Ten Things JJ Thinks He Think

1. Georgia Thoughts

Saturday night in Athens, Ga marked the 113th meeting of The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry and like many of the other contests in this series, everyone was in for made for a memorable experience 'Between the Hedges.' The Tigers/War Eagles/Plainsmen went up 14-0 nothing and I would be lying if I told you I was not a little a lot nervous. What made me more worried was the fact that after both teams had two possesions the total yardage looked like this; Auburn 156, Georgia -2. For the rest of the game the yardage looked like this, Auburn 197 and Georgia 344. My one question to this madness, how does this happen? I am not sure how but I am glad it did.

If you read my game preview that I posted Thursday night you would have recognized how Georgia has improved in the running game since the second half of the Vanderbilt game and it is this improvement and commitment in the running game that allowed us to come back. Earlier in the season AJ Green was our offense and the reason we started 3-1 not 0-4. We lose Green in the first half Saturday night and for the most part we do not miss a beat on offense. In my opinion the running game had everything to do with us not losing anything on offense. On Saturday we rushed for 169 yards and it seemed we got better as the game went along and that in my opinion is the sign of a good team.

Along with the continued improvement in the running game, Joe Cox has now gone two games without an interception. Along with Cox not throwing an INT, UGA did not turn the ball over and Georgia now moves to 16-0 under Mark Richt when we do not turn the ball over. Furthermore, UGA only had four penalties so hopefully the punishment and embarrassment served up by Richt last week will continue to prove beneficial the rest of this season. 

The play of the game had to be the one Bacarri Rambo made to jar the ball loose from Auburn running back Mario Fannon on a pass play that would have given the War Eagles first down inside Georgia's 10 yard line. While Rambo is a reserve safety he is clearly better than the starter Bryan Evans who was burnt for Auburn's first touchdown. By the way a lot of Georgia's success on defense after Auburn's first to drives had everything to do with Rambo playing safety instead of Evans. Below is a picture of Rambo's play knocking the ball out of Fannon's hands. Rambo was knocked unconscious on this play and the game was delayed for 12 minutes while Georgia's medical staff attended to Rambo in what was one of the more scary scenes I had ever seen inside Sanford Stadium. Rambo, who has been diagnosed with a concussion was alert when he was carted off the field. According to Richt, Rambo was talking to his teammates and moving all his extremities. Please notice a piece of what I think is Rambo's helmet blocking a portion of the seven in Fannon's jersey. Great job by Kelly Lambert of the Athens Banner Herald in capturing the scary moment.

While some Dawg fans (myself included) have been super critical of the coaching staff, sometimes for good reason. I also believe that when we show improvement, like we have the last month that needs to be recognized. The sign of good coaching is when a player and/or team gets better over time. This team has gotten better the last four games, the Florida game notwithstanding. On a side note, it could be argued that even the offense showed signs of improvements that Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville before we starting throwing the ball to the Gators in the second half. We may win out, and  I would have never said anything like this 48 hours ago. Of course we could also just as easily lose out.

2. JJ's Heisman Top 5
    1. CJ Spiller-Continues to be dynamic for a team that has been surprising. By surprising I did not see them winning their division of the ACC which they should clinch on Saturday against Virginia.
    2.Mark Ingram- All he does is run for 140 yards every week while the Crimson Tide keep rolling.
    3. Tim Tebow-He has been so good for his career it is getting tougher for him to impress us.
    4. Toby Gerhart-btw Mr. Gerhart is 2-0 in the Coliseum as Stanford Cardinal
    5. Case Keenum-My favorite non UGA college football player can not have his team lost UCF.

3. Charlie Weis-
While Notre Dame is struggling in a season with heavier expectations some of Chalie Weis comments would give me concern on whether he is the right person to direct the Notre Dame program. Weis is 1-10 against ranked teams since 2006, and has the same record (35-25) as former coach Bob Davie and the same winning percentage (.583) as former coach Tyrone Willingham, both of whom were fired. Back to some of Weis's comments that puzzle me include last weeks comment that was my football quote of the week, "As I just told the team, I coach the team exactly the same way every week regardless of the situation, whether it's win or lose, one thing they know from me is I never change, never, ever change." Then after the loss to Pitt Saturday night he gave this response when asked about the big picture of his program. "I'm shortsighted. I think the most important thing is trying to get this team to worry about the last two games and in particular, just focus on one game. I think that's just the way we do business, and that's exactly what we're going to do." I know I am not an athletic director and not sure if I ever want to become one, however if I do become one I would expect the head coaches of all my programs to give me a big picture point of view and the programs that they head. I do not feel that this would be to much to ask. Don't forget this is the same guy who said he would never be out schemed in his introductory press conference at Notre Dame. Maybe a little less I know everything would work better for Mr. Weis and his average football teams.

4. Colts-Pats-
What a game on Sunday night for those of you that decided to stay up for a finish that will be talked about for a long, long, long time. Since the start of the 2000 season the Colts are 110-43, while the Patriots are 108-45 and these two great organizations gave us a great and memorable game. Before the Colts decided to comeback from 17 points in the 4th quarter I had written notes on how I did not like how the Colts and especially the rookies recievers played tight and bought into the hype of the game. However, when you keep your poise to comeback from a 17 point deficit in the 4tgh quarter against the Pats, all my notes go straight in the trash can (On a side note, I need to empty that trash can).

It was Peyton Manning who completed 28-of-44 passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions that led the Colts comeback. Fitting because it was those two interceptions thrown by Manning that helped put his team in such a big hole. After working with the Colts you can not help but buy into the keep doing what it do philosophy that extends throughout the organization. The Colt never lose their poise (a Dungy trait) and they keep believing and battling to the very end. A lot of teams might say they kept battling and believing but very few actually do and it is this trait that the Colts have that allows them to have so much success. It should be mentioned that the Patriots and Colts have accounted for half of the past eight Super Bowl titles, New England winning in 2001, ‘03 and ’04, the Colts in ’06. Each time the champion won the teams’ regular-season meeting.

By the way I am sure their are lot of people second guessing Bill Belichick for his decisions and they probably have every right for the second guessing. If the Pats punt who knows if the Colts drive the length of the field but they did not punt and the Colts scored 5 plays later. In my opinion, Patriots fans better not be second guessing their coach because it is this type of aggressiveness that has allowed those same fans the ability to celebrate three Super Bowl titles since 2001. Furthermore, how many times do we hear I wish we played the game to win instead of not to lose. Well, Belichick decision was more in the we play to win category and I can not rip him for that. He has made so many smart decisions late in games that I feel he deserves a hall pass on this one. By the way, someone smarter than you and me has a formula win probability and says Belichick's decision to go for it was actually the right one and gave his team the best chance to win. Follow the link. I wish I would have payed better attention in Statistics class so I could tell you what all those numbers mean.

5. MLB Thoughts
   a. Is this the worst free agent class in the history of free agency?
   b. I am not sold on Jason Bay or Matt Holliday being great lineup changing players.
   c. Nobody does a better job promoting his players than Scott Boras and he provides every team with a presentation on the benefits of his players. He gives us some pretty interesting numbers on Johnny Damon. Damon is one of only two players to produce 150 runs each of the past 12 seasons (Alex Rodriguez is the other) and one of only 16 players with 150 hits and 100 runs in 10 seasons. I wonder what Boras says about Damon's pathetic arm?
   d. The biggest story of the off-season is how the divorce of the Dodgers owner and how all the drama involved will affect their off-season plans?
   e. Great read on Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval and his workout plans this winter. His workout plan has been called "Operation Panda."
   f. How about these stats concerning John Lackey, he is the same age (31) and has the same ERA (3.81) as New York Yankees AJ Burnett when Burnett went on the free-agent market last year. By the way, Burnett received $82.5 million over five years from the Yankees. It should also be mentioned that Lackey has been slightly more durable than Burnett (234 games to 215 games). I do not see Lackey getting anywhere near 82.5 million.
  g. In a tradition started over 30 years ago by Peter Gammons, the Boston Globe continues to have the best "Baseball Notes" column. This is must read every Sunday.
  h. What am I missing that I do not see Uggla as fit for the Braves while everyone else does?

6. What I read this week- The Times from London provides us with our article of the week this week. The Times takes an in depth look at the culture of Goldman Sachs and their CEO Lloyd Blankfein. What recession? The average pay this year for the 30,000 Goldman Sachs employees is expected to be a record $700,000. By the way Goldman did take $10 billion from Washington’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp). However, the bank has since repaid the cash plus interest, and the interest was at rate I would love for my Savings Account to get— 23%. The read will be time consuming but very intriguing.

7. Football Thoughts for the week
   a. Special credit goes needs to go to Ole Miss running back Dexter McCluster for his performance Saturday in the Rebels beat down of Tennessee. Not only was McCluster's 282 yards an Ole Miss record, it was also the most yards that the University of Tennessee had ever given up to an opposing running back.
   b. Great job by CBS College Sports sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi. On Saturday, Shehadi gave everyone that was watching an amazing nugget concerning TCU's Nike Pro Combat uniforms. The Horned Frogs had red stripes on their helmets because actual horned frogs, and horned frogs are actually lizards happen to squirt blood from their eyes when threatened. That youtube is a must see.

   c. As a fantasy owner it was great to see LaDainian Tomlinson's two touchdown performance Sunday afternoon. Also, congrats to LT who know has 146 career TD's for passing Marcus Allen for third all-time and he trails only Jerry Rice (208) and Emmitt Smith (175).
   d. Whatever the Eagles do to prepare themselves for West Coast travel they might need to look at doing something different. The Eagles are now 0-2 on the west coast in losing at the Raiders and the Chargers.
   e. Auburn running back Ben Tate is as good and tough as they come, how does that school keep getting such awesome running backs year after year?
   f. Thursday was Jay Cutler's fourth game with three or more interceptions over the last two seasons, tied with Jake Delhomme for the most in the NFL. Not good if you are a fan of the Monsters of the Midway.
   g. The Bengals continue to be impressive winning games multiple ways and that is the sign of a great team. On Sunday the Bengals won a road game without scoring an offensive touchdown for the third time in their team history. Did anyone think they could win a down and dirty game in Pittsburgh?
   h. According to ESPN.com, the Steelers have now allowed a return TD in seven straight games.Not good for Mike Tomlin's team.
   i. Is their a bigger Jekyll and Hyde team than the Atlanta Falcons when they go on the road compared to how they play at home?
   j. How good was the Packers defense on Saturday? They held the Cowboys offense to only a garbage touchdown after the Cowboys had averaged over 30 points the previous four weeks.
   k. Cincinnati had 3 consecutive double-digit win seasons under head coach Brian Kelly. Prior to Kelly's arrival, Cincinnati had one season with double-digit wins (1951). Why did Auburn hire Gene Chizik over Kelly?
   l. How low have things gotten in Ann Arbor? Michigan lost its sixth straight Big Ten game, something that hasn't happened in Ann Arbor since the 1958-59 seasons. The Wolverines' defense has now allowed 35-plus points in four straight games for the first time in school history. Furthermore, Wisconsin has now won three straight home games vs. Michigan for the first time.
   m. Most intelligent Michigan fans should not have not given up on Rich Rodriguez. It is always the darkest before the dawn.
   n. Bad stat for all the Maryland fans, Virginia Tech has outscored the Terps 142-37 since joining the ACC five years ago.
   o. It is hard for me to believe that Dabo Sweeney has Clemson a win over Virginia from going to the ACC Championship in his first full season. By the way Tommy Bowden never did this while at Clemson, a reason he is not the head coach at that school anymore.
  p. Congrats to Paul Johnson and his Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for winning a spot in the ACC Championship game December 5th. A rematch with Clemson, in what was one of the more memorable games this football season. Georgia Tech won 30-27 but had to rally late despite being up 24-0 twenty minutes into the game.
  q. Amazing that the two schools that are separated by 123 miles will have to go all the way to Tampa to play for the ACC title.
   r. Does anyone realize the Jaguars are 5-4? The three game home stand this team has against the Texans, Dolphins, and Colts that starts December 6th could go along ways to determining if this team will make the playoffs.
   s. Mark Sanchez has 11 turnovers in his last six games. By the way the Jets are 1-5 in those games.
   t. By the way the Broncos are 0-3 since their Bye Week.
 
Football quote of the week. Comes from Tom Brady after the game Sunday night.
”Coach has a lot of confidence we can make a yard and a half to win the game, they showed us the drive before they can go pretty fast and score. Coach was being aggressive and I love that about him. As a coach, you’re not thinking let’s punt it to them and see if they can do it again. He’s thinking, ‘We have 450 yards of offense.”

8. College Top 5
 1. Florida-With the Nations best defense all this team has to do is score in the twenties and they can not lose.
 2. Alabama- What I just said about Florida can be said for Alabama.
 3. Texas- Congrats to Colt McCoyfor tying my favorite UGA player of all-time in David Green for most wins all time as a starting QB.
 4. TCU- How good is TCU? The Horned Frogs (Lizards) were beating a really good Utah team 38-14 at halftime.
 5. Cincinnati - Can they pass the test against the Pittsburgh Panthers?

9. NFL Top 5
 1. Indianapolis Colts-It is time to talk 16-0 even though could lose any of their next 4 games, at Ravens, at Texans, Titans at home, Broncos at home.
 2. New Orleans Saints-It is time to talk 16-0. The Saints still have home games against New England and Dallas as well as road games against the Falcons and Panthers.
 3. Minnesota Vikings- The first of three straight home games was a lot closer for 2 and half quarters before the Vikings poured it on late. The contest, still was never in doubt.
 4. Cincinnati Bengals-First time visit in my top 5 this year. Are they here to stay?
 5. New England Patriots- I know they have three loses but should still win their division and will be an extremely tough out in January.

10. Non-Football Thoughts
a. Tiger Woods is building a home on Jupiter Island in Florida and his fellow rich neighbors think his new house looks like a Motel 6. Take a look for yourself. Personally I think I looks like an awesome house on the beach but what do I know.
b. Found this article last week on the 100 best movies of the decade. It comes from the Times of London so expect some serious shockers and a few movies you will consider foreign.
c. That list had me intrigued so I came up with my  top ten comedies of the decade. *It should be mentioned that I have to actually see the movie for it to be on the list so without further ado here is my list.
JJ's Top Ten List
  1. The Hangover
  2. Wedding Crashers
  3. Old School
  4. Roadtrip
  5. National Lampoon's Van Wilder
  6. Harald and Kumar Go To White Castle/Escape Guantanamo Bay
  7. Super Troopers
  8. Dodgeball
  9. Anchorman
  10. Starsky and Hutch

d. Jamey Johnson is the next voice of country music. This clip is must see from him and Kid Rock at the CMA's Wednesday night.
e. I am a big fan of the new fashion statement of gamedays in Athens, Ga. The new fashion statement includes a pair of boots with the short skirts. The old fashion statement used to be flip flops and short skirts,which I was a fan of and I am an even bigger fan of the new fashion statement. What red blooded American male does not enjoy boots and short skirts?
f. I missed the Office 30 Rock this week but heard both were outstanding. I am sure I will watch tonight.
g. I am glad How I Met Your Mother is back on track and back to its old ways now that Robyn and Barney have broken up. Relationship Barney is boring and not funny. I need regular Barney back in my television viewing life.
h. The roomdawg did an awesome job this week by preparing a crock pot full of Chili. Chili is one of the few foods in my opinion that gets better the more and more you reheat it. This got me thinking about my favorite foods that taste better reheated and my three foods that taste worst reheaten.

  Five Best Reheated
  1. Any casserole-Who does not love a good casserole? My favorite casserole is a sweet potato casserole covered in marshmallows.
  2. Lasagna-A food that just keeps getting better the more it is reheated.
  3. Chili-Just like lasagna, it keeps getting better the more it is reeated.
  4. Meatloaf-Not much better than a meatloaf sandwich warmed up in the microwave.
  5. Mac and Cheese- This food is also good ice cold right out of fridge. Is their such a thing as bad mac and cheese.

 Three Worst Reheated
 1. French Fries-Once fries get old and stale they have no chance of being good again and should get thrown away.
 2. Pizza-I know a lot of people will disagree with me but pizza reheated does not come close to pizza the first time around. Not even close, I would rather eat it cold. Which is how I prefer leftover pizza.
 3. Hamburger/Cheeseburger-I have never had a good burger after it has hit the microwave, am I doing something wrong?

i. I did get to watch the Amazing Race following the football game and my second favorite team was eliminated. On a side note, I did learn what a candelabra was last night.
j. I like how the rivalry is developing between the Globetrotters and Sam and Dan.
k. Great job by Andy Landers and the Lady Hoop Dawgs for upsetting #8 Oklahoma in the season opener for both teams Sunday in Athens. The Lady Dogs capped off an undefeated weekend in the Classic City.
l. By the way Athens, Ga on Saturday's in the fall are undefeated.
m. By the way I was awesome on Friday night.
n. Gary Allan on Friday night was like me and was awesome.
o. Depending who you ask on Saturday, I was either more disaster or awesome. Personally, I think was somewhere in between.
p.Great job by Neil Best who reported that Kevin Connolly, of "Entourage" fame, will play former Newsday columnist William Nack in the 2010 movie about Secretariat. By the way Best has one of the better Sports Media blogs around and it is a must visit.Watchdog Blog.
q. A reminder that The Blind Side opens Friday. A must see.
r. "Pirate Radio" opened this past weekend and it looks awesome. Here is the trailer.
s. The season finale of Bored to Death last Sunday was classic. The scene where Jason Schwartzman and Jenny Slate played nerf basketball was hilarious and these two make an awesome pair. However, I do not like the excuse the writers used to leave sweep Slate out of the episode, but the excuse is part of the comedy.
t. I am shocked that I have yet to hear confirmation that Bored to Death has been picked up for another season. If it has can someone confirm that for me.
u. I love it when ESPN screws up. The picture below comes from ESPN U and the Kentucky-Morehead St basketball game Friday night. For those of you that do not know, Tom Crean and Jeff Capel do not coach in the SEC. Crean coaches at Indiana in the Big 10 and Jeff Capel is at Oklahoma in the Big 12.

Great job by the roomdawg capturing the graphic on his cell phone.

Quote of the week
From Larry David in his preview of next weeks Curb Your Enthusiasm

"We have already screwed up one ending, we can screw up another"


Text of the week
No idea where to begin here. After challenging everyone for not giving me a good text last week I received multiple texts that should be given honest considerations. Walters and myself held a conversation during the Georgia game that needs to stay between us but it was legendary nonetheless. I also sent texts that wish I didn't but that happens.

Text of the week #1
From Todd about 45 seconds after the Colts somehow came back to beat the Pats. To get the glue joke you need to watch this clip from Todd when he was on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
I don't know what's a dumber decision...goin for it on 4th and 2 or me putting Fn glue in my hair?

Text of the week #2
From Heather Smoak (my best friend Lee Smoak's wife) to me after the UGA-Auburn game Saturday night.
u ain't nothing but the man. I'm proud of you!

Text of the week #3
From me to my buddy Lee Smoak following the UGA game Saturday night. By the way, none of this text is true but it did get a good laugh from Lee and he said it had to be part of the text of the week.
I have been chatting your wife up via text...its getting PG 13.


I hope everyone has a wonderful week as this is the last full week before Thanksgiving and then "The Most Wonderful Time of The Year" for the next month plus. Who is excited?

I am.