A Clowney caught in Quepos!

Chita and I fought this roosterfish for nearly a half hour. How ya like me now Spurrier?


And thats the last pic, promise. Hopping on a plane in the morning destined for Los Estados Unidos!

Probably.

Before Chubb committed...

In between your reading up on the latest UGA commit, I thought I'd show you a five star that committed off the coast of Quepos yesterday.


#commitotheG y'all.

Monday's very rare steak - Infinite Happy Drunj Dance

In case you were not aware by now, I'm an international fugitive on the run somewhere where they no hablo english bro in a third world country where blogging is a luxury I cannot afford, at least based on current currency exchange rates. Actually, as you read this, I'm likely ziplining through a canopy in Central America trying to avoid a guerilla mafia with designs of my capture and ransoming at an insane price for an average white guy that can't do the meringue 45 foot pythons and other really scary shit that I thought were only in Samuel L. Jackson movies. So there's a moderate chance I'll be Monday Afternoon Drunk by the time you finish this sentence.

Enough of the gloating. Here to escort you through the rest of the week at BDB - Infinitely Drunk Ron Swanson LIVE! from the Snakehole Lounge!! Grab a steak off the grill and a heavy pour of bourbon. Maybe that'll tide you over til I return.

Maybe.

Not enough mani-pedis in Knutsville

Sad when beauty has to take a back seat to the economy. But hey, at least she had enough sense to not open a dentistry office.

Kim Shrigley, the ex-wife of former University of Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl, made headlines when she opened a hair and nail salon using money from her divorce.

Shrigley made no bones about her feelings at the time, naming the business Alimony’s, written in green cursive with a red heart atop the “i.”

But after five years, Shrigley is closing her beauty salon. Saturday will be the business’s last day open.

When asked about the decision, Shrigley referred all questions to her attorney, Dennis Francis.

“It was an economic decision based upon return on investment,” Francis said. “It was a pure economic decision.”

But the local auctioneer gets the best line:

“It’s general equipment you’d find in a beauty salon,” Kenny Phillips of Powell Auction and Realty said. “It’s all real nice because she wasn’t open that long. If somebody wanted equipment, I’m sure she bought the best with that alimony money.” 

Yes. Mike Hamilton did pay well didn't he.

BCS era - the highs

I'll preface this post by stating outright that I hope the high for Georgia football during the BCS era is yet to come. Kick some Tiger ass and then bitch slap the SEC this fall!

Whew. That typed itself a little too easy. Not even officially summer yet.

Anyway. I see the highs of the BCS era for the Dawgs as a three-way race thus far. You have the pure excitement of the 2002 season, the controversy of the 2007 season and the ever so close 2012 season. Let's look at each individually.

• 2002. Georgia had yet to even sniff the rarefied air of the BCS. And yet in Richt's second season here we were - packing our bags for one of the big games. Were we in the national discussion? No, as the #3 team in the country we were just outside of it. Miami and Ohio State were clear cut 1 and 2 respectively. But the emotions were raw and unbelievable. It was a glorious time in Georgia football history. One we'll never forget.
• 2007. Having stubbed our toe tremendously in Knoxville, we rebounded and managed a pretty damn good season behind a fearsome defensive attack and the offensive stars of Stafford and Moreno. We obliterated Tebow and the Gators which spring boarded us into the national discussion once the top two teams lost in consecutive weekends. Despite being ranked higher than LSU, the Dawgs were argued out of the picture as we did not win our division and play in the SECCG. This tarnished the magic of the season somewhat. At least until we got to see Colt Brennan cry at the thought of being put back into the game New Year's night. The domination over Hawaii was sugary sweet, but the aftertaste will always be What might have been...??
• 2012. Perhaps Richt's greatest season, as well as his greatest team. Arguably. Still, nothing came easy. Absolutely blown out of the stadium in Columbia SC, the Dawgs had to rally together the rest of the way. The reward was a date with destiny's darlings, the team everyone favors and no one really gave Richt's squad much of a chance against Mighty Bama. But it was quite honestly the best college football game I've ever witnessed. Despite the heartbreak and the utter despair, it's hard to imagine a time when all of the Dawg Nation was collectively proud of one team. Five yards short of a certain national title. Son of a bitch.

Together, those are the highs of the BCS era. But you know what our task is now...we have to choose the highest. No real secret here; I'm going with last season. Sure we lost. Sure we were shut out of a BCS bowl game for our efforts. But there has never been a team that proved more to me that they were ready and able than last season. I know that's like calling a lowlight a highlight and putting lipstick on a pig. But that was the closest we've come to cresting this MNC mountain.

And to this point...heading into the last season of the Bowl Championship Series...that is where I cast my vote. Feel free to add yours as well.

Go Dawgs!

BCS era - the lows

If making a list of highs was supposed to be easy, this should be more difficult. Here are the nominees as I see them.

• 2000. This was Donnan's "guarandamntee you" team and all they were able to manage was a trip to Hawaii on Christmas Eve.
• 2005. Sugar Bowl gets moved to 60 miles from campus, plus they give us a Big East opponent to sweeten the pot, and we get our asses handed to us by a bunch of trojan hillbillys using some renegade offense? YGTBFKM.
• 2010. Liberty Bowl against a directional team and we manage two field goals.

I'm going with 2010 as it was an especially low point for me all of us as Dawg fans. And still stands as quite the blemish on Richt's career in Athens. What's your vote? 

When a cowbell goes silent...

UPDATE: Then again, this is the NCAA.

- - - - - - - - 

Mississippi State is preparing to learn its fate this morning (h/t Brad).

The NCAA will announce infractions for Mississippi State's football program on Friday morning, a source told ESPN.

The NCAA announced Friday's 11 a.m. ET conference call, but did not specify which sport it involved.

Because Mississippi State has gone before the NCAA Committee on Infractions, the Bulldogs' improprities are major in nature. A source confirmed that former wide receivers coach Angelo Mirando is a key element to the infractions and that coach Dan Mullen is not expected to be directly implicated.

Georgia fans that follow recruiting closely will remember the name the investigation is centered on - Will Redmond. The defensive back from Memphis was a last minute flip for the other Bulldogs. Redmond had previously been considered a UGA lean and even stated that the Dawgs were his favorite team. Months later, and right before the season was to start, Mirando resigned "for personal reasons".

And if I remember correctly, Georgia's Sheldon Dawson was interviewed by the NCAA back in August. Dawson is also from Memphis and it was believed that the questions had to do with his recruitment by MSU.

No word on whether Redmond's new Mustang will attend this morning's press conference.

BCS era - Dawgs vs. HillBillys

So, previously I had posed the question: Would you trade our own streak of bowl games, which spans all the way back to the 1997 Outback Bowl, for Tennessee's 1998 trophy?

When I first typed it, I admit, I overestimated how easy the answer would come. I mean, the HillBillys have been in a heap of fail since Fulmer was run off: three coaches, academic improprieties, Lane Kiffin, athletic department budget red ink, losses by the dozens, Da'Rick Rogers' career...oh my.

But we should offer a fair comparison before answering. So here goes.

HillBilly Adam and Eve have had little to do
in January. Except eat lard buckets.

          Georgia Tennessee
1997 Outback, W Orange, L *
1998 Peach, W               Fiesta, W *
1999 Outback, W Fiesta, L
2000 Oahu, W               Cotton, L
2001 Music City, L Citrus, W
2002 Sugar, W              Peach, L
2003 Capital One, W Peach, L
2004 Outback, W Cotton, W
2005 Sugar, L
2006 Chick-Fil-A, W Outback, L
2007 Sugar, W              Outback, W
2008 Capital One, W
2009 Independence, W Chick-Fil-A, L
2010 Liberty, L              Music City, L
2011 Outback, L
2012 Capital One, W

             12-4                      4-8

Hard to argue with Tennessee's start. Three consecutive BCS bowls (although the Orange back in January 1998 was just the plain Orange...), two title games and one trophy. But it's also hard to argue against the complete resume for Georgia: four more bowl games and eight more total wins in those bowls. I know a lot of people that would add a lot of weight to that crystal trophy they have up there. But I'd take the composite memories I've had under Richt in the BCS era over the one dash of sunshine in the storm they continue to endure up on Rocky Flop.

But that's just me.

BCS era - Dawgs' report card

I've been reminiscing a bit. Yes, always a dangerous proposition. But as we head into the final season for the BCS, it's good to look back and recall just where our team fit into the landscape. After this I'll also look at the specific highs and lows for Georgia as well as what the perfect ending might be.

To semi-objectify this, I am placing all of the pre-expansion SEC teams into tiers.

Tier 1 - Bama  Florida  LSU   Auburn   Tennessee

So to start things off at the top, if FSU was the early winner in the BCS sweepstakes (making the first three title games, winning one), Alabama lead the charge with flying colors at the end (winning the last three of four). Also in the top tier you'd have to put LSU who won two of three title games, Florida who won both the 2006 and 2008 title games, and Auburn and Tennessee who added one each. Although Tennessee winning one in the first year of the BCS seems like ages ago compared to where they are now. Still, they get "top tier" based in the one title, right?

Tier 2 - Georgia  Arkansas

With that out of the way, Georgia leads the way for the second tier teams - ones that participated in the discussion as well as the second tier BCS bowls. Richt's team had a solid argument in 2007 and came within a breath of the championship game last season. The Dawgs went to the Sugar Bowl three times, winning twice. Then there's only one other team to make a BCS Bowl game that didn't make the title game, Arkansas. And they hold the distinction of losing to Ohio State.

Tier 3 - South Carolina    Mississippi State    Kentucky    Vanderbilt    Ole Miss

South Carolina seems as odd a fit here as Tennessee does at the top. But the lines are drawn, and based on my research the Gamecocks did not make a BCS Bowl. But they did make four Outback Bowls and one Capital One Bowl, which clearly elevates them above the rest in this lot. Has Ole Miss even been to bowl game? Ever?

Back to Georgia. Based on this breakdown I'd give Mark Richt and the program a solid B. They did enough at the right time to enter into the discussion and the national arguments in late November/early December. But they didn't do enough at the right time to elevate to the upper crust.

And it's easy to see that grade of B when relating it to most of the other teams. Alabama sets the curve with an A+; Florida and LSU a solid A for their titles as well as their complete body of work; Auburn an A- for their title and a decent body of work to go along with it; I'd give Arkansas and Carolina a B- and the rest C's , D's and complete failures.

But Tennessee man. Their just a square peg. Given my breakdown here you'd give them an A-. But hard to argue that Georgia hasn't done more over the course of the BCS era. Still, you make your own luck I guess.

Would you trade our own streak of bowl games, which spans all the way back to the 1997 Outback Bowl, for the Tennessee's trophy? Before you answer that question, check the next post.

CRob doin work

He labeled it "New Beginnings." Very appropriate. Glad he's still around.