All is well between the white lines for Georgia football

The Clemson-Georgia game was advertised as a matchup of college football heavyweights.

Only one heavyweight actually showed up as Georgia humiliated the Tigers 34-3.

The game was not without some level of angst for the Georgia faithful, as they endured a lackluster first half devoid of touchdowns. But the final 30 minutes demonstrated that Kirby Smart’s team remains elite in the sport. With an expanded 12-team playoff awaiting at the end of the season, it does appear that Bulldog fans should begin soon with a savings plan to underwrite numerous post-season trips.

The outcome, however, demonstrates the precarious nature of college football. Even young children can remember a time when Clemson was the one looking down at Georgia, and everybody else. Dabo Swinney has a crick in his neck now, looking up at the powers that be.

After Saturday’s game, he was searching for ways to describe the beatdown, resorting to three different synonyms to describe how they got their derrieres kicked. If you must know, they rhymed with fails, huts and passes.

When Georgia was ascendant under Vince Dooley, so was Clemson under Danny Ford. The Bulldogs won the 1980 national title. Clemson took the 1981 title. And then neither program won another one. They didn’t exactly drop off the map, but they lost their pass key to the gated neighborhood labeled National Title Contender.

Swinney was out in front on the revival plan, winning national titles in 2016 and 2018. They were in the college football playoffs every year from 2015 to 2020. Clemson was the definition of college football royalty.

Not so much lately. Even if a 12-team playoff had started in 2021, they would have been on the outside looking in.

The popular theory is that Swinney has been slow to adjust to the new realities of NIL and transfers, particularly the latter. He does not recruit the transfer portal as other schools do. Half of the touchdowns Georgia scored against Clemson were by players that Smart plucked from the portal: Colbie Young from Miami and London Humphreys from Vanderbilt.

Clemson has recruited at a high level, though south of the heavenly reaches of Georgia. But it has fallen off in two areas of talent: quarterback and receivers.

Both its national titles came with generational quarterbacks (from Georgia), Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. They had elite receivers to throw to. Georgia, by contrast, famously won its national titles with a former walk-on, Stetson Bennett. And if there is a hole in the recruiting pipeline at Georgia, it is wide receiver. For some reason, the crème de la crème of wideouts seldom choose Georgia.

Clemson’s woes seem like third-world problems to Georgia, which won its 40th straight regular-season game Saturday. Even while losing a regular stream of outstanding players to the NFL year after year, the Bulldogs seem to have plug-and-play options waiting in the wings. Their ranking as the No. 1 team in the land reflects their perceived status.

After the win over Clemson, Smart said his team out-physicaled, out-hustled and out-disciplined the Tigers. He gets no points for grammar, but he was not wrong.

But no team or program is invincible. That includes Georgia. For all its success on the field, off-the-field woes have plagued Smart. Namely, a stream of arrests, mostly for speeding, and a woeful graduation rate.

Young people drive too fast. That is no secret. Insurance actuaries will tell you that. But the problem here is exacerbated by two fatalities after the 2022 national title celebration. You would think that such an incident would dampen enthusiasm for driving fast. (See earlier statement: Young people drive fast.)

Apparently, one running back, portal-get Trevor Etienne, watched from the sidelines, suspended for his own driving indiscretions. Television announcers were convinced that Etienne was held out. But when intrepid AJC sports reporter Chips Towers asked Smart in the post-game press conference, if Etienne was indeed held out for suspension, Smart replied, “Nice try, Chip. We are not going to talk about that.”

It is a sore subject with Smart, who is certainly exasperated that reckless driving and speeding continues to be a problem. There is no reason to doubt him that safe driving is a point of emphasis. But for some reason, he chooses to keep his disciplinary policies to himself.

The problem with private punishment is that Smart looks soft on crime, so to speak. The spate of arrests, if not the severity, has rivaled outlaw programs of the past, such as Miami or Florida, and tarnished Georgia’s reputation.

Smart maintained in his post-game comments that the team dynamics are, in a word, “awesome.”

“I wish you could talk to our players and see them day to day,” he said. “Two of them are sitting right here,” he said, motioning toward quarterback Carson Beck and linebacker Jalon Walker. “Ask them, and they will tell you. What you know of inside the program is a lot more than what you see on the outside. People use that in negative recruiting, and it comes back to bite them.”

Then the graduation rate for football is embarrassing. Georgia’s graduation success rate for the most recent reporting period is 41 percent. LSU is the next lowest in the SEC at 69 percent. Not surprisingly Vanderbilt is first at 95 percent.  Second? Alabama at 93 percent. Apparently, there are some aspects of the Saban process that Smart did not learn.

Winning covers a multitude of woes. And it will continue this week with pay-for-play opponent Tennessee Tech.

It graduates three-fourths of its football players, by the way.

 The dramatic beauty of baseball

June 3, 2024 

The beauty of baseball was on full display at Foley Field Sunday evening.

Georgia rallied for an 8-6 10-inning win over rival Georgia Tech to win the Athens Regional. The Bulldogs will host a super regional next weekend against North Carolina State.

The nature of competition in any sport results in moments of drama that bring spectators back. But with the one-on-one matchup of pitcher and batter in baseball, its ability to manufacture drama is enhanced.

Before Sunday’s game, I remarked to my bride, Jan, “How about a nine-inning party?” Let’s score early and enjoy the day.

By the end, I had changed my tone. “I’ll settle for a ninth-inning party,” I said.

The first exhilarating moment of the ninth inning came when Georgia shortstop Kolby Branch hit a solo homer to tie the game.

Even though Branch is the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, it was not totally unexpected that he would hit a homer. He’s hit 17 of them, a total surpassed only by two teammates (more about them later).

Seventy years from now when Kolby Branch is buried, they should put on his tombstone, “Mr. Grand Slam.” He’s hit four of them this year, including one in Saturday’s win over UNC-Wilmington.

Given that he led off the ninth inning, we will forgive him for hitting only a solo shot, particularly since it made the rest of the night’s dramatics possible.

Georgia skipper Wes Johnson put Charlie Goldstein on the mound to start the ninth. Slated to be one of “the arms” this year, his season has been riddled with injuries. It has been a month since he had pitched at all.  He lasted all of five pitches in the ninth before he exited, betrayed by his arm again.

Matthew Hoskins, boasting a hideous 24.00 ERA, got two out, but eventually walked the bases loaded.

Enter Chandler Marsh to pitch.

Bases loaded. Two outs. Tie game. That is the definition of do or die.

Hey, why not ratchet up the drama with a full count?

That’s where it stood when Tech shortstop Payton Green hit a high hopper between first and second. First baseman Corey Collins ranged to his right to field it. His only play was for the putout at first, if the pitcher got there in time.

I can’t do justice to Marsh’s athleticism in making the play. Collins did not make the most artful throw, but it was timely. Marsh had to go low to field it. He slid feet first into the bag as he simultaneously stretched to catch the throw.

The pump fist by the umpire: out!

Oh, the glory of it all.

Of course, there was a review. Why would Georgia Tech not review it? The umpires signaled the Georgia players back onto the field. Why? If the call stands, they bat. If it does not, the game is over.

It stood. Glory, glory, again.

In the 10th, Georgia scored three times. The first came when Tech’s third baseman, a defensive replacement, threw high on a sacrifice bunt.

Then Collins doubled on an 0-2 count to drive in two more runs.

Collins is not the quintessential leadoff man. But goodness, does he ever get on base. He’s second on the team in homers with 19. He’s walked 54 times. He may have the most disciplined batter’s eye I’ve ever seen. If there is a stat for lowest chase rate, he is the world leader. He swings at the good ones and watches the bad ones.

There was more drama yet to come.

A three-run lead is nice, but it means that a grand slam can undo it all with one swing.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, Tech loaded the bases, with no outs, in the 10th. At bat, Drew Burress.

Every team has an alpha dog. Georgia is fortunate to have the alpha dog of alpha dog in Charlie Condon, whose metrics compare to Barry Bonds.

No kidding.

The man is a national treasure.

He had two hits against Tech before they gave up and went to walking him intentionally. That has become a familiar strategy. Avoid the pain. Kind of like when football teams use to throw to whichever side of the field cornerback Champ Bailey was not on.

Anyway, Burress is Tech’s version of Charlie Condon. In a pinch, he is the player Yellow Jacket fans most desire at the plate.

Marsh had failed to get an out, and Leighton Finley had relieved him. He had yielded a single that loaded the bases. He fell behind to Burress, two balls and no strikes.

Called strike. Called strike. Swinging strike. Air escapes from Tech’s balloon.

A sacrifice fly and a groundout, and it was over. Count it as perhaps the best relief outing by a Georgia starter since Dave Fleming saved the 1990 College World Series title clincher against Oklahoma State.

The super regional starts this weekend, against North Carolina State. Oddly enough, the last time Georgia advanced to the College World Series, 2008, it was at the expense of North Carolina State, which included among its participants second baseman Russell Wilson. You may recognize his name from NFL exploits.

As I recall, Georgia scored a boatload of runs in the first inning of the decisive super regional game to advance to the College World Series. That was fun too, but not nearly as dramatic.

 

 

 The Election-Day Blues

Written May 31, 2024

 

I’m feeling mighty down.

Don’t ya see my ugly frown?

No use getting out of town.

Trouble is all around.

I’m gonna have to pick a clown.

It’s a national shakedown.

Yeah, I’ve got the election-day blues.

 

I ain’t got no choice.

Can’t really exercise my voice.

Either I can vote for a chump.

Rather have a stomach pump.

But then there is no defense

To elect one who talks nonsense.

Can’t you see why I’ve got the election-day blues?

 

They tell me, man, you gotta pick one.

That’s how it’s always been done.

Instead, I’m feeling mortified.

For this, men fought and died?

There’s got to be a better way.

Maybe head to Paraguay.

Oh, dear, I’m feeling the election-day blues.

 

How’d we get in this mess?

Whole country’s in distress

Chump or clown. That’s your pick.

It’s absolutely prehistoric.

We survived a pandemic.

I’m afraid this is systemic.

I can’t get rid of these election-day blues.

 

I ain’t got no solution.

Don’t want no revolution.

For the sake of humanity,

Let’s end this insanity.

What we need is a hero.

Instead, we got zero.

Trying to shake these election-day blues.

The world’s most unusual rabbit box

 

For about two years, I have been playing tennis two or three times a week with some gentlemen of similar age and opportunity. “Old, retired guys” is another way to say that.

It’s a good group of guys, and they welcomed me like they do all newcomers. At first, I was the guy that you lost with. Now, I win my fair share.

For the most part, it is a first-name clan. You don’t need to know the last name to say, “Good shot, Peter.” Or Bob, or Ross, or Hank, or Steve…I don’t need to list 30-something names, do I?

I knew some of them from another life, like Hank Johnson, my editor at the Athens Banner-Herald. But for most of them, tennis is the common denominator.

When there is an odd number of players, we chat as we wait to play. And maybe get to know each other a bit. Which is how I learned not long ago that Peter Wild was born and raised in England. He was a child there during World War II. Unlike the children of London who were dispatched to the countryside for their own safety, Peter already lived in the country.

He discovered Athens when he came to attend the University of Georgia. He found his bride here too.

“I married an Athens girl,” he clarified.

“Anyone I might know?” I inquired.

“Harriett Rosser,” he said.

My follow-up comment was not exactly an artful segue. And if I were to offer you a million dollars, you could not predict what I said next.

“Have you ever run across a mahogany rabbit box?”

“Well, yes,” he said. “I have one in the barn. I was thinking about putting it in the garden because the rabbits are getting into the okra.”

“My dad made that rabbit box,” I said.

After Daddy bought a farm and moved to Winterville, he had a shop and filled it with a planer, a drill and saws of various types and took to making furniture. I’m at this very moment sitting in front of a J.B. Giles-made coffee table. Elsewhere in my home are other furniture pieces he made. He made cedar hope chests and cradles and tables and cabinets, giving them away.

Daddy did not as a rule work from plans. He could conceptualize it and make it. The one exception might have been the magician’s box with the hidden door that he made on order.

Decades ago, Daddy made the rabbit box, from mahogany, and gave it as a gag to his friend Harry Rosser, Peter’s father-in-law. Harry was a World War II veteran who worked at the University of Georgia Physical Plant before retiring.

I never saw the box. But I knew about it, and I knew it must have been received warmly, probably with a belly laugh.

Back to the tennis court.

“Say, Peter, do you think you could take a picture of that box? I’ve never seen it.”

“Tell you what,” said Peter, “I’ll bring it next time we play so you can see it.”

Sure enough, he transported it to the Athens-Clarke Tennis Center, in the trunk of his white Corvette. A mahogany rabbit box has to travel in style, you know.

I recognized Daddy’s handiwork and style. Peter demonstrated how it worked, just like a rabbit box should.

“Peter, let me get a photo,” I said.

“Would you like to take it home?” he asked.

It would be poetic to write that my heart skipped a beat. I had not expected so gracious an offer.

“If you’re serious, I would love to,” I said. “It will be a treasured heirloom in our family.”

And so, I packed it in the trunk of my BMW Z3. Still traveling in style.

Peter once worked for Clarke County and knew my dad, but I don’t believe he knew that he was the creator of the world’s most unusual rabbit box.

Peter said he looked for some marks to indicate the maker, but he never found them. My wife did, on the base, a simple stencil reading JBG.

For now, the rabbit box occupies a spot on the hearth, and its story has been enriched by an act of kindness that is every bit as grand as the original handiwork.