He Was Just Off Millen's Big Board

According to today's AJC, Reggie Ball will join Tech teammate Calvin Johnson in Detroit for minicamp Thursday as a non-roster invitee. Ball hopes to make an NFL roster as a wide receiver or kick returner.

I do hear there's a pretty good market these days for midget wideouts who run 4.8 40's.


Side note: David Greene ran a 4.74 at the 2005 combine, so I guess the Seahawks don't need to worry about replacing Darrell Jackson after all.

It's Not Sixteen Titles, But Still Pretty Good

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Suzanne Yoculan and the Georgia Gym Dogs, on behalf of America (or at least the Southeast), for what they did this weekend. Not only did they win their third (!) consecutive national title, but they also prevented Florida from winning yet another championship in the process.

Had the Gators secured yet another national title on Friday night, we surely would've heard all about it on Sportscenter: "Hey, did you hear Florida won ANOTHER championship over the weekend? Are you sure Ohio State didn't make the Super Six? LOLOL" But the Gym Dogs won't get any national publicity of note, even as they continue to dominate their sport in a way few programs have ever done. Three straight national championships without any seniors competing at any of the final meets. Unbelievable.

The Passing of a Legend

For those who attended St. James School or are a member of the parish, this will take on significant meaning. Bobby "Mr. Mac" McBride passed away on Sunday in Savannah. Mr. Mac dedicated much of his time to St. James School and athletics for more than 30 years. He coached generations of St. James students in every sport, including some members of this blog as well as many of our family members. He was involved in almost every aspect of the parish but was most known for his tireless efforts with the student-athletes. The football field at St. James is named in his honor, a scholarship fund is in his name, and the City of Savannah presented him with the honor of Coach Bobby McBride Day. Many would say he has been the most beloved and significant figure at SJS since the doors to the school opened. He will be sorely missed by many and our thoughts and prayers are with Bryan and the entire McBride family.

" It's the name of the game."

If you want to see Donnie hit the ground (before he got in a fight)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-ZHPq11Wes

Favorite Pitch, Best Swing

As Georgia's baseball team flounders, BC is coming on strong. The baseball team started slow and has faced injuries throughout the year. Yesterday, the Cadets handed Calvary Day School their 2nd loss of the year taking the contest 3-0. This coming just a week after a 12-2 victory over region leading South Effingham. The good play has put BC back in the playoff picture. With a win against Burke County this Friday, the Cadets will qualify for the region playoffs and a chance to advance to the state playoffs.

The Golf team will compete at the Region tournament today. BC has had a great year to this point including team victories at the City Championship, Savannah Christian Invitational, and numerous head-to-head matches.

The tennis team travels to Lagrange tomorrow to compete in the 1st round of the State tournament after finishing 3rd in Region 3-AAA and a 2nd place finish at the Coastal Empire Tournament.

The region track qualifying meet is Friday and BC has seen a revitalization of sorts from the track team. With a solid 4x100 team, good distance running, and good performances in the jumping events, the track team has found some measurable success.

Bell v. Maher

I said it would happen, and it happened. Leighton and I decided to take the next step in our relationship. We had a fight, a real fight. And even though he's an awful fighter, I think we'll be fine. So what's the big deal? Doesn't Leighton get in fights every weekend? I think he does, but I would like to discuss and break down the dynamics of Bell v. Maher

Point A: On this very blog, I did predict a fight between Leighton and myself. So I went down there looking for a fight right? In actuality, I realized that there were many people there who I'd had past issues with so I decided to play it cool and not be the kid who got in 4 separate fights. I said absolutely nothing to Leighton all night until I said, " Yall are out; Yall are out; It's the rules. Rules are rules." Then he came at me. And it wasn't much of a fight. But that was just the beginning.

B: Well it's his house so I shouldn't screw with him in the first place.

1: I didn't screw with him.

2: He had people over and made them pay to drink and be in Beerfest. Without our participation and money, there'd be no beerfest.

C: Everyone turned into a bunch of little girls. It's a stupid little wrestling match and as soon as we got off the ground then it should have been over and done with. If I had really wanted to knock his ass out, I would have done so. If he would have really wanted to get maybe one shot in, then he could have endured the beating and surely brushed my face with one hit. Neither of us really wanted to fight; he just felt like he had to.

D: From what I gather, everyone who lives with Leighton is known for having bad tempers. You'd think they'd be better fighters if they got in so many fights. But it's obvious that they'll only fight when they must; John Patton is the most hostile guy I've ever come across. He def deserved Chad's assault. What am I getting at here? It's obvious that these guys are out to prove that they are just badasses. Of course, they aren't. I've seen one play basketball, one try to fight me, and one yell at his girlfriend; they are all women. So while I might have predicted a fight between myself and Leighton, it was HIM who was and always is looking for a fight. Before too long, he'll find one with someone who can fight and wants to fight, and that'll be the last time he ever goes out looking for fights.

E: I was kind of pissed at Leighton's roommates for taking his side, when, in my mind, they were just ignoring the facts and the sensible way of looking at it. Shane chose to look at it from both sides. And I got pissed and walked to P Lowe's about 3am without a shirt on. I'm special. But really I guess I was just pissed because, believe it or not, after 7 hours of drinking, people overreacted and took sides.

F: If there would not have been a Bell v. Maher, there would have been a Maher v. someone.

THE week in review

Monday

One sad individual takes the lives of over 30 people at Virginia Tech. The best thing that I've heard or read about the entire situation was written by the Southern Discomfort guy in one of our campus newspapers.

Tuesday

I did not end up at Topper's with Charlie.

Wednesday

Me and Larry run into the Ryan Gibson at Little Italy. That place has good, big pieces of pizza for not a lot of money. They also have cheap pitchers of beer. I think a slice of hamburger with a pitcher of Bud Light was only $6.66.

Thursday

I made the drive to the Boro by myself. Shane, P Lowe, and myself had a relaxing night at Dingus McGee's. There's another one in Seattle.

Friday

I decided to go home Friday so I could have a relaxing night in my own bed. Things went a little different. It started about 3 when I rode by Stingray's and saw Gibson having brunch. After pounding drinks and winning 50 bucks at Bingo, I ventured to see Schivera, his hand breaking friend, and the lady of my dreams. This is where it gets fuzzy. I think it went well with her. I woke up naked and with her number in my phone. Problem is that I wet my pants, and my mom hates me now. Oh well, I guess Schiv can have MJ. If it would have worked out, then I guess she wouldn't have been my "dream girl" anymore. AWWWWWWWWWWWW

Saturday

Beerfest!!! Basically, our team of P Lowe, Rooks, and O'Hayer sucked and we were out as soon as a team could possibly be out. I got to see some cool guys and gals that I usually don't get to see, so it was really cool. I can't believe Shelton's team of himself, Stephen Bruce, A Sauers, and P Sauers did not win. Shit, they might have, I don't know. It went about as expected. And oh yeah me and Leighton got in a little fight.

Home Stretch

As the semester comes to a close, its a little disappointing to see the Georgia baseball team having such a down year. One of the best programs at the University for the past 4 years will not be providing any heroic performances in Atlanta or late inning comebacks in Athens during the month of June. As bad as Georgia has been for most of the year I had not heard any giving up from coach Perno, until tonight. In his post game interview after the loss to Tech, Coach Perno admitted that the team might just be too young to compete and many of the younger players will get more playing time the rest of the season in hopes of developing for next year. What was more surprising was a statement he made about the program as a whole. Siting the 2005 recruiting class as "significantly poor," he believes the program is in a rebuilding stage and might take a while to get back to where he wants to be. I see this team having a lot of potential for next year but the comments from Perno really are discouraging.

Though the baseball team will basically have to win about 10 of their last 15 SEC games to make the SEC Tournament, they would still have to win the tourney to get into the NCAA's. However, other things to look forward to include:

May 4th, David Price of Vanderbilt will pitch against Georgia in Athens. There's a great chance he will find himself on a Major League roster by the end of the year.

BC plays Calvary in baseball on Monday for those in Savannah.

Athens twilight rolls into town. Always a good time.

May 5th- Kentucky Derby.

Two of the top 5 days of the year come back-to-back. May 17th and 18th.

Tennis Team will win the National Championship, Suns win the NBA, and Vaughn Taylor wins The Players.

To Tiftarea and JD, beautiful people with a draw and allure that makes this time of year that much better!

The Build Up!

As some of you probably know this weekend is shaping up to be out of control. Of course what I am refering to is Beerfest two brought to you exclusively by Mussolini Maher himself.

Just to emphasis the extent of what we are expecting, late last week I received a phone call from a Jeremy Thompson in Atlanta of whom I havent spoken to since around Christmas asking if what he heard was correct. I confirmed his queries and requested that he get a four member team ready for the weekend. On top of that, I haven't gone to a class since last Tuesday without inviting at least one person to stop by on Saturday. Whether or not they show is a different question, but shit who cares.

Things to look for on saturday:
- Anywhere between 80 to 150 people including probably around 5-10 with badges, handcuffs and guns (they might show up late)
- 8-12 kegs
- 2-6 fights, probably one being between donnie in leighton, kyle and leighton, and leighton and stephanie.

"Barton: Navy's ex-QB gets blindsided"

http://savannahnow.com/node/231191

The Savannah Morning News editorial page had a good opinion piece on the Lamar Owens situation a while back, so you may have seen it already. But it's new to me.

Some excerpts:

"Where does a young man go to recover his reputation? If anyone has a clue, call Lamar Owens at the U.S. Naval Academy.

His future is riding on it."

"The jury found Owens guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer, but declined to impose any punishment for it. That's the military justice system's equivalent of a wrist slap.

It said Owens did wrong - and there's no question he did - but that his mistake shouldn't cost him his career.

And that seemed fair. Even the higher ups at the Naval Sea System Command, which oversees the Washington Navy Yard where Owens had been assigned to administrative duty, agreed.

But then Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt, the Naval Academy's superintendent, delivered a blind-side tackle last week."

"Let's hope Savannah's two congressmen, Jack Kingston and John Barrow, join in.

Owens and his family back home in Savannah paid a steep price when the young man was accused of rape. He shouldn't keep paying for a crime that a jury said he didn't commit. But if that's the Navy's way, then two words apply: Go. Army."

The Week in Review

Yeah, so the whole Friday Haiku idea was a BUST. I've now decided to make Sunday the day of the week to discuss the events of the past week related to my life. But for old times sake; please enjoy this one last Haiku:

Big porch on Friday

But Gibson saw more ponies

Beerfest this weekend.

Au revoir( goodbye in French) Haikus...

And now for the new feature...

1: Thank God the Masters ended a week ago. Apparently, Zack Johnson was the least bad golfer in the field. It's obvious that the play of golf is at an all-time low considering that no one broke par. Somewhere, there must be one big ass refrigerator with a lot of pictures in it.

2: Ryan Gibson might be the funniest person to ever walk this earth. I highly recommend befriending him on Facebook and checking out his pictures along with the unique captions produced by the man himself.

3: I am registered for 3 HACE classes next fall. That shit better be a good idea.

4: We are about 5 weeks away from The Beach Bum Parade. I hope that at least half the people on this blog are able to attend. I know Athens has bars, parking lots with about 100 gallons of bleach water, and Stevie B's, but please consider what Beach Bum brings: cold beer, an ocean, a beach, free hamburgers and hot dogs, wet girls, and bars. I know that we, as a group, have had our problems on this day, but it would be stupid for anyone not to attend. Any excuse for missing The Beach Bum Parade is a bad one. Remember: no one is FORCED to drive on that day and Fred is a fire inspector now.

5: October Sky, Rudy, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Patch Adams, and Borat are my top 5 movies of all time. I came to this realization yesterday while watch October Sky and drinking.

6: I thought my beerfest team would include Troughton and Pat Bunger, but now P Lowe tells me it's him, Rooks, me and someone else. If any of yall are heading to the Boro this weekend, we should get a team together, " The Mussolini Hooches".

7: City Bar is one of my top 3 bars in Athens along with GB's and Allgood.

8: If we would have played a BC baseball game on Jackie Robinson Day, would Bunger have worn 42?

9: Shane did not publish a joke this week because HE IS A JOKE.

10: I gurantee that there will be a Bell v. Maher Saturday April 21st.

Joke of the Week

Why does Helen Keller masturbate with only one hand?
-because she moans with the other.

What a Week

WrestleMania is the greatest spectacle in sports entertainment and also signifies the beginning of undoubtedly the 2nd best week of the year. The disappointment of St. Patrick's Day being 12 months away is beginning to wear off, the weather is becoming ideal, and summer is right around the corner. No matter what you prefer or where you may be, it's a great week, not to mention its Holy Week.

Monday: Atlanta Braves Season Opener; NCAA Basketball National Championship Game
Tuesday: Clemson @ Georgia Baseball
Wednesday: Georgia @ Clemson Baseball
Thursday: First Round of The Masters ; Savannah Sand Gnats Home Opener
Friday: The Masters ; Braves Home Opener
Saturday: The Masters ; G-Day
Sunday: Masters Sunday

The Grandest Stage of Them All

Wrestlemania 23 is set to take place in Detroit at Ford Field in approximately three hours. It's the biggest event of the year in sports entertainment and it's the event the WWE bases its entire year around. It attracts attention from all over the globe and there's always a lot of celebrities in attendance. Words cannot truly describe the magnitude of a Wrestlemania so I'm just gonna include the final Wrestlemania 23 card and my predictions (and a video that I'm sure will make some people chuckle):
- WWE World Title Match: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
My prediction: HBK wins. I hate John Cena because he's an Eminem wannabe.
- WWE World Heavyweight Title Match: Batista vs. The Undertaker
My prediction: Taker's never lost at Wrestlemania and I don't think Batista is going to break his undefeated streak.
- Battle of the Billionaires: Umaga w/ Vince McMahon vs. Bobby Lashley w/ Donald Trump
My prediction: Lashley wins because there's no way Trump is going to get his head shaved. However that would be the ULTIMATE Vinnie Mac screwjob.
- Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Edge, Randy Orton, Finlay, Booker, CM Punk, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Kennedy
My prediction: Edge wins because he's the top heel at the moment and Orton's in the WWE doghouse with the steroid story in Sports Illustrated.
- ECW Originals vs. The New Breed - Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, RVD, Sandman vs. Matt Striker, Marcus cor Von, Kevin Thorn, Elijah Burke
My prediction: I have no idea who any of these people are except for RVD because I don't watch ECW but I'll take the New Breed because I'm not a big RVD fan either.
- WWE Women's Title Lumberjill Match: Melina vs. Ashley Massaro
My prediction: Don't really care but I think Ashley will win because she's getting a lot of attention now with her recent Playboy spread.
- Kane vs. The Great Khali
My prediction: Great Khali wins a terrible match because I read Kane is suppose to be taking some time off after Wrestlemania to heal up.
- WWE U.S. Title Match: Chris Benoit vs. MVP
My prediction: Benoit wins and the fact that MVP is a part of Wrestlemania and Flair and Carlito aren't makes me want to throw up.

Five Things I'd Pay Atleast $5 To See (Concerning College Basketball)

-Greg Oden's highschool picture in my grandfather's yearbook.
-'Joey' Noah struck by lightning
-Patrick Ewing (Sr) eating a banana
-Al Horford doing a quatro-front flip dunk (NBA Jam's style)
and lastly
-The Selection Committee realizing their mistake putting UGA in the NCAA tournament championship as long as they bring back Joey Waldrop to have the a match-up for the ages...Waldrop v. Oden