Regular season champs. SEC Tournament Champs. Wes Johnson is winning life right now.

11-1 BTA game against the Hogs. Damn, it feels good to be a Dawg. Woof woof.

If’n you’re tuned in to ABC for the SEC Championship Game, you already know there’s a weather delay. Given the forecast, I’d be slightly surprised if we get this one in today. There’s currently standing water in the outfield in Hoover, so maybe we’ll get a bonus game on the long Memorial Day weekend tomorrow.

In the meantime, entertain yourself with the greatest monsoon game I ever attended, the 1996 tilt with Texas Tech in Sanford Stadium. If you want to see magic, dial it up to the 34 minute mark and watch Georgia march down the field 98 yards. Torin Kirtsey, Juan Daniels, Mike Bobo (the QB), and Hines Ward, especially when Hines goes ass over tea kettle and knocks out Chris Terry for a two point conversion around the 37 minute mark.

Enjoy, Refugees. And, yes, that says Georgia (0-2). We had already lost to Southern Miss and South Carolina, so to even be there as a fan was a testament to your dedication as a Dawg fan. It was Donnan’s first year as a head coach, to be fair, and, as a reminder, Smart lost to Vanderbilt and Tech in 2016.

Happy Weather Delay.

Coach Dan Magill grew up in Athens, immersed in UGA sports. He knew it all because he saw almost all of it happen. By the time I arrived in the mid 70s, UGA was on the verge of becoming a national tennis power. The California schools and a couple of others had a lock on the national championships, but Coach Magill built an SEC power, and somehow got our AD, Joel Eaves, to sign off on improvements to the tennis complex that got UGA the host role for the national championship. Coach Eaves (a great man, confirmed by James Brown in his definitive work, Dooley’s Junkyard Dogs. Hey hey hey hey) was known for his fiscal discipline, going so far as to put orange stickers on every light switch in the athletic department reminding people to turn off the lights when they left a room (cue my dad, nodding approvingly, and asking rhetorically “ARE WE TRYING TO SUPPORT GEORGIA POWER?”) But, Coach Eaves was willing to spend a little when he saw a return on the investment. And so it was with the NCAA tennis plan.

I fearfully asked Coach Magill if I could interview him briefly for a JRL class I was taking. This was a few days before a big match with Stanford, but he told me “Come to the courts this afternoon, I can give you 15 minutes.” As a total nobody, I was grateful, and would have appreciated 15 seconds. He ended up talking to me for an hour; he didn’t run me off, I left because I felt like I was imposing on his time. He was hilarious, insightful, and gracious. When UGA won the match a couple days later, I was relieved I had not wrecked the team’s chances.

Coach Magill used his boundless enthusiasm and connections to get students, locals, and everyone else to attend, to volunteer, and to promote the tournament. The visitors were blown away by the crowds and the fervor. When UGA won the championship, the former top tier coaches started to whine and demanded it move. It didn’t draw flies elsewhere. We seemed to lose it even on a rotation basis because McJughead wouldn’t make needed improvements. Credit to Josh Brooks for stepping up in that regard.

Coach Magill was also executive secretary of the Bulldog Club. I was never sure what that involved, but it included the annual summer trips to address booster clubs across the state. The last stop before camp opened in August was usually in Atlanta. My dad took me to one in 1978 at the old Atlantic Steel pavilion. Maybe a couple hundred people were there, and I got to see new basketball coach Hugh Durham. Coach Magill did the intros; he always had some red meat, and the speakers had polished their punch lines all summer. Those trips have become non-existent under the current regime, Kirby not having time for that shit, and the huddled masses of the fan base accepting his time management policies as a fair trade for the wins and trophies. I admit I miss it.

Coach Magill’s drawl at these things was always hilarious, his delivery was well timed, and he never, EVER, referred to the pencil necks of North Avenue as anything other than “the Eternal Enemy.” If a guy like Dan Magill said it, that settles it for me. If you hate someplace else more, from your personal circumstances, I have no quarrel with you. But to those who discount said pencil necks as a hated rival, I say: I agree with the Greatest Bulldog of all time on that score.

All of this was stirred up by this clip on Twitter of Coach Magill explaining why UGA has a bulldog mascot. It captures his accent (imagine him introducing “And at the number 4 singles spot, from Rangoon, India, the Little Maharajah, Elango Ranganathan!”), and tells what I accept as the actual story.

Sorry to blather on. Build the statue , Mr. Brooks. He deserves it.

How ’bout them Lady Dawgs!

They’re headed to the Knoxville Super Regional next…how sweet it’d be if we knock off Tennessee to advance!

First, I got blocked by the insufferable Tim Brando on Twitter. He was whining that Sankey refused to play SEC games on Friday nights. I replied (basically) “media hack upset because SEC refuses to provide more product for media to make money.” He blocked me. Last shot by me was maybe he should take a grammar class and learn how to use a comma. C’est le guerre. 🤣 That’s a solid day in my book on its own.

(I can’t link it because he blocked me, and I’m too dumb to include screenshots)

Next, however, a tweet I made was liked and quote tweeted by UGA tennis great Manny Diaz. He approved of my thought the NCAA tennis championships should always be in Athens.

https://x.com/i/status/2055424212328738973

A pox on our former AD for his lack of urgency in that respect.

The right people dislike me, the right people approve. Can’t beat that. And I’m just staying loose for football season.

Well, there’s this:

I’ll be nice and say Virginia, mainly as a tip of the cap to the Senator.

What say you?

I’m just gonna leave this here:

Man, there’s gonna be some property destroyed that night.

Get your popcorn ready.

Curt Cignetti, making the most of his brief time with Don Saban.

Kirby was with Saban 11 seasons, so that’s 297 years worth of knowledge.

Kirby’s an old sage, no?

This is rich, and sadly indicative of some of our fanbase.

Gosh, it’s like Kirby has lost control of something he’s really, really good at.

Case in point:

Is that bad? That’s bad right? Not when you consider he’s nestled snug in the middle of these guys:

Money for nothin’, as Dire Straits said.

Shot:

Chaser:

Just a reminder that the game starts at 8 pm, and that Auburn Sucks.