Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

1. Georgia Hoop Thoughts
Another 1-1 week for the Dawgs and if I could sign for another 1-1 week next week I would have already. This weeks games include contests at home Tuesday night on ESPN against the Gators followed by a visit to the Bluegrass on Saturday. While I still am not 100% over last Tuesday's loss to the Vols I am even more impressed with how we responded Saturday afternoon against Mississippi State. Georgia has followed up both of its conference losses this season with 22-point blowouts.  This is a true credit to the character of this team and the leadership of Coach Fox.  When this team has lost SEC games this year, they have not allowed a tough loss beat them in the following game.  On the contrary, the Dawgs have responded with dominating performances. By the way how many times the last two seasons has our football team not responded after a tough loss? One more funny stat. UGA beat Ole Miss and Miss State each by 22 points. The Dawgs played Mississippi Valley State to begin the season and only beat the Delta Devils by 2 points. Go figure.

One more nugget, the last time UGA won back to back SEC games was March 2008 at the SEC tournament. (We all remember when the tornado ripped through town). Safe to say the Dawgs need to win a back to back SEC game and sooner than later will be a lot of fun. If you have not watched this team please do so Tuesday night on ESPN.



2. Georgia Football Thoughts

Really good week for the Dawgs and it seems like we are closing really well in recruiting. Don't like now but maybe Mark Richt still has it. With that being said there are three big recruits out there and if UGA can somehow close on them this has the opportunity to be an unbelievable class. Isiah Crowell was in town this weekend and I absolutely loved the fact the student section at the basketball game broke into chants of Isiah, Isiah, Isiah!!

I absolutely love what the Senator says on his blog Get The Picture. (UGA and college football fans need to make this place a daily visit). Georgia is in serious need of real, positive momentum and at this time of year, an engaged coach who can put together a top-flight recruiting class would make for a good place for that to start.  No, getting the Rome and Mitchell commitments doesn’t mean that the Dawgs are headed for 13-0 country this season, but it’s not like whiffing on them would have helped right the ship, either.


I know September is a long ways away but I can not wait to hear the Redcoats play this song.

3. NFL Playoffs 

Sunday's first game ended up being pretty weird. One it was kind of boring until the Bears decided to put their third string quarterback into the game with less than a minute to be played in the third quarter. It worked out for the Bears but what a dumb move by Lovie Smith. For one if Caleb Hanie would have gotten hurt in the final quarter the Bears could have not gone back to Cutler or Collins and would have probably have to put Hester in the wild card. I will not touch on the Cutler situation except to say that sure looked bad on Sunday afternoon. The Packers have now won three straight road games to reach the Super Bowl. The last three teams to do this were the Giants in 2007, Steelers in 2005 and Patriots in 1985. Just as FYI the Giants and Steelers won the Super Bowl those years. How werd is this stat? The Packers 21-14 win over the Bears was the first NFC Championship game since 1978 (Cowboys 28-0) that did not have a field goal made in the game. How good was the Packers defense on Sunday? The Packers blitzed a member of the secondary 13 times - the Bears' quarterbacks went 5-for-12 with a sack, 12.2 passer rating and two interceptions, including B.J. Raji's pick-six. Furthermore, Sam Shields had just one interception on passes at least 15 yards downfield in the regular season and first two playoff rounds. In the NFC Conference Championship, Shields had two such interceptions.

Sunday night's AFC Championship game was another dud until the Jets made their second half run. Despite the score getting within 7 points in the 4th quarter it never felt like the Steelers had lost control of the game. Ben Roethlisberger had a passer rating of 35.5 on Sunday. Yet, he's won all three postseason games that rank as his worst, in terms of passer rating. Watching the game you had to wonder why the Steelers ever passed except for 3rd and longs the way they were running the ball on the Jets. Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley had one sack, giving him a sack in six straight postseason games, an NFL record. Pittsburgh is 8-7 in AFC championship games, 6-5 at home. Furthermore, Sanchez fell short of becoming the first quarterback with five road playoff wins.

The Packers have opened up as a 2 point favorite and that number has moved to 2.5. The game total has also moved to 46 (46.5 at Leroy's in Vegas) after opening at 45 points.

One more note, neither team that won on Sunday scored a touchdown in second half. (ht to the Roomdawg for texting that note from a chilly Windy City.) This was the third time since the NFL-AFL merger that both conference championship games were decided by seven points or fewer. The other two: 2001- Patriots defeat Steelers, 24-17; Rams defeat Eagles, 29-24 1987- Redskins defeat Vikings, 17-10; Broncos defeat Browns, 38-33

4. This Year's NCAA Tournament
This week CBS and Turner Sports (who will be covering the tournament for the first time) made announcements concerning coverage of this week's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Because I feel like I have to read every Media column that is written I feel like an expert on the upcoming Madness. I will get to the broadcasters in a minute. First things first their is some big news concerning the play in games now that we have 68 teams. When the NCAA announced the addition of 3 more teams from 65-68 I assumed the newly created 4 play-in games would include the last 8 seeds (Your 15 or 16 seeds). However I could not have been more wrong.  The four play in games will actually include teams seeded 65-68 (two games) and then the last four at-large teams (two games). This is the first time the last four at-large teams will be revealed publicly. Traditionally, the at-large teams are scattered throughout the seeding process, rarely going past No. 12, making it relatively easy to identify them. Yet the committee now will formally announce the last at-large teams by putting them in the first round. Your last four at-large teams normally come from the power conferences while the last four Automatic's tend to be your lesser known schools from the smaller conferences. For more info here is this article from Andy Katz and within the article Jay Bilas breaks down what all this means via ESPN Radio. If I did an awful job breaking this down email me and I will try to make it make more sense.

While the new format will be a little bit crazy, I actually am intrigued by this years broadcast schedule. For the first time ever every game in the tournament would be telecast on a national basis. Along with the traditional CBS broadcasts TNT (DirectTv Channel 245) TBS ((DirectTv Channel 247) and truTV (DirectTv Channel 246) will be the homes of the NCAA tournament. As far as announcers and studio host go we should have a fun tourney. As for studio programming during the NCAA Tournament, the coverage will originate from both New York and Atlanta, with the main anchor chair shared daily by CBS veteran Greg Gumbel and longtime TNT host Ernie Johnson. TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will provide analysis throughout the tournament from the CBS Broadcast studios in New York alongside Gumbel or Johnson. CBS analyst Greg Anthony will also be part of the New York-based studio show. Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis and TNT analyst Reggie Miller will join the New York studio rotation for the second week of the tournament. Davis will be in Turner's Atlanta studio the first week with host Matt Winer and Steve Smith. I am disappointed we lose Seth Davis from the New York studios because in my opinion he is one of the best analyst in college hoops.

As far as game announcers the Final Four team will consist of Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr. For the first two weekend Kerr will be matched up with the great Marv Albert. The other announcing teams include my distant relative Gus Johnson with Len Elmore, Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Dan Bonner, Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, Tim Brando and Mike Gminski and Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel. David Aldridge, Sam Ryan, Craig Sager, Marty Snider, Lesley Visser and Tracy Wolfson will serve as reporters throughout the tournament. Wolfson will work with Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr at the Final Four. How great are Johnson and Elmore? How awesome are Lundquist and Raftery (ONIONS)?

One more note...how great will Barkely be in studio for CBS?

 
5. MLB Notes
 When you are reading this on Monday morning January 24th we will be three weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. That is ridiculously close. Even more ridiculous is the fact in 9 weeks and three days the Braves will be opening the season in our Nation's Capital. Anyone up for a weekend trip to the District of Columbia in nine weeks and change?
a. Dan Uggla is one of four players w/ a 5-year streak of 27HR, 88RBI, 84Runs. The others you might ask...well they are Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard & Mark Teixieria.
b. I know I have mentioned this before but Uggla has hit 12 home runs at the Ted, this is the most for him in any road park. Furthermore, his career batting average/on base%/slugging percentage line is .354/.399/.652. While I know that is only 199 at-bats but .652 slugging percentage is a .652 slugging percentage. Just as a frame of reference a .652 slugging percentage for a full season would be the 94th best of all-time for one season. That is real good.
c. On the other hand the Jays traded Vernon Wells to the Angels on Friday night. Wells career stats in Anaheim? .226/.267/.340 - with 3 HRs in 159 AB. He hit .182 in 6 games there last year.
d. The Yankees signed Andruw Jones this week. If I would have told you 6 years ago that Jones would sign with the Yankees and it not would have caused a stir in Atlanta you would have me put in the Crazy Ward of the hospital. What happened to that guy?
e. Jones is the only player since 1920, whose primary position was outfield or designated hitter, to have four straight seasons hitting .230 or worse. Only two players who played any position have had more consecutive seasons hitting .230 or worse (200+ AB) in the Live Ball Era (since 1920): Shortstops Ed Brinkman and Dal Maxvill (five each).
f. The crazy thing about those stats is that the two years prior to Jones last four seasons he combined to hit 92 homeruns and 257 RBI's. For his career he has 407 home runs which is 46th all time.
g. While we are picking on Mr. Jones here is this stat: Jones has 94 baseball "hat tricks," (three strike outs in a game) fifth-most among active players.
h. I was kind of surprised by the Nationals trade of Tom Gorzelanny this week. One, why would the Cubs trade a guy I think is a decent pitcher and two how bout this rotation for the Nationals? Along with Gorzelanny, Jordan Zimmermann, Livan Hernandez, Jason Marquis, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, Yunesky Maya, and Chien-Ming Wang are other hurlers looking to nail down jobs in the rotation.
i.I am pretty intrigued with what the Rays are doing in signing former Red Sox outfielders Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. Something tells me the Rays will not be as bad as a lot of people think. 
j. Do not forget that David Price won 19 games last season and he should be nothing but better in 2011.
k. I had forgotten that Tim Hudson won 17 games last season. How special could Braves be of we get a Derek Lowe like we saw for the last month of 2010 and a 2011 Hudson similar to the 2010 Hudson.
l. I did not realize this but according to Mets GM Johan Santana will start the season on the DL and Pelfrey will actually be the Mets opening day starter. I would normally rip the Mets for the trade of Santana but look at the prospects they gave up and none have really made the Mets miss them as of now.
m. The last three notes come courtesy of Billy Ball and the Boston Globe Sunday baseball notes. From 2005-08, David Ortiz had a strikeout percentage of 16.4 and a home run percentage of 6.2. However, over the last two seasons, 22.6 percent of all his plate appearances ended in strikeouts and 4.9 percent ended in homers.
n. Here’s why Alex Rodriguez is so valuable. Last season, in 595 plate appearances, A-Rod produced 169 runs (runs plus RBIs minus homers). Also producing 169 runs were Vladimir Guerrero (643 PA) and Michael Young (718 PA).
o. Over the last five seasons, Roy Halladay led the majors with 90 wins, followed by CC Sabathia’s 88. Zach Duke led with 68 losses, followed by Barry Zito’s 67.
p. Prince Fielder was the only player in baseball to hit under .265 while posting an OBP of at least .380 at .261 and .401. Yes you read that right. Prince reached base four out of ten times despite only hitting .265. We will have more discussion on this stat and on base percentage next week. I know you are excited...I am.

6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to is Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. If memory serves me correctly we played the heck out of the CD back in the day. Furthermore, this is one of the more cooler videos that I have ever watched. It should be mentioned that my video viewed count can not be that high. I can not remember our last trivia question but I think it was the week of Thanksgiving and my dad knew that Philadelphia was the site of the first Thanksgiving Day. Man that was a long time ago. This weeks trivia question is What pitcher has the most wins in Dodgers history? Good luck.

7. A Hodgepodge of Notes (Hoops, Tennis, etc)
a. How sick is Blake Griffin? I absolutely love having the NBA package and watching all the Clippers games when I can not sleep at night. On Saturday against Golden State he went for 30 points, 18 rebounds and 8 assissts. Last Monday against Indiana he scored 47 points on 24 field goals.
b. By the way are the Clippers the most fun to watch 16-26 team in the NBA?
c. I know I will reference the ACC later but it is time to take a good look at that conference and how many potential bids they would get. Right now I say Duke is a lock. UNC and FSU probably make the tourney if the season were over right now but they still have to do.
d. The ACC potentially only receiving three bids could open up a couple bids for hopefully the SEC East and maybe the Mountain West conference.
e. Thanks to Darren Rovell for this stat. The number of different teams in final series/game in last 10 matchups: NBA (10), NFL (13), NHL (13), MLB (14).
f. The MLB needs to do a better job promoting its parity. While the Yankees and Red Sox do have a financial advantage the last few years I proved that anything can happen in the playoffs, you just have to get there.
g. That was a bad loss by Kansas yesterday at home to Texas. Especially after the Jayhawks jumped out to an 18-3 lead to start the game, but Texas outscored Kansas 51-28 in the second half. Even more impressive is the fact that the Texas won its first game at the Phog. The Longhorns had been 0-9 in Lawrence entering today's game and 0-7 at Allen Fieldhouse.
h. The Jayhawks had won 69 straight games at Allen Fieldhouse, losing their last game there on Feb. 7, 2007.To give that some reference, I had moved to Atlanta one month prior. Man that was some time ago.
i. I was able to see some highlights of the Villanova-Syracuse game Saturday night. That looked like a pretty cool atmosphere inside the Carrier Dome which is one of college basketball coolest scenes in my opinion. Villanova has won eight of its past 11 meetings with Syracuse dating back to 2006, with four wins coming at the Carrier Dome.
j. Not many programs can go inside the Carrier Dome like Villanova has the past few years.
k. Is now the time Jamie Dixon and his Pitt Panthers will make a run to the final four? It looks like they have one of their better teams with their only loss coming to Tennessee at Excel Center in Pittsburgh. It should be mentioned that this loss was not on their home floor on campus.
l. With Venus retiring in the 3rd round of Australian Open is her career done. She is 29 which is ancient by Tennis terms. I am not sure if she is done but I doubt we see her win another major.

8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State-The Buckeyes are 20-0 for the third time in school history. Both previous 20-0 starts resulted in Ohio State advancing to the NCAA title game.
2. Duke- Is the ACC a three bid conference with Duke, UNC and FSU? Do they get three teams?
3. Pittsburgh-How do the Vols beat this team in the Steel City?
4. Texas-The last team to beat UNC, Kansas and Michigan State in same season was Michigan in 1993. (UNC would beat Michigan in the rematch at the National Championship game)
5. San Diego State- Do not sleep on the Aztecs. Very fun team to watch and the Mountain West is a really good basketball conference. College Basketball's game of the week will be Wednesday night at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah as the Aztecs take on Jimmer Fredette's BYU Cougars.

9. What I Read This Week
The best article that I read this week takes a look at Deadspin.com Editor A.J. Daulerio. As a big Deadspin reader it was fascinating to take a look at what goes into some of the stories that they publish and why they publish these stories. I for one had no idea the paid $12,000 cash for the incriminating Brett Favre voice-mails and pictures.

The second read of the week comes from the NY Times and profiles the head of the NFLPA DeMaurice Smith. Smith does not back down in this interview saying that "We are at war" and that “Nobody gets strong without fighting, nobody stays strong without fighting. Nobody negotiates their way to strength. Nobody talks their way to a good deal. Nobody sits down and just has miraculous things happen.” A real fascinating read and we may miss some of the NFL next week.

10. Non Football or Basketball or Baseball Thoughts
a. I saw No Strings Attached for the second time this week. That is right I went to this movie twice before it premiered and no I am not a sucker for romantic comedies.For the most part no bad lines to the end which better than a majority of romantic comedies.
b. Natalie Portman is so gorgeous and enjoyable on the big screen.
c. Did anyone else allow the Tsunami warning on Hawai 5-0 suck them in last night? I ended up enjoying the show when I had no plans to watch it? Good job CBS.
d. Speaking of CBS hopefully by next years NFL season Phil Simms can get better at booth reviews and the rules. Awful job on Sunday.
e. By the way Phil Simms on Dan Patrick last Tuesday was awfully bitter. I had no idea why but he did not come off real well.
f. I watched Modern Family from two weeks ago this week and it was absolutely hilarious. I have not seen the one from 5 days ago but will watch it sooner than later. Emphasis on sooner.
g. Another busy week with work and other responsibilities. Hopefully I can use Sunday afternoon to go catch up on some movies.

Quote of the Week
DeMaurice Smith provides the quote of the week from one of our articles of the week.
“You want drama? Stand up in a courtroom and be a prosecutor with a guy who just killed four people, set his girlfriend on fire and then shot her in the back of the head twice and you know if you lose this, he goes back on the street. How do you sleep at night?


Text of the Week
From an old coach/boss. I changed the name to protect the innocent/guilty.
I'm on my way to the state wrestling tournament. Our 141 pounder told me today....Mr. Mosby I wanna fu**** kill someone tomorrow.

Tweet of the Week
This week's tweet comes from @si_damonhack who had just arrived in the Steel city for the AFC Championship game.
PA at Pitt Airport baggage claim just now: "Would passenger Rex Ryan please stop by the info booth and pick up his medicated foot powder."

Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

1. Georgia Thoughts

A 1-1 week for Fox's hounds with both games on the road. By the way a loss at Vanderbilt with Dores shooting 20 more free throws than the Dawgs is not the worst thing in the world. On Saturday in what was a very important game the Dawgs probably played their best since Jim Harrick was coaching em up. The Dawgs shot 63.5% from the field as a team, had five players score in double-figures and only had one player (Donte Williams) shoot under 50% from the field. Furhermore, Mark Fox’s Bulldogs dished out a season-high 26 assists, while limiting themselves to only 7 turnovers.

This week we have home games against Tennessee tonight and Mississippi State on Saturday. Next week we continue the home stand with a home game next Tuesday against the Gators and on the road the 29th against the Wildcats. Needless to say if we can handle our business at home this team can be in a very good place with when they fly to Lexington in 11 days.When counting conference wins a week ago I had Georgia around 9-10 conference wins. That looks good as of right now. It's interesting that Ken Pomeroy lists Georgia as roughly a 39% chance to win 10-12 SEC games based on current data models.  Pomeroy and RealTimeRPI both have our most likely scenario as 9 conference wins. (Thanks to Georgia Sports Blog for the RPI numbers).

This is the most giddy I have been about the Basketball team since Jim Harrick. Hopefully Jeremy Schaap can stay away from campus.

2. College Football Wrap Up
a. Late on Friday I saw a tweet that did not get much mention, the NCAA grants Case Keenum a 6th season of eligibility. The Houston QB who is one of my favorite college QB's becomes the first true Heisman candidate for 2011.
b. I have read a couple of places where people are saying that Tennessee is a sleeper for the SEC East in 2011. What am I missing about the Vols? I know South Carolina won the East this season but I still feel it is Florida's to win every season.
c. I am glad I am not a Maryland fan. For one they get rid of one of their own for a guy I think is a great coach, but not a step up in my opinion. Then Maryland hires Gary Crowton as their offense coordinator.
d. Here is more on Crowton, the 53-year-old coach had come under heavy fire for what could be charitably described as inept offenses during his past two years with the Tigers.  LSU was 45th (29.7) and 76th (24.8) in scoring offense, and 86th (341.3) and 112th (304.5) in total offense.  Most embarrassing was an utterly limp passing attack: 107th (155.6) last year, 97th (181.8) in 2009.
e. Somehow, Crowton turns into a new three-year contract at Maryland, where he’ll be paid $100,000 a year more than he was getting at LSU. Whoever Crowton’s agent is, that’s somebody who’s earning his keep.
f. I saw these stats related to the SEC football season and was surprised how big of a difference turnovers make on the game.49 conference games in 2010, 12 times both teams had the same amount of turnovers.
  Thus 37 times one team won the turnover battle.In those 37 games, the team that won the turnover margin won 32 times.That’s a 32-5 record in SEC games in 2010 for the teams that won the turnover battle.
g. Georgia’s 2010 record in games in which it won the turnover battle was 6-1, which means the Dawgs didn’t win a single game this season when they didn’t finish in the black in turnover margin.
h. It’s a strange world we live in when ESPN fires Ron Franklin, yet keeps Craig James on the payroll.



3. College Football Coaches Year 2

In the past couple of years I have noticed a trend with College Coaches and their teams making a big jump in year two under a new coach. Let's look at some numbers.

Coach	School	Year 1	Year 2	Notes
Nike Saban	Bama	7-6	12-2	Went undefeated regular season
Nick Saban	LSU	8-4	10-3	SEC Champs
Bob Stoops	Oklahoma	7-5	13-0	National Champs
Mark Richt	UGA	8-4	13-1	SEC Champs, #3 Final Rating
Urban Meyer	Utah	10-2	12-0	Beat Pitt in BCS
Urban Meyer	Florida	9-3	13-1	National Champs
Paul Johnson	Navy	2-10	8-5
Paul Johnson	GaTech	9-4	11-3	ACC Champs
Chip Kelly	Oregon	10-3	12-1	National Runner Up
Gene Chizik	Auburn	8-5	14-0	National Champs
Jim Tressell	Ohio State	7-5	14-0	National Champs
Steve Spurrier	Florida	9-2	10-2	SEC Champs
Steve Spurrier	South Carolina	7-5	8-5
Bobby Bowden	FSU	5-6	10-2
Pete Carroll	USC	5-6	11-2	Orange Bowl

I do not know what all this means but Jimbo Fisher is in his second year at FSU.

4. 2010 Power 5
1. Auburn- They might go from 14-0 to 5-7. A year where all the stars aligned for the Tigers. Everything went their way.
2. Oregon-23-3 last two seasons. Beat a very, very, very good Stanford team by 20 points.
3. TCU- Very good season but no way they beat Oregon or Auburn. This team will be heard from for a long time as they move to the Big East in 2012.
4. Stanford- How does this team lose by 20 to Oregon. That might show how good the Ducks and Auburn Tigers were this season.
5. Ohio State-I am still dumbfounded how they had all players eligible for the Sugar Bowl.


5. 2011 Top 5
1. Oklahoma- The Sooners have 14 players coming back who have starting experience on offense and 15 on defense. This is after they finished 12-2 and won the Big 12 for the 7th time in 11 years. How unreal is that? They have to make trips to Oklahoma State and Florida State.
2. Oregon-Under Chip Kelly the Ducks are 23-3 with the loses to Boise St, Stanford and Auburn. Clearly the class of the Pac-10. The Ducks have the toughest first two games next season in the country when they play LSU and Nevada.
3. Florida State-Should return 9 starters on offense and defense. They play Oklahoma at home which is going to be an unreal spectacle. They get a big scheduling break because they don't play Georgia Tech, North Carolina or Virginia Tech during the regular season.
4. Alabama-Waited to the last game of 2010 to put everything together. They lose Julio Jones and Mark Ingram along with QB Greg McElroy. Four starting offensive linemen are returning, and linebacker Dont'a Hightower and safety Mark Barron should be better after battling injuries this past season. The Tide play a nonconference game at Penn State
5. LSU- They seem to go 10-2 every year. One of the most talented and consitent programs in the country. Very intrigued who they hire as offensive coordinator, because if they fix that side of the ball.....look out. They play Oregon to start the season in Arlington, Tx. They also have two very difficult road games at Mississippi State and Alabama.

6. Wildcard Weekend
a. How boring was the first half of the Bears-Seahawks game? If you did not have a rooting interest I do not know how you didnt take a nap in the second half. I sure did.
b. While I still do not trust Cutler in a big spot he was outstanding on Sunday. Jay Cutler became the second quarterback in NFL history to throw for two touchdowns and run for two others in a playoff game.Otto Graham is the only other person to accomplish this fact.
c. In fact, Graham did it twice once in the 1954 NFL Championship Game and again the following season in the 1955 NFL Championship Game. The NFL Championship Game is the precursor to the Super Bowl.
d. The last Bears quarterback to rush for two touchdowns in a playoff game was Jim McMahon in Super Bowl XX. Additionally, Cutler was the first quarterback to throw a touchdown on his first career postseason pass since Chad Pennington did so for the New York Jets in 2002.
e. I was shocked in what happened Sunday afternoon in Foxboro. In fact, if you find yourself bored at work visit some Boston websites and the humor is priceless. It is almost like the Patriots have not won 3 Super Bowls in the last 10 years. It is almost like the Red Sox have not won 2 World Series since 2004. It is almost like the Boston Celtics are not the second most successful NBA franchise.
f. This is the worst Shaughnessy column I have ever read. What a joke. Then their is this. I wonder how bad all the bandwagon New England sports fans felt Monday morning?
g. Among quarterbacks with at least 75 attempts, only Matt Ryan and Tom Brady did not throw an interception against a 3-4 defense during the regular season. On plays when the Jets used the 3-4 defense formation Sunday, Brady completed just 3-of-7 passes for a 28.6 passer rating, including his first interception since Week 6 against the Ravens.
h. How good is Rex Ryan as a head coach? The Jets are the first team in NFL history to get at least 2 road wins in consecutive postseasons.
i. I am still in shock in what happened Sunday evening. Mark Sanchez is just the third quarterback to throw for 3 TD against Bill Belichick's Patriots in the postseason (since 2000). The others? Jake Delhomme and Donovan McNabb. Both Delhomme and McNabb did it in the Super Bowl. Maybe Sanchez is that good. I know I did not believe it going into the playoffs.
j. The Saturday game between the Steelers and Ravens was so much fun to watch. How does Baltimore blow that lead with that defense? Can you pick a worst time to have your first fumble of the season Ray Rice? How about all the talk we hear from the Ravens receivers and then all they do is drop passes in big spots.
k. Joe Flacco handled extra pressure well in the 2010 season, but the Steelers' pass rush rattled the Ravens' quarterback Saturday. The Steelers employed the 5-man rush on the last four plays of the game, forcing Flacco to throw three incompletions and take an 8-yard sack.
l. The Steelers home dominance in the playoffs continued Saturday. With the win, they move to 12-1 at home in the divisional round since 1970, averaging 25.5 PPG. They are just 3-6 on the road in the divisional round.
m. With the win Saturday, Ben Roethlisberger improves to 9-2 in the postseason. His .818 winning percentage is the 2nd-best in NFL history among QBs with at least 10 starts. He sits behind Bart Starr who went 9-1 in his postseason career.
n. How scary good are the Packers? They were unreal Saturday night. Everybody in Atlanta wants to point fingers and figure out what went wrong Saturday night. What went wrong Saturday is that Aaron Rodgers got on the team plane Friday night and flew to Atlanta.
o. As quarterback of the Packers, Rodgers has directed two of the three highest-scoring performances by a road team in NFL postseason history. Aaron Rogers had the second-highest completion percentage in a 300-yard passing game in NFL postseason history Saturday.
p. How has Tony Gonzalez never won a playoff game?

7. MLB Thoughts
a. I had no idea they kept this stat but Jose Bautista scored 11 of 16 times from first on a double; Carl Crawford was 11 for 19.
b. New Rays reliever Kyle Farnsworth was third in the majors in appearances from 2001-10 with 640. Mariano Rivera (646) and David Weathers (644) were the leaders.’’
c. Joe Maddon led AL managers last season by pinch-hitting 174 times, a remarkable 44 more times than runner-up Jim Leyland. Tony La Russa led the majors with 292. Is anyone shocked that La Russa led that category.
d. Here is a crazy stat in regards to Kyle Farnsworth. Against the teams that finished with a .500 or better record, Farnsworth finished with a 2.09 ERA, .611 opponents OPS, and a 5.3 strikeout-to-walk rate. Against teams with sub-.500 marks, he had a 5.19 ERA, .670 opponents OPS, and 2.23 strikeout-to-walk rate.
e. Adam LaRoche is one of just three first baseman to hit at least 20 homers and 25 doubles in each season since 2005. The others: Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols. I still would not mention LaRoche in the same breath as those two.
f. Matt Stairs signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals in December. If he hits a home run for them, he'll tie Todd Zeile's major league record by hitting a HR for his 12th team.
g. Last season Ryan Howard 31 bombs with 108 RBI, but it was the 1st time in 5 yrs he failed to go deep 45 times with 136 RBI. The .505 slugging percentage was also a career low. Those are still some sick numbers.
h. How come this story is not getting mentioned more? It is January 18th and the Nationals do not have a pitching coach.
i. Also Damon, Manny and Andruw Jones do not have jobs yet either.
j. Word came out late last week that Showtime was producing a Hard Knocks type show on the San Fransisco Giants. Am I the only one who can not get enough of the behind the scenes type shows. They are so entertaining.
k. 27 days until Pitchers and Catchers report for the Braves (February 14th) 38 days until the first spring training game. Let's get excited!


8. Hoops Power 5 (before games played 1/17)
1. Ohio State- Is Jared Sullinger the player of the year?
2. Syracuse- The less Scoop Jardine shoots, the better the Orangemen play.
3. Kansas-Can the Bid XII get 8 teams in the tournament?
4. Pittsburgh-Huge win at home against number 2 Syracuse. Expect the Panthers to be higher next week.
5. San Diego St-If you are an insomniac like me, watch the Aztecs. Very fun team.

9. What I Read This Week
Read a bunch of articles this week but here are the two best. The first one takes a look at Billy Donovan, John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant and the bond these three share. I feel I follow college basketball pretty good but I had no idea these men went through these ordeals. The ladies will probably appreciate this article more than the gentlemen.

The second read comes from Outside Magazine and profiles Michael Ferrara. Ferrara is a first responder in Aspen and brings attention to a little-known problem: post-traumatic stress disorder among the people who save our lives.

10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. I am down on the show How I Met Your Mother and the fact is decided to kill of Marshall's dad. What was the purpose of that. Did the writers forget this was a comedy show not a drama. I watch to laugh. If I want serious I would watch something else.
b. Last night's episode was not that much better. I wonder where they are going with this sub-plot? When are we going to meet Ted's wife?
c. With the Snow Days the roomdog and myself have caught up a lot on the DVR. Eastbound and Down is ridiculous. So funny. Kenny Powers is out of his mind.
d. I absolutely love Bored to Death. Ted Dansen's character is unbelievable. It also makes me miss the little things about living in the big apple.
e. Hopefully, we can get the show picked up for a third season.
f. I have not had time for a halftime the last couple of weeks. If I did I would have given everyone this sick song by Zac Brown Band. My buddy Smoak told me about it weeks ago. Again why is he not a country music executive.
g. I watched bits and pieces of the Golden Globes. I thought Ricky Gervais was hilarious. Again I am not an uptight Hollywood executive or actor so I would think that.
h. I have not seen all the Movies to comment on the winners and losers. I do know I need to see The Fighter, The Social Network and The King's Speech.
i. I have heard good and bad things about Black Swan...does anyone think I would enjoy?
j. I am not a Gleek so I do understand how Glee won best comedy or musical over 30 Rock, Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. Can someone please explain.
k. Thanks to the snow and other holidays the last Monday in which I have worked a full day was December 13th. Next week when I have to work 5 days I am going to be in trouble.
l. The other night when I could not sleep I watched CMT's Top 40 Songs of the Decade. You can view the list here. Personally I think a majority of the songs in the top 40 are to slow for me personally. I need some more energy in my music. Furthermore, I think "Austin" by Blake Shelton should be higher than #29. Also "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum is not the 10th best song of the decade. It is not even their best song in my opinion. I like American Honey better.
m. Interested to get Smoak's thoughts on the list.

Have an awesome week.

Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

Here are the 10 Things for this first week of 2011. I will try to be more consistent in writing these in 2011, please notice the word TRY. I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and their 2011 is off to a great start. 

1. Georgia Thoughts
I will not go into much detail here on what I think what is wrong with the Dawgs because I would be writing for days and it would take you hours to read. My biggest worry is that we drive 96 yards to not go for it on 4th and 1 from the 3 yard line in the first quarter. In my opinion if we go for it there, we pick it up and win this game without much problem. My real issue in not going for it is....if the coach does not trust his players to get a yard against UCF why would his players in return trust him or make plays for him, etc. The lack of faith is something I see all the time at UGA but I do not see when watching Bama, Auburn, LSU, FSU, GaTech or Florida play. (emphasis added)

Also what happened to the offensive line this season? By far the biggest weak link on the team. I do not care if you have Bill Walsh calling plays but he is not going to move the ball with line play like we saw all season. I have heard rumors have a feud between Bobo and offensive line coach Stacey Searls. I have no idea where the problem comes from or what it is but this issue if true has to be fixed. What makes this problem more troublesome is Searls is probably UGA's best position coach as he worked at LSU under Saban and has turned down multiple offers from Auburn and Alabama. In fact if he were fired today he would probably have multiple job offers before he could pack the first box in office.

Gentry Estes who covers the Dawgs for 247sports.com wrote this article and sums everything up perfect. I appreciate his perspective as Estes has covered the Alabama Crimson Tide for a couple of seasons before getting the Georgia beat.

2. NFL Thoughts
a. Halfway through the NFL season a lot of the pundits claimed the AFC was the dominant conference with more dominant teams.
b. While the AFC has the most dominant team (New England) I feel the strength of teams seeded 1-6 in the NFC is better than the 1-6 of the AFC.
c. In fact I could see any team out of the NFC except the Seahawks making the Super Bowl. However, I only see the Patriots getting out of the AFC.
d. Peyton Manning now has 46 game-winning drives in the 4th quarter or overtime in his NFL career, just one shy of Dan Marino's career record. Third on the list Favre with 43 and fourth is John Elway with 42.
e. Eric Weems became the first Falcons player with a punt return TD and kick return TD in the same season. How did Deion Sanders never do that in the same season?
f.  Matt Ryan tied Dan Marino for the most wins (33) by a starting QB in his first three seasons since 1970. Hopefully he has more post-season success than Mr. Marino did with the Phins.
g. The roomdawg is going to love this stat: The Packers have held opponents to single-digits in points six times this season. The last three times they've done that previously (1962, 1966, 1996), they won the NFL Championship (the last two, happened to be Super Bowls)
h. Among quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts entering Sunday, Cutler ranked 27th in the NFL in passer rating when throwing to the left side of the field. Cutler finished the game completing just 6 of 14 passes with an 18.8 passer rating and both of his interceptions coming in that direction.
i. The Patriots entered Week 17 allowing a passer rating of 104.2 on play-action passes this season, 24th in the NFL. The Patriots play-action defense has been better against the Dolphins this season than any other team it has faced. The Dolphins finished 3 of 7 for 23 yards, an interception and a sack when using play-action Sunday.

3. Do we really need a playoff?

Late last Tuesday I received a text from my crazy brother saying, "Missouri-Iowa those are two sick teams this year that should be in playoff games fighting for a chance for something more than the bowl game they are in."  My first thought was this is the exact reason why I do not want a playoff as what reason should a 7-5 Iowa or a 10-2 Missouri have to play in a playoff. In my opinion those teams should enjoy their middle tier bowl game in Arizona. While I think the system as it is now is broken I feel a playoff per say will no fix things. If you feel different let me know and why.

This is what I would like to see happen. We take the four best teams using an improved BCS that factors some sort of human poll from the coaches, legends, and 15 writers selected by fan vote. I would also keep the computers as they help in determining strength of schedule, etc. We keep the BCS bowls and their tie-ins as is but we rotate two bowls to host a #1 vs #4 playoff game and a #2 vs #3 playoff. This year we would have had #1 Auburn play #4 Stanford in one bowl. In the second bowl we would have had #2 Oregon play #3 TCU. #5 Wisconsin and #6 Ohio State would have just missed earning a spot. Then we would take the winners of Auburn-Stanford and Oregon-TCU to play for the National Championship. The National Championship game would be played the weekend prior to the Super Bowl at the Super Bowl location. 

Here is how my 4 team playoff would have looked in years past
2009 #1 Bama vs #4 TCU, #2 Texas vs #3 Cincy...just missed #5 Florida and #6 Boise St
2008 #1 Oklahoma vs #4 Bama, #2 Florida vs #3 Texas...just missed #5 USC, #6 Utah
2007 #1 Ohio St vs #4 Oklahoma, #2 LSU vs #3 Virginia Tech...just missed #5 UGA, #6 Missouri
2006 #1 Ohio St vs #4 LSU, #2 Florida vs #3 Michigan...just missed #5 USC, #6 Louisviile
2005 #1 USC vs #4 Ohio St, #2 Texas vs #3 Penn St...just missed #5 Oregon, #6 Notre Dame, #7 UGA
2004 #1 USC vs #4 Texas, #2 Oklahoma vs #3 Auburn...just missed #5 Cal, #Utah, #7 UGA
2003 #1 Oklahoma vs #4 Michigan, #2 LSU vs #3 USC...just missed #5 Ohio St, #6 Texas
2002 #1 Miami vs #4 USC, #2 Ohio State vs #3 UGA...just missed #5 Florida, #6 Washington St
2001 #1 Miami vs #4 Oregon, #2 Nebraska vs #3 Colorado...just missed #5 Florida, #6 Tennessee
2000 #1 Oklahoma vs #4 Washington, #2 FSU vs #3 Miami...just missed #5 Va Tech, #6 Oregon St
1999 #1 FSU vs #4 Alabama, #2 Virginia Tech vs #3 Nebraska...just missed #5 Tennessee, #6 Kansas St
1998 #1 Tennessee vs #4 Ohio State, #2 FSU vs #3 Kansas St...just missed #5 UCLA, #6 Texas A&M

Notes: How fun would the 2006-2007 bowl season have been? How good has Ohio State and Oklahoma been the past 13 years. The same could be said for Texas and USC.

4. NFL Power 12 (The Playoff Teams)
1. New England Patriots- What team do you see losing to the Pats? I do not see one.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers- With a Troy Polamalu this team becomes more dangerous. They have stayed under the radar a lot this season.
3. Atlanta Falcons- I know they gave away the New Orleans game last week, this team is still very tough out at home.
4. Philadelphia Eagles- I have some questions about their defense but their offense is scary good with weapons at QB, RB, WR and TE.
5. Indianapolis Colts- With Manning they always have a chance. Last time they entered playoffs with this many questions they won the Super Bowl.
6. Baltimore Ravens- This team matches up better with the Pats than any other team in the AFC.
7. Green Bay Packers- Aaron Rodgers is better than Jay Cutler thus the higher rating
8. Chicago Bears- Does any Bear fan trust Cutler in a big spot? I would not.
9. New Orleans Saints- Drew Brees has thrown 22 int's compared to 11 last season.
10. Kansas City Chiefs- How big of a distraction will Charlie Weis be for the playoffs? Also, the BBQ in Gainseville is not as good as the que in KC. Has Weis thought about that?
11. New York Jets- Do not let the Rex Ryan hype fool you, Sanchez is banged up and the defense has some holes in it.
12. Seattle Seahawks- Do not get mad at the Hawks for being 7-9 and making the playoffs, get mad at their division for not having a 10-6 team


5. 2010 A Look Back

Favorite Travel Experiences
1. Cooperstown on a Snowy December afternoon-The tiny up-state NY village looked like a Norman Rockwell painting the afternoon I visited.
2. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria in New Haven, Ct- Quite possibly the best Pizza I have ever eaten.
3. The Yankee Clipper to Yankee Stadium-How about this A-list crew: Smoak, Shep, Ben, Todd and myself.
4. Day triping to P'burgh- My oldman, the roomdog, JoJo, Simms, and the roomdog's old roomdog fly to P'Burgh in the morning, watch the Braves and then fly home.
5. Amtrak NYC-DC...I absolutely loved the train and do not ask me why. I do have to ask, why can I not take a train from Atlanta to Athens or Augusta or Savannah?

Worst Travel Experiences
1. Flight canceled on the first leg of a roadrip in December. Never a good start.
2. A delayed flight to NYC in June coupled with the worst turbulence I have ever experienced and a screaming baby. Also the first leg of a roadtrip.
3. Sitting on a delayed flight to Denver when it is 110 degrees on the plane. Another first leg of roadtrip story.
4. Waking up early after a night at Brother Jimmy's to take the Amtrak. The act of waking up sucked, the Amtrak was awesome.
5. White Castle in the hood of Covington, Kentucky after a Friday Night Braves win. At the time a great idea. 45 minutes after we ate...AWFUL idea.


Best Movies I Saw
1. The Town- The final scene at Fenway was unreal.
2. True Grit- Every line is a classic. Jeff Bridges is the man. Matt Damon is underrated in a comedy role.
3. Inception-I can hit the 3rd level of my dreams...just saying
4. Kick-Ass-Nicholas Cage and his sailor talking 12 year old daughter as SuperHero's
5. Iron Man 2-Who does not enjoy a good superhero movie? I love them.

note: I have yet to see Social Network, 127 Hours or The Fighter so do not yell at me.


Top Concerts of the Year
1. Garth Brooks- The best concert I have ever attended and will probably ever attend. Unreal how AWESOME this was.
2. Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean- I will never forget the place breaking into the Tomahawk Chop when they recognized Bobby Cox
3. Eric Church- Pulled a lot of strings to get into this sold out show in February at Wild Bill's in Duluth. No way Wild Bill's was under Fire Capacity that night.
4. Montgomery Gentry- A post game Braves concert. I have always wanted to see these guys live and I thought they were very good.
5. Zac Brown Band- What a great way to ring in 2011.

My Favorite TV Events of 2010
1. Super Bowl-Watched this game alone on the couch because that's where I had watched all the Colts game previously that season.
2. Winter Olympics-Lindsey Vonn, an unreal Gold Medal game in hockey, a very cool Opening Ceremony with Mike Plant leading the USA athletes into the stadium.
3. 30 for 30-Who would have thought ESPN could have given us such amazing television. All the credit has to go to Bill Simmons who came up with the idea. My favorite was June 17th 1994.
4. Leverage-Think Oceans 11 but a drama series on TNT.
5. Modern Family-The best show on television in my opinion. Every line is golden. I usually laugh more the second time I watch the show.

6. 2010 A Look Back continued.......


Top Sporting Events in Person
1. Army-Navy Football- The pregame pageantry is second to no one. I will try to attend this game more often, especially now that they play on what is a very quiet college football weekend.
2. Braves Opening Day- We saw something awesome that afternoon. Hank Aaron's first pitch to Jason Heyward and then this happened.
3. Playoff Baseball returns to Atlanta-Game 3 was one of the best games I have ever witnessed and the atmosphere when Hinske hit the go-ahead home run was unreal. If we could have gotten one more out. I think about this game almost daily. (Why do I do that to myself) Then after Game 4 the Giants stopping their celebration to salute #6.
4. Practice Round Augusta National- First time on the famed course. I love how everyone talks about this place as a hallowed ground of golf when it is situated between and across from strip malls off of Washington Rd in Augusta. Nevertheless, I did not see one blade of grass, piece of pinestraw or piece of trash out of place.
5. Watching the Bobby Cox Ceremony from the Braves dugout-The more I think about it, the higher this should go on the list.

Top Sporting Events I Wish I Would Have Attended in 2010
1. Winter Olympics-If I had to choose between Summer or Winter Olympics I would attend the winter hands down.
2. Lakers-Celtics NBA finals-The NBA's marque teams battle in the finals.
3. Last College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium- So many great memories.
4. John Isner at Wimbeldon- The longest ever professional tennis match, which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes over the course of three days.The fact that Isner went to UGA also plays a role.
5.Super Bowl- If Kendra's husband (Hank Baskett) catches an onside kick that hits him in the hands the second half and the game are totally different.

Arena's of competition that I Visited in 2010
Baseball-Turner Field, Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, Nationals Ballpark, PNC Park, Great American Ballpark, Lake Olmstead Stadium, Coolray Field, George Steinbrenner Field, Champions Stadium (Braves Spring Training)
Football-Sanford Stadium, Georgia Dome, Commonwealth Stadium, Jordan-Hare Stadium, Lincoln Financial Stadium, EverBank Field (Jacksonville)
Basketball- Stegman Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, Boston (Banknorth) Garden, Carrier Dome
Hockey-Phillips Arena
Concerts-Philips Arena, Gwinnett Center, Bridgestone Arena
Race Track-Keeneland

Note: I have a goal to attend a new Baseball stadium every year. For 2010 the new baseball stadium was Yankee Stadium. No idea what will be the new stadium in 2011 but I will figure something out. I have attended a new baseball stadium every year since 2003 when I went on my first road trip and saw Yankees-Red Sox in what was an instant classic at the old ballpark in the Bronx. In 2004 I went to Camden Yards. In 2005 I went to Fenway Park, RFK, Citizens Bank Ballpark and Shea Stadium for the first time. In 2006 my new stadium was Wrigley Field and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. (On a side note I saw more baseball this summer when I lived in the Big Apple than any summer of my life. Lots of minor league baseball, lots of Yankees and Mets) In 2007 I waited to the final weekend of the year to go to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. (Great weekend road trip with Bryson). In 2008 my new ballpark was Tropicana Field for the playoffs and the first ever game at Nationals Ballpark in our Nation's capital. In 2009 my new ballpark was Citi Field. Where will I go in 2011 for the first time?

7. 2011 A Look Forward-Part 1

January will give us the National Championship in College Football as well as the NFL Playoffs. On Wednesday January 5th MLB will announce its Hall of Fame class of 2011. College basketball will crank up the week of January 17th with such contests as Syracuse at Pitt, Mich St at Purdue, Nova at Cuse.Tennis will have its first Grand Slam Final on the 30th while the NHL will hold its All-Star game in the same building NC State plays basketball.

February starts on a Tuesday and will probably be a boring winter day. The next day it will get real. Wednesday the 2nd gives us Groundhog Day. (A great Bill Murray movie by the way). After the redneck groundhog at Stone Mountain called General Lee says 6 more weeks of winter, top high school football players will sign with their respective colleges. On a side note, Rivals will say Notre Dame has a top 5 class and they will not win more than 8 games in their 4 years at the University. The 4th of February gives us the Chinese New Year. It will be the year of the rabbit and suddenly we know the special at every Chinese restaurant weeks in advance. The NFL will play a game called the Super Bowl three days later on the 6th. On the 7th Boston will host the Beanpot tournament. The 9th will give us UNC-Duke and a Coach K love fest from Dick Vitale. Pitchers and Catchers will report on February 14th. I will probably not notice as I will be celebrating Valentine's Day with my dimepiece girlfriend...or not. The 19th I will watch the Dawgs hoops team in Knoxville before traveling to Nashville to watch Predators and Coyote play some ice hockey. On Sunday the 20th Montreal will play Calgary outdoors while the Staples Center will host the All-Star game. The following day will be a day off from work and the 80th birthday of Alka-Seltzer. Spring training baseball will start on February 25th. I will be very excited.

March also starts on a Tuesday which is considered National Sportsmanship Day. That weekend me and my Dad will travel to Florida to watch some Braves spring training in Orlando against the Mets and in Vierra against the Nationals. Fat Tuesday will be celebrated on the 8th of the month, meaning we are 40 days from Easter. Will we spring ahead in the early hours of March 13th. Later in the day on the 13th the NCAA will announce its field of 68 teams. On the 14th we will hold an auction of teams and I will fill out 12 brackets. The 14th of March is also know a Pi Day...3.14.. The 19th of March I will celebrate the 8-0th anniversary of Nevada legalizing gambling by going 10 for 10 on a parlay card. Philly will host the 83rd NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Finals on the 17-19th. On the same 3 days in Austin, TX NCAA will host the Women's College Swimming Championships. On the last day of the month will give us the start of the Baseball season. My fantasy team will be in last place. Do not worry. I forgot to mention my brother has a birthday on Thursday the 10th. Good for him.

The first full week of April will be busy with the Final Four, Masters Week and the Braves home opener on April 8th. We can not forget about the Frozen Four played in St. Paul on April 7 and 9th. The NHL will start its playoffs April 13th while the NBA will do the same on the 16th.  Taxes will be due the 15th. My former college roommate Micky Westphal will be married on the 16th. Another college roommate and fellow Heightz Boy Allen Daley will be married on the 23rd. I will not catch the garter at ether event. Good chance I do the cupid shuffle however. April 18th will give us the Boston Marathon and an mid morning baseball game at Fenway Park. I am pretty intrigued by this Patriot's Day holiday. Easter will be celebrated on the 24th.The NFL will host a draft on Thursday the 28th through Saturday the 30th.

May starts on a Sunday with the Cardinals in town playing the Braves. The 3rd of May gives us National Teacher Day. A bunch of horses will run in a circle on the 7th in my birth city (Louisville, Ky). The 8th will be Mother's Day and the 155th birthday of Coca-Cola. Damn Coke you old. May 12th is Nurses Day which is probably not as cool as it sounds. The middle of May gives us the start of inter league play when the Braves travel to Anaheim to play the Angels. May 21st will have the Preakness stakes in Baltimore. The Stanley Cup finals will start on May 28th while the Indy 500 will be ran the next day.


June begins on a Wednesday. On Thursday the NBA finals will begin as well as the Softball College World Series. The French Open will hold its Final on June 5th. The weekend of June 17-19 will be extremely busy. First their is the 111th US Open at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. That weekend also brings another round of interleague play with some interesting matchups. Baltimore and Washington get together in a battle for the beltway. In state rivals such as San Fran-Oak, Tampa-Florida, KC-St.Louis will highlight the docket. Texas will play in Atlanta and the marque series will be the Yankees playing the Cubs in Wrigley Field. I am not sure but is this the Yanks first visit to Wrigley since the Babe called his shot in the 32 World Series? Also that Sunday will be Father's Day. I almost forgot, the College World Series starts in Omaha on Saturday the 18th. So said it will not be played at Rosenblatt Stadium but TD Ameritrade Park looks gorgeous. Wimbledon will begin on the 20th while the Women's World Cup will start on the 26th in Germany. The Brewer's play in Yankee Stadium on the 28th-30th. Something tells me the roomdawg might be in the Big Apple. I will look to take a vacation sometime this month or next. If it is like anything in the past it will be legendary.


8. 2011 A Look Forward- Part 2 July starts on a Friday and that means we will have an awesome 4th of July weekend. Smoak & Goat will celebrate a birthday on the 2nd. Good for them. Wimbeldon will have its W omen's final on the 2nd and the Men on the 3rd. America will celebrate it's Independence Day on the 4th. What a great holiday. On the 6th the IOC will announce the host city of the 2018 winter games. Three finalists include Annecy (France), Munich, and Pyeongchang (South Korea). It should be noted that Munich hosted the Summer Olympics in 1972. Baseball will host its All-Star game on the 12th and I will eat Pizza and Wings. I will start reading college football magazines and buy some prime parking passes in J'ville for World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The British Open begins on the 14th at the Royal St Georges Golf Club in Sandwhich, Kent. They say that is southeast of London. But who the hell knows. Baseball will hold induction ceremonies in Cooperstown on Sunday the 24th. ESPN will host its X Games from the 28th-31st. I will watch nothing but the MLB Network. Depending on a new CBA the NFL may or may not begin training camps late in the month.

August begins on a Monday. It will also be the 30th birthday of MTV. Thanks to MTV a guy called The Situation is a millionaire. Pro football will hold induction ceremonies on the 6th and hopefully on the 7th we have preseason football. But who the hell knows? The weekend of August 11-14 will be a big one for the city of Atlanta. The 93rd PGA Championship will be held at the Atlanta Athletic Club while the Braves will host the Chicago Cubs in a big weekend series. The Little World Series will begin on 19th and end on the 28th. The Braves are out of town from 22-29 if anyone wants to go to LLWS. The US Open in Tennis begins Flushing Meadow on the 29th. Just as an FYI Braves play Mets August 26-28. Good opportunity to mix in Braves-Mets, LLWS, and US Open. 194 miles from NYC to Willamsport if anyone is wondering.

September begins on a Thursday and the whole world will celebrate my birthday. I turn 30 and I am less than thrilled to be hitting that number. Bryson has the same birthday and the world will join in that celebration as well. The day after my birthday the Dawgs will Boise St in the UGA Dome in what will be a make or break for Mark Richt. The Braves will also host the Dodgers that weekend. Needless to say Atlanta needs to be everyone's destination on Labor Day weekend. Other top college football games on opening weekend include East Carolina against South Carolina in Charlotte and LSU versus Oregon at Jerry's World in Dallas. The NFL will open up on Thursday the 8th. The weekend gives us some decent college football with Bama at Penn St, South Carolina at UGA, BYU at Texas, Utah at Southern Cal and Notre Dame at Michigan. The 17th has the potential to be an unreal Saturday. Georgia plays Coastal Carolina which has the makings of an early afternoon game. Also that day Auburn plays in Clemson in what looks like a 745 made for ESPN game. Also on the 17th Oklahoma plays Florida State and Ohio State plays at Miami. The next weekend gives us the PGA Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. Also that weekend the Dawgs play Ole Miss so a trip to Tunica is probably on the docket. The roomdawg will celebrate a New Year on Sundown on the28th, the same day MLB's regular season ends.

October will start on a Saturday with a nice selection of College football and the start of the MLB playoffs. The NHL will begin play again on the 6th while UGA will play in Tenn on the 8th. The last two times UGA has played in Neyland Stadium it has lost by a combined score of 80-33 and I do not remember it being that close. Chicago will hold a Marathon on the 9th. It will run and probably finish in the top 10. On the 10th of October America will celebrate Columbus day while our Canadian friends will have Thanksgiving. UGA will have a bye week on the 22nd and I will sit on the coach and enjoy Auburn-LSU, Bama-UT and Southern Cal-Notre Dame. The World Series will also start earlier in the week on the 19th, so I might not have time to watch College Football on the 22nd and that will be fine. The last weekend of October gives us the Georgia-Florida football game. I have had lots of good times attending that game. I just need to see a win, that is all.

November begins on a Tuesday and Churchill Downs in my birth city will host the Breeders Cup. Also on the 6th NYC will host a Marathon. After my performance in Chicago I will probably sit this one out. Daylight Savings Time will also end that day at 2:00 a.m. Elections will be held on the 8th and Veterans Day will be on 11/11/11. Hell of a way to honor our veterans if you ask me. Auburn will visit UGA on the 12th. Hopefully we can get my buddy Todd down here for the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. On the 21st of the month we will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Rocky. It had a budget of a $1 Million. It grossed $225 Million. Safe to say that is a box office winner. On the 24th we will celebrate Thanksgiving by eating Turkey, taking naps and watching football.

December will begin on a Thursday and the first weekend gives us Championship Saturday. The ACC will be in Charlotte, Big 10 in Indy, SEC in Atlanta, Pac-10 at home field of team with the best conference record. Baseball's winter meetings will begin in Dallas on the 5th. On the 10th of the Month Army will play Navy at Fed Ex Field right outside Washington, DC in Landover, MD. That evening the Downtown Athletic Club will give AJ Green the 2011 Heisman trophy. That would be cool but very doubtful. On a side note baseball's CBA will expire on midnight the night of the 11th. Christmas falls on a Sunday this year so a majority of the NFL games will probably be played on Saturday the 24th. The real question becomes...will the New Years Bowl games be played on the 1st, or will that date be held for the NFL as New Years Day 2012 will be a Sunday? What if we have no NFL? Do we move games from 2nd to 1st if no NFL?


9. What I Read This Week

I have read tons of articles since I have last posted a Ten Things but I will TRY to keep it simple for the start of 2011. The first read come from the NY Times (where else?). The Gulf Coast Oil spill was one of the bigger news story in 2010 and the disaster all began with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. In this story David Bartstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul examine the disaster with two distinct parts — first a blowout, then the destruction of the Horizon. On paper, experts and investigators agree, the Deepwater Horizon should have weathered this blowout. This is the story of how and why it didn’t. 

The next set of stories come from the Captain who wanted to share these three Michael Wilbon articles. We all know Wilbon from PTI and his NBA work on ESPN. However, he was a very talented journalist for the Washington Post and here are the three stories he references in his final column. (It should be noted that WIlbon left the Washington Post in early December to work for the mothership (ESPN) full time). Wilbon's first column was in 1988 and he takes on Jimmy the Greek who at the time was just fired from CBS for racially sensitive comments. For those not familiar with Jimmy the Greek there was an ESPN 30 for 30 on him this summer. The second Wilpon read was written at the NBA finals in 2006 on the 20th anniversary on the death of Len Bias. I have always heard this story as a what could have been story and love Wilpon's point of view. The third read will be introduced by Wilbon himself; my favorite enterprise assignment, one I viewed skeptically in the beginning, was going with Dave Sheinin to Los Angeles during the riots in the aftermath of the Rodney King drama in 1992 to try to find out whether there was any correlation between the decrease in funding for community programs related to sports and recreation and the increase in gang-related activity in the city. 

My favorite line in all this comes from former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson who would return calls to Wilpon at 2:00 and ask; "Do you want to sleep, or do you want a scoop?"


10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. My December was about as AWESOME as one could get. Very productive work days followed by an 8 day roadtrip, some more productive work days, an Awesome Tacky Christmas Party in Sylvania, a trip to Nashville to see Garth Brooks and then out west to see my brother for Christmas. No wonder I have slept about 10-12 hours a night this past week.
b. Nothing big planned so far in 2011. I know I will be Athens this weekend for the UGA-Kentucky basketball game. I know I also have a trip to Nashville President's Day Weekend and a spring training trip in early March with my Dad. Do I make another spring training trip in late March with the boys or what about a spring training/opening round of the tournament trip to Tampa in mid March?
c. Congratulations need to go to reader and P.A.T. clique member TMAC for his engagement. The guy saved me many a bad snap about 12 years ago.
d. It looks like I have a couple of weddings to attend in April, nothing else on the docket as of now but that is always subject to change.
e. Speaking of my roadtrip this past December, I will post a trip recap sometime this week. Check back sometime around Thursday.
f. I got an Droid a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely love it. It fits me so much more than a blackberry ever did.
g. I absolutely love the Pandora and RadioTime aps. Nothing like listening to the Colts on a drive to Nashville or while sitting in the Denver airport waiting on your flight home.
h. If you have not watched the 24/7 on the Penguins and Capitals leading up to the Winter Classic you are missing out on some classic television. There are some great behind the scene moments from team hotels, planes, and the locker room.
i. I love the fact that the Penguins have a gameday skate every home game at 1:00 where anyone in the front office can play in a pickup hockey game.
j. Not only do I have a droid but I know have an IPOD. If anyone has some suggestions for good podcasts, Itunes, etc please let me know.
k. I am going to need to borrow some CD's so I do not spend a couple of hundred bucks on Itunes in the first month.
l. Here is to a productive, healthy and most important AWESOME 2011.