My take on the UGA/USC game

I've been collecting my thoughts about the game last night and all I can say is... What a great game! The best one I have attended in quite a long while. We are a good team that played great at times yesterday and showed our youth at others. I loved the fire that coach Richt showed -- especially right before halftime hen he chased the officials to the locker room. Mike Bobo has more young, talented players than he knows what to do with. It was easy to call the offense when it was Stafford throwing and Knowshon running. There was no choice of who, it was just a question of what and how. Now he has go to figure out how to manage our young talent. He did better this week than last, but he has still got some work to do.

There are going to be a lot of folks angry with Willie Martinez after this game because -- well they have to be angry at someone, right? But they should take a big step back. Willie called a pretty good game, all things considered. The pass rush wasn't bad, but there were at least a half-dozen times were the rusher would spin the wrong direction or just miss bringing down Stephen Garcia, who played out of his friggin mind. Willie was completely hamstrung by having his top defensive end, Rod Battle, go down with a knee injury and two of his top three Sam linebackers, Darius Dewberry and Nick Williams, miss the game with hamstring pulls. Marcus Washington spent most of the game floating between LB and DE, and Willie was essentially just working with what he had. The middle of the field was open a lot, but it was by necessity. He played a classic bend-but-don't-break style, which was not pretty, but it was effective. The defense was exceptional in the red zone, and South Carolina didn't score an offensive touchdown in the second half. Our Defense was on the field 30 MORE PLAYS than their defense in this game. This was not anywhere near as bad as some people are going to make it out to be. Our coaching is not perfect, and like it or not... this IS a rebuilding year. That doesn't mean we can't (or won't) win some games. But this season is all about getting some key young talent ready for what should be a nasty run towards excellence. We will be a force in the SEC again when we mature as a team, Urban Meyer goes to Notre Dame, and Tim Tebow goes to the CFL (or Hell). In the mean time... It is good to be 1-0 in the SEC! Bring on that Arkansas and Petrino (AKA: Benedict Arnold, Brutus, Judas, etc). Let's go get a little better this week and end up 2-0 in the league!

respectfully submitted,

How Many Days?

Sweet lovin', football can't get here soon enough!

I Can't Believe This Is How We Govern Ourselves

From: UGA Football as a water bargain?

One state lawmaker has a new way to fight neighboring Florida over the issue of water rights to Lake Lanier—football.

State Senator John Douglas says Georgia needs to use an economic tool in the water wars battle. To that end, the Social Circle Republican says the annual Georgia-Florida college football game should be taken from Jacksonville at least once every two years:

"In the past I’ve not had an opinion on this particular aspect of the Georgia-Florida game, but I do now. I think with the unemployment at record highs in Georgia...I think with the terrible recession, we can no longer afford the luxury of sending $25 million a year to Florida."

Douglas says this may be one of the few ways to engage Florida to negotiate in the water matter. Last week, a federal judge gave Georgia three years to come to a solution with neighbors Florida and Alabama over rights to Lake Lanier. If not, metro Atlanta's tap for drinking water from the reservoir will be shut off.

Currently, Jacksonville is annual host to the Bulldogs and Gators gridiron clash. But the contract is up for renewal after this season.

Douglas says he sent a letter to University of Georgia president Michael Adams to help in working to bring the game here at least once every two years.

If you live in this man's district, I implore you: VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE!

Dear Governor...

Dear Gov. Perdue,
I voted for you in large part because of your stance on education. You promised to make it a priority. In my opinion, you have not held up to that promise. If education is one of your top priorities, you have an interesting way of showing it. Teachers already work more days than they are paid for, and they are underpaid for those. Now, you are going to "give" them a three-day "unpaid vacation". What you don't seem to understand is that the workload of our teachers remains the same regardless of how many days they work. The good teachers will still work in spite of being paid for fewer days. What you should do is call this what it is... a pay-cut for teachers. As the "pro-eduction governor", you are cutting teacher salaries. This is unacceptable. Our teachers may be an easy target because they are dedicated slave-labor without unionization, but this is a new low for uninformed politicians. My question, sir, is... Are you also planning to take a three-day unpaid vacation?


~ Matt Phillips,
concerned constituent

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