Sometimes I am EMBARRASSED to be linked to the University of Georgia

On Saturday September 3rd, my buddies and geared up to go to the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic at the Georgia Dome. We were fortunate enough to have a nice ride down to "The Dome" in a Lincoln Executive Town Car courtesy of Hennessy Transportation. On the way down our wonderful driver Hannah discussed her musical talents and passion for marching band and "classic rock" (Bon Jovi, INXS and Styx (She's a 90's baby)). She drove while we imbibed and reminisced on our days of planning tailgate parties and promotions with Avalanche Entertainment and 790 The Zone. We left Norcross at 3:04pm and arrived at 3:45pm and we stopped to get ice on the way! Talk about quick! My hopes were that the rest of the day would match the ride of the afternoon! But unfortunately my evening has 4 flat tires and bad brakes...

After hours of tailgating and watching other games we were ready to head on in to a game that I was already nervous about. But I did not expect what the evening had in store for me. Normally my season ticket seats are 3 rows off the field and on the aisle in Athens. But for some reason (because I am not a big $ donor, even though I buy ALL bowl tickets even the bad ones) I was in the roof! 3 rows for the top of the Georgia Dome! If this wasn't bad enough I had Billy Bob redneck sitting...no wait...STANDING behind me! (Keep in mind there was another row behind him) He is constantly shuffling and kicking me in the shoulder and right as I start to get used to this...a group of 4 walk up with 2 long haired dudes that look like 1980's wrestlers (one actually had on Stars & Stripes pants!) and decided they are too good to sit in their seats in the middle of the row. So instead they sit on the steps! Oh yeah...and we haven't even got to the National Anthem.



So once the game starts I try ignore the foot in my back and the couple who has taken all the space I have on the aisle side and are now constantly sucking face. I turned my focus to the game! GOOOOO DAWWWGGGSSSS! SIC' EM! As the ball kickoffs the 2011 UGA Football season! Then it all unravels....a false start on my season! The next 7 game minutes I am dealing with Billy Bob screaming "Run the *%cking route!" or "Richt you #$@cking suck!" and now as people are getting up out of their seats I am not just catching his foot in the back but also kicks in the elbows as people try to walk past the soft-core porn 80's Wrestler couple! My patience finally had worn thin when Billy Bob yelled "Run the *%cking route!" again and I yelled "HE DID! HIS ROUTE WAS FINE IT'S YOUR MOUTH THAT SUCKS!" and either he ignored me or didn't hear me (leaning toward ignored me since I'm kind of loud) because the next time he kicked me I looked up and he started apologizing. Then "bang" in the elbow again! As the red began to spread across my face and steam came out of my ears I decided it was time to leave at 9:49 in the first quarter.

I then waited and watched the rest of the quarter and the second quarter from the walkways of the Georgia Dome. Just to get away from the foolishness that has become college football. During this time the buddy that was sitting with me dozed off  in his seat  claiming the game was so boring! Finally I get him to come down and we decided that it was time to leave. We could no longer deal with the rednecks of the upper deck. So we walked over to Dantanna's  which is supposed to be a "Upscale Sports Restaurant"  but I guess they forget to tell some of their patrons!

The guy to my right in his red/white Seersucker pants and white Georgia Golf Polo and Croakie-d sunglasses (looking like he came from St. Simons) didn't get the "Upscale" memo as he's dropping every curse word you've ever heard (and some I hadn't) and I thought he may cry he was so emotional on every play! But then came the kicker....as we're sitting at a table minding our own business two guys in their late 40's walk up and sit down to start complaining about the game and the Vertically Challenged one screams at the top of his lungs "Prima #$@ing donna!Then keeps trying to get me and my friend to agree with him! Once that doesn't work he starts trying to get the entire patio to join in his chant of "Fire Mark Richt" and thankfully no one does! This was a grown man! Where is his tact and class? Have we as Georgia fans really sunk to this level of behavior?

I was raised a Georgia fan and my family taught me two things about Georgia football. 1) It was a CLASS ACT! Meaning you congratulate the opposing fan/team when they win and you keep your business in house.  Somewhere this philosophy has eroded  into cursing at the top of our lungs, questioning players and coaches and embarrassing yourself and everyone who is associated with the entire school. When did we forget our manners? When did we decide that dropping F-bombs and calling for a man to lose his job in public were acceptable? 2) It's JUST A GAME! A football game has no bearing on your life unless you play or coach. It doesn't change your earning potential, your ability to sleep or eat etc. and if it does...you may want to look into another profession or look in the mirror! The only time I get upset at Georgia losing a football game is when we get embarrassed (Examples: Tennessee 2009, Florida 2009) Being blown out is embarrassing to all parties involved players, coaches and fans because they all have to put up with the abuse from the outside world. For me...after about two hours I am over even an embarrassing loss.

Saturday night I was EMBARRASSED! I was embarrassed that our fan base has become convinced that the redneck song "What's That Coming Tracks" should be our theme song and that the majority should act as "Drunk Obnoxious Georgia Fans". I know that us season ticket holders can sometimes feel that we should have a say since we put in so much money each year, but the bottom line is WE DON'T HAVE A SAY! The fact that season ticket holders are in the roof of the Dome should tell you that. 

The "U" is Child's Play for Chucky Gruden the U needs to Leach of someone else

Recently the University of Miami fired their head coach Randy Shannon. To me, personally, this is preposterous! The guy has graduated players and in his four years at Miami formerly known as "Mafia U" or "Thug U" Shannon had ONE player arrested in 4 years! During the same amount of time the University of Florida has had 40 players arrested! The University of Georgia had 11 arrested since March! The Dolphins had 4 players arrested just last off season! His win-loss record was the reason he was sent packing. Because someone at Miami seems to think that his $1.5 million salary should to equate to ACC titles and BCS National Championships. Now...in relative terms, Urban Meyer makes $4 million, Jimbo Fisher is guaranteed $1.8 million but with incentives could make $2.25 million, and Mark Richt is bringing in $2.8 million. So to put it in perspective, FSU fires a legend and brings in an unproven Fisher and he still makes more than Shannon would have ever seen! You quickly see their arrogance!



This is where we realize that Jon "Chucky" Gruden isn't lying when he says he is NOT interested in this job. Why would an established Super Bowl Champion coach want to take one of the lowest paying jobs in college football? Yes, he lives in Florida. Yes, it's a recruiting hotbed. Yes, Colin Cowherd thinks his energy would fit. But Cowherd also brought up that NFL coaches are work-a-holics and love being in the meat grinder. Well...HELLO....this is Jon Gruden! This guy was notorious for not leaving the Raiders facilities, sleeping there days on end. Heck he lived in his car during the early Green Bay days! If he leaves the booth it's for an NFL job. Plus he has a Super Bowl ring as a coach! Why would he take less than what his Bucs unemployment check is currently paying him? Or less than ESPN is paying him? He wouldn't.



Next in the "U" dream list is Mark Richt, now me being a Georgia guy there is one thing I took to heart when he said it at his first press conference. That was "When my wife and I began this, we wanted to go some where we could raise our kids and be there for a long time, we wanted to go some where for good." No one has talked him out of Athens, and though it's been a rough run over the past two seasons only the moronic are calling for his head. (Though I will say that could change if we don't start beating Florida) Plus why would he take a pay cut to go to a school that made him a back up QB as a player, better yet why would he turn down FSU for Miami? FSU created his career, Miami killed it.

So who should Miami hire? Mike Leach. Plain and simple. This is a guy that lost his job because of alleged wrong doing. A guy that his former school hated because he didn't fit the "Lubbock way" and he wanted more money since his teams got better and better. Now...he's sitting at home and can be gotten on the cheap! Because $1.5 million is better than NO Million! I also think he could get this program on the fast track to winning again. See...Broward and Dade counties are a HOTBED for speed players, and big egos. Just look at what Texas Tech was when Leach was there (A passing offense with Michael Crabtree!). Plus his ego is big enough to walk into Donald Trump's office and ask for an appointment. So then you know "The Donald" LOVES the investment possibilities in Coral Gables. I brought this up on Atlanta's 680 The Fan's Rude Awakening this morning (12.1.10) and I want it on record. Before everyone else hops on board with this idea. Leach will be Miami's next coach.

Until he wants more money.

Herschel Never Played Defense

Recently I had the opportunity (thanks to my friends at Original Retro Brand and my good friend Andy Hyman) to go to the Touchdown Club of Atlanta's weekly luncheon honoring the week's top football players and coaches and the event is concluded with a guest speaker. This week however, the guests were members of the University of Georgia's 1980 National Championship team. Today's blog is a recollection of my experience at this event as well as a compilation of the stories that were told about the great Junkyard Dawg defense. Enjoy!


The smell of great food, and the discussion of how good or bad different teams are is going on, and football is definitely in the air.  But this wasn’t the campus of Georgia, Auburn or Georgia Tech.  It was the Fox Sports Grill at Atlantic Station at the Touchdown Club of Atlanta weekly luncheon.  And on this day Buck Belue reminded us all of something that most Georgia fans and college football fans seem to forget…”Herschel never played defense.” The 1980 National Champions had a RB that rushed for 1,616 yards and 15 touchdowns.  Yes, they also had a pretty good QB in Belue and receivers in Amp Arnold and Lindsay Scott.  But their defense was the anchor to their undefeated season, and eventual title.  The Junkyard Dawgs never gave up more than 21 points in any game and against a high-powered Notre Dame offense in the title game, they gave up just 7 points.  The Junkyard Dawg defense was created, motivated and loved by none other than 3-time National Championship coach Erkskine “Erk” Russell.  According to 1980 Team Captain Frank Ros (pronounced Ross), as the I-Formation was becoming more popular the Split 60 defense was used to stop the Veer and Option, but Russell morphed the defense to move the Sam linebacker (strong side) to a D-tackle, and then would move back out, and the end would shift back in to stop the I-form, Iso, and Dive plays. Thus with the combination of speed, intelligence and motivation, this defense earned their nickname“Junkyard Dawgs”.  Frank Ros, Bob Kelly and Robert Miles all agreed that their defense was centered around Russell.  For instance there is a pretty famous picture of Erk that most college football fans of that era have seen with Erk’s head gushing blood, but this wasn’t from his famous head butts of defensive lineman. You see he created a tradition with his defensive lineman where in pre-game warm ups he played a game called “Bull In The Ring”. For those that don’t know, it’s when one player would stand in the middle of a circle of other players, and they would come from all over to hit the man in the middle, one at a time. Well, Erk would stand in the middle and he would butt his head into his player’s chest.  He had a player that just moved from linebacker to D-line who didn’t know this, and he dropped his head and the screws on the helmet cut Erk’s wrinkled bald cranium.  Frank Ros recalls that before going out on the field that Erk stopped him at the door, swiped his hand across his head, and wiped the blood on Frank’s jersey.  Ros told us “At that point I would have run through the wall for him”.


Russell had an uncanny ability to motivate his players by knowing their personalities and loving his players.  All the players on the panel agreed that Russell’s coaching style was to never criticize the athlete, and instead he would only critique the action.  Never saying “you screwed that up” or negative statements that would potentially put someone down, but instead he loved and respected his players enough to use positive motivations and only talk about the action.  In closing, there are two other notable points that I found worthy of mentioning.  Bob Kelly recalled that when the Dawgs lost homecoming in 1979, Coach Vince Dooley moved curfew up to the moment they returned back to the dorms. Then the next morning (Sunday morning) the trainers woke them up for practice at 7am.  At this point they still had a JV team who was going to play Clemson Sunday afternoon. After practice was over, the JV was put on the bus with a sandwich and sent to the stadium.  After that experience they didn’t want to lose another game so they just went undefeated the next year. They all also agreed that in their era, having a Junior Varsity team and everyone having to play on the Scout teams helped propel them to the Elite.  That and bloody Tuesday’s! As Buck Belue said referring to Bloody Tuesday’s, “When you have that #1 offense going against the #1 defense in practice how could anyone beat us.”


Personally, I had a great time filling in for Andy at the Touchdown club, and I honestly enjoyed hearing about Erk and his Junkyard Dawgs.  As a former high school football coach, it was nice to hear that a coach treated his players the right way, and could still win.  Now days too many coaches think they have to belittle and berate players to get them to perform, and Vince Dooley and Erk Russell remind us of how you can win and treat players as people.  Coaching means you are the teacher, and these legends were the perfect example.  In conclusion, I have to give a shout out to the Georgia High School Lineman of the Week Joe Turner, who was noted for making 11 tackles, and played offensive line in a game in 2009 with a broken wrist!  Now that’s a beast!  Thank you to Andy and Original Retro Brand for the opportunity to write this blog.

Coaching Changes Won’t Fix Georgia’s Woes

Being a lifelong Georgia fan and eight-year season ticket holder, I have come to realize that we have a fanbase that expects of SEC titles (not sure why). This season started no different, a win against University of Louisiana-Lafayette had the Georgia faithful solidifying this mentality. Then there was the downturn. Why? Is it Georgia’s lack of tackling? Is it A.J. Green’s four-game suspension? Yes. But is that it? No.

See, Georgia is lacking something that every team we’ve played since Week 2 has. It’s called leadership. It’s not coaching leadership, but on-field player leadership. This is evident in each of their four losses.

Example 1

Ealey fumbles in the red zone late against South Carolina, and they cave.

Example 2

Arkansas holds Georgia to a three-and-out late, desperately in need of a defensive stand and they cave.

Example 3

In Starkville the entire game showed a lack of leadership! There were at least three times in the fourth quarter a leader was needed, and Mississippi State found theirs as we continued to look for our way out of the proverbial Egypt with no Moses.

Example 4

Against Colorado the minute that AJ left the game, the demeanor changed. They then caved again in the third quarter giving up a touchdown the next drive! Then a field goal capped off a nine-minute drive! Still with a chance King fumbles, because no one steps up and gets these players together as a unit. No one makes the big play that changes everything.

You can put it on coaching as a lot of folks are trying to do, but if you ever played football you realize that both players and coaches win and lose games. The coaching has not changed in 10 years, and it doesn’t need to. The system works. But as a former football player, not only do coaches need to be leaders but so do players.

There is always a group of players that are the vocal leaders and the example leaders and right now we’re lacking both. I do think they are there, but I think they are all young. To freshman and sophomores who think “it’s not my turn," well, it is your turn, because we know the upperclassmen aren’t going to do it!

Coaches can’t make this happen, and they can’t recruit it. There are only a few Tim Tebows in a lifetime. Most leaders just “show up.” In my years as a player and former high school football coach, I can tell you leadership shows up in the most unexpected people at the most unexpected time.

My hopes as a Georgia football fan are that it shows up FAST before the redneck faithful actually get their way and Richt gets canned! True Georgia fans look at the body of work and realize this man has built a respectable program and one bad year isn’t enough to fire a two-time SEC champion!

By the way, there are only five schools with multiple SEC titles since 1990: Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia. Yes, we’re the only one without a national title, but that is not enough to fire an incredible coach. How long was Vince Dooley at Georgia before he got a National Title? Sixteen years.

I can also tell you I know this view point won’t be well received. No one ever wants to come out and question kids. Coaches don’t do their call-in show calling out players and they don’t go to the media and say, “we ain’t got no leadership.” Great coaches (Richt) take the responsibility on themselves and they deflect any of that from their kids.

Lastly on the “firing” idea, other than it being just plain stupid, what basis do people have for this ridiculousness? Because they give money? Because they watch a game on TV? Because they are a 30-season ticket holder? That’s not enough reason for you to think your opinion on firing a coach should happen! Fire this crappy Athletic Director first! That’s another blog.