Butts-Mehre Locker Room Heist: the truth uncovered

No one else is reporting the truth so I'll throw it out there for public consumption. In case you haven't heard, thieves made off with some football players' valuables last Thursday afternoon. 


Here's the campus paper's write up:

Seven members of the Georgia football team had items stolen from their lockers in the Butts-Mehre Building on Thursday afternoon, according to University Police reports.

“There was a pretty big open house event going on that night,” said Lt. Eric Dellinger of the University Police Department. “There were a number of non-athletic affiliated people being shown around. We just have no way of accounting for who was in the building or where they were.”

A pair of Nike shoes, four iPods, two iPhones and two iPhone cases were taken between 2:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. The locker room is secured by a fingerprint system, but several of the lockers broken into had no locks. Two didn’t have doors.

One player’s iPhone was “in an open area within the locker room at the time of the theft,” according to the report.

The total loss value of everything taken was $1,990.

What's not being said you ask? Well, the fact that it was the UGA police force that gave the Red and Black sports staff access to the lockers, ergo the valuables. If they can account for Mudcat's car at all times they can certainly account for some "non-athletic people"...ie, UGA beat writers (wink, wink...nudge, nudge).


The only thing that is not clear at this point is exactly which alley they emerged from after breaking their ankles.


Stay tuned.

Gray intends to land in Boulder

Former Georgia quarterback, receiver and punt return deceiver has decided on the Colorado Buffaloes as his next stop. He'll join his younger brother in Boulder; sounds like that played a big factor in the decision.

Gray confirmed to the Boulder Daily Camera earlier Monday that he has decided to transfer to the Buffaloes for his final season of collegiate eligibility.  As the wide receiver will pursue a postgraduate degree in a program not offered at his former school, Gray will be eligible to play immediately instead of sitting out the one season normally required to satisfy NCAA transfer rules.

Gray’s younger brother currently attends CU, and he said that played a big role in his decision.

Well, that and the opportunity to come in and contribute immediately.  For a team with very little experienced depth at the position, Gray’s talents will be a welcome addition.

“They told me that they have a couple pretty strong wide receivers like Paul Richardson and a couple other guys, but they could definitely use some help,” Gray said. “And then obviously returning punts. They’re looking for another guy to help make an impact on offense and special teams.”

Wish Logan the best and an extremely productive season.

Monday's Meatloaf - Collards, ACLs and Bed Bugs

Vacation is over. Done. No green jacket for me. Just an alarm clock with a noisy reminder that I can no longer set my own hours.

But it was a good getaway; the family and I had a nice sandy time. You know, in between all the sisterly bickering and me catching my better half with her hand in the beer cooler. And we were able to make it educational as well. Like our Savannah tour (see below), my 9 year old's marine biology lessons (the sea was angry that day my friend) and interacting with our defrosted comrades from the north.

By the time the Tahoe was packed beyond it's capacity for the return trip, my little ones had nearly perfected the northern accent. Between my imitations of their fascinations with soda pop and other various phrases...the girls had taken to making some fun of it themselves.


Especially after a lunch encounter with Marge from Toledo where we found her screaming into her phone just outside of Roastfish and Cornbread. WHAT'S THAT EDITH? YOW STILL AT THE SHELTER COVE?!?! HOLD THE PHONE UP TO YA FACE I CAN HARDLY HEAR YUH.


You could see the light bulbs flicker in my little girls' heads. They suddenly understood exactly what Dad had been blathering on and on about. These people with the Michigan, Ohio and Quebecian license plates are hilarious. 1200 miles to sit at a pool with jeans and socks on...sure it's sad. But they're living out their own dream and shoveling cash into local Piggly Wigglys instead of snow into their neighbor's yard.


I hope Edith and Marge eventually connected for lunch. If so, I'm sure they weren't nearly as upset as I was that Chef David was out of collard greens. But there's no time to worry anymore. It's back to the daily grind. The inbox is full...and the trashcan is hungry.

Today's Ingredients

• If there is anyone who reads this little blog, and knows Trinton Sturdivant personally...please tell him our thoughts and prayers are with him. That news yesterday just made me want to slap the snot out of Lady Luck.
• Moving forward, Kimberley looks at what's next for Trinton and for Coach Friend's unit. Streit does the same.
• In the midst of all the injuries Jack shares some thoughts on Saturday's scrimmage.
• Speaking of injuries, Dean Legge sees it as a chicken or the egg argument: How do you become physical if you don’t have physical practices (or workouts)?
• Aaron Murray's backups are playing well, including sophomore Hutson Mason.
• Vineyarddawg puts some people on notice...GDay edition.
• The Southern Pigskin fans have spoken...Herschel's the best.
• Coach Diaz's Dawg netters claimed yet another SEC title yesterday. They take a perfect home record into the NCAAs.
• The Diamond Dawgs have been on a tear, but couldn't quite sweep the Rebels this weekend.
• Was picking through some scraps left behind on the Senator's buffet line yesterday and was glad to discover that Stephen Garcia's family believes there is a larger issue than his football eligibility. 
• Suck it gaytors! Hey, if it makes me lmao...I wouldn't say it was a HUGE waste of money. 
• Markeith Ambles and KiffyBaby continue their torrid love affair.
• Why the Carolina Panthers would want sCam ahead of AJ Green is beyond me.
• In all my years, I can't ever recall seeing a Masters like that. For a few holes there I thought they'd be sorting that thing out through tomorrow.
• And Rory...poor Rory. That was ridiculously harder to watch than Butler trying to make layups last Monday. As David Feherty would say, You don't want to hit it there.

So we were on a trolley tour of Savannah last week, just as Conner had asked to do while on vacation. I wasn't especially pumped up about it going in, but we had a great driver who was like a Savannah Wikipedia with a turn signal. Around every corner he had an anecdote and a historical reference. Yessir, Stan knew his stuff and was making the afternoon educational and enjoyable.

For example - Savannah's Kehoe House, a 119 year old structure on Columbia square in the Historic District of course. Having already described the amount of pull a certain group of ladies had around the town of Savannah, Stan explained that back in the 1970s Joe Namath and Terry Bradshaw purchased the former boarding home with intentions to make it into either a discothèque or a "gentlemen's club". The powerful ladies of Savannah (their organizational name escapes me) would have none of that and a few years later the Kehoe House became the bed and breakfast that it is today.

You see, you can't always just step into something and make grand changes. Just because you like shaking your booty and nekkid ladies dancing around doesn't mean you're gonna be able to do those kinds of things in lovely, tree filled downtown Savannah. 

Kinda like when Union soldiers filled their bedding with Spanish moss to make them softer. Sure, go ahead we said, then sat back and watched them all learn that those things are full of chiggers. Don't let the bed bugs bite yur ass yankees.


Sometimes people just have to figure things out the hard way. Now if I could just get my phone to stop blinking NEW MESSAGE WAITING at me. But don't wait on me Reader. Here's your fork. Go have a Monday.

Bernie

Spring Practice Scrimmage Notes - 4/10

Injury bug is full blown in Athens. There were nearly as many players watching the scrimmage yesterday as were actively participating in it on the field. But many are still expected to be able to go for GDay.


The secondary continues to get hit the hardest; now Boykin is added to the list of players with concussions. And at one point Shawn Williams was joined at safety on the #1 defense with Connor Newman of Duluth. Yep, we're that deep folks.


Couple of notes on the concussions - remember that Ron Courson is one of the nation's leading experts on concussions and has testified in DC on the subject before. So that's one area that we can expect our training staff to be both thorough and diligent. That's a good thing. The other point I would bring up is that it says to me we've got some players gettin' after that ass. We've got players competing hard, hitting hard. And that's a good thing too.


From Weiszer:

The injuries could be a byproduct of an added emphasis in each practice on declaring winners and losers in drills.

"When you compete the way we’ve been competing and hit the way we’ve been hitting, there’s going to be some of that," Richt said. "My goal this spring was to make sure that we’re a physical football team and we’re a team that’s going to get after it every time we put the pads on and snap up our chin-strap. I’ve seen that."

Richt said there’s more competitive drills than in the past. He created a point system for every drill.

"The goal is to win the day," Richt said. "If you win the day, you have half the conditioning after practice."

No surprise that the change is well-received by players.

"Guys love that," King said. "We like competing and that’s what we’re here for."

As for stats from the scrimmage, Page has a full rundown of stats and quotes from Coach Richt as well as some players. He links to a set of pictures as well.


My two initial thoughts are that the depleted secondary got torched while the front seven stuffed the running game pretty darn well. King had a long of 10 yards and Thomas had one for 9. Other than those two everything was kept at or behind the line of scrimmage. Here's what Richt had to say on the subject:

"Not much in the way of running the ball…As we all know, a lot of it has to do with a couple of things; the blocking number one. The vision of the back, and the ability to make people miss and break tackles, number two. Sometimes how the defense decides how to play you that day might dictate how much space you have to run the ball."

There should be a lot more to come as we near the end of spring drills.


Go Dawgs!

New GDay Format

The captains will choose sides on Monday instead of just going 1s vs 2s on GDay.

Richt said the April 16 G-Day game will have a new format.
Offensive and defensive captains on the red and black teams will pick sides.
“We’re going to let the players choose teams,” Richt said.
The previous format was the No. 1 offense vs. the No. 2 defense and vice versa.
Now a first-team center might line up next to a second-team guard.

All of which begs the question, what happens if Kwame gets chosen as a quarterback?

- Posted using BlogPress from Bernie's iPhone

Spring Practice Notes, 4/7

This'll probably be short and sweet as we just had a long day touring Savannah. Did you know Terry Bradshaw and Joe Namath once attempted to debaucherize downtown Savannah? More on that later.


Meanwhile, practice resumes today. Let's hit some highlights.

• Weiszer brings a picture of what Abry Jones can do at DE with Kwame growing into the NT role and John Jenkins coming in this summer. I had forgotten what great size Jones has for that position.
• Massaquoi...Durham...Bennett.
• Instant panic and the position of left tackle don't necessarily go together. But Sturdivant is making it work now.
• The new and improved Grantham 3-4 is throwing some loops. And I approve.
• Lastly, in addition to what was posted yesterday on Caleb...here's a great post by Page that I missed. Pretty much sums up where things stand with our senior RB.

I understand the frustration with Ealey and King's lack of consistent production. Really I do. I can't speak for Ealey just yet...and I hesitate to buy in on Spring quotes...but King seems both poised for a breakout season AND the perfect mentor for the young pup who's about two-thirds the way through Senior English.


For one, I'm gonna give em some space to do some work.


Go Dawgs!

Spurrier speaks on Garcia's "winning"

h/t Leftover HotDog

That both says nothing...and everything all at the same time.

Caleb King's Speech

A group can only be as strong as its weakest link. And last season a good argument can be made that Georgia's RBs were the weakest part of the offense. Ealey, King and Thomas never hit a rhythm. Injuries, self inflicted suspensions, inconsistent blocking...play action dives on 3rd and long.


Caleb King, facing the media for the first time since missing the 2010 season finale, sounds ready to turn a 180:

“I know I’m going to have a good season this year,” King said. “I believe the fans will come after that. That’s just extra motivation as well. Of course, you want people yelling your name and all that. In football, people love that. That’s the name of the game. I think that comes with the good plays and the long runs and the tough runs.”

More than midway through spring practice, King is quietly going about his business on the practice field. Coach Mark Richt said King “did a very nice job” in the team’s first scrimmage on Saturday.

“Caleb’s been practicing very well,” Richt said. “It seems like he’s really practicing with a really great focus and a physical attitude. He seems to be in pretty good condition. Every time he makes a run as of late, he pops up and sprints back to the huddle. He’s trying to play and practice with a lot of energy.”

Exactly the soundbytes you want to hear from a 5th year senior who's never had that breakout season. A big time recruit that knows a little about where the new kid is coming from.

This will be the final season in Athens for the fifth-year senior, who will be pressed for playing time by incoming freshman Isaiah Crowell. Crowell is rated by ESPN.com and Scout.com as the nation’s No. 1 tailback signee.

“That’s just a little more motivation to go in the weight room and (for) every practice,” King said. “I can’t wait until he comes here. I’m going to try and put him under my wings and tell him, ‘Everything I did, don’t do,’ pretty much.”

But actions always speak louder than words. And King isn't just talking the talk.

 This time around the offense won three of five to win the day for the first time this spring, according to coach Mark Richt. Quarterback Aaron Murray said that tailback Caleb King “looked awesome today,” including a touchdown run of about 67 yards. 

Jort Schedule

Thanks to Kerri for the schedyule. Click to enlargigate it.

Monday's Margarita - Live from Yankee Beach

This episode is SPF 99, for your own protection.


After fighting through a logjam of Michigan, Ohio and Quebec license plates to get here, I guess I should've suspected I'd be sharing sand space with so many Nanooks of the north...especially after previous experiences.

But this time I'm especially bitter. If it weren't enough that they have to use our prime real estate to escape their snow laden lawns and try out their new black tube socks with the leather sandals...if it weren't enough that they speak with such strange syllabic accentuations...now they've apparently helped to close down our favorite restaurants.

It's nice to have a place to go eat that's right there in the complex. There's no need to try and remember where you put the car keys and you can enjoy a little happy hour with your lobster bisque. But someone complained that there was too much noise, no doubt interrupting the latest airing of the curling championships on ESPN Douche.

What's worse is now that the restaurant is closed, the beachside bar is closed as well, the one with the best burger on the beach and Buddy the bartender who never had to ask me what I'd like. He always knew there's no salt on my rim.

Today's Ingredients

• Overall, Coach Richt sounded pleased with the first scrimmage yesterday. And as if to validate most of the votes in my poll, Caleb seems to be running pretty well.
• Of course, one of the great things about Spring is CMR getting to know his scout teamers' names. Like Brandon Harton of Tatnall Co.
• Travis Fain has even more reasons why we should be impressed with Ray Drew.
• Aaron Murray. Is there a sophomore slump in his future? Is he bound for a big, big year 'tween the hedges? Many seem to think the latter is more likely. Included among those is ESPNs Chris Low.
• The Senator isn't buying into any Tyler Bray hype.
• Martin Van Dawgin tell us that sCam Newton has used some of his Barner fortune to purchase a nice resolution in the Georgia Assembly.
• The Mack Brown Network is coming to televisions this Fall. Check local listings.
• Cris Carter's son has decided to transfer to Tuscaloosa and play for Uncle Nicky.
• Don't look now, but Perno's Diamond Dawgs are doing pretty well in SEC play. 
• I-16 is a lot like watching The English Patient. It's about 3 hours of your life you'll never get back, with very little to show for it.
• Lastly, Dawgfan17 delves into the insanity that is anonymous posters. Careful man, that's like chasing a rabbit down a hole.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much about this invasion of northern depression. At least this time they're spending money instead of burning buildings and putting Pepsi on gas n sip shelves. It's definitely been worse. We haven't had to close the beach once yet because Nanook can't tell the difference between a porpoise and a shark.


Perhaps they've been taking marine biology lessons from my 9 year old:

But if Edith from Bowling Green doesn't retire that polka-dotted two piece I might just have my little angel throw one of those gelatinous masses in her lounge chair. The 1980s called lady...and you're not in them anymore.

As for you Reader, Have a great Monday. Salt or no salt?

Bernie