Good morning, Dawg fans! It's the penultimate day of January, which means one thing: National Signing Day is almost here! Follow the latest on Georgia's class here at Dawg Sports (led by people not named me who actually know what they're talking about in the 'crootin arena), with the best in national coverage available at SB Nation Recruiting Central.
Who will be the next great freshman to make an impact for Georgia? We'll at least know who the candidates are on Wednesday!
To help start what will hopefully be a great week for the Dawgs off on the right foot, I offer the following links for your information and edification:
- For those of you who don't have an unhealthy obsession with high school kids: Seth Emerson has a helpful FAQ to help you prepare for National Signing Day, including a picture of last-year's highlight of the day. It's worth noting that the pic he uses also became Isaiah Crowell's signature photograph for exactly 10 minutes...
... until this little gem made its debut. (Via)
- #FireMikeBobo: Mark Richt cancelled a last-minute visit to a high-profile recruit's house on Saturday, which shows that he has clearly lost his fire and commitment to the Georgia football program, and should resign immediately. Or maybe just Mike Bobo.
- BREAKING NEWS: Auburn cheats: If you've watched watched the ESPN-produced documentary "Pony Excess" (which, if you haven't, you should), then you know that last minute changes of heart in recruiting are frequently (allegedly) accompanied by "additional encouragement." Totally unrelated to this are the stories showing Auburn coming on strongly late in the 2012 recruiting battle, despite losing both offensive and defensive coordinators in the offseason. (Not to mention the Tiglesmen's history of "finishing strong" in recruiting. ALLEGEDLY.)
- He'll totally get to block sometimes, too: Georgia Tech pulled in a verbal commitment yesterday from a Wide Receiver prospect out of Cook County. Apparently, Paul Johnson promised him he would be able to do something other than just stand on the field at the end of the formation and serve as a decoy for the running game.
- Brandon Boykin sustained a hearbreaking career-threatening injury in the Senior Bowl: Or, you know, it could just be a thing that keeps him sidelined for a couple of weeks. Whatever. The bottom line is that Buck Belue scooped the story! I swear, what's the deal with Georgia playing greats and irresponsible Twittering?
- Since it's the offseason, it's finally officially "wild conference realignment speculation" season: Actually, the title kind of says it all. But if the Big XII were to actually end up with a school within 90 miles of Athens, I'm going to go personally kick Mike Slive's ass.
- U-S-A! U-S-A! (Or, if you prefer... "AMERICA! F*** Yeah!"): Yeah, I know, soccer on a football week... but for the roundy-kicky-ball fans among us, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team served notice over the past week that they're back and ready to (re)start kicking butt and taking names. Over the 5 matches they played in the 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament, they outscored their opponents38-0, including a victory in the championship game over Canada yesterday with a 4-0 scoreline that was 3-0 within the first 30 minutes. (Or, in other words, not even as close as the blowout score might indicate.) And Hope Solo is, uh...
Er, um... I'm sorry, what were we talking about, again?
Have a great Monday, everybody!
Go Dawgs!
Your hot lady soccer post needs more Alex Morgan
There…. thats better.
RedCrake - January 30, 2012
Does her shorts say "Mike Bobo"? That messed up man.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
#FireMikeBobo
vineyarddawg - January 30, 2012
Waving hello...
And here she is daydreaming about me….
Mr. Sanchez - January 30, 2012
When did this become the soccer-geek fantasy-girl thread?
Table.
T Kyle King - January 30, 2012
I called Hope first.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
I have dibs on Despair.
Wait . . . what were we talking about again?
T Kyle King - January 30, 2012
Dibs on the wife of the big awkward robot, aka
Plus there’s a beer in her hand. So it fits Spears stock the bar post. I say we invade that with more talk about futbol.
Mr. Sanchez - January 30, 2012
If I weren't so sure that Clint Dempsey could kick my ass just by thinking about me, I would call Bethany Dempsey.
vineyarddawg - January 31, 2012
Obligatory van der Vaart pic
RedCrake - January 31, 2012
oh yea -
tankertoad - January 31, 2012
Dear God
RedCrake - January 31, 2012 via mobile
POWERZ: I HAZ THEM.
On a day when I highlight women’s soccer, the professional women’s soccer organization in the U.S., WPS, announces to its players that it is essentially folding.
Let’s see how far these powers go:
The Florida Gators have served notice over the past few weeks they’re back and ready to (re)start kicking butt and taking names. With a second year with which to run his defense and under the direction of a competent college OC, Will Muschamp is ready to lead the Gators back to glory.
vineyarddawg - January 30, 2012
Is it just me, . . .
. . . or does the WPS’s announcement that it was suspending play read like an Onion article?
T Kyle King - January 30, 2012
I suggest you take a look at some of the photos in these bios
http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/geo-w-soccer-mtt.html
I think you may want to watch a little more soccer.
Mr. Sanchez - January 30, 2012
Laura Eddy is a Marist girl. Seems the high dollar Atlanta schools are all represented.
Makes sense for soccer though.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
Hey, I'm all about me some Georgia soccer . . .
. . . in the sense that I’m all about student-athletes representing the University of Georgia beating the crap out of student-athletes representing other institutions, even in athletic endeavors in which I ordinarily would not have an interest.
I just think the WPS’s announcement read like unintentional self-satire, that’s all.
T Kyle King - January 30, 2012
You want satire?
Read about Dan Borislow, the rogue owner that has basically single-handedly caused all this mess. He’s got a George Steinbrenner/Jerry Jones complex about women’s soccer, if such a thing is possible. In summary, he did all of the following things:
- Unilaterally moved the team from DC to Miami, playing in FAU’s stadium (which has a capacity below the stated league minimum)
- Hired ALL. THE. FAMOUS. AMERICANS. (Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, Megan Rapinoe, Christie Rampone, etc.)
- Refused to hire virtually any front-office staff, including PR people, and even named himself head coach (which was rejected by the league because he didn’t have the certifications needed to be a professional coach).
- Refused to sell season tickets, or even set up a website for his team.
- Would notoriously berate his players both in person and publicly in the press after losses or poor performances.
- And then there’s this statement on ESPN.com’s story, presented without additional comment: “A longtime thoroughbred owner, Borislow was an outspoken figure in horse racing but sold most of his stable because of a dispute with the IRS.”
The kicker, though, is that he sued WPS because they essentially terminated his franchise without warning and without going through their own dispute resolution process, which is about as stupid a move as a league can make.
After reading the articles I read today, it became clear to me that the WPS is the USFL and Borislow is Donald Trump. He might have technically caused the league to die, but it was fatally flawed to begin with.
vineyarddawg - January 31, 2012
He named his team the magicJack
That’s all the really needs to be said here. It would be like Arthur Blanc renaming the Falcons the Atlanta Georgia’s Home Improvement Headquarters. Not that the original name was all that great in the first place (I dare you to find me a name of a woman’s professional sports franchise that doesn’t sound insultingly stupid), but still. They were named after a device that makes phone calls over the internet.
elfcrash - January 31, 2012
A horrific account of one players experiences under Borislaw was just released today.
A player named Ella Masar tells her story.
Besides painting a picture of a world-class jerk who enjoys bullying women for his own fun and pleasure, she doesn’t paint too pleasant of a portrait of (former Florida Gator) Abby Wambach, either.
vineyarddawg - January 31, 2012
The Atlanta Beat!
noooooooooooooooooo~~~! Now I’ll never be able to get a victory back for the loss I saw in the sole game I attended. :(
The984 - January 30, 2012
I bet Kennesaw State
is wishing they hadn’t invested all that money into that stadium now.
elfcrash - January 31, 2012
If you're relying on the success of professional women's soccer to pay off your stadium
You’re probably not a very good businessman.
The984 - January 31, 2012
News flash:
Buck’s source finally revealed, Film at 11…
DavetheDawg - January 30, 2012
Happy birthday, tankertoad!
If we were playing ball today,
They’d run the offense Bobo’s way.
Frankenback would trip for three,
then Aaron Murray would take a knee.
Walsh would kick it from the ten.
Doink! The Dawgs get naught again.
Today, there is no football game;
but today is special, just the same.
So happy birthday, tankertoad;
may it better than Dawgs in OT unfold.
If I could, I’d give you this gift from me:
Bobo departed and Toad for OC.
Cherokee's Grip - January 30, 2012
I sincerely thank you very much.
Not even sure how you know this.
Many, many thanks
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
Read the site header.
And Happy Birthday. :-)
vineyarddawg - January 30, 2012
They be running spec ops up in here! Many thanks.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
uh, oh. Thank you vineyarddawg.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
Maybe I didn't know it was your birthday.
Maybe I just figured that since I knew it had to be your birthday once this year, I’d run that “birthday poem” play and see if it worked. Or maybe I read the site header like vineyarddawg said.
Cherokee's Grip - January 30, 2012
Great poem either way
Mr. Sanchez - January 30, 2012
Happy Birthday!
Hopefully you will get top ranked recruiting class full of O linemen as a belated gift on Wednesday.
hbtd - January 30, 2012
Happy Birthday!
So say we all.
MidnightFrost1701 - January 30, 2012 via iPhone app
Thank you.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
...You picked up on the BSG reference, right?
I mean, I assume you did, but I want credit for my geekery in case you didn’t. : )
MidnightFrost1701 - January 30, 2012 via iPhone app
Absolutely.
I have wondered if it is a spin of of “So mote it be.”
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
to be fair to Buck
No one has actually ever proven he was great at playing.
Mark Mandingo - January 30, 2012 via mobile
and no offense to anyone
But the leather helmet blog was soooooo wrong about everything related to expansion that WVU fans began to think that he was just trolling them. Sorry if anyone here is associated with it.
Mark Mandingo - January 30, 2012 via mobile
Not at all... I 100% agree, in fact.
I was really just trying to point out that it’s that time of year for such wild and crazy rumors to surface.
vineyarddawg - January 30, 2012
I guess I was apologizing more
to anybody here that might write over there. There’s a few writers on that site so I don’t wanna paint them all with the same brush. But one of them was just so out there with his “secret sources” that it seemed just like a blatant page view grab. The comment section was basically WVU fans either eating it up, or calling him (or her, I guess) out for just lying to get hits. I was embarrassed that it was associated with UGA fans. Sorry if that’s harsh. The other writers might be great, I don’t know.
Mark Mandingo - January 30, 2012 via mobile
Wild Conference Realignment Speculation season
So does that run from February to October now? I guess it beats watching the MLB season.
mbrd71 - January 30, 2012
Bingo.
So… Yorimuri football Giants to join the WAC next?
vineyarddawg - January 30, 2012
Why you be posting gifs of my lady saying hello to me?
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
I need something crazy to happen at Bama, Auburn, UT or UF.
I feel serious running Kiffen out of town post season withdrawal.
tankertoad - January 30, 2012
There is this little article
here about Saban, Landon Collins, Landon’s upset mom, and Landon’s girlfriend…
Dawg2011 - January 30, 2012
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