1. G-Day Wrap Up
Saturday nine days ago I attended my first G-Day and I can not imagine a better way to spend a Saturday than in gorgeous Athens, Ga on a Chamber of Commerce afternoon watching football and looking at the coeds. Georgia played each other so a Dogs win was guaranteed. For anyone that was in the Classic City last Saturday will agree with this statement, The coeds won.
I had a nice paragraph written about how good Zach Mettenberger looked and how he drilled the ball down the middle of the field reminded me of one Matthew Stafford. Then as I was driving home from an exciting Braves win on Sunday afternoon I get the news that Mett has been kicked off the team and I was in shock. Just unbelievable news.
Back to the scrimmage, Aaron Murray did not look as good as his stats had been in previous scrimmages. He still will probably win the starting quarterback job and I thought that before Mett was kicked off the team. You could tell Murray was trying to do to much instead of just playing QB. One thing that bothered me about Murray was that his interception was Joe Cox esque and those mistakes do not need to happen.
One other thought on the scrimmage was the play of the cornerbacks. They attacked the receivers and I do not remember one missed tackle. I was also excited the fact that not many receivers ran open despite the fact they were playing a new scheme for the first time. There were several plays where there were three receivers down field, all of whom were picked up and covered in textbook fashion (including picture perfect bracketing with a corner and safety combo). It happened frequently enough that they almost made it look – dare I say it? – routine.
2. Georgia Thoughts
I am still shocked over the news of Mettenberger's dismissal. From what I hear Mett was not completely honest with Richt when he told him about the news of his arrest. In addition there might be some more allegations coming out from the arrest. Not good, not good at all.
Speaking of not good, the UGA Baseball team is at an all-time low for the Coach Perno era and every time I thought the program had hit rock bottom he has them in the College World Series the following year. So hopefully 2011 will be a very special year for the Diamond Dawgs.
All news out of Athens is not bad as the Equestrian team won a National Championship and the Men's Golf team won a SEC Championship. Congratulations to those coaches and athletes.
3. Best NFL Rivalries
Peter King earlier this week gave his top 5 best rivalries in the NFL today....I will give my top 5. His top 5 included 1 Indy-New England, 2 Green Bay-Minnesota, 3 Baltimore-Pittsburgh, 4 New York Jets-New England; 5. Washington-Philly.
TODAY
1.New England-Indy
2.Green Bay-Minnesota
3. New England-New York Jets
4. Baltimore-Pittsburgh
5. Giants-Eagles
ALL-TIME
1. Jets-Dolphins
2. Bears-Packers
3. Eagles-Giants
4. Raiders-Chiefs
5. Cowboys-Redskins
4. Best College Football Rivalries
TODAY
1. Oklahoma-Texas
2. Ohio State-Michigan
3. LSU-Alabama
4. Florida-Alabama
5. West Virginia-Pittsburgh
ALL-TIME
1. Ohio State-Michigan
2. Alabama-Auburn
3. Notre Dame-USC
4. Army-Navy
5. FSU-Miami
5. Baseball Thoughts
a. Through the Braves first 9 games Martin Prado had 17 hits. That tied an Atlanta record held by the great Dale Murphy and Deion Sanders. Yes, Neon Deion. Somewhere Tim McCarver is not happy.
b. Last Sunday Roy Halladay threw the 50th complete game of his career to defeat the Astros. Halladay's 50 CG are the most among active pitchers.
c. The Angels will fly 50,509 air miles in 2010, more than any other team. The White Sox will fly 22,832, the lowest number.
d. 16 players have hit more home runs this year than the Astros who have three through 12 games.
e. As near as I can tell from baseball-reference, Ubaldo Jimenez is the first pitcher ever to throw a 9-inning no-hitter and also balk. Stats like this make me love baseball even more.
f. On Thursday Tim Hudson beat the Padres despite having 5 BB & 0 K's. It was the 9th time a pitcher won with 5+ BB & 0 K's since 2000.
g. In his 1st 16 games with the Cubs, Jeff Samardzija had an ERA of 0.93. In 33 games since then (beginning 9/1/08), his ERA has been 7.77.
h. The Red Sox have lost 4 straight and are 4-8, their worst record after 12 games since 1996 (2-10).
i. Kevin Kouzmanoff had three errors for the Padres at third base last season. His replacement, Chase Headley, had made four already entering Saturday.
j. Last season, after his first two starts for the Red Sox, Brad Penny was 1-0 with an ERA of 11.00 after having given up 11 runs on 11 hits, seven walks, three homers, while striking out three in nine innings of work. This season, after his first two starts for the Cardinals, Brad Penny was 1-0 with an ERA of 0.64 after having given up one run, on nine hits, two walks, no homers, while striking out eight in 14 innings of work.
k. Including postseason and today's win vs. Tampa Bay, Andy Pettitte of the Yankees is 11-2, 3.24 in 18 games started since 8/9/09.
l. Last season, the Red Sox were the only team without an African-American on their roster. This year, the distinction belongs to St. Louis, San Francisco, and Kansas City.
m. I love the look of new Target Field in Minnesota. The fact they have a fire pit in the left field seats is even cooler.
n. The Orioles went 0-6 in their opening homestand, 2nd time in Baltimore history they went winless on an opening stand of 3+ games (1977, 0-3)
o. Since 1970, the ERA of non pitchers is 7.85 in 183 IP with 0.5 K:BB ratio
p. How amazing was Saturday's Cards-Mets game? It started at 4:00 and I was able to see first pitch before leaving for a tailgate before the Braves game. Watch Ubaldo no hit the Braves. Get home about 1030 and see last couple innings of Cards-Mets.
q. I hate seeing stats like this, Within three days this week, the Orioles, Indians and Blue Jays all drew the smallest crowds in the history of their current ballparks. In 1995 those clubs ranked 1-2-3 in AL attendance. Last season in AL attendance they ranked 13-9-12.
r.Trevor Hoffman has allowed 8 extra base hits this season. He allowed 7 during the entire 2009 season.
s. As of Thursday Adam Dunn has 11 walks this season, David Wright has 10. And the Houston Astros have 6.
t. Entering Sunday's games, Braves leadoff hitters ranked last in the major leagues in hitting at 3 for 46 (.065), according to STATS, Inc. Diaz matched that with three hits in his third game hitting leadoff.
u. One more stat from the Cards-Mets game on Saturday; it was not the longest game that the two teams have played. The longest game between the Mets and Cardinals was on September 11, 1974 at Shea Stadium, which the Cards won 4-3 in 25 innings.
Halftime: This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to while cruising the mean streets of Sylvania was Dolphin's Cry by Live. Two weeks ago Brice was the first to respond that Dusty Baker was on-deck when Hank Aaron hit number 755. Former roomdawg Allen Daley also knew the right answer and he included this awesome paragraph about our legendary days at the Polo Club: This trivia question first appeared b/t the hallowed walls of polo club. Probly close to the time when t-mac was sidelined for two weeks following a keg stand malfunction that you were involved in, and I was fortunate enough to catch on video for future entertainment. BTW, I heard that carpet finally dried out about two weeks ago.
This week's trivia question: There are now three teams that have not pitched a no-hitter in their history. Name them.
6. Jackie Robinson Thoughts
On Thursday MLB celebrated the 63rd Birthday of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier. In honor of Jackie every player on every team wore #42 on Thursday and I thought that was an awesome tribute. Here are some numbers about #42 that have the number 42. Thanks to Billy Ball for some of the Robinson stats.
a. Mariano Rivera is currently the only player in MLB that wears #42. In 1997 MLB retired #42 and players who were wearing the number were grandfathered in and allowed to keep the number. Rivera is the only #42 still playing.
b.The next to last #42...Mo Vaughn
c. In 1947, Jackie was baseball’s first Rookie of the Year, an award that is now named for him.
d. Jackie ended up with 748 games playing second, 256 games playing third, 197 games at first, 162 games in the outfield, and one game at short.
e. Jackie Robinson was the first athlete to earn letters in four sports at UCLA playing football, basketball, track, and baseball.
f. Casey Kotchman and Yorvit Torrealba each struck out 42 times last season.
g. In 1947, Johnny Mize struck out 42 times while hitting 51 homers.
h. Jackie never struck out more than 40 times in a season.
i. Jackie’s first hit was a bunt single off the Boston Braves’ Glenn Elliott. Robinson bunted 42 times, collecting 19 hits, during his rookie season.
j. Robinson Cano was named in honor of Jackie Robinson and wears uni #24 (the reverse of 42). He also hit a home run on Thursday.
k.Jackie Robinson was the first African American inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962, but the second Robinson. Wilbert Robinson was inducted in 1945, Frank Robinson in 1982, and Brooks Robinson in 1983.
7.Top 10 Sporting Events on My Bucket List
1. BCS Championship Game - Georgia Win
2. Super Bowl
3. MLB All-Star Game
4. NCAA Final Four - This would go higher if UGA were to ever make it there.
5. Winter and Summer Olympics
6. Kentucky Derby
7. Duke-UNC at both the Dean Dome and Cameron Indoor Stadium
8. Rose Bowl
9. Wimbledon and US Open
10. Army-Navy
Bonus: A Georgia win in Jacksonville
8. Top Sporting Events I have attended
1. Braves World Series in 1991 and 1992
2. College World Series - 2001 and 2004
3. Georgia-Florida State 2003 Sugar Bowl
4. Georgia winning the SEC Basketball Tournament in 2008
5. Phil Neikro's last game - September 27th, 1987 versus the Giants. I was 6 and I remember Candy Maldanodo played left-field for the Giants.
6. The 15-20 games I attended at Yankee Stadium
7. The Blackout Game - Georgia-Auburn 2007
8. Seeing the Fog roll in at Veteran's Field in Chatham, Ma (This should probably be ranked higher)
9. Tuesday Practice Round in Augusta
10.2008 NHL All-Star Weekend
I know I am forgetting some awesome sports memories, what am I missing?
9. What I Read This Week
This week Sports Illustrated has an awesome look at Braves right-fielder Jason Heyward. The more and more I watch him play the more I am impressed. He has so much talent plus Sunday's walk off at-bat was a very good at bat considering it came against a lefty throwing 96 MPH. The SI article was written by Tom Verducci so we know it is AWESOME. Another good read on Heyward comes from the Philadelphia Inquirer. I love the fact that he call Chipper, "Mr.Jones".
A third read comes from the SI Vault and takes a look at Jackie Robinson's first two months as a Major Leaguer. Written by William Nack he looks at the 17 days when Jackie proved that he belonged in the Major Leagues.
10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. I saw a trailer for the movie Get Him to the Greek and it looks like something I will see one or two times this summer.
b.Get Him to the Greek is based on the Aldous Snow character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Aldous Snow was the rocker played by Russell Brand in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This looks very funny.
c. Has anyone seen Hot Tub Time Machine? If so what are your thoughts? I may try to go next Sunday.
d. Food for thought: This recipe for Pad Thai is the third most e-mailed story today on NYTimes.com
e. Why did I think that was important?
f. I absolutely loved the fact Luke Bryan was on The Apprentice last night. Hard to believe I saw him in person in December at the Capital City Club in Milledgeville.
g. Yes, the Capital City Club is the infamous club visited by a certain Steelers quarterback.
h. "24" looks like it is going to close its run with a bang. Back to back weeks we have had a silent clock to end an episode. Back to back weeks I have sat in my chair in shock as the episodes ended.
i. Are we ever going to get a new episode of The Office? When was the last time we have seen a new episode?
j. I really miss How I Met Your Mother on Sunday Nights/Monday Mornings at 1:00. Great way to wind down from an awesome weekend.
k. Speaking of How I Met Your Mother, it has been very average the past few episodes. It's about time for Ted to meet his kids mothers.
l. Tommorow I have a screening to the movie The Losers. I think it could be pretty good.
m. I would love to get a pass to Iron Man 2. Good chance I go see this movie at midnight the day it premieres.
n. I watched a good bit of the Academy of Country Music awards. Carrie Underwood is just awesome. Unbelievable how talented she is, I have a hard time believing she would have not been a star even without American Idol.
o. Why does Reba keep showing up?
p. I also have to be excited for Lady Antebellum considering band member Charles Kelly is from Augusta and went to UGA. He even gave a shout out to Augusta, Ga.
q. Hillary Scott the female member of the group is absolutely gorgeous and I think next week I am going to have to rank my favorite women in Country Music. I can not wait to do my research over the upcoming week.
Quote of The Week
Comes from CBS announcer Jim Nantz who last ripped Tiger Woods for his language but he also said this after Woods completed his round last Sunday.
"Tiger managed a 69 through all of this"
Quote of The Week II
Comes from me to future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine as we rode the elevator at Turner Field Friday afternoon.
"So how was the ride in?"
Really? This is all I could think of, unbelievable.
Tweet of The Week
Comes from @Justin_Stangel (Who is a writer/executive producer for Letterman)
Just saw a commercial where Tiger Woods' father and the ghost of Ricardo Montalban are selling the ShamWow
Text of The Week
From Simmons to Me
Besides my mom what are you doing?
Photo of The Week
Lots of great recommendations but how can I not go with a Song Girl doing a swan dive into a pool. Your Welcome. Fight On! This is part of annual fundraiser that the Song Girls support called "Swim With Mike." Sounds like a great idea for the next rooftop pool party. "Swim With The Coach"
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