I don't bet on college football games. Most of the time it's hard enough to decide which team will win without trying to factor in the point spread, and it's easier to enjoy the game without a financial stake in the outcome. However, I usually try to figure out which team will win in advance because I consider it an exercise of the same analytical skills I use to write my detective novels as "Rocky Leonard", and specifically the ability to apply logic and reason to problem-solving, especially if I care about the outcome of the game. As a Georgia Bulldog alumnus and football fan, I care about the outcome of the 2018 national championship game, and I'm aware that the bookies in Las Vegas have installed Alabama as a four point favorite. The prognosticators and pundits have also spoken: Colin Cowherd decreed that Georgia has absolutely no chance to beat Alabama, and according to him the Crimson Tide are "best team in football" who only lost a nail-biter to Auburn, (by "nail-biter", Cowherd apparently means losing the game by only 12 points as opposed to a 23 point margin.) UGA fans who have been upset by Cowherd's prediction that Alabama will thrash our Bulldogs in the National Championship game should note that this same "expert" analyst also predicted Oklahoma would defeat both Georgia and Alabama and win the national championship. Remember, the "experts" forecast Hillary Clinton would be President today, not Donald Trump. In other words, as my late Dad used to say, opinions are like a-holes. Everybody has one. Almost every writer at Sports Illustrated also picked … [Read more...]
Exceeding expectations
On February 10, 1980, the Russian national hockey team absolutely demolished the U.S. national team in an exhibition game in Madison Square Garden just prior to the Olympics, by a 10-3 score. Arguably the game hadn't even been as close as the score. The Russian team looked a lot like the Harlem Globetrotters on ice, and the U.S. team appeared to be significantly less competent than the hockey equivalent of the Washington Generals. They didn't even look as good as the Mighty Ducks (meaning the team coached by Emilio Estevez, not the NHL version.) After that brutal and humbling loss, U.S. coach Herb Brooks made a very interesting observation. He said: "Sometimes a real butt-kicking is good for a quality team, or a quality athlete." Incredibly, less than a month later the U.S. national team managed the unthinkable and defeated the Russians in the far more-important "Miracle on Ice" rematch in the Olympics. Do you believe in miracles? I do. I happened to watch that 1980 hockey game in the SAE fraternity house in Athens, Georgia as it happened, in real time. And yesterday I witnessed a similar sports miracle. Georgia won the SEC Championship by three touchdowns by the same team that had beaten them by more than three touchdowns, only three weeks earlier. Don't pinch me. If I'm dreaming, I don't want to wake up. The University of Georgia Bulldogs are the 2017 SEC Champions. Say it again, out loud and proud. Go Dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof woof woof woof! Who could have believed it, before this season started? Heck, who besides our players and coaches believed it … [Read more...]
A quick memo to my fellow UGA fans regarding social media
The University of Georgia Bulldogs have recently experienced the turmoil caused by the firing of a head coach with a .740 winning percentage. Whether or not you agree with the move no longer matters. The change has been made. What's done is done. Now if you are a fan of Georgia Bulldog football, you should want even greater success for the team, and that is exactly what Kirby Smart promised to deliver in time during his press conference. Coach Smart doesn't need to begin his career as the UGA head coach under a cloud of negativity and a set of unrealistic expectations. Just because Mark Bradley pointed out that Jim McElwain won the SEC Eastern division in his first year doesn't mean we should make that the standard for Coach Smart. Coach Richt didn't win the SEC until his second year in Athens. Mark Bradley knows basketball. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop him from sharing his opinions on football or baseball. Coach Smart said that he will demand excellence in every facet of the program, and that we will continue to do things The Georgia Way -- we will win with integrity, and lose (on those rare occasions) with dignity. That's really all we can ask...the titles will come in time. He also promised that he and his staff will bring the best athletes he can find to Athens and then make them into highly skilled players. Several top-rated potential recruits for the defense have already moved Georgia to the very top of their list because of Coach Smart. Coach Richt had been in the process of assembling a stellar recruiting class, the best in his tenure by … [Read more...]
