I listened to Munson call the first half of the game while driving back from Asheville. I was fortunate to get home to watch the entire second half at home.
Munson was amazed at how fired up everyone was for the game. He stated that the crowd was louder than he had ever heard it at Sanford and that, while at capacity, there still seemed to be mobs of people attempting to get in and watch.
Our intensity showed from the get go as Reggie Ball, I mean Brandon Cox, threw his first pass into Kelin Johnson's waiting arms. We had a typical UGA drive (30 yards and stall) that ended with a FG. The War Tigers responded with a FG drive of their own. Richt/Bobo then unleashed Stafford's arm as Bailey and MoMass reigned in TD passes.
We couldn't sustain the energy and allowed Auburn to come back and briefly take the lead. The crowd got back into things and the team pushed the pedal down. The running game finally got going (after stalling in the first half) behind some sensational runs by Moreno and the passing game kept the safeties deep for Auburn. Thomas Brown almost scored on a long scamper but The Plunge (Southerland) took it in as usual from 1 yard out. Georgia ended the game on a 28-0 run and fittingly, with a Cox interception. For his career against UGA, Cox is 34 of 70 with 1 TD and 9 INT. (Reggie Ball was 45 of 104 with 1 TD and 5 INT). We'll miss you Brandon Cox.
The Blackout was highly effective and Richt pointed to the Bowl game as the next time we'll don the Black. UGA is in pretty good position for the post season one way or the other. If UT loses against either Vandy or UK, UGA slips into the SEC championship and we'll get to see a good battle between the Dawgs and (more) Tigers. If UT wins out, we'll finish somewhere 5-8 in the BCS and end up in the sugar bowl (most likely). Considering this was a "rebuilding" year with underclassmen seeing extensive playing time at just about every position (notably QB, RB, OL, TE, CB, S, LB), I think UGA is happy with a shot at the SEC championship or a BCS bowl payout.
The Hawks struggled this weekend, but I wasn't around to watch. And the Falcons decided to eschew a top 5 draft pick for an extra win (didn't they learn anything from the Hawks).
Tonight: The 49ers continue their quest to make the Patriots the most stacked team in the league by getting smoked tonight and giving the Patriots and even better draft pick in 2008.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The Case For Kobe
Since the end of last season, Kobe’s on again, off again trade demands have been the forefront of any discussion regarding the NBA. Many destinations have been bandied about by the media, and most of them seem illogical for both the Lakers and the possible destination. For example, Dallas would likely have to trade Dirk. Both teams would essentially just be swapping stars. Neither team would improve substantially. The Bulls would have to surrender at least 3 of their young players: Deng, Gordon, Thomas, Noah, and Hinrich. By doing this, what would be left for Kobe to work with? An aging and one dimensional Wallace and some role players. Hardly any improvement over the current Lakers.
Really, the best option would be for Kobe to come to the Hawks. The primary piece we’d have to give up would be Joe Johnson (and I’m a huge fan of Joe). A package of something Like This would net the Lakers a proven All Star in Joe, a wing player that compliments the passing of Odom and Joe in Childress and a scoring point guard in Speedy (Lue or AJ could go in his place). We’d likely have to throw in a 2009/10 draft pick (since Phoenix owns our 2008 pick) but that would give the Lakers more depth without sacrificing too much. (Let’s face it, it’s going to be impossible for them to “win” any trade they make). The Lakers offense is a good fit for both Childress and Joe, allowing them to move without the ball and use their size and passing ability in the triangle offense.
This would give the Hawks starting 5 of:
Acie Law
Kobe Bryant
Marvin Williams
Josh Smith
Al Horford
And a bench that includes a veteran PG, ZaZa, Shelden, and Salim would arguably make this the deepest team Kobe has played with.
Kobe, however, would have to approve a trade to Atlanta as he has a no-trade clause in his contract effectively allowing him to choose his destination. So why would he want to come here:
(1) Playing in the diluted Eastern Conference would give him the best chance to return to the NBA finals.
(2) He’d be coming to what some call “Black Hollywood” and would be the biggest African American star in a predominantly African American city. He could rub elbows with Outkast, Jermaine DuPri, and a host of other celebrities that live here.
(3) He’d be an instant fan phenomenon selling jerseys, shoes, and tickets (much like Vick did before his numerous issues). He’d be treated as a Messiah of sorts, the first real hardwood star in 15 years (since ‘Nique).
(4) He’d be able to reestablish himself as a leader on a competitive team.
(5) He’d be allowed to flourish in the new up-tempo offense instead of bogged down by Phil Jackson’s triangle.
(6) He would have more head to head battles with Shaq, Wade, and LeBron, which would feed his competitive desire and determination.
(7) He'd have an opportunity to play for a no-name coach. That would allow him to prove that his success was independent of his past/current pairing with a Hall of Fame coach.
Now, even though this makes a decent amount of sense, it will never happen. The ownership situation is still a mess and it’s unlikely they would all agree to such a trade. But I can hope, right?
Really, the best option would be for Kobe to come to the Hawks. The primary piece we’d have to give up would be Joe Johnson (and I’m a huge fan of Joe). A package of something Like This would net the Lakers a proven All Star in Joe, a wing player that compliments the passing of Odom and Joe in Childress and a scoring point guard in Speedy (Lue or AJ could go in his place). We’d likely have to throw in a 2009/10 draft pick (since Phoenix owns our 2008 pick) but that would give the Lakers more depth without sacrificing too much. (Let’s face it, it’s going to be impossible for them to “win” any trade they make). The Lakers offense is a good fit for both Childress and Joe, allowing them to move without the ball and use their size and passing ability in the triangle offense.
This would give the Hawks starting 5 of:
Acie Law
Kobe Bryant
Marvin Williams
Josh Smith
Al Horford
And a bench that includes a veteran PG, ZaZa, Shelden, and Salim would arguably make this the deepest team Kobe has played with.
Kobe, however, would have to approve a trade to Atlanta as he has a no-trade clause in his contract effectively allowing him to choose his destination. So why would he want to come here:
(1) Playing in the diluted Eastern Conference would give him the best chance to return to the NBA finals.
(2) He’d be coming to what some call “Black Hollywood” and would be the biggest African American star in a predominantly African American city. He could rub elbows with Outkast, Jermaine DuPri, and a host of other celebrities that live here.
(3) He’d be an instant fan phenomenon selling jerseys, shoes, and tickets (much like Vick did before his numerous issues). He’d be treated as a Messiah of sorts, the first real hardwood star in 15 years (since ‘Nique).
(4) He’d be able to reestablish himself as a leader on a competitive team.
(5) He’d be allowed to flourish in the new up-tempo offense instead of bogged down by Phil Jackson’s triangle.
(6) He would have more head to head battles with Shaq, Wade, and LeBron, which would feed his competitive desire and determination.
(7) He'd have an opportunity to play for a no-name coach. That would allow him to prove that his success was independent of his past/current pairing with a Hall of Fame coach.
Now, even though this makes a decent amount of sense, it will never happen. The ownership situation is still a mess and it’s unlikely they would all agree to such a trade. But I can hope, right?
Monday, November 5, 2007
Nice Weekend In Atlanta
The weather was perfect. The Falcons, Dawgs, and Hawks all had good performances and pulled out the all-important W. Here’s a quick recap of each team.
The Falcons: The game was blacked-out in Atlanta. I wasn’t too upset—from the box score I don’t think I missed much. Seems like Harrington dinked and dunked a bunch, Dunn backed his way into 100 yards on the nose, and the defense played okay against a terrible 49er’s offense. I don’t know that we really learned much about the team other than that we are slightly better than the second crappiest team in the league. Although, winning this game means we lose the tiebreaker for draft position. I guess that’s something.
The Dawgs: The game was in hand from the start. Despite the lackluster beginning with two fumbles and a little sputtering from the offense initially, I wasn’t overly concerned. The coaches called a very vanilla game all the way around: no trick plays, no blitzing, no strange formations. We lined up, handed off, ran out routes and scored 44. Defensively, we played cover-2 pretty much the entire game. Reshad Jones got the start over what I’ll assume is an injured (again) Kelin Johnson. Reshad finally started putting it together in coverage, intercepting one pass and nearly intercepting another. Additionally, he delivered a couple of monster hits and seemed to bring a little more energy to the defense. The final score of 44-34 doesn’t indicate how close the game wasn’t. Troy’s coach kept his starters in and kept calling timeouts to get a garbage TD with 5 seconds remaining. The coaches’ goal was to get a win without revealing too much and with few to no injuries. They succeeded. Moreno went off for 196 yards and 3 TDs. After only 2 games as the starter, he’s over 1000 yards for the season with 9 TDs. He’s on pace for 1300 yards and 12 TDs, although at this rate it looks like 1500 and 15 are more realistic considering we still have 3 regular season games and at least 1 postseason (2 if UT loses another SEC game and UGA doesn’t).
The Hawks: Opened the season by downing Dallas and narrowly losing to Detroit. Both games were highlighted by a more aggressive Marvin Williams. Showing a little more hustle on the boards and continued confidence in his jumper, Marvin has been the consistent help to Joe that the team needs. Horford and Law have thus far looked just as advertised: the most NBA ready players from the draft. There are still stretches when they are a little out of place and create a few unnecessary turnovers, but overall they are playing with high energy and effectively. Woodson seems to trust them a little more than his previous rookies and is giving them a longer leash. The entire team is turning the ball over too much, but that is partially due to playing the rookies extended minutes (due to injury) and the team getting acclimated to a faster pace. Both will improve with experience, I think. Last nights game was decided by the officials. After rallying in the last 2 minutes to tie the game with seconds left, the officials called a touchy foul on Marvin with 2 seconds left. Chauncey “Mr. I have hit one big shot in my life” Billups sunk the first free throw and (seemingly) intentionally doinked the second. Josh Smith’s last second heave was to no avail. The foul was iffy. In that situation I’d prefer the refs keep the whistle out of it and let the game go to OT and be decided there. That said, coming from 10 down in the first quarter and rallying back at the end to tie it are moral victories for a young team on the road. I’ve said all along, 2 wins out of our first 6 will be good. After watching this game, I see no reason we can’t take 3 or 4. All this is without ZaZa, who we really miss. Not having an experienced C down low has hindered us defensively and we’ve missed his offensive rebounded quite a bit. It’ll be a nice lift when he comes back. AJ missed the game as his wife gave birth to their child. Congratulations to AJ on setting the new Guinness world record for the oldest male to conceive a child as well as to having the first baby born without a neck.
On Tap: Falcons go to Carolina in round 2 of the atrocious QB bust battle. Harrington vs. Carr. Hawks face NJ, Pho, and Boston this week. Boston presents the worst match up for us, as we really don’t have anyone capable of stopping KG. We should be able to take down NJ, as they have no one capable of guarding Josh Smith or Horford. The Dawgs stay at home to take on a feisty Auburn team. This will be the first home game I’ll miss in the last 5 years. I’ll hopefully find someway to listen to it discreetly. Hopefully I’ll have a pleasant drive back from NC.
The Falcons: The game was blacked-out in Atlanta. I wasn’t too upset—from the box score I don’t think I missed much. Seems like Harrington dinked and dunked a bunch, Dunn backed his way into 100 yards on the nose, and the defense played okay against a terrible 49er’s offense. I don’t know that we really learned much about the team other than that we are slightly better than the second crappiest team in the league. Although, winning this game means we lose the tiebreaker for draft position. I guess that’s something.
The Dawgs: The game was in hand from the start. Despite the lackluster beginning with two fumbles and a little sputtering from the offense initially, I wasn’t overly concerned. The coaches called a very vanilla game all the way around: no trick plays, no blitzing, no strange formations. We lined up, handed off, ran out routes and scored 44. Defensively, we played cover-2 pretty much the entire game. Reshad Jones got the start over what I’ll assume is an injured (again) Kelin Johnson. Reshad finally started putting it together in coverage, intercepting one pass and nearly intercepting another. Additionally, he delivered a couple of monster hits and seemed to bring a little more energy to the defense. The final score of 44-34 doesn’t indicate how close the game wasn’t. Troy’s coach kept his starters in and kept calling timeouts to get a garbage TD with 5 seconds remaining. The coaches’ goal was to get a win without revealing too much and with few to no injuries. They succeeded. Moreno went off for 196 yards and 3 TDs. After only 2 games as the starter, he’s over 1000 yards for the season with 9 TDs. He’s on pace for 1300 yards and 12 TDs, although at this rate it looks like 1500 and 15 are more realistic considering we still have 3 regular season games and at least 1 postseason (2 if UT loses another SEC game and UGA doesn’t).
The Hawks: Opened the season by downing Dallas and narrowly losing to Detroit. Both games were highlighted by a more aggressive Marvin Williams. Showing a little more hustle on the boards and continued confidence in his jumper, Marvin has been the consistent help to Joe that the team needs. Horford and Law have thus far looked just as advertised: the most NBA ready players from the draft. There are still stretches when they are a little out of place and create a few unnecessary turnovers, but overall they are playing with high energy and effectively. Woodson seems to trust them a little more than his previous rookies and is giving them a longer leash. The entire team is turning the ball over too much, but that is partially due to playing the rookies extended minutes (due to injury) and the team getting acclimated to a faster pace. Both will improve with experience, I think. Last nights game was decided by the officials. After rallying in the last 2 minutes to tie the game with seconds left, the officials called a touchy foul on Marvin with 2 seconds left. Chauncey “Mr. I have hit one big shot in my life” Billups sunk the first free throw and (seemingly) intentionally doinked the second. Josh Smith’s last second heave was to no avail. The foul was iffy. In that situation I’d prefer the refs keep the whistle out of it and let the game go to OT and be decided there. That said, coming from 10 down in the first quarter and rallying back at the end to tie it are moral victories for a young team on the road. I’ve said all along, 2 wins out of our first 6 will be good. After watching this game, I see no reason we can’t take 3 or 4. All this is without ZaZa, who we really miss. Not having an experienced C down low has hindered us defensively and we’ve missed his offensive rebounded quite a bit. It’ll be a nice lift when he comes back. AJ missed the game as his wife gave birth to their child. Congratulations to AJ on setting the new Guinness world record for the oldest male to conceive a child as well as to having the first baby born without a neck.
On Tap: Falcons go to Carolina in round 2 of the atrocious QB bust battle. Harrington vs. Carr. Hawks face NJ, Pho, and Boston this week. Boston presents the worst match up for us, as we really don’t have anyone capable of stopping KG. We should be able to take down NJ, as they have no one capable of guarding Josh Smith or Horford. The Dawgs stay at home to take on a feisty Auburn team. This will be the first home game I’ll miss in the last 5 years. I’ll hopefully find someway to listen to it discreetly. Hopefully I’ll have a pleasant drive back from NC.
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