Happy Hornets
The Hornets welcomed Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Chris Kaman to the squad.
They seem thrilled.
2011 Not a Good Year for Dawgs
No, it has not been a good year for Georgia, it has been a great year. On the brink of collapse and possible firing, Mark Richt has resurrected the Dawgs and put them on firm footing for the future. But let’s be real. As far as we’ve come in one year, we still have areas to continue to improve in before we can be counted as “back”.
As much as I hope for the best for Saturday’s game, my head tells me we are in for some trouble. The sheer numbers of LSU’s depth and talent across the board will be very difficult to overcome. But, I have always believed in “the heart” as an intangible that many times can trump talent. I’ve seen it, and I played on teams that overcame all obstacles and WON!
Here’s the reason for my post this day. As recently as the week after the Florida game, I met Georgia people calling for Mark Richt’s head. At that time it was because of the suspensions and the possible implementation of a true “empty backfield” formation(thanks Kerri)! I will bet there are certain Dawg fans that are secretly miserable right now because they wanted Mark Richt to be fired this year. They can just pucker up because he ain’t going anywhere.
These same “fans” will be up in arms if the Dawgs happen to not be ready for the likes of a NUMBER ONE, UNDEFEATED LSU. All it will prove to me is that we’ve come a long, long way, but have a ways to go to reach our ultimate goal, a National Championship. That’s not a bad thing to me, because certain members of the “Dream Team” need to transition(grow up) and do the little things to reach their full potential. Right now, a few are relying solely on their God-given abilities and have not developed the work ethic required to compete on a weekly basis in the SEC.
Here’s a crazy thought. A win on Saturday might delay that process. A loss and a reality check might be just the prescription for our “Dream Team” to win it all before they leave Athens.
1980 Dawgs -Revisited
From the website for 1980 Dawgs – The Inside Story of The National Championship Season™: A new documentary film produced in a 2 DVD, Collector’s Edition set. Contains over 3 1/2 hours of behind the scenes stories, including some never heard before and exciting game footage that fans will treasure. Over 25 Players and coaches relive the season with emotions that bring that special season back to life. more…
Riding The Storm Out
It’s hurricane season and Georgia Coach Mark Richt is in the center of a Bulldog maelstrom created by a few stormy seasons of underachievement. After an 0-2 start, the stuff has hit the fan more than at a Baboon’s Birthday Bash. As I said a few days ago, the South Carolina game gave me reason to be hopeful. When your star players make uncharacteristic blunders it takes the wind out of your sails pretty quickly.
But, one great thing I noticed in the Twittersphere was a comment by true freshman Jay Rome.
He made this comment Monday before practice. It sounded as if the team had made a positive impression on an impressionable young Rome, a member of this past year’s ‘Dream Team”. THAT is what we need. A group of upperclassmen showing the stars of the future how it’s to be done. No pouting and apparently NO hangover from Saturday’s loss.
This is as it should be.
Proud to Be A Georgia Bulldog?
Since I am nothing more than a Georgia Bulldog fan with a name you might recognize, I’m approaching this post as such. I’m a Georgia Bulldog fan and I’m proud of my team this day. Happy? Not really. Satisfied? No. But I’m proud to see a team that seems to care.
There have been games in recent years where I was not so sure. Now whether that is because of a love for Coach Mark Richt or just a team whose level of vigilance has reached a new level, it matters not to me. That focus that comes with caring put’s them in a position to win. Chuck Oliver of 680 the fan was saying yesterday that if Georgia fans were satisfied with just “good effort” and “not quitting”, that the program had indeed fallen.
I’m not satisfied, I’m encouraged. This program has fallen on hard times, but it is showing signs of life. A program that had been on life support is close to breathing on it’s own. It still needs intensive care, but all of you that want to “pull the plug”, just need to chill. If this Georgia team can build from here, we have a lot of reasons to believe we have turned a corner and can still make this a great year.
The future does indeed look bright.
Why So Cocky?
I know Georgia fans realize how competitive most South Carolina games are. They are usually low scoring affairs and very tightly contested. But the series record of 46-15-2 is very lopsided in Georgia’s favor. Hell, Vanderbilt has beaten the Dawgs more times(18) than South Cackalacky.
Really Maryland?
Just when we thought it could not get worse, it did. Last night Maryland pulled the ole switcheroo after pregame and came out in what can only be described as half medieval knight, half crash test dummy… uniforms and helmets. Pulled straight from some NFL Europe dung heap of polyester and plastic, and resurrected as straight fugly.
Herschel, The Actor?
Here’s a little scoop for Georgia Fans. Last week at the viewing of SEC Storied-Herschel, #34 told me that one of the latest additions to his ever burgeoning bucket list is acting. He has been in discussions with the people at Law and Order and they have agreed to have Herschel in an episode that would air early next year. Actual filming would be around November.
One of the sticking points was that the L&O writers wanted him to be a cop. Herschel said he didn’t want to do it unless he could be a bad guy. After some time passed, they called with the perfect role. A serial killer.
Things like this don’t always happen as soon as we think they will, if at all. Herschel told me several years before his first MMA fight that he was going to do a reality show pitting MMA fighters vs. Former Pro Athletes. I don’t think that ever materialized, but I’m looking forward to seeing this one.
Oh, you Herschel Walker!
Still Looking To Turn A Corner
Many Georgia Bulldog fans are licking their wounds today, while others lash out to inflict pain on whatever segment of the Dawg Nation they deem complicit in the losing effort Saturday night. Mark Richt, Mike Bobo, Nike? The list continues to grow. Boise State certainly lived up to their ranking as a Top 5 program, while Georgia flashed some real signs of hope but settled back in to some old, familiar bad habits.
I really don’t want to get in to all the details of the who, what and why. There are plenty of bloggers that will write about that today. I have many of them listed in my right side bar.
Check them out later.
The thing I have never been able to get my head around is how so many fans can build up a player, a team or a program IN THEIR OWN MIND, only to attack those same entities when it does not intially pan out.
Many of you still refuse to acknowledge that Boise State is a damn good TEAM. Really? I guess that doesn’t suit your purposes in running down a team and a coach that has yet to be given a real opportunity to show if they are an improved group. This week’s game versus South Carolina is another tough row to hoe.
That being said, sometime soon Coach Mark Richt and staff must turn a corner if they are to survive. I want them to survive, but they have to want it even more.
SEC Storied – Herschel
Dawg Fans will be glad to know, that next week on Wednesday, September 7th the first installment of a news series, SEC Storied will air. Our favorite son Herschel Walker is the first subject. I was fortunate enough to join Herschel and a contingent of my team mates at an advance showing last evening. Coach Vince Dooley and other members of his 1980 staff were there as well. The show will air on ESPNU and there were ESPN representatives as well as SEC Commissioner Mike Slive in attendance. This was a bigger deal than I had imagined.
The documentary was very well done, with many of the highlights we’ve all come to know and love and will never tire of. But, there were some new clips I had not seen and re-enactments of childhood scenes of trauma suffered at the hands of classmates. If you read Herschel’s book BREAKING FREE, you know some of those details. This trauma/abuse was the catalyst that brought about a certain rage that has fueled Herschel in almost everything he does. The struggle to feel ‘good enough” and find healthy outlets for his rage.
Football was that outlet for many years, but when his football career was over, problems arose.
I won’t reveal any more details and risk ruining the actual documentary for you. It is must see TV for any Dawg fan. Again, it airs next Wednesday at 8:00 PM on ESPNU.
Get After Them Aggressively?
I’m not sure if all Georgia Bulldog fans have seen the NIKE PRO COMBAT UNIFORMS promo, but it is very well done. No matter what you think about the unis themselves, the video link below gets me fired up for the game! One reason is their attempt to include the famous battle cry of GATA.
The fact that they say “Get After Them Aggressively” is understandable.
I think our guys know the deal. GATA!
They ARE Trying To Kill Us
You may remember my post about Hardee’s a couple of years back. Hardees has come up with some great foods that are sure to kill. Now, I get a flyer filled with coupons in the mail today from our friends at Burger King. It was chock full of great savings on many of their best menu items. The front however was reserved for a new offering, the California Whopper. It has a 1/4 lb. burger, swiss cheese, bacon and GUACAMOLE!
Check out these reviews if you give a rip(here). AND here.
This bad boy has 820 calories, 56 grams of fat & 1400mg of sodium. There is nothing healthy about that.
All I Want This Season
I have no idea what the typical Georgia Bulldogs
fan wants this season. It could be an SEC East title, an outright SEC Championship and I’m sure there are some that want a new coach. My wish for this season is much simpler than all that.
I want my old Dawgs back!
I want old school, hard-nosed defense. I want consistent effort from both sides of the ball. I want to watch a game and know that it matters to each and every player that they are wearing red and black and most of all the “G”.
The bottom line is, at least show up!
780 minutes of football start this Saturday…that’s all they have. That’s 13 games for you Boise fans. If “Ole Lady Luck” graces us with her presence, maybe 14 games and a return to the Dome. THAT would be awesome, but I’m commited to not getting hung up on numbers of wins and/or titles. I just want to see something different. A team that cares less about swagger and more about focus. A team that never gives up in any situation. A team that pulls together and never apart…that’s right, I want a TEAM!
I want my old Dawgs back!
Do “Clothes” Really Make The Man?
Nike announced several weeks ago that both the Georgia Bulldogs and Boise State Broncos will wear Nike Pro Combat Uniforms in their September 3 contest. The uniforms were unveiled this week and it has sent some poor Dawg fans over the edge. Many think it’s a ploy like the Blackout jerseys of yesteryear or the “Grambling” experiment of 2009. It’s not. It’s an opportunity to be included in a fairly select group of programs Nike uses to promote their product in a big way.
Think of how many times NIKE PRO COMBAT JERSEYS/UNIFORMS has been uttered on radio/TV and written in print and online media, all for free. You can’t buy that kind of advertising at any price. This Chickfila Kickoff Classic has become such a huge game that Nike could not pass it up. The exposure for UGA in this game and the buzz surrounding the uniforms, should be construed as positive.
As far as the actual uniforms go, I like them okay. These uniforms should not over-shadow all the right moves Coach Mark Richt has made in his staff and in the Strength and Conditioning program. It’s about attitude. I fully expect this Georgia team to be much improved, especially on defense. That does not mean they are going to win every single game. Boise State will be an extremely tough game and win or lose, the uniforms will have nothing to do with it.
Now today, I see Maryland has unveiled a set of new uniforms from Under Armour. Check them out here to make yourself feel better about Georgia’s unis.
Do It For Yourself – Part Two in a Series
Let’s get this out there from the very beginning. This series of blog posts are not intended to tell you how you should achieve your fitness goals. They are to share how I have made some significant strides in the right direction. Something clicked with me last year. I had gone to the doctor in December of 2009 and was literally in the worst shape of my life. My blood pressure was okay, because I took medication. My cholesterol was okay because it’s never been an issue. Both of these conditions are hereditary, one bad, one good. The one thing that was discovered was how close I was to becoming a diabetic. This set off some alarms in my head.
I was about to turn 51 at that time. My mother, who was a Type 2 diabetic, became very ill in May of 1981…she was 53. She died two and a half years later, when she was 55. My being borderline diabetic was not exactly an epiphany, because it took from late December to late March for me to start making changes. No one ever accused me of being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but finally it did click. Make sure you see your doctor before you GOYA(Get Off Your Apathy)(Click).
As I said yesterday, the first steps were literally baby steps. I went from a couch potato to a very consistent walker in a matter of a couple of weeks. I started very slowly because I didn’t want to do anything that would prevent my long term potential for success. Think tortoise and the hare and I was the tortoise. You should be the tortoise too. The problem is, we live in a society of hares.
Everyone wants it yesterday and they want it to be easy. Well, what I’ve done is simple, but it’s not easy. I have chosen to workout at home. I have some dumbells, some resistance bands and an adjustable bench. A couple of months ago, I did get a stability ball for certain exercises. I also do lots of push-ups. All in all, not very elaborate or super expensive. There came a point when my wife wanted to join a 24/7 gym. It was only $10/month for me so I joined. I never went. I had discovered something that worked for me and that’s very, very important. Find what works for you. I had been a member of World Gym in Marietta back in the late 90′s and loved it. This time however, it was not for me.
The combination of walking usually from 3-4 miles a day through September was sufficient. I lost 40 pounds by July but hit a snag because of my unstructured eating. More about that in my next post. In the fall, I discovered something very unexpected…YOGA.
I first discovered FitTV and the Yoga programs they offered. I also found something on Comcast cable. I never really used the On Demand feature until last fall and discovered the SPORTS AND FITNESS heading and EXERCISE TV, There are tons of free exercise videos including a Yoga/Pilates section. If you are a guy, don’t scoff. I am only talking about the physical nature of yoga, not spiritual. I have never been in the Lotus position doing the proverbial “ohmmmmmm”.
I’m talking about two different aspects of yoga that can’t be overlooked or denied. First, as a beginner, at the very least it helps your flexibility, which is crucial in whatever activities you engage in. If you choose to go further and do “Flow” or Vinyasa Yoga, it WILL kick your skeptical hind parts. It’s unbelievable. I maintained my 40 pound weight loss through the winter doing nothing but yoga, and no other aerobic exercise.
As the spring approached, I was talking on Twitter about my progress and some frustrations about my eating. A lady in South Carolina, we’ll call her Christy, suggested a book, THE FOUR HOUR BODY. Now Christy is a natural, female body builder and fitness competitor. That is a very unusual and extreme lifestyle for most people, but they do know what works in terms of weight loss and building muscle, so it got my attention. The book has some very unusual ideas in it, but the basic eating program makes sense. But that blog about how we eat is for next time.
Not The Biggest Loser, But…
Well, this past week marked the one year anniversary of my original proclamation of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. It was definitely TIME FOR A CHANGE, and I coined the term “GOYA”(Get Off Your Ass). It became my battle cry(click). For me it was just that simple. Of course, I also had to make some changes in my eating habits as well. As of this day, March 28, 2011, I have lost 62 pounds and still going. I wanted to take this opportunity to list some of the lessons I’ve learned so far, in what has truly been a lifestyle change, not just a diet. I will go in to more detail in the coming days. I’m actually looking for some before pictures and will be adding some after pictures also.
The first thing I did was walk out the front door. That first night I bet I only walked a 1/4 mile when my calves cramped up. As I limped home, I thought holy crap, how did I get here!? The answer? Years of apathy. One huge lesson from this past year is that APATHY is as significant a problem as any fast food establishment you might want to point a finger towards. In fact, as time has gone on, GET OFF YOUR APATHY has become interchangeable as a more G-Rated battle cry.
Getting back to walking. Within a couple of weeks I was walking a 2.5 mile loop near my neighborhood. That coupled with cutting back on portions was working like a champ. At the six week mark, I posted this update(click). Going in to the summer, I had hit a few plateaus, and wrote this update in early June. This basic approach was actually working but I had a few plateaus and challenges at this point.
I was feeling great, and looking better(not difficult), and another lesson hit me one day while walking. I was very tempted to jog a little ways. As a former “athlete”, I felt like I could do more and could reach my goals faster if I was jogging. Then it hit me. Hey, I’m 51. I have chronic injuries that feel better because of less weight to carry and the relatively low impact of walking. It made no sense to “push it”, because then the risk of injury goes way up. Just stay the course!
That’s when I coined the phrase “Extreme Moderation”.
Extreme moderation is a complete focus on doing the right things every day. It could be the exercise or what you eat. I believe one huge obstacle to a person’s ULTIMATE success in their fitness is the focus on results that are fast, not results that last.
Results that last, are never fast.
I see all the infomercials that claim fast weight loss and/or the programs that reshape your body in 90 days. Things like P90X work, but is it something that you do long term? I have done a very modified version I like to call P90Rex. The old P90Rex was more of a jaw workout as I ate my way through life. The NEW P90Rex is a program I could do until I’m 90, if it’s God’s will.
That’s a huge distinction. When you rely on pills, extreme diets or workout programs, there is no ultimate success. The ultimate success comes from good decisions made day by day by day. And when you do have that “off day”, don’t freak out, just get back on track. Even when you eat out, there are always better choices to be made, we just don’t always make them. The word apathy always creeps back in. The fact is , most of us know the right things to do, we just “don’t care” enough to do them. Get Off Your Apathy, and make some simple changes.
This week I will fill in the blanks of what has helped me get this far in my recovery. My fitness recovery. Many of you have encouraged me along the way. I thank you from the the bottom of my somewhat healthier heart.
Tell me what you really think!