BotW: bar trick

Today's trick, bottle opening greenbacks. Don't try this at home kids...

How to Open a Beer Bottle With a Dollar Bill

If you do try this at home, some advice from a guy that failed: use a one, not a twenty.

Mike Davis impressed, so what's that mean?

Richt and McClendon are pressing hard ($$) for Stephenson running back Mike Davis to sign with the Dawgs in February. This comes after Keith Marshall committed last week, Davis de-committed from Florida and UGA jumped into the thick of things.


Yesterday Davis was on campus to watch practice and talk with the coaches and players. Sounds like things went pretty well.

When asked to rate Thursday’s trip on a scale of 1-10, Davis said, “I’d give it a 10. I was really impressed. They really showed that they wanted me, they really need running backs, and I think I could fit in very well in their offense. It was good visit, they want me to come back for an official visit, and I’m planning on going back there on Jan. 28.”

After arriving on campus, Davis attended a meeting between UGA assistant Bryan McClendon and the team’s running backs. When practice started, Davis said he spent the entire session next to coach Mark Richt.

“It was just Mark Richt and me for the whole practice,” Davis said. “He wanted me to get a good feel for practice and the team, and see how they get after it. He talked to me about the running backs, how they really needed running backs, and if I came there that I would have the opportunity to play right away. He just made it very clear that they need running backs, and they want me.”

Georgia's decision to get back into things with Davis once he soured on Florida brings several things to mind. It's impossible to overlook the fact that we currently have three scholarship backs who spent at least one game on the sidelines for disciplinary reasons. Will all three be back in 2012? Given our luck at the running back position recently it's hard to feel too good about seeing all three return.


The other thing that comes to mind is another top running back we've been recruiting in Todd Gurley. Like Marshall, he's from North Carolina and there's been a lot of talk that the two would end up on the same campus. That seems very unlikely now. Gurley likes home state favorites UNC and NC State. He's also being courted heavily by Clemson.


Davis looks like he'll make his official visit to Athens in January. The recruitment of Gurley and Davis is going to be an interesting one to watch.

2012 opener in Columbia...Missouri...??

Belue to Scott!

Looking for that special gift? Or perhaps you need to drop a last minute idea on someone for yourself.


Let me suggest Belue to Scott! by Robbie Burns. You can grab this book directly from the website and probably other retailers as well. From reading the acknowledgments and the introduction it is clear this has been a labor of love for Robbie. And believe me, you'll reap the rewards from his efforts as soon as you open it.


I received my copy just as news broke of Munson's passing. So reading his foreward to the book was both eerie, as well as comforting. And since the book itself centers on the championship season's signature play that became Munson's signature call, it is full of quotes and memories that made the reading especially satisfying these last few weeks.


In many ways this book is a must have for the reasons that the 1980 Dawgs DVD is. It is full of quotes, anecdotes and recollections that even the most avid fan is sure to enjoy. Like I said after I watched the DVD, I can say the same thing about this Book.  They both provide so much more than I anticipated. I didn't go into reading it believing that I knew all there was to know about the 1980 Georgia-Florida game, but I thought I thought I had a pretty good handle on the history. 


However, Burns doesn't type it as a history lesson. He gives it the proper stage and let's the memories, articles and quotes do their magic. His research is exhaustive; he left no stone unturned when preparing for the task of capturing the excitement of one singular play that meant so much to one singular season.


I hope it finds its way under your tree this Christmas. If it doesn't, do wait for it to show up next year. Grab one of these asap.

Beer of the Week - Cold Mountain Winter Ale

I had intended to finish a write up on another winter ale I tried recently. But yesterday I grabbed a growler of Highland's Cold Mountain and plans quickly changed.


I've heard people talk adoringly about this beer before. I was only mildly curious at first, but then last week I found myself rushing to my local growler fill* because I had read he was tapping a keg of it. Unfortunately he was only promoting it for the following week and I had conveniently skipped over the date. I attempted to talk him into tapping it a little early for me but I failed miserably. But the wait was worth it. I even came away with a free glass! 


Enough of that, onto the tasting. The color is a rich amber and the head was nice and frothy. I didn't catch much with the nose but the taste is a joy to the taste buds. Now let me come clean, I'm a sucker for vanilla. And this is a beautiful blend of malt, vanilla, some hops and spices. I get a good bit of alcohol on the back end, enough to make me think "Well, that's not going to be good." But then it finished really smoothly with some more vanilla and a hint of hoppy bitterness.


Now, one thing I've been trying to do more of with these winter ales and stouts is let them sit and warm up some. The tastes usually benefit you for your patience. The first glass I had of Cold Mountain went pretty quickly beside the grill. But the second glass I forced myself to enjoy slowly. And the warmer this one gets the more the vanilla mellows into the spices for me. I don't know that it's better, just different.


And that's what I like about winter ales. Their character mellows some and changes a bit as it "ages" in your glass. I give Cold Mountain high marks. It went really well with my steak and sweet potatoes. It also went well standing alone in front of the Falcons game. Grab some soon before the season is behind us.


*I have a post on growlers coming soon. If you're a fan of fresh beer and America, you're not going to want to miss it.

Recruiting gets hotter; Beard commits

In many ways it just made sense. Mark Beard has a long standing relationship with Coach Friend, going back to when Beard was in high school near Birmingham and Friend was at UAB. Yesterday, as he finished his visit to UGA he committed to Georgia.


Beard spent this past season playing for Coffeeville Community College, just graduated and will have three seasons of eligibility left. He'll be on campus next month, ready to contribute to an offensive line that will lose three starters.


And at 6'5" and 300lbs, chances are he can take Glenn or Anderson's spots at tackle. Take a look at some of his high school tape.

This is a huge get for Richt, literally and figuratively. Congrats to Coach Friend and congrats to Beard. Welcome to the Dawg Nation!

On Tebow...and winning

People by nature are a jealous, miserable lot. Faced with the opportunity to watch a documentary on Mother Theresa or the latest episode of Housewives of Hateville, they'll almost unanimously choose to feed their greedy, malnourished, melodramatic and discontented brains.


I don't like that Tim Tebow went to Gainesville to matriculate. The young man however I have no issue with. Now, while wearing the scripted helmet, I don't like that after each play he celebrated so excessively. But with his athleticism and talents I have no complaint. I really don't like the fact that the media seems constantly obsessed with him. But that's not really his fault.


So I enjoyed this satirical piece on Tebow's recent success as a Denver Bronco. True, most of the reason Tebow is 5-1 as a starter is due to the defense and some good fortune. But when you finish reading Jason Gay's piece you can't help but chuckle at the sports fan/media's absurd preoccupation over what Tim Tebow isn't able to do, as well as the fact that he's doing the only thing that matters.


Winning.

Head Cock still crowing

Ol' Ball Coach gets an extension. Chris Low puts in a historical perspective.

Spurrier is 54-35 in seven seasons at South Carolina, which places him second all-time in wins at South Carolina. 

Rex Enright is the Gamecocks’ all-time winningest coach with 64 victories. It’s certainly possible that Spurrier could catch Enright next season, although it may take two seasons to pass him. 

It took Enright 15 seasons to rack up 64 wins. He was the Gamecocks’ head coach from 1938-42 and again from 1946-55, and he actually finished with a losing record (64-67-9). 

Spurrier’s going to ascend to the top of the South Carolina coaching mountain in a little more than half the time that it took Enright. 

And that ain't all folks...

Not only that, but he’ll walk away as the all-time winningest coach at two different SEC schools. He was 122-27-1 in 12 seasons at Florida. 

It’s difficult to imagine when we’ll ever see that happen again in this league. 

Here’s the other thing to remember when assessing where Spurrier ranks among the best coaches in college football history: He did it at two schools in the SEC that had little or no tradition before he arrived. 

Florida had never won an SEC championship before Spurrier returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1990. Before he was done, the Gators had added six SEC championship trophies to their mantle. 

What’s more, Florida had won just eight bowl games in its history before Spurrier arrived. During his 12 years there, the Gators won six. 

Spurrier’s success at South Carolina didn’t come quite as quickly, but the Gamecocks burst through last season and made their first-ever trip to the SEC championship game.  

Now that it's a gaping wound, Low adds some salt.

And in the last two seasons, South Carolina has swept Eastern Division rivals Florida, Georgia and Tennessee with a perfect 6-0 record. 

For perspective, prior to Spurrier’s arrival, South Carolina was 0-13 against Florida in SEC play, 4-9 against Georgia and 1-12 against Tennessee.  

In a word, Ouch. 

Connor Shaw put together a respectable pretty darn good season once Garcia's bong water dried up. If he is indeed the answer, he might be the last piece of the puzzle the Gamecocks need once Lattimore returns.


So once that 2012 schedule finally gets finalized (hopefully this week), I'll be officially circling the game in Chickumbia on the calendar as an away trip. Who's joining me?

Humpday Hilarity: good news from the kitchen

This woman is 51

She is TV health guru Gillian McKeith, born Sept. 1959, advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and health, promoting exercise, a vegetarian diet high in organic fruits and vegetables. She recommends detox diets, colonic irrigation and supplements.

This woman is 51

She is Nigllea Lawson, born Jan. 1960, A celebrity chef, who eats meat, butter and desserts.

I REST MY CASE

h/t Mac

SEC Today - 12/13/11

Hannah Chalker looks at the SEC's bowl dominance.