The Big Easy

Georgia plays its first football game of next season Tuesday, and we are going to be there. I am pretty pumped. Hopefully, our room will have two beds, or I will have to drink even more than I was planning on drinking.


Now for business. It would be great if Shane, Carrel_Fan, anymouse, and JJH4 could show up at Jack's house at 7 AM on Sunday with $125.00 for me. Originally, I thought checks would be easier, but seeing as how I probably won't be visiting a bank in New Orleans, cash would help me out a lot.


With that out out the way I must again say that I am pumped. Sunday we get to gamble at Harrah's and eat at their buffet. Monday is New Year's Eve, and we get to do Happy Hour on Bourbon Street and bring in 2008 with Hurricanes and Hand Grenades. Then on Tuesday we get to sleep late and watch football until whenever we decide to take a cab over to the Super Dome and tailgate for the football game. UGA will win 38-21 and Durham will score. The next day we get to head to a city a Florida not named Destin to celebrate the win. I am quite certain this will be the greatest trip of my life.


Here's my guess at a top 5 trip moments:
1: Murray maxes out his credit card at Harrah's
2: Bell wins 3200 at Harrah's
3: We run into Chris Pearce on Bourbon Street and Larry dies because he has nothing left to live for
4: Joey meets a voodoo woman with a Midwest feel?
5: When everyone stares at their phones to watch the time on their phone change

Congratulations Brothers

It's been real. It's been fun. Athens will miss Schwarz a ton. I know Murray finished up last week and Holland and Rickie will be done in just a few more days. Pat Mac finished this Summer, and I think Brother Sims is about to finish as well. Joey, if you're not about to graduate, then you still deserve a pat on the back just for the kind of life you are living. Awww. Well, with all of yall finishing up, I've decided it was time for yall to have Senior quotes. And I've decided to pick them for you...

1: Shane William Murray


"I am not going to lie. I am hammmered, man. I am hammered."
"Sarah, you complete me."
"Credit cards are awesome."
"I am going to stick my d*** in something tonight... yeah, your toaster."


2: John Joseph Holland IV


"I like her. She has that Midwest feel."
"Top 5..."
"I'm doing good, sir. How are you?" (Jack to impt people in his grown-up voice)
"I like him. He participates."


3: Patrick (some Irish name I think) McCarthy

"That's 434 mother#@%!!"
"Listen to what Hurricane (Schwarz) did now..."
"Live it up while you are there (Athens)."
"Tootle! You @$#$#@$#@@$#@$#@$@$!!!!"



4: George Frederick Schwarz IV aka Slic Ric, Pretty Rickie, Dumbass, Hurricane, Little Guy, Crazy Man, Rockstar, Son of Paul Webber, Amanda's cousin, Emmy's beau, woooooooooooooooooooooing guy, Crazy Guy at B st, CPC #1 fan, UGA basketball fan, Rickdwags47, and Colonel Schwarz

"This is my town. My @$##% town."
(Rick Schwarz wrote
at 4:52am on February 4th, 2007 to Cassie Goss)
"Hey, some of it's magic, some of it's tragic but I had a good life all the way. Missed you this weekend. "
"Just Rocking and Rolling..."
"I stayed at home by myself and did nothing on the last Saturday night of my college life."



5: Joseph (Jessie or Palmer?) Sims

"I want to be Jessie Palmer."
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to miss this caveman( Coach O)."
"Love you got to go."
"Jesse rolls out of bed after a long night of "mackin" on some chicks from the Jersey Shore. He runs his fingers through his hair, looks in the mirror, and then says "it's perfectly messy". He then shows his Kappa Alpha pledge class picture from his days at UF. "Those are my fuckin' bros."

Fight Night

I don't know how many boxing fans we have on the blog but you don't have to be a fan to get excited about a huge prizefight and it doesn't get much bigger than tonight. "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather (38-0,24 KOs) puts his WBC Welterweight Championship on the line tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas against Ricky "Hitman" Hatton (43-0,31 KOs) in clash of unbeatens. It is being hyped as us against them, America vs. England. Mayweather is coming off of an epic battle against Oscar De La Hoya back on Cinco De Mayo which he won a controversial 12 round decision. Hatton's last fight came against Jose Luis Castillo in June of this year, a fight in which he KO'd Castillo in the 4th round. That's significant because Castillo is the only common opponent between the two fighters. While Hatton destroyed Castillo, Mayweather struggled in winning both of his fights against Castillo with two 12 round decisions. Of course that was back in 2002 so take that for what it's worth.

Mayweather and Hatton have a lot to live up to...

Many people are looking at this fight like it's a real life version of Apollo Creed-Rocky Balboa because a) Mayweather is the real life version of Apollo Creed from his speed to his flamboyance; b) Hatton, like Rocky, is known more for his toughness and brawling mentality than his boxing skill; and c) nobody outside of England is giving Hatton much of a chance in tonight's bout. It is a classic David and Goliath scenario.

While Floyd is more than likely fighting for himself, Ricky is fighting for himself and his country. Thousands of Hatton fans made the trip across the pond and into the MGM Grand Arena to cheer for Ricky and jeer at Mayweather. A decidedly pro-Hatton crowd overwhelmed the Mayweather fans in the audience. They packed nearly every seat on one end of the Grand Garden Arena, singing "Hatton Wonderland" and "God Save the Queen" at deafening volume while clapping and banging drums. As far as breaking down the fight goes, Floyd's skills are far superior to Hatton's but Ricky has a dangerous arsenal of body punches, also like Rocky. Like Mickey said in Rocky II, "the body, the body, the body, don't let the bastard breathe." However, I think Hatton does have one major advantage over Floyd- his humility. Mayweather's arrogance (like Apollo Creed) may be writing checks his body can't cash. Though Mayweather was busy doing the tango on "Dancing With the Stars" for part of the fall, he accepted the fight with Hatton when the British champion criticized Mayweather's style after his most recent victory.

To win, Hatton will have to make it a brawl, something Mayweather will be reluctant to do with his sit back and react approach. There's also talk of an English uprising in the world of boxing. There are some good young prospects in the European ranks, but over here in the states boxing looks to have taken a temporary backseat to the UFC. A Hatton victory could certainly cement this claim. Will Mayweather's arrogance cause his downfall? Will Hatton's heart be enough to overcome Floyd's superior talent? It may be the popular upset pick but I say yes to both.

Prediction: Hatton KO in 11.Hatton looks like an English Rocky to me...

Next Victim?

According to the AJC, Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson have agreed to a deal in principal:

By Tony Barnhart

Navy coach Paul Johnson has an agreement in principle to become the next head football coach at Georgia Tech, three people close the hiring process told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday morning.

But as has been the case during this crazy season, it is not a done deal until Johnson signs the contract.

Johnson, 50, was scheduled to meet later in the day with his team at Navy, where he is scheduled to take the Midshipmen to the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 20.

Several coaches, including Wake Forest's Jim Grobe (Arkansas), have seriously discussed other jobs only to change their minds at the last minute.

But this much is clear, according to one person who talked to the AJC, Johnson will either stay at Navy or he will become the next coach at Georgia Tech, replacing Chan Gailey.

If Johnson signs with Georgia Tech later today, the next question will be about the future of Jon Tenuta, the Yellow Jackets' defensive coordinator. Tenuta has been serving as interim head coach since Gailey's firing on Nov. 26 and is preparing the team for the Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 31 against Fresno State.

Contacted Friday morning, Tenuta would not speculate whether he will remain as Georgia Tech's defensive coordinator under Johnson.

"My job is to manage the football program and get our team ready to play Fresno State," Tenuta said. "I look forward to that because our players deserve every chance to succeed. I have made that commitment to them."

Johnson, who is 107-39 in 11 seasons as a head coach, won a pair of national championships at Georgia Southern in 1999 and 2000. He took over a Navy program that was 1-10 in 2001. He has won five straight Commander in Chief Trophies, which goes to the top school among the service academies. He is 11-1 in six seasons against Army and Air Force.

Johnson's decision to come to Georgia Tech will send a ripple throughout the coaching carousel. Johnson entertained strong offers from SMU and Duke, which are still looking for coaches today.

Johnson was named Navy's 36th head coach on Dec. 9, 2001. The program had been 1-20 in the previous two seasons and Johnson was 2-10 in his first season in Annapolis. But over the past five seasons he is 43-19.

Johnson has been successful at Georgia Southern and Navy by running a version of the triple option offense. But over the years he has made it clear that if he landed a job at a BCS school, his offense would be more diversified. He spent eight seasons as the offensive coordinator at Hawaii (1987-94) before going to Navy as offensive coordinator (1995-96).

Johnson then took over at Georgia Southern where he was 62-10 with two Division I-AA national championships. He was on Erk Russell's original staff at Georgia Southern when the program was started in the early 1980s.

A native of Newland, N.C., Johnson has an undergraduate degree from Western Carolina and a Master's Degree from Appalachian State. He and his wife, Susan, have a daughter, Kaitlyn (14).

Rick's Rant: ESPN's Hypocrisy

I'll try to make this short because I could literally go on for days about Georgia getting screwed out of the BCS title game. There are so many angles you can take on the situation. I've decided to narrow it down and focus on ESPN and the dirty tactics they used this weekend. These may not have directly kept the Dawgs out of the championship but it certainly didn't help Georgia's cause by any means. I'm not pissed at LSU, Oklahoma, or Virginia Tech for jumping Georgia because it's not their fault- it's the voters. I would go off on Ohio St. and Illinois right now but I think I've beat that drum enough and everyone is familiar with my position on Big Ten football- it's a JOKE.

I will say this though, if Ohio St. (0-8 against the SEC in bowl games) gets embarrassed by LSU like they SHOULD and Illinois gets thoroughly dominated by USC like they WILL then the BCS should be amended. This will be the 2nd year in a row the Big Ten puts 2 teams in BCS bowls and both of their teams completely piss their pants, fold like a cheap tent, and lose by multiple TDs. In case anyone forgot, Florida and USC made Ohio St. and Michigan their bitches last year in their respective bowl games. Then a Florida player said after the game that they played at least 6 teams in the SEC that were better than the Buckeyes. I believe the players themselves would know better than anyone else. Anyways, as a result of not being able to pose any sort of challenge against "good teams," the BCS committee should make a rule that would keep Big Ten teams out of the BCS bowls completely for at least the next 5 years. They should be confined to the lower tier bowls and after their 5 year suspension is up the situation will be reevaluated. Okay I'm already getting off course. Back to those conniving bitches at ESPN.

I woke up Saturday morning at 10 a.m. to watch ESPN College Gameday and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Herbstreit, Corso, and Fowler talked up Georgia like we were the greatest thing since sliced bread. They said a lot of good things about the Dawgs, calling them THE hottest team in the country and promoting them as much as possible for a Rose Bowl match-up against USC (they assumed West Virginia and Mizzou would win). A lot of Georgia fans and SEC fans in particular complain about how ESPN has a bias against the SEC and I tend to agree to a certain extent because I think they do favor the Big 10 and Pac 10 and I find it odd that they won't bring Gameday to Athens. So needless to say I was shocked that these guys were kind of going out of their way to hype Georgia Saturday morning. In all fairness though, I will say Herbstreit and Corso have been giving us pretty good publicity for the past couple of weeks. Gameday went off the air at noon just like usual and everything was fine and dandy in the Bulldog Nation.

Then, as the day and evening progressed, a highly improbable series of events took place. The two teams ahead of Georgia, West Virginia and Missouri, fell and all of sudden the Bulldogs long, outside shot at a BCS title berth became very realistic. Apparently though, while all of this was taking place and Georgia was not in action, the boys at ESPN changed their mind about the Dawgs. Hypocrite Herbstreit changed his tune quick and started campaigning for his alma mater Ohio St. (not surprising). He and Corso decided now that it was actually possible for Georgia to go to the BCS title game that the Bulldogs were not worthy of a title shot, the complete opposite of what they had expressed not even 24 hours before. Of course it didn't take long for those blatantly biased assholes Lou Holtz and Mark May back in studio to pile on and repeatedly throw the Dawgs under the proverbial bus. Those two, who have always hated Georgia (especially Mark May- I wish Trev would have beat his ass before he left), badmouthed Georgia for a good 10 minutes (for no reason), going on a tirade about how the Bulldogs have ABSOLUTELY NO right to be in the championship game. I mean the tone and content of what they were saying went beyond stating their case for or against Georgia- it sounded like personal attack against CMR and the Bulldog Nation. They blasted Georgia during their bowl selection show too even after it was decided Georgia would not be playing for the national championship (more piling on). As pissed as I was about what Holtz and May were saying I wasn't surprised at all. They've always hated us and I've always hated them. The guy who pissed me off the most was Herbstreit. I use to like him but he is now dead to me. Listening to him take back everything he had said about Georgia in order to get his own team into the BCS title game was ludicrous. Listening to him try to justify Ohio St. while constantly downplaying the Dawgs was downright sickening. Yes Kirk you may take the knife out of my back now you two-faced, phony SOB. Yeah Kirk's not biased at all- give me a f***ing break...

He said strength of schedule was very important, admitted the Buckeye's SOS wasn't very impressive, and yet still said they deserved a shot at the title. Herbie lost a lot of credibility and respect Saturday in my book. I won't even get into the whole Les Miles-Michigan fiasco that he managed to royally f*** up. It was really funny listening to him try to justify that the BCS title game wasn’t about the 2 hottest teams or even the 2 BEST teams at that moment (are you f***ing kidding me). He said it was the overall body of work which once again doesn’t scream Ohio St. who lost in their 2nd to last game of the season or LSU who has lost 2 TIMES since Georgia’s last loss.ESPN you are DEAD to me...

I just don't understand how in the course of a day, after a few games in which Georgia wasn't even involved in, such "expert" analysts can pull a complete 180 and bury us in front of a national audience which no doubt contained lots of important voters. They go from singing our praises to staging a public execution and the whole thing is complete BULLSHIT and bush league. Holland made some great points earlier- these guys have way too much power and pull. That's bad for college football and certainly taints the sport. I think they need to be taken down a couple of notches. Come back TREV and take out the trash.

Other than Being Pissed Today......

I went from being 70% in favor of a playoff to 100% wanting a playoff. I do know that there will never be a perfect formula. I also know that any type of playoff format(a plus 1, 4 team, 8 team) would work better for me. Georgia having to face Hawaii was just as depressing as not playing for the title, but the fact that LSU will play Ohio State for the BCS National Championship is what irks me the most. Besides the fact that Ohio State played the worst schedule in the country and LSU has failed at being #1 twice, its that Corso, Herbstreit, May, and Holtz, on December 1, had just as much impact on who would play in New Orleans as the players who competed for the past 14 weeks. The old system was not good but at least it did not take into account the opinion of a former Ohio State QB giving his "unbiased" opinion. However, I do smile in confidence tonight knowing that 2 years from now we will see the end of the BCS. Who knows what will follow the BCS. But even you Boise, -10 degee, smurf turf bound Techies would agree, it can't be worse than what determines the champion of the greatest sport in the world today. I also know that there is not another Coach in the country that I'd rather have leading my school's team than Mr. Richt.

My favorite quote of the day: "Thank you BCS for giving us a system in which an entire fan base would rather play in Orlando than the Sugar Bowl."

Selections from ESPN.com writer Gene Wojciechowski:

"Sort of like a playoff" isn't working. "Sort of like a playoff" gave us at least six teams that could each make valid arguments for a BCS Championship spot. But instead of a playoff, the finalists were determined by 176 voters (some of whom actually pay attention), six computer polls and politicking.

Nobody is playing better than OU, Georgia or USC right now. But it's Ohio State, with its puppy fur-soft nonconference schedule and so-so Big Ten quality, that was chosen for New Orleans. Interesting, since the Buckeyes didn't register a win against a top 20 team at the time they played. At least inconsistent LSU mostly survived a killer conference and won its league championship game.

This isn't meant as a total rip job on the Buckeyes and Tigers. They finished atop the BCS standings because they won and lost at the "right" times against the "right" teams. They are the beneficiaries of the perfect BCS storm.

There will be those who say the unpredictability of this season and of the BCS is what made college football so compelling in 2007. I'd say the BCS is what made this season so embarrassing. How can you have these delicious scenarios without having a playoff to resolve them on the field?

We're back where we started pre-BCS. Chaos reigns. And all because too many people in the business of college football are willing to settle, willing to pretend there isn't a better solution. Makes you want to chug that martini.

--At least I can take solace in knowing that I will turn my television to GPTV on Friday morning and watch a product that no TV personality or computers can ruin.

FATBS!

Georgia is more than likely going to get F***ed over this evening when the bowl match-ups are announced. Knowing this, I'm having a hard time sleeping. Then again, those red bull and vodkas probably aren't helping either. The fact of the matter is this- LSU is NO better than Georgia. So they haven't "lost in regulation" like Shane said. They still gave up 50 points just LAST weekend. So a team that lost 1 week ago and gave up 50 points is going to play for the National Championship- BULLSHIT. I'm not saying Georgia deserves to go to the Championship game (I think they do but I'm biased as hell) but if LSU goes over the Bulldogs that's just wrong. LSU might have won the SEC Championship but they still have the same number of losses as Georgia and they certainly didn't beat Tennessee very impressively (Tennessee dominated statistically). Their resume is NO better than Georgia's. The only team I think that has a strong case to be in the title game is Oklahoma. I think they are one of the 2 best teams in the country without a doubt. However, the other team is a toss-up. It could be anybody. Obviously shitty Ohio St. will be in the championship, once again screwing over the Dawgs just like they did in '02. If it's Oklahoma vs Ohio St. I won't be that upset (except at Ohio St. because they should be going to the Alamo Bowl and not the title game). Any other team besides Oklahoma though and I think Georgia has a legitimate argument. Forget about Virginia Tech. A) They play in a shitty conference that can't even fill up half of a stadium for their championship game and B) they got absolutely destroyed by LSU. Kansas has no right to be in the title game because they had one tough game all season and they blew it against Missouri, who proceeded to get their ass beat by the Sooners. Then there's CPC and the Men of Troy. As much as I hate to say it, they don't deserve a shot at the national title either. Losing to Oregon is respectable but losing to Stanford, not so much. Don't get me wrong, the Trojans are good enough at the moment to win the National Championship without a doubt (even with a terrible QB) but their list of accomplishments this year is not very impressive. Basically it comes down to Georgia, LSU, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma. Georgia lost to (6-6) South Carolina (way to finish strong you assholes- God I hate the Gamecocks) and co-SEC East Champ Tennessee (9-4). LSU may have won the conference but still lost to 2 mediocre teams: Kentucky (7-5) and Arkansas (8-4), both of which put up huge numbers against the Bayou Bengals. Oh yeah, don't forget about how LSU SQUEAKED by in several other games as well. Some say Virginia Tech has a strong argument but that's wrong. Sure their 2 losses came against teams with good records, Boston College (10-3) and LSU (11-2) but A) Boston College sucks (along with the rest of the ASheShe) and B) they were blown out by LSU 48-7. Nothing in that last line screams national title contender to me. Then there's the Sooners. Like I said, I think they are 1 of the 2 best teams in the country. HOWEVER, they also lost to 2 mediocre teams in Colorado (6-6) and Texas Tech (8-4). Also, coming into the weekend at #9, I just don't see them jumping that many teams. Having said all of this I think it comes down to Georgia and LSU, like many people are predicting. I like the Dawg's chances in the coach's poll because more people like CMR than Les. The Harris poll on the other hand maybe Georgia's downfall. I think Georgia is going to get F***ed especially if it ends up being LSU. Besides the 1 extra win and conference champion honors (even though Georgia and LSU have the same number of conference losses) the Tigers' record is no more impressive, and maybe even less impressive, than the Bulldogs. I'm not sure if any of this makes sense because I have a lot of stuff running through my head and at 6:58 A.M. I have finally hit the proverbial "wall." Basically though, what I'm trying to say is "WHY NOT GEORGIA?" Despite what all the haters say, and there's plenty of them, our Bulldogs have just as much of a right to be in that BCS title game as anybody else. We just have to hope the voters see it that way too. It won't be long now...


This one's for my friend Don and his PMA (also part of the final episode of one of the greatest TV shows of all time)

BS!

Let me start off by saying that this is the first time I have ever won a parlay (LSU over UT, OSU over Oregon, and Oklahoma over MIZZou) and I gotta saying I thought I'd be happier now. Simply put, I think all the bullshit about how LSU (as everyone on any ESPN affiliate has already "crowned") should go play Ohio State in the BCS Championship is a crime (some of you might agree.) What my main problem is, and let it be known that I'm pretty drunk right now, is that if every week one team is gonna jump another team that hasn't lost, then what is the point of ranking teams during the season. Instead, either come out with only one poll during the season the week after all games have been played OR rank teams with games remaining higher than those that don't. If UGA doesn't go to the National Championship this year than the BCS ranking system is a bigger cock tease than any girl donnies has ever messed around with.

Another problem I have is that people put too much emphasis on who the best team was at the beginning of the year. Yeah, at the beginning of the year I don't think UGA would have stood a chance against LSU, BUT a lot has changed. Shit, the reason people are some hellbent on a playoff system is because they think the teams that are playing the best at the end of the year are the most deserving of the championship game. If that were the case then Georgia would certainly be up there, and LSU (who lost last week) wouldn't.

Some people would think that I am a huge Georgia fan but, what I am most concerned about is where my early January is going to be spent. That, and I'd hate to see Georgia Southern get screwed out of the chance to beat the reigning National Champs.

p.s. I confuse cock teases and whores sometimes.

F*** Tradition

If Georgia can't go to the BCS title game...



CMR VS CPCGood song, GREAT game...