Category Archives: Friday Fodder for Filibustering

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: Best Sanford Moments

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Here’s a great question for the gang today…what’s the best experience you’ve ever had in Sanford Stadium?

Now here’s the catch…you had to be there.

I’m not the most lucrative person out there, so there’s a limited number of games I can pull from where I’ve been in Sanford for an absolutely great game, and I haven’t been there for many of the best ones from the Smart years…but I have seen a few good ones.

My top 3:

Number 3 – Georgia versus South Carolina, 1995

This was perhaps the most fun game I ever attended. After the misery of the 1993 and 1994 seasons on my first two years of campus, watching Robert Edwards run for five TDs and having hope – the most dangerous thing – was an amazing feeling that day. In the picture above, the guy laying on the ground is buried there today, as it was when Hines Ward blocked back on a guy and absolutely killed him. I don’t think I’ve ever been more shocked in a moment in watching live football than in that moment there.

2 – Clemson at Georgia – October 5, 1991

Number 6 Clemson came to town and true freshman Eric Zeier came off the bench to upset Clemson, on the same day the Braves beat the Houston Astros to clinch the National League West. It was a Georgia kid’s nirvana, and one of my earliest memories of a game in Athens.

1 – Notre Dame at Georgia, 2019

To me, the games above were more fun to watch, in terms of action. But something about having the Catholics come to Athens was surreal. The gold helmets were as advertised…something to behold in person. The atmosphere all day was peak Athens hospitality and one of the best visiting fan bases to tailgate with, and it was otherwordly to experience.

Honorable mentions: LSU at Georgia, 1991 (first drunk fight I ever witnessed); Kentucky at Georgia, 2023; Mississippi State at Georgia 2011; Texas Tech at Georgia 1996

How about you?

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: I Coulda Been a Contendah

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I always heard that the statistical chances of making a DI roster was low, but, dang…

In my nearly ten years of coaching football I only had two athletes that made it to DI, and one made it to the pros. Of the two, one of them was a complete surprise, developing from a pudgy 8th grader into a guard that played for Air Force. The other went to Ole Miss and UTSA and eventually bounced around the league through Baltimore, Cleveland, New York, and is with the CFL now. That was not a surprise. He was a 7th grade aged athlete playing on our 8th grade team, having been skipped a year because he was also brilliant. As a 13 year old playing with 14 year olds, he stood at 6’3″ and was a solid 225. And he would only get bigger.

Needless to say, there were lots of other talented young men I coached, but few got past high school for a variety of reasons, even if they were good high school athletes and students.

I don’t think many of them languish around their houses nowadays thinking about winning State. None of them seemed like football was their everything, but I’m sure some still pine for the days of competition. Maybe it’s the generation. Gen Xers and older maybe hang on to it a little more than the younger crowd nowadays, more prone to what’s flashy now and what’s the new craze that can make them instantly famous.

Hell, our generations had an anthem for it, literally:

So for today’s Fodder…do you miss the “Glory Days”? What did you play in high school or maybe even college…and do you wished you could’ve advanced higher in the sport that you played?

Happy Friday.

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: Let Me Feel the Fiber of Your Fabric

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Where does that reference come from…a nice Guy Ritchie film I watched years ago.

Well, this isn’t about Ritchie’s best films (for the record, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is neck and neck with Snatch, in my humble opinion), but it is about something that is in short supply nowadays – paper.

As I mentioned maybe last week, I’ve been going through old boxes and coming across old publications and things I saved over the years. Surprised, I was, at the number of old papers I had saved. Even busted one out when a friend visited and we were reminiscing about being at the 1997 Cocktail Party.

Cool stuff, great memories.

But what’s become a bit of a distant memory…is paper. Actual paper books, paper newspapers, hell, even paper money. I recently rekindled my love of reading books…real books. Not virtual books, the real deal, turn the page and touch paper books. It’s very therapeutic, to be honest.

So…today’s Fodder…what paper thing do you miss? Are you still a connoisseur of the paper touch? Why do you continue to hold fast to traditional feel of things versus caving to the digital versions of what was once commonplace?

Discuss.

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: Aye, Robot

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Dear God.

Of this thing comes my way in a wildfire, a toxic rubble, or in broad daylight, I can assure you whatever problem it is trying to solve will be forgotten as I do my best impersonation of Superman and attempt to fly through the air.

So, with that in mind, today’s Fodder is asking you this: what’s your favorite sci-fi movie?

My short list:

2001: A Space Odyssey

If you ever wanted to time travel for three hours without realizing it, ethos is your movie. Cutting edge special effects given the time, and a Kubrick film that makes you wonder if the moon landing was, potentially, fake, this set the bar high for space movies. A good story to watch nowadays given our emerging AI and robot overlords, it’s a timeless classic.

Planet of the Apes

The Charlotte Heston one, not the new ones with Marky Mark. Te kiddos might thing the special effects and costumes are goofy, but it just hits different when you see the Statue of Liberty at the end for a dark and surprising twist.

Blade Runner

Speaking of robots, this was a dark venture into a future where robots went from service systems to cold blooded killers. When a group of androids developed to work space colonies that nonhuman wishes to do (sound familiar?), some advanced copies make their way back to earth and Harrison Ford has to hunt them down. Odd how life starts to imitate art, no?

Alien

I still can’t watch this without jumping throughout. Guarantees to give a few jump scares to even the most seasoned of horror enthusiasts, the movie has amazing artistic sets and does a great job of establishing the mood of loneliness and desperation when your millions of miles from home and a parasitic zygote sticks to your face and sucks the life out of you, only to embed a seed in you that explodes out of your stomach and kills everything near and dear to you. No, this isn’t a movie about marriage. I kid, I kid. Also seeing the lone robot get sliced in half and continue to talk is just next level creepy to me, still.

So how’s about you…what’re your favorite sci fi movies? Let’s hear it in the comments.

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: Villains

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Cole Cubelic has the question of the day:

Aside from spelling, of course, that’s a good question. Is it Cignetti and older mercenaries for hire? Is it Michigan and their propensity for evil? Is it NIL, and its ability to make yearly rosters more like college basketball?

Or…

Discuss.

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: I’ll Be Damned

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You must read this (or…today in Facebook shitposting nonsense):

🤣😂🤣😂

WEST MEMPHIS BROTHERS BUSTED AFTER POLICE SHUT DOWN ILLEGAL POSSUM FIGHT CLUB… AND YES, PEOPLE PAID TO WATCH…

WEST MEMPHIS, AR — We’ve officially found the only thing in Crittenden County capable of making Walmart look classy.

West Memphis Police say they thought they were responding to reports of suspicious screaming coming from an old storage building behind a vacant tire shop. Instead, officers walked into what can only be described as the SEC Championship of Bad Decisions.

According to investigators, brothers Dewayne “Scooter” McClendon and Ricky Dale McClendon were arrested Friday night after allegedly operating an underground possum fighting ring that had somehow become one of the hottest tickets in West Memphis.

Admission was reportedly $5, or FREE if you brought a folding chair and promised not to call Animal Control.

Deputies say the “arena” consisted of a circle made from empty pickle jars and busted beer cans, complete with a hand-painted banner reading:

“POSSUMPALOOZA 2026 – Where Champions Play Dead.”

The fight card reportedly featured legendary competitors including:
Sir Hiss-A-Lot

Mississippi Mike

Dumpster Debbie

Whatever Ricky Caught Behind Popeyes 20 Minutes Ago

The investigation began after neighbors complained about “violent screeching, excessive cheering, and someone repeatedly yelling, ‘HE’S FAKIN’ IT!'”… which, as it turns out, is exactly what possums do.

When officers entered the building, they discovered nearly 30 spectators, four coolers full of cheap beer, a folding table serving as the betting counter, and one possum proudly wearing a championship belt made from duct tape, a dog collar, and what appeared to be an expired Bass Pro Shops gift card.

Police say the biggest problem with the operation wasn’t the gambling…

It was that the possums refused to cooperate.

Apparently every match ended about 12 seconds in when both contestants dramatically fell over and played dead.

Several angry bettors reportedly demanded refunds, insisting they’d “seen more action waiting in line at the DMV.”

When questioned, Scooter allegedly told officers:

“We ain’t breakin’ no laws… we’re preservin’ Southern heritage.”

His brother Ricky Dale reportedly added:

“Besides… they was volunteers.”

Authorities weren’t convinced.

Both brothers now face charges including animal cruelty, illegal gambling, and operating an unlicensed concession stand after officers discovered they had been selling boiled peanuts and nachos out of what investigators described as “a heavily modified leaf blower.”

As for the possums…

Wildlife officials safely released them into the woods, where they’re expected to make a full recovery just as soon as they finish pretending to be dead for the next six to eight business days.

Only in West Memphis could somebody lose fifty bucks betting on an animal whose entire fighting strategy is taking a nap.

Cliff Messer

Yes, there’s an accompanying mug shot.

For today’s Fodder…what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever heard about happening in your home town? Or even outside of town?

Discuss.

Your Late Friday Fodder for Filibustering: Sore Losers

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Shot:

Chaser:

I get the emotions of losing a game, and I don’t believe I saw Tech players shaking hands with Oklahoma players when they got crushed at home in their Regional game, either.

So, what say you? Is it bad sportsmanship, or is it permissible in the height of emotions in a crushing defeat?

Friday Fodder for Foodies: Just How Southern Are You?

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I said I was a fan of Po Folks last week, so let’s put myself to the test:

I’ve got 35 on my count. Can’t say I’ve ever had Oyster Salad, though I’ve had both, not together, and I’m thinking I’ve had Chess Pie but I don’t give myself credit for eating it if I didn’t know I ate it. I haven’t had a Poke Salad, either. I’ve heard you can eat it after about 37 simple strainings over 2 days so I questioned the point of it. Just give me collards and I’ll be fine. And still never dared to eat a pickled pig’s foot.

The only one on the list I regret…chitlins. Jesus Christ. They tasted exactly like where they came from, and that wasn’t a good thing, either.

How about you…how’d you score…and, do you think there’s a uniquely southern dish on there that’s missing?

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: Commencement Speeches

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This is well worth the 18 minutes to watch. I wished this had been my commencement speech when I graduated UGA back in 1998.

We are in the season of graduations and commencement speeches. The one above is one of the best I’ve heard this season. His advice on the six strings is wise words and would resonate with me beyond the ceremony. I have to say most of the ones I’ve heard in my time don’t resonate.

The world breaks everyone. Afterward, the best of us are stronger at the broken places.

Amen.

Life isn’t fair. I can’t argue with that, it’s as true today as it’s ever been. We try to tiptoe through the garden and avoid the nasty things but life has a way of shoving them in your face and making you deal with it. Many of your here are lawdawgs, and you know as well as anyone that life is cruel, ugly, and without remorse. And often…unfair. If you’ve been an EMT or a first responder, you’ve seen this in grotesque ways. I only asked to be a humble educator, but in my time in administration, I’ve seen more public horrors and nauseating things than I care to recount.

That’s life.

If I had to go back to my younger self, sitting there at a commencement speech, and had to look at younger me and give me a piece of advice as a commencement, it’d be this, from Hunter S. Thompson:

You bought the ticket, now take the ride.

As soon as I made a conscious choice to be a committed, rational, and educated person, I likewise chose, unconsciously, to realize that life is illogical, people are crazy, and I won’t be able to see eye to eye with that. Like Church said above, my resilience would wear thin. The community will sand down your edges and you’ll slowly become a dull version of what you are today.

The truth, though, is that resilience comes from our response to things, not from the things themselves. And folks, you’re not always going to win. You’re not always going to succeed. Failure is as much a part of life as winning, and the failure makes you love the win even more. Somehow, as a younger version of myself, I thought because I followed the rule, I’d end up on the up side of life.

As Anton Chigurh said in No Country For Old Men, “if the rule you followed brought you to here, of what use was the rule?”

Proper.

My advice to my younger self would be when you find yourself in a place where you never expected to be and facing things you never asked for, you have a few choices:

  1. Stay where you’re at, and accept the consequences that come as a result of freezing.
  2. Fight where you’re at, and enjoy the rewards you reap when you went to seizing, even if they weren’t the intended rewards.
  3. Be defeated where you’re at, and set your self to people pleasing. And don’t be surprised when you realize it’s not you you’re pleasing.

In that case, there’s really only way. Fight. And if you never thought you’d be a fighter, start telling yourself that you are. Because if you aim to make everyone else happy, the one guarantee in life is the one person who won’t be happy, will be you.

So, for today’s Fodder…what bit of advice do you wish you could give your younger self that you’ve had to learn the hard way? What would’ve resonated with your 18 or 22 year old self as a commencement message?

Discuss.

Friday Fodder for Filibustering: A Pitcher and a Plate

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Thank you, Hargrett Library, for reminding me of one of my favorite hangout spots from the 90s: Mellow Mushroom.

I had a couple of buddies back then that got on the esteemed 100 beer wall, which I never desired to achieve because I didn’t have the money or the palate to drink that many of a variety of beers, and they did. But they made a mean tofu sandwich and great pretzels, which went well with a couple of pitchers on night downtown.

Alas, Mellow Mushroom still exists, but not this one. It moved down the street to where Compadres used to be (I think), but the kind of eclectic, dark environment that they had made it unique.

I miss that place.

Anyway, it was a great place to combine vittles with beer, but there were many of those around town – Steverinos, Sons of Italy, Little Italy, Rocky’s, Allen’s, Mexicali Grille.

Did the Mean Bean serve beer?

So for today’s Fodder…where is or was your favorite place to go for a pitcher and a plate? Why was it so special to you?