Scamps, it’s been a bit of a stressful Christmas around the McDonough house, so I wasn’t thinking when I ran the Christmas posts yesterday…and I forgot the Senator’s favorite Christmas post.
Cheers to the Senator and his legacy he has left us here.
If it’s been as rough a 2025 for you as it has in my neck of the woods, the good news is the New Year’s is just a few days away.
Happy Holidays, scamps.
Night games at Sanford are just different.
In case the thirty seconds wasn’t enough for such a great song, here you go…
Go Dawgs!
Two days later, and I’m still grateful, I’m still laughing. Kinda.
Let’s make it a little better. The Hillbillies weren’t convinced they didn’t realize their kicker missed.
To hell with lucky. This one hurts…for these jackaces who deserve it so, so very much.
From a Dawg fan in the 90s, let me say any sympathy is for the devil, because these folks earned this misery. And hopefully, years more of it.
Go Dawgs, and to hell with Tennessee.
RIP, Brian Wilson.
“The world mourns a genius today, and we grieve for the loss of our cousin, our friend, and our partner in a great musical adventure,” the band wrote on their official Instagram account Wednesday. “Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys – he was the soul of our sound. The melodies he dreamed up and the emotions he poured into every note changed the course of music forever. His unparalleled talent and unique spirit created the soundtrack of so many lives around the globe, including our own. Together, we gave the world the American dream of optimism, joy, and a sense of freedom – music that made people feel good, made them believe in summer and endless possibilities.”
An influential and amazing career comes to an end. Though his catalogue may have not been as robust due to his quite public mental health and personal issues, his legacy and work will remain an indelible stamp on the sounds and songs of the 60’s.
You might be showing your age if you had a copy of this.
I do recall my parents having a copy. The power G on the white background was just something my eight year old mind couldn’t fully grapple with.
Enjoy.
The Handbags have their NCAA Championship parade scheduled for this Saturday, in what will be another “I wonder if there’s a meteor shower scheduled for Gainesville” opportunity for wishful thinking. But on the heels of Jorts Nation’s joy comes brutal reality rearing its head and laughing with a full-throat that wherever you go, Gators, there you always will be.
Rodgers ruled that Rashada’s tortious interference claims are dismissed, while his fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, conspiracy to commit fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims survive to discovery and go toward trial. Napier, Castro-Walker, Hathcock and Hathcock’s former company, Velocity Automotive, had all filed motions to dismiss in recent months.
While Rashada’s transfer to Georgia gave Smart the opportunity to the funniest thing ever in being able beat the Gators on the field and off, turns out that the financial joy in doing so took longer than Rashada’s actual time as a Bulldog. Maybe the transfer was mutually beneficial to both the quarterback as well as Smart, as Rashada could rep and rehab against a great defense in practice and Kirby could learn more about how to avoid the mistakes the Handbags made in dropping the bag and publicly being embarrassed (a stretch for Florida, I know, but still).
In tribute to Bayou Billy and the NIL era, consider this the musical palate cleanser for the day.
What we don’t know keeps the contracts alive and movin’
They don’t gotta burn the books, they just remove ’em
Seems apropos, no?
Val Kilmer, a movie star who throughout his career proved he was up for any task, from playing a cocky naval pilot to wearing the Batman suit, died on Tuesday, according to his daughter Mercedes Kilmer, who released a statement to the New York Times and the Associated Press. He was 65.
The cause of death was pneumonia, Mercedes Kilmer told the media outlets.
It’s hard to imagine anyone here hasn’t seen and enjoyed at least one of Kilmer’s movies, be it Top Gun, The Doors, Top Secret, or, of course, Tombstone.
My personal favorite is Heat, especially with the proper surround sound system and playing the famous downtown shootout at top volume, for which the actors in Michael Mann’s movie trained with professionals to become fluent with the weapons utilized for the scene. Kilmer, known to be difficult but masterful with his craft, became so fluid with his weapon system that his reload technique became a model for Marine training after the release of the film in 1995.
Though it may seem appropriate to drop a clip from his role as Jim Morrison here, I prefer a little more lighthearted song from Top Secret, as his Elvis-imitating character Nick Rivers straightens a rug.
Forever your Huckleberry. Godspeed.
Actually, when it comes to Vol Nation, they’re fools 365, 24/7. But, turns out that the loudest and most annoying fanbase on Twix outside of the Suckeyes just got Manti Teo’d.
It’s actually amusing not because it’s Tennessee, but because they’re doing something you rarely see – eating humble pie.
Ah, April Fools Day. And it seems this isn’t even a joke, except for the running joke that is the Bobby Hillbilly Nation.
Speaking of imposters, there’s only one fitting tribute to VolX, consider this your Musical Palate Cleanser for today:
FTMFs.
Here’s a little Musical Palate Cleanser from The Larry Mullen Band.
Originally called The Larry Mullen Band for about fifteen minutes during its inception in 1976, U2 formed as a band responding to a flyer left by drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. at the Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, Ireland. The group had little to no talent and quickly realized, thanks to the punk rock movement in the UK, that talent wasn’t a prerequisite to success. The band renamed to Feedback, playing their first gig in 1977 and then changed their name to The Hype. The band finally landed on the name U2, which was suggested by a fellow rocker at the time, and after winning a Pop Band Competition in the Limerick Civic Festival in 1978, their career launched into stardom before recording their first singles in 1980.
On the note of Bloody Sunday, here’s a reminder of what a culture of Bloody Tuesdays can produce:
DGD…and speaking of the walking wounded for the Dawgs:
Georgia defensive lineman Christen Miller is among the Bulldogs who have undergone surgery this offseason.
DawgsCentral has learned that Miller had surgery to repair a damaged shoulder labrum after Georgia’s season ended. A redshirt sophomore from Ellenwood, GA, Miller is expected be held out of contact during spring practice, but could be a limited participant in other drills and team activities as his rehab allows. He is expected to make a full recovery before Georgia starts the 2025 season.
Miller exited UGA’s game against UMass on November 23rd after dislocating his shoulder near the end of the first quarter. He missed Georgia’s regular season finale against Georgia Tech as well as the Bulldogs’ SEC Championship game victory over Texas. He returned to the lineup in the College Football Playoff, recording a career-high five tackles and a PBU in Georgia’s 23-10 loss to Notre Dame.
Miller is at least the fifth returning Bulldog to undergo offseason surgery. DawgsCentral reported earlier today that CB Daylen Everette underwent an offseason procedure to repair a sports hernia.
Offseason surgeries to OT Monroe Freeling, DE Gabe Harris and TE Colton Heinrich have previously been reported.
Here’s hoping the spirit of Ron Courson speeds these guys back to full health.
So I saw this picture of Gunner Stockton and it made me think of Jimmy Buffett:
Which brings me to today’s Musical Palate Cleanser.
Admittedly when I’m super stressed at work or otherwise, I put on Buffett. It’s either poppy and catchy fun or some real-deal slow, take-me-there ballads. The man had a gift for storytelling through song, and he is missed. My biggest regret is that I never got to introduce the wife to Parrothead culture. Every concert was a blast, every stop was another outdoor party with your long-lost friends and good music in the background all day and all night.
Which brings me to this point. The Senator had a knack for being funny, insightful, and brilliant in his takes and foreshadowing of the scope of Georgia and college football. I admittedly would get lost on some of his posts about NCAA policy and regulations, and didn’t appropriately heed his call that change was coming, and it wasn’t the change we wanted to see.
The portal is one thing, NIL is another, but what we’ve arrived at in a CFP Playoff is a whole other thing to deal with. I’ve been watching the portal news drop, and I’m surprised at the sheer number of quarterbacks that are making themselves available, and it’s shocking. It’s not all quarterbacks that were playing bench roles either…it’s starters who are seeking financial reward in the chance they don’t get drafted. It’s free agency gone wild, and every quarterback transfer that pops up there is a host of media chatter that Georgia should chase them. One such post came up about Air Noland from Ohio State, to which I had to retort:
I get it, our offense had some warts and the receivers and Beck (along with Bobo) took the lions share of the blame. But chasing every shiny toy that come available is not only a way to build and sustain a quality football culture, but it’s not the Smart way, either.
One thing that surprised me after Stockton’s heroics in the SECCG was the amount of chatter I saw around how Stockton had been a neglected talent in the Georgia locker room, and it was long overdue that he got his moment. Not “way to go” or “that’s our boy”, but some low-key vitriol directed at Smart about it.
People are quick to forget that Smart, to sometimes a fault, is a ride or die coach, and will remain loyal to his who remain loyal to him. Bennett is a case study in this, as is Beck. Logic would say it’s Gunner’s turn, and that it’s coming. Hell, it’s here, whether it was time or not. To that end, that’s what Kirby’s done to build a culture that navigated through a conference that was building itself through the portal, and not through top recruiting classes or player development.
Those are just Collectives, mind you. This doesn’t include private donations like those that Phil Knight has made outside the Collectives to bring in top talent. Michigan famously had Dave Portnoy, the social media President of Barstool, pay 10 million to get a QB for Michigan. Six of the top 10 Collectives listed there aren’t making the Playoffs, by the way.
That brings me to my point…when teams are no longer teams and the starting roster can be completely turned over in one recruiting cycle, at what point does a playoff become irrelevant? While the Bulldawg “brand” has remained true for decades, there have been players and teams that have stood as legends of these teams that have defined the high points. Herschel, Belue, Stetson, Bowers…names that are linked to championships, but also names like Edwards, Hearst, Zeier, Greene. They resonate not because they were there for a moment, but were there for seasons.
What we have now is free agency gone wild. Teams are trying to pay for championships, and somewhere it’s going to happen where a team that raised astronomical amounts of money, like Oregon, can win it all…and the argument would remain that the championship is pointless, that it was a guaranteed return on investment, nothing more, and nothing that would remain as a legacy.
The 2022 Georgia Bulldogs may go down as the last true National Champion of a sport that is quickly losing its spirit and legacy.
Granted, not all NIL money collected goes solely to football, but you see my point. Rosters are revolving doors, teams lack identity. Players are even hitting the portal while their teams are actively preparing for the playoffs.
With an unregulated free agency as we’re seeing in college football, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a low seeded playoff team lose a starting player before the quarterfinals are played because an opposing team makes them an offer they can’t refuse. Imagine Klubinik hitting the portal to head to Texas because a Longhorn donor offers up eight figures to enter the portal this week, just to ride the pine and likely make more money there than entering the BFL draft. Not saying it’s going to happen, but it’s not impossible either.
The one positive this year has been parity, the games seem closer and more competitive than ever before, but that’s about it. It doesn’t work out for everyone with the transfer, either. Vandagriff became an interception machine in Lexington and by season’s end wasn’t even starting. Imagine if Beck goes down and BVG comes in instead of Stockton. Had he stuck to Kirby’s script, that’s just what would’ve happened. Who knows what the end result would’ve been.
I’m intrigued by the Playoffs, don’t get me wrong. I am still hoping this is the start of Stetson 2.0 with Gunner, but I also wonder if we are chasing QBs in the portal, what happens after? Say he bombs, does Rashada get looks next season? He hasn’t played at all, so why did he come to Georgia in the first place? What if Gunner shows out, wins it all, but sees some portal QBs come in and gets an enticing offer to head to greener pastures?
This is the CFP/NIL era. Enjoy the Gunner Stockton experience while it lasts, because like a lot of athletes nowadays, he could be in one particular harbor this time next season.
And the teams as we know them, may all be different in 2025. No more legends, no more team defining names like Taneyhill, Tebow, or Cadillac Williams. Just a bunch of semi-pro teams, in somewhat familiar uniforms with many unfamiliar names. All of the faces and all of the places…wondering where they all disappeared.