The Countdown 2009: 79 Days to Go

79

Yards passing for Joe Cox during the 2009 Georgia G-Day game. Cox takes over as Georgia's starting quarterback to begin the 2009 season.

G-Day 2009: Red and Black and Not Much Offense

G-Day 2009 took place in Athens this past Saturday and the Bubba 'N Earl crew made the trek up 316 to take in the game. The weather cooperate this year and it was absolutely gorgeous day in the Georgia foothills. A large crowd (I would guess around 35,000) turned out for the game that was being televised by ESPN.

The teams came took the field with the first team offense leading the Red team against the first team defense leading the Black team. It was cool to see the Black team wearing the black jerseys as opposed to the white jerseys which the Black team has usually wore in the past at G-Day.

As for the action on the field, the game itself was pretty boring. A few turnovers, dropped passes, and bad blocking marred the action. There were however a few highlights. Here are some observations I had from the game:

1. AJ Green is still a beast. A great catch on the first play of the game and another almost amazing catch down the sidelines. Plus, he got into a shoving match with #2 (I think it was Brandon Boykin), which provided the most excitement of the entire game.

2. Logan Gray was impressive. He had nice zip on the ball and moved around well in the pocket.

3. The running backs looked pretty good. Caleb King, Dontavious Jackson, Kalvin Daniels, and Carlton Thomas all had a couple of nice runs.

4. Blair Walsh nailed a 51 yard field goal. Granted, there was no rush but it is still nice to see him make one from that long.

5. Justin Houston and Geno Atkins looked great. Both were constantly in the backfield making plays. I also liked the defense in the 3-4, with Gamble coming off the edge.

Overall, a pretty dull game with only one touchdown scored in the game's final seconds. Final score was Red 13, Black 3. Here some other shots, including Joe Cox to Carlton Thomas, UGA VII, Aaron Murray, and Matt Sattford as a coach.

One last thing, there was a walking Subway sandwich on the field. We thought it was a taco at first.

***Thanks to my brother-in-law, Mike David, for the great pictures

Could this be the best sports week of 2009?

Spring is in the air (despite the temperature outside today) and that means we are in the middle of the best sports week of the year. It doesn't get much better than this:

Major League Baseball Opening Day

The Braves helped usher in the 2009 season by beating the Phillies on Sunday night. New ace Derek Lowe was masterful and homeruns by Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, and Jordan Schafer helped the Braves to a 4-1 victory. I look forward to some games at Turner Field soon.

The Final Four Championship Game

The end of March Madness culminated in the National Championship game last night. The upstart Spartans of Michigan State were no match for the star-laden North Carolina Tar Heels. The Heels victory cost me the pool I was in (stupid Louisville!).

The Masters

For one week each spring, the state of Georgia welcomes the world to the finest golf course on the planet. There will be plenty of drama this weekend, as we will see if Tiger Woods is truly back from injury or if Padrig Harrington or Phil Mickelson can continue their recent success.

G Day

While the regular football season is still four months away, we get a chance to head back to Athens, set up a tailgate, and watch a little spring football. An added bonus this year: If it rains, we can stay home and watch the whole thing on ESPN.

Whether you love basketball, football, baseball, or golf, the first week of April 2009 is a great one. Enjoy it!

G Day Week 2009

This Saturday will mark the end of Georgia's 2009 spring practice with the annual G-Day game at Sanford Stadium. While the game it self often tends to be boring, there is typically a large amount of excitement heading into the game. I went to my first G-Day in 2001 and just look at the stories that have surrounded the annual spring game each year since:

2001 - Coach Richt and the New Quarterback
- Coach Donnan was fired and replaced with Mark Richt, the young offensive coordinator from Florida State. While many people were excited about the new coach, the biggest headline was around the battle for the starting quarterback position. Quincy Carter had left Georgia, leaving the battle between Cory Phillips and redshirt freshman David Greene.

2002- Excited about Shockley
- After spending his true freshman year on the bench, Coach Richt's prized QB recruit would finally get to see the playing field.

2003 - Defending SEC Champions
- Coming off its first SEC Championship in 20 years, the Dawg Nation was still buzzing about the beat down of Arkansas and the win over Florida State. Fans had their eyes on the running back position, as Musa Smith had left early for the NFL leaving Tony Milton, Michael Cooper, amongst others, competing for the job.

2004 - Senior Leadership
- A senior laden team, led by David Pollack, David Greene, Reggie Brown, and Fred Gibson were expected to open the season in the top5 of most polls.

2005 - A Rebuilding Year?
- During the spring of 2005, most people had a feeling that Georgia would be rebuilding around senior QB DJ Shockley, finally getting his chance to start. Little did they know just 8 months later they would have the second SEC championship of Mark Richt's tenure in Athens.

2006 - Matthew Stafford's Debut
- The highest profile recruit of the Richt era enrolled early in 2006, allowing him to take part in G-Day. The freshman from Texas did not disappoint the fans, throwing a 67-yard touchdown pass to Mikey Henderson on hist first pass attempt.

2007 - Who is this Moreno guy?
- The coaches had been buzzing about this tailback from New Jersey who did not see the field as a true freshman in 2006. This was the first action for Moreno, who would put on a show that fall.

2008 - The Anticipation of #1
- After finishing the electric 2007 season #2 in the country, everyone was fired up about the possibility of opening the season at #1. There was much anticipation about the Bulldog debut of running back Caleb King as well.

So what are the stories for 2009? The competition at running back, the lack of healthy players, particularly DEs, seeing the freshmen quarterbacks, or just the fact that the game is on ESPN. Vote on the poll and leave your comments below.

Quick Thoughts

A couple of quick things currently on my mind...

1. The Georgia baseball team swept Tennessee over the weekend and managed to hang on to #1 in 3 of the 4 major polls. Now into its second week, their reign at 1 is now one week longer than Georgia Football's stay at #1 this past fall.

2. We are offering over $2 million a year to try and get Anderson from Missouri to coach the basketball team. Is it just me, or is that sound more like football money than basketball money?

3. Jeremy Longo has been added to the list of injured, meaning we will only have 2 scholarship D-ends for G-Day. Guess we will be seeing a lot of plays made by the likes of Andrew Gully.

4. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach made a player sit on the football field in the snow after practice and study. The Pirate from Lubbock is crazy, but awesome!

5. The 49ers don't want to take Matt Stafford because they think he still has issues with his parents divorce. If anything, the playing field is a good place for him to take out his aggression concerning those issues. As a child of divorce myself, I do not see why this would be an issue.

6. The Braves re-signed Chipper Jones until he is 41, meaning he will most likely retire as a Brave. Thank god they handled this correctly and did not let this turn into another Smoltz situation.

I'll be back later this week with the next entry in the series, Bringing Back Traditions.

The Start of Spring Practice

This fires me up. Is it August yet?

Today marks the beginning of spring practice for Dawgs. Hopefully Coach Richt has the players going full steam. After finishing the 2008 season at 10-3, the Dawgs head into spring with a number of key questions they are hoping to answer between now and opening day in Stillwater.

1. Is Joe Cox ready to take the reigns?

He is saying all the right things, has the backing of his coach, and the Bulldog Nation seems behind him. With two freshmen quarterbacks already enrolled, G Day should provide us with a glimpse of the future as well.

2. Who starts at halfback?

With Richard Samuel out for spring because of surgery, Caleb King is the only experienced scholarship back who will be active this spring. I look forward to getting a glimpse of Carlton Thomas in the backfield and in the return game.

3. Can we kick the ball deep?

We all know Walsh has the leg to kick it deep, the question is whether we have finally abandoned the directional kick and just let our guys kick it as far as they can.

4. Will the lines get healthy?

This one will not be answered during spring as many of our key guys on both sides are still recovering. I can't wait to see teams try and cover the two headed monster that is Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens this fall.

5. Who will step up at the other wideout position?

AJ Green is arguably the best receiver in the nation and this spring he says he is finally healthy. The person on the other side of the field will play a key role as teams will try and double team AJ. Michael Moore showed flashes last season that he could be the man. If no one steps up, look for Marlon Brown and Orson Charles to compete for playing time in the fall.

G Day is 25 days away. Mark your calendars!

GO DAWGS!!!