering a new phase of their relationship. Guess we'll have to wait til Fall to see if they're rounding third headin for home...or if Garcia just strikes out.
• The HillBillies seem to be running the asylum up in Knutsville. Gonna be interesting to see this power struggle evolve into a real seed spitting contest. Pearl evidently has the early advantage.
• The Diamond Dawgs lost yesterday's rubber game to the chickens. Next up is #21 ranked Tech at Foley Field tomorrow night.
• Lastly, I read this and could only think that Jerry Jones is somehow behind it all.

Perhaps ol' Grizzard was still on my mind when I read this bit of news about Stone Mountain. It seems the park's age old laser show is getting an upgrade that will make the monolith spew lava and then get really psychedelic with pretty birds and flowers. Maybe even a rabbit that we'll all follow down a hole.

You older visitors will remember that Grizzard was the step-brother of humorist Ludlow Porch who passed away just last month. Ludlow could be heard for years on his radio show where he enjoyed pulling off pranks on listeners whose IQs were somewhere south of of the GA-Fla border. I remember Dad telling me of one years ago where he convinced listeners that Montana didn't exist (even the ones who had been to the state), that it was a government plot.

There was also the time he got everyone riled up about some yankee multi-million dollar conglomerate that had just purchased Stone Mountain Park; they were planning on taking away all of the Confederate flags and redecorating with pink flamingos. By the time he mentioned that Jackson, Davis and Lee's faces would be sand blasted off the mountain altogether we were about three steps from our second secession from the union in just over a hundred years.

Nope, down here in the great state of Georgia we're second fiddle to no one. Not any politically correct millionaires, not Hanoi Jane, not the devil and definitely not any yankees. Now if I could just out rock these boy bands and their unkempt hair I might just trump the wife again. Then again, air-fiddlin' Charlie Daniels on top of the dinner table probably isn't helping matters. 


But there are some things you just can't help. Here's your fork Reader, go shoot fire from your finger tips have a great Monday.

Bernie

Buzzer Sounds on HoopDawgs' Season

Game over. As the season went, so did the Dawgs only NCAA game. It was an edge of your seat ride full of heartbreak and thrilling play that often left lofty expectations unfulfilled. In a way this one tournament game was a microcosm of the entire season. The peak always seemed within reach, but the pitfalls were hell on the tailbone.


A few thoughts on the loss:

• I don't care what Kellogg is putting in your bowl, we didn't control the tempo much at all. We tried, but succeeded very little.
• And that's mostly because Washington was very quick. Their energy level seemed boundless but they were also methodically pressing the ball from all four corners.
• If the Huskies had shot the ball any better in the first half we probably would've been run out of the gym.
• For much of the second half, it was those other dogs that played like the higher seed that they were and as if they knew what tourney play requires. Our Dawgs just held on by a thread.
• And although Washington's frenetic style helped us stay in it at times, Coach Fox's squad refused to give up. But the rally fell one basket short.

I'm sure there's a lot of disdain out there about such a talented team falling short as well. But I'm choosing to remember this season for what it was: a bumpy road full of ups and too many downs that was a firm step in the right direction for a program that's desperately needed it for many years. 


Go Dawgs!

Important Day for HoopDawgs

Coach Fox has brought the program a long way in two years. A win today over Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament would go a long way toward taking it to the next level.

The Bulldogs got to the NCAA tournament in 2008 after an unexpected run to the SEC tournament title, but could not build on it the following season.

“Check our record, we’ve been fifth or sixth in the SEC East for the last seven years,” McGarity said. “I think if you had said coming in that you would be in the NCAA tournament Year 2, I think you’d probably cash that check right now, but I think that’s a stretch.”

After all, McGarity points out, Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings – completing his 12th season with the Commodores – never finished above .500 in the SEC in his first four seasons.

Stallings got to the NCAA tournament in his fifth season in Nashville and has made four more trips.

“To do it right, it takes a long time to develop and patience is key because you don’t want to cut corners,” said McGarity, who became AD at Georgia in September after seeing basketball success at Florida when he was senior administrator there. “You want to build your program with a strong foundation, you want to recruit the state hard and I think those are the things Mark has done.”

I'm ready to take the next step. And I think the Hoopdawgs are too.


Go Dawgs! 

Coach Fox's Stock

NC State possibly wanting Coach Fox is NOT news. UNC coming after him after we trounce their baby blue asses to get to the Sweet 16 Sunday...now THAT would be news. NC State is like North Carolina's version of Georgia Tech, without the academic rigor.


Reminds me of a funny story from Joe Waterloo. He was in some bar about a decade and a half ago and was watching a football game with someone who happened to be an NC State fan. I think they had just grown a wild hair and beaten someone like FSU maybe. The Wolfpack dude grew so brave as to say, "Dude! The Pack is back!"


To which the only response was, "When were they ever here?"

Monday's Meatloaf - The Bracketology of Dancing

Today there is something we can say that Tech, Auburn, Bama and Jim Harrick can't...we're dancing baby!

Just stuff it Charles.

After sweating it out most of the weekend, it turned out that we were a virtual lock since the SEC tourney started. We not only made it in the big dance, but we grabbed a 10 seed to boot. This news upsets Lunardi some analysts as well as Updykes other basketball fans. Leaving Bama at home without a date despite losing to them twice in the last week, is hard for many to fathom.

“Georgia got in easily,” analyst Charles Barkley said on CBS. “I thought Georgia should have been in, but everybody had them last four out or last four in, but nobody had them as a 10.” 

But the season didn't start 10 days ago. It started back in November and that's when the Dawgs started working on their resume. While some teams were frantically tying and fiddling with their bow tie this weekend, Coach Fox could point to his RPI and his SOS. There was no need to look in the mirror for one last check.

“This is about a four-month marathon, not a four-day postseason tournament,” Fox said. “I think people forget that.”

The body of work had spoken for itself. Shoes are shined. DJ is plugged in. Raftery's got the onions. Well done Coach Fox. Do us proud!


Today's Ingredients

• Weiszer breaks down the scene at Stegeman when the team found out. Fletcher Page does the same.
• Andrew Miller reminds us that there can be only one true Dawg.
• We'll tip off Friday night in Charlotte after the Heels. Gentry Estes has the full TV slate for the first weekend.
• Got an extra couple hours at work today? Need a clean bracket to scribble on? King's got the hook up.
• Dawgola Tesla wishes Bama well, in the NIT.
• hoopdawg is pretty excited. And like most of us, Exile is surprised by the seeding. He also runs down some other eye-openers.
• Bubba n' Earl are dancing (boy, that's a sight I bet) and looking for hoop fans ready to bust their bracket. ugakerri is also running one, if you have Football Withdrawal.
• When I watched Perno's squad from my soggy seat last Wednesday I thought they were in the midst of turning things around. But I never expected the Diamond Dawgs to sweep the west coast.
• I'm sorry Senator, what's this good Samaritan news concerning the football team of which you speak?
• The Buckeyes sell their soul to win one game against the SEC and now suddenly their fans are acting like a bunch of Updykes.
• They're even forcing Herbie to get his highlights done down south now, kicked him out of Columbus.
• I think Hinton wraps up the Herbstreit saga pretty well. But am I the only one that finds the whole story a little less harmful when this fanatical fan mentioned is a high school kid?
• Now that Hewitt is gone, Rivals has an interesting name as a possible replacement on North Avenue. Personally, I've heard Bob Knight is willing to interview.

And Knight definitely knows how to swing, if you know what I mean. I'm sure Jay Bilas and Furman Bisher would provide their endorsement. Dickie V too. Terrance Moore I hear is sticking with Mike Vick.

Please...help.

But forget all that Dawgs. Let's get to groovin'.

Dawgs can dance if we want to
We can leave the Tide behind
'Cause your nerds don't dance and if they don't dance
Well their bubble burst this time
I say, we can go to Charlotte
A place where the Bizarro Dawgs we will find
And we can act like we come from the Steg
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance

That's the end of the meatloaf Reader. Hope it fortifies you on this National Bracket Monday. Remember, if you get a gravy smudge on your printout...you probably don't want to run it through the fax.


Bernie

Glass half full, still thirsty

Yesterday sucked. Should we have won? Yup. Was it an inexcusable loss? Absolutely. Was the fallout a sign that things are on the rise? Of course it was.


If you're currently calling for Coach Fox's head, I applaud your allegiance, but you should probably take an hour or so off from the twelve ounce curls.

Really. Step away, take it all in.

• We're about to make the NCAA Tourney. 
• Am I sure? Pretty much. I suppose it's possible we don't make it. But I'd be just as shocked at that as I was when there wasn't a whistle at the end of regulation against Tennessee in Athens.
• We're back in the serious discussion among AAU hoops around Atlanta and beyond. To react dramatically is to embrace the idea of starting all of that over again. Remember that guy named...Felton?
• Fox has yet to stock the roster. If When we make the tourney tomorrow we'll be a small part of every water cooler discussion on Monday morning. Everyone takes notice of that, especially big BIG recruits around Atlanta.

Yes, it wasn't a great second half for Coach Fox as he was upstaged and outcoached by Anthony Grant. I didn't see it live, but later watched the replay in near entirety. I'm baffled by his reluctance, er stubborness...??...to call a timeout that late. And then when he did we hit the winning shot after the whistle.

Ugh.

But he's got the wheels moving in the right direction. It's just that right now the seat belt is needed much too often.


- Weiszer's notebook
- Exile's initial reaction
- currently, Lunardi has us as a First Four game in Chicago

The Jeckyll and Hyde of it

Good pre-game read by Weiszer today on the frustrating story that is the Hoop Dawgs' second halves, especially of late. Case in point, today we take on the same South Carolina team we held to 9 (NINE!!!) 1st half points a couple weeks ago. We then held on to win 60-56 in Columbia.

Jeckyll, meet Hyde.

The question that persists surrounds why Georgia keeps collapsing in the second half.

The latest came in a 71-62 loss to Florida on Thursday night, a game the Bulldogs led by as many as 11 points in the first half and by seven at halftime.

“I think that we’ve got to have a better mental endurance,” coach Mark Fox said Friday. “I think our ability to concentrate and be assignment-sound for 40 minutes is not where it needs to be.”

Georgia has held halftime leads in each of its past six games, but went 3-3 in that stretch with losses to Xavier, Vanderbilt and Florida.

That has kept the Bulldogs (18-9, 7-6 SEC) on unstable ground for an NCAA tournament at-large berth. ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi on Friday had Georgia, now with a No. 41 RPI, as one of the last four in his projected bracket.

The Bulldogs allowed 10 offensive rebounds in the second half of games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt to allow those teams to rally.

All kidding aside, I doubt Fox is having everyone join hands and leading the team in singing Kum Bay Yah at halftime. The problem is no one stepping up. For all of Thompkins' talent, I don't see a floor leader in him. Leslie's dunks are loud, but not his voice. Vern Fleming...finished matriculating decades ago Dawg. 


We need someone to jerk a knot when necessary. Someone wearing gym shorts, not just a suit and a tie. We need someone to kill Mr. Hyde. Cuz that dude's insanity is going to get us no where near the madness we're hoping for.

Thank you sir, may I have another?*

Finally, proof that you don't have to guard Scott Hopson a full 36 minutes to win a road game in the Tommy bowl.

Was it over when Bruce Pearl whore'd out for a sideline interview? NO! Who's with me?!?

I am NOT in my living room!

• Was there a second half collapse in intensity? Yes. But unlike Wednesday night when we just cashed in our chips, this time we stared back across the table and went all in. 
• Clutch game for Price. Clutch free throws for Ware. Nice win to impress the NCAA tourney elites.
• Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life Coach Pearl.
• Although we inexplicably left Hopson open too often, too much. I'm still impressed by our defensive strides this season. We can really tighten down when we need to.
• And for all the problems Gerald Robinson has had offensively in SEC play, he's done pretty well defensively since the Florida game.
• Raise your hand held device if you've grown tired of seeing Trey camped out far enough from the basket to score one not score one.
• It tends to always come down to rebounds. And yesterday we won the boards 35-27. Tennessee didn't shoot lights out (about 41%) and we didn't give them too many second chances.
• But more than anything, yes...I'm proud of the team for the effort. Great win. About a decade in the making.

So now it's time to create another road win in Gainesville. 

*this post written almost entirely while watching Animal House for the 101st time. If Dorfman was a legacy, we just had to let him in.

Losing at home predicates a win on the road

At least if you want to dance in March.


Today Coach Fox's HoopDawgs try to shake the massive, dry mouth, brain pounding hangover from the loss to Vanderbilt Wednesday night. They take on Pearl's Vols at 1pm in Knoxville. If you're frustrated by the play of the Dawgs recently, take a look at what's going on in creamsickle country.

What kind of team are we? Do we hang our hat on suffocating defense? Are we a run and gun team? Are we a grinded it out, half-court basketball team? What do we want from our offense, lots of post ups, good three point shooting, or driving to the basket? There is nothing that makes me say “Now that is Tennessee basketball!” We have nothing to go to when the going gets tough. We don’t even know who our go-to player is! The team is in disarray and has nothing to go back to. When Pearl’s team first struggled, they brought more urgency to the press and said “You may beat it, but this is what we do, and we aren’t going to back down.” This team has nothing like that. And that’s on the coach. At the beginning of each year, you sit your team down and say “We are going to X and we are going to do that every game. No matter what happens, that is what this team is about.” It’s not like with this team. When you have no identity, you panic in tough times. That’s why we struggle so much in late game situations. We have nothing to go to, and when that happens the players don’t trust what is called. It’s why we have seen so many different plays in the last few seconds of games. There is nothing consistent.

In many ways that analysis resembles what's going on in Athens. Tennessee has plenty of talent, just as the Dawgs do. But focus is lacking, an identity is needed. Daunting task trying to steal a road win in Knoxville today. But hopefully Fox has had the guys' noses to the grindstone ever since the waning seconds drained from Vandy's last win.