Munson's candles

Ole Lady Luck....a hobnail boot...my God a freshman...hunker down...one more time...the whatchamacallit...worse than bonkers...a metal steel chair with a 5" cushion...plus thousands more...


Gonna need a really big cake!

Happy Birthday Mr. Munson!

Wag the Dawg fan

Wasn't it only yesterday we were gleaning our inside information from players' tweets/posts/conversations with reporters, seemingly even before the coaches knew about it? Now things are much different. 

Georgia reserve running back Ken Malcome didn’t travel to Ole Miss and wasn’t at practice Tuesday. “He had some illness that we sort of sent him home,” running backs coach Bryan McClendon said. “He went and got looked at this morning. …He got sent home just so he could get better.”

Some illness that we sort of sent him home...ok. He may very well have been sick. And I hope Boo feels better. But what intrigues me is the tone I take from that quote. "If it's truly your business and pertinent we'll let ya know."


Some fans might be preoccupied with every status update of every player. Me, I'd rather have a coaching staff that has a firm grasp on the comings and goings of the team; always at least a step ahead of the most obsessive BookFace user.


For instance, I wasn't aware that Rantavious Wooten was even in a car wreck until Monday night. Didn't even know he hadn't made the trip to Oxford. Of course, I admitted that I had done little to no reading Sunday as we traveled back to Atlanta ourselves. But still, in years past this is the kind of stuff thousands of Twitter followers would know about in real time.


The case of Derek Owens' impending transfer proves there's no perfect way to suppress information that's going to get out before everything is settled. But, I think I enjoy the ambiguity in most cases.

SEC Today - 9/27/11

What's Hot and What's Not this week in the SEC.

"Hell no, he's gonna score!"

I had the opportunity to watch the new documentary on the 1980 championship season over the weekend. Quite simply, 1980 Dawgs is a must have for your collection. I didn't go into it thinking I knew everything about that season, but I thought I was pretty well versed on how the thing played out. But this film provides so much more. You'll need more than one viewing to digest everything it gives you.


It's balanced well with player interviews and footage from the games. Most of all, the words come from players, coaches, trainers and writers who were there every step of the way. And you can feel the tension mount as it leads up to the defining play of that season in Jacksonville. Hearing the commentary build up to that moment will take you back 30 years to where you can relive every step Lindsay took toward that endzone and chuckle in hearing some of the reactions from the sideline as the team went from thinking the undefeated season was about to end...to thinking Belue to Scott was merely a first down...to Erk shouting "Hell no, he's gonna score!"

It's a real treasure. For over three hours you'll be entertained, through the lows and the highs. You'll laugh as well as cheer. To help put it all in perspective, the film's director Lenny Daniel has provided this writeup for how the project began. Many thanks to him and Mike Moss for seeing this thing through.

I’m Lenny Daniel, the Director & Filmmaker of 1980 Dawgs. The early idea to produce the documentary originated about 2 1/2 years ago. I had been a UGA student and writer on the Red & Black sports desk during that magical season, and wrote features on some of the players on the team.

When the 30 year anniversary approached, I read some articles on the 1980 season, started reminiscing and decided to look for a good documentary about it. When I searched the internet, I couldn't find anything. I wrote Claude Felton at Georgia's Sports Information desk to ask him and he told me he wasn't aware of anything feature length on that team - only a few short vignettes. How could this be? This was one of the most historic teams in Georgia sports history!

I began to think about it and came to a realization “I have a production company.....I have the equipment and skills to do this.........I was there at the time and close to many of the stories as they unfolded.....Why don't I take it on?” Then, I got that feeling of ineptitude that some of us have before taking on a project that will stretch us: "It's too big to take on" "I don't have the funding to pull it off" "This is a big project for a big productions company and a large crew." I thought of several reasons to steer away from it, but it kept coming back to me. I decided to at least investigate the possibility of doing the documentary and sent out feelers to a few players and coaches. After all, I thought, their story really needs to be told while they're still young enough to recall the events and share their memories of that amazing year.

Time went by and I didn't hear back from anyone to help motivate me to proceed. One Georgia employee warned me, "It's probably not worth taking on, because you will have to pay so much in various royalty fees for the footage, that it will be hard to make your money back."

The project was starting to look like it just wouldn't happen. Then, out of the blue, Frank Ros, the captain of the 1980 team (who Vince Dooley referred to as perhaps the “best captain” for on and off the field leadership he has ever coached), called me and said he received my letter. He said he thought it would be a great idea for a documentary and he would help me get in contact with several of the players and coaches on the team. A week or so later, Vince Dooley returned my email and said he would be happy to be interviewed for the project! God, indeed, works in mysterious ways! The project took off and continued to gain momentum for the next 2 years. Twenty seven players and coaches agreed to be interviewed. The stories and emotions they shared were fascinating and inspiring. Thirty years later, the memories were clear, and they were more willing to be candid and share their inner thoughts.

During the editing process, I sent unfinished clips to my friend, Mike Moss, who is an Entrepreneur and from the same era of the 1980 UGA days. He told me he was moved by the clips, especially the honesty and emotion of the players and coaches. He got involved last year and partnered with me to help bring the documentary to the public. We felt the project needed to be shared with the Bulldog Nation. We're excited to see Dawg fans finally view the film and relive that special season when Georgia was the best college football team in the country!

Texas A&M to SEC Live Feed

There's a celebration about to commence in College Station. You can follow the live feed if you'd like. JUST CLICK HERE.

WHAT: Celebration/press conference for Texas A&M’s invitation into the Southeastern Conference

WHEN: TODAY, Monday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. (CST)

     Celebration will begin at 6 p.m., with a formal press conference following at approximately 6:45 p.m.

WHERE:  Texas A&M campus, College Station, Texas

      The Zone Club at Kyle Field

                               

WHO:  Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and other key officials

SEC Today - 9/26/11

A wrapup from this weekend's action.

Couple more thoughts from the Grove

We don't need to belabor any points, especially after an SEC road win. But here's a couple to digest before we turn our attention to the bizzarro dogs.

• The defense had a spectacular day holding Ole Miss in check completely. But it looked to like the d-backs needed different cleats. Every curl or out route they had a hard time keeping their footing making the cut.
• Coach Friend must not get any sleep at all. If Georgia does indeed make a run here down the stretch it'll be because Friend found the right tweak overhaul way to manage a young, thin and desperately apprehensive offensive line.
• Grantham. I've loved the guy's soundbytes since he was hired. Now I'm starting to come around on everything else as well. I spent a lot of time watching him Saturday and it's a given that his players always know where they stand with him. Nice to see the guy elevate off the ground too in order to celebrate the INT with Rambo.
• For what it's worth, Grantham also tried his best to encourage the offensive line late in the game when they took the field.
• Chase Vasser is small. Not Carlton Thomas small, but looks like a LB in the body of a nickel back.
• The one sentence summary of the Georgia Bulldogs so far is - A team that gets better every week. The one question that easily sums up the season - Can the Georgia Bulldogs get good enough fast enough to avoid falling out of the SEC East race completely in October?
• Lastly, an update on the Ole Miss mascot. A Rebel fan I spoke to believes the Bear's days are numbered. Of course we were in the shadow of a 7 foot inflatable Gen. Beauregard as we spoke. But he doesn't count himself as a fan of cuddly cub all stuffed with fluff.

Sorry there's no meatloaf again. Last few days took a lot out of me and I just haven't read enough of the blogs and online stories to make it worth it, for you or for me. Check the Dawg Clicks to the right here for some updated postings in the Dawgosphere. 

Oh, and about Blair Walsh

Last week I admitted I'm in no real place to analyze Aaron Murray's mechanics. This week the same goes for me and Walsh.

But...Cord and I did notice him having a lot of trouble from the right hash during halftime warmups. He must've missed 4 kicks from that spot just inside the right hash while we waited for the teams to come out of the locker rooms. And not all in the same way either. At least one miss was a straight pull and at least a couple others pushed right. When he moved over to the left hash, things seemed to fall right back into place.

Now that's just a < 10 minute snapshot of what he did at halftime. But of the three misses during the game, two were from the right hash and one from straight away. I don't know how much better it makes me feel thinking that there may be some consistent reason for the sudden inconsistency, but my untrained eye leads me to believe that it's just a case confidence. So I was definitely glad to see Richt give him that fourth try late.

- Posted using BlogPress from Bernie's iPhone

Sunday's Rebellious Thoughts

Real life slapped me pretty hard in the face on Thursday. By the time my family was able to punch back I just didn't have time to set up The Grove Liveblog. But as it turns out, 3G is about as rare in the Grove as it is in Stillwater or Starkville. So it probably would've been anti-climatic anyway.

Regardless, here's a few thoughts on the game coupled with a few pics.

- Amazing what can happen when you let your most dynamic receiving threat run pass routes.
- Our seat were in the endzone so it wasn't always easy to see, but seemed like the offensive line settled down some.
- Malcolm Mitchell, deep threat!
- For all the craziness that surrounds Nutt, gotta give him credit for doing exactly what he needed to keep the Rebels in the game late. The trick plays were as well times as they were executed.
- That being said, we should've had them by the throats a lot earlier.
- As annoyed as I am by the offense looking at the sideline for adjustments, I'm even more bothered by the defense struggling to get enough and the right personnel in the field before the snap.
- Overall though, hard to complain when your offense gains nearly 500 yards and the defense did it's job.
























- Posted using BlogPress from Bernie's iPhone

Video: Orson's TD catch

Just in case we needed proof that Orson Charles running pass routes produces points.