What a Great Day

An absolute blast in Athens.



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Leonard Pope to the Rescue

I can't help but mention....it's a deep ass home pool that Leonard Pope can't touch the bottom and reach above the water line.

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Boston Globe Slaps Michael Adams

Bob Ryan of ESPN's The Sports Reporters and the Boston Globe comments on Michael Adams' candidacy for president of the NCAA, and he throws Adams a beating. It's a must read for Georgia alumni. (Ht - TheDawgfather on dawgrun.com)

Paul Westerdawg
Georgia Sports Blog

Herschel Walker's MMA Debut Video

Herschel Walker is the Alpha Human.

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Hello World. I'm Sundiata Gaines

In his fifth career NBA game, Sundiata Gaines hits the game winning buzzer beater for Utah in their victory over Cleveland. Gaines didn't play until the fourth quarter when their staring point guard went down. He played 9 of 12 minutes in the 4th and posted 3-3 shooting , 9 points and the above game winner.

On the season, he has played in 5 games totaling 47 minutes, and he only has 2 turnovers against 7 assists. Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson Jr. and Kenny Smith couldn't say enough positive things about Yata Gaines last night. Great story.

By the way...Yata has only practiced with the Jazz once...yesterday. No kidding.

Now, it's time we add him to the NBA Wall at the new Stegeman Practice Facility.



Post Game Interview in the second clip.

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The Human Highlight Film Turns 50

Damn. Dominique Wilkins is 50 years old. Happy birthday to one of the most underrated players in NBA history. So much more than a dunker...but the dunks were pretty bad ass. And a Damn Good Dawg.



Life Lessons Learned from Nique:
"Always go for the 50 in the first round."

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Sundiata Gaines Called Up to the Jazz

Through 18 games, Sundiata Gaines had dominated the NBA Development League for the Idaho Stampede. On the season he was averaging, 23.9 points, 6.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals and only 2.7 turnovers. I'm thrilled to report that Gaines has signed a 10 day contract with the Utah Jazz.

He may play tonight for the Jazz against Memphis. Good luck to Gaines. Hopefully, this turns into an extended gig. (ht - ciaran)



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Sundiata Gaines killing it in the NBA Development League

DaugMan found this (ht - begger). Apparently, Sundiata Gaines is obliterating the NBA Development League for the Idaho Stampede. He's currently averaging 27.0 points, 8.3 assists per and 4.3 rebounds per game for his 3-1 team. That's right...he's creating over 43.4 points per game. It's not just the quantity of points....he's going for over 60% from the field, almost 70% from FT line and 45% from the 3 point line.

According to this AJC article from July, Gaines played in Italy last year:

He carried that success to Italy, where he played for NGC Cantu. In 30 games, he averaged 31.9 minutes, 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals. His game-high was a 25-point performance. He played so well, in fact, that if he returns to Italy for another season, it won’t be with Cantu, which can’t afford him now.

“They already signed another player, but they were sure they weren’t going to be able to give me a contract of what my status was compared to what other teams were offering,” Gaines said.

If you're a Dawg living in Boise, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Reno or Austin, he's coming to visit soon. Drop by and yell Go Dawgs. I'd wager you could get in for next to nothing. Hopefully, this success leads to a call up to the league.

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Spurrier Joins a Different Top 10 plus a comparison

With Al Groh's departure at Virginia, Steve Spurrier moves into a tie for 10th place on the list of "Longest Tenured Coaches without a BCS Bowl" at their current BCS school. The 2009 pre-season list is here.

Here's the latest Top 10:

1.(T) Mike Leach (Texas Tech) - 2001
1.(T) Greg Schiano (Rutgers) - 2001
1.(T) Gary Pinkel (Missouri) - 2001
4.(T) Bobby Johnson (Vandy) - 2002
4.(T) Jeff Tedford (Cal) - 2002
6.(T) Rich Brooks (Kentucky) - 2003
6.(T) Mike Riley (Oregon State) - 2003
9.(T) Randy Edsall (UConn) - 2004 Joined Big East
9.(T) Mike Stoops (Arizona) - 2004
10.(T) Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) - 2005
10.(T) Jim Leavitt (USF) - 2005 Joined Big East
10.(T) Mike Gundy (Ok State) - 2005
10.(T) Dave Wannstedt (Pitt) - 2005

If Oregon State beats Oregon this week for the Pac-10 Championship, Spurrier will move into a tie for 9th place. Also, while we're on the topic of the Evil former Genius. How about a comparison to Ray Goff's tenure at UGA.

Spurrier through his first five seasons in Columbia:

35-27 overall
18-22 in the SEC
10 win seasons 0
9+ win seasons 0
1-2 Bowl Record
0 Top 25 Finishes

Goff through his first five seasons in Athens:

34-22 overall
18-19 in the SEC*
10 win seasons 1
9+ win seasons 2
2-1 Bowl Record
2 Top 25 Finishes

*If you include the '89 UGA vs. SC game and 'the 91 Arkansas match-up in the Independence Bowl as SEC games, Ray was 19-20 against current SEC Members...which is a still better.

Ray was mocked mercilessly by Spurrier for his mediocrity. I'd love to see how the '94 version of Steve Spurrier would react to seeing how pedestrian the '09 version of himself looks.

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Gordon Beckham Named AL Rookie of the Year

Yesterday, the Sporting News named Gordon Beckham American League Rookie of the Year after hitting .270 with 28 doubles, 14 home runs and 63 RBI in 103 games. Over a full season, you're talking about a kid on pace to hit 40+ doubles, 20+ home runs and 100+ RBI. Those are disgustingly impressive numbers for a guy that was only in the minors for about 350 days.

As the Chicago Sun-Times points out the Sporting News ROY Award is special because:

A panel of 338 major-league players voted the third baseman The Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year, making Beckham, 23, the ninth rookie in Sox history to be honored by the magazine. Manager Ozzie Guillen last received the honor in 1985.

As a manager, no one keeps it more real than Ozzie Guillen. So when he drops the following quote to the Sun-Times, it is truly enormous praise:

‘‘I wish that kid was a two- or three-year veteran in the big leagues because he has that attitude,’’ Guillen said. ‘‘He has that right frame of mind. He was a leader his whole life from when he was in high school, college. I think he wants to be the face of the franchise, and we need something like that. When a player thinks like that, doesn’t hide in the weeds, you don’t see many players come up from the minor leagues and think that way. It’s a big challenge. But I don’t have a doubt in my mind that he has the right tools to be one. Obviously, it has to come from help from myself, Ken Williams and the staff to make him a great leader.’’

What's next for Gordo? He wants to hit for more power next year, and he'll be hitting the weight room shortly.

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I haven't forgotten you

The past few weeks have been really crazy with work, being sick and travel. Time for this site was limited. Activity should pick up next week.

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It's Gordon Beckham's World...

We just live in it. Best sports quote in a long time. And yes. It's a real quote. That's certainly one way to woo hot women.


Separately -- Gordo is now hitting .258 with 3 HRs and 18 RBI in 30 games. He peaked at .278 about a week ago, but he cooled a little since then. The guy he replaced at third base, Josh Fields, only has 6 HRs and 26 RBI in 65 games...with 2 HRs and 3 RBI coming while playing 1B after Gordo took his original spot.

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It's Gordon Beckham's World...

We just live in it. Best sports quote in a long time. And yes. It's a real quote. That's certainly one way to woo hot women.


Separately -- Gordo is now hitting .258 with 3 HRs and 18 RBI in 30 games. He peaked at .278 about a week ago, but he cooled a little since then. The guy he replaced at third base, Josh Fields, only has 6 HRs and 26 RBI in 65 games...with 2 HRs and 3 RBI coming while playing 1B after Gordo took his original spot.

PWD

News of the Weird: Herschel

Herschel Walker has played football in the USFL, participated in the Winter Olympics via the US Bobsled Team, performed with the Dallas ballet, wrote a book about being bat sh*t crazy and appeared on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.

So nothing he does should shock you. The latest might be Mixed Martial Arts. Per Peter King's Twitter Page:

Herschel Walker told us on Sirius today that he's going to do a real, live MMA fight in Vegas this year. He's a big MMA fan.

Herschel: "I'm still doing 2500 to 3500 situps a day. And 1500 pushups.'' What an interesting American life.

After one of our readers sent us the above link, I hit the Googles. Here's an article on MMANews.com from today on this topic.

MMANews.com- Did it ever cross your mind to compete?

H.W.- Oh yea, it’s crossed my mind a great deal. I do so many crazy things and people are always saying I’m doing crazy things, and you always want to measure what you can do. One thing I like about Pride that I said earlier, I competed in Trite abroad and I’ve been on the Olympic bobsled team and I said that’s how you measure just how good you are, being up against everybody in the world and that’s what Pride does. They bring everyone out in the world to compete and if you’re going to say you’re the best in that weightclass, then get it in and see what you can do.

Yes. He's an odd dude. But he's OUR odd dude.

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News of the Weird: Herschel

Herschel Walker has played football in the USFL, participated in the Winter Olympics via the US Bobsled Team, performed with the Dallas ballet, wrote a book about being bat sh*t crazy and appeared on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.

So nothing he does should shock you. The latest might be Mixed Martial Arts. Per Peter King's Twitter Page:

Herschel Walker told us on Sirius today that he's going to do a real, live MMA fight in Vegas this year. He's a big MMA fan.

Herschel: "I'm still doing 2500 to 3500 situps a day. And 1500 pushups.'' What an interesting American life.

After one of our readers sent us the above link, I hit the Googles. Here's an article on MMANews.com from today on this topic.

MMANews.com- Did it ever cross your mind to compete?

H.W.- Oh yea, it’s crossed my mind a great deal. I do so many crazy things and people are always saying I’m doing crazy things, and you always want to measure what you can do. One thing I like about Pride that I said earlier, I competed in Trite abroad and I’ve been on the Olympic bobsled team and I said that’s how you measure just how good you are, being up against everybody in the world and that’s what Pride does. They bring everyone out in the world to compete and if you’re going to say you’re the best in that weightclass, then get it in and see what you can do.

Yes. He's an odd dude. But he's OUR odd dude.

PWD

More Dancing Fever

In case you missed it on other sites, Knowshon Moreno won the UpperDeck Rookie End zone TD Celebration Contest. His winning move is at the 1:35 or so mark of the video after the jump.

I loved Moreno's move, but I wish they had video for this one from Mark Sanchez:

...[Sanchez] hurried over to the end zone and went right to work. He even incorporated [Shon] Greene to help him perform an end zone “football birth” for the competition. With Greene lying flat on his back with a towel strewn over his legs, Sanchez served as delivery doctor and - calling out QB-like signals - pulled a football from between Greene’s legs. The crowd went wild, right up until Sanchez spiked the newly born baby football!

Comedy.

ht - TheZoneBlitz

PWD

More Dancing Fever

In case you missed it on other sites, Knowshon Moreno won the UpperDeck Rookie End zone TD Celebration Contest. His winning move is at the 1:35 or so mark of the video after the jump.

I loved Moreno's move, but I wish they had video for this one from Mark Sanchez:

...[Sanchez] hurried over to the end zone and went right to work. He even incorporated [Shon] Greene to help him perform an end zone “football birth” for the competition. With Greene lying flat on his back with a towel strewn over his legs, Sanchez served as delivery doctor and - calling out QB-like signals - pulled a football from between Greene’s legs. The crowd went wild, right up until Sanchez spiked the newly born baby football!

Comedy.

ht - TheZoneBlitz

PWD

Gordon Beckham Jumps Closer to Majors

Gordo's on a vacation far away
Go to Charlotte and get promoted
So many hits that I wanna see
You know Sox like their bats a little bit bolder
Huge Dawgly Baseball News...Gordon Beckham was promoted last night from AA Birmingham to AAA Charlotte. He's racing through the White Sox organization. The South Side Sox blog has the info (btw -- he's talking about a different Josh Fields in his article):

The White Sox top pick of the '08 draft -- a guy you've probably heard of, Gordon Beckham's his name -- was promoted to AAA following Wednesday's Annual Rickwood Classic game. Beckham was hitting .299/.366/.497 for the Barons, and .350/.380 (approx.) /.575 in his last 10 games since returning from an abdominal strain. At the time of his promotion his 17 doubles ranked second in the Southern League despite the time missed with the ab injury.

...the White Sox have three positions they could concievably use him at on the big club; 3B, 2B, SS (in decending order of likelihood).

See Also:
-- Beckham moves closer - SouthTown Star
-- Barons Lose Game and Top Prospect - Birmingham News
-- Beckham Moved to Triple-A - Chicago Sun-Times
-- Gordo Ends Career at Foley with Homer to 'Your Love' - YouTube
-- The Outfield "Your Love" - Gordon's Theme

PWD

Gordon Beckham Jumps Closer to Majors

Gordo's on a vacation far away
Go to Charlotte and get promoted
So many hits that I wanna see
You know Sox like their bats a little bit bolder
Huge Dawgly Baseball News...Gordon Beckham was promoted last night from AA Birmingham to AAA Charlotte. He's racing through the White Sox organization. The South Side Sox blog has the info (btw -- he's talking about a different Josh Fields in his article):

The White Sox top pick of the '08 draft -- a guy you've probably heard of, Gordon Beckham's his name -- was promoted to AAA following Wednesday's Annual Rickwood Classic game. Beckham was hitting .299/.366/.497 for the Barons, and .350/.380 (approx.) /.575 in his last 10 games since returning from an abdominal strain. At the time of his promotion his 17 doubles ranked second in the Southern League despite the time missed with the ab injury.

...the White Sox have three positions they could concievably use him at on the big club; 3B, 2B, SS (in decending order of likelihood).

See Also:
-- Beckham moves closer - SouthTown Star
-- Barons Lose Game and Top Prospect - Birmingham News
-- Beckham Moved to Triple-A - Chicago Sun-Times
-- Gordo Ends Career at Foley with Homer to 'Your Love' - YouTube
-- The Outfield "Your Love" - Gordon's Theme

PWD

Rex Robinson's Blog

Rex Robinson, former UGA kicker, All-American and member of the 1980 National Title team , has started a blog. He's apparently using the site to talk sports and (I assume) promote his company Total Team Sports.

PWD