Category Archives: Wednesday Wonderings

Wednesday Wondering: The Magically Disappearing Playoff Athlete

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I’ll lead with this, Barves fans:

What. The. Hell.

Acuna hasn’t had the best of seasons, although he played what seems like literally every day of the year with the World Baseball Classic in play during the Spring Training period for players.

He’s a stellar athlete and he’s a great Brave. But his curious disappearance in productivity in the post-season is worrisome, especially with the Braves being on the brink of elimination. I will say that Walt Weiss did amazing work making something out of nothing, and by nothing I mean the Braves pitching staff. Chris Sale aside, the whole starting lineup imploded, yet the Braves clinched the Division and a Playoff spot nearly a week prior to the season ending. Not bad. Not bad at all.

For today’s Wondering…who’s the guy that most notoriously disappeared in the postseason, regardless of sport?

A few thoughts:

  • Dan Marino
  • Any Bills kicker, ever
  • Karl Malone
  • Alex Rodriguez
  • Aaron Judge
  • Injured Receivers Who Play Georgia
  • The Falcons, In Perpetuity
  • Dak Prescott, or the Cowboys, in General
  • The US Men’s Soccer Team
  • Georgia Basketball
  • Ron Dayne

So what’s your thoughts? Have you seen anyone or anything like Acuna’s drop off in the playoffs? Discuss.

Wednesday Wondering: Did Watching Football Peak in 2017?

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At least, maybe, for Dawg fans?

The National Championships were great, don’t get me wrong. 2022 Peach Bowl was cinema. But I’m not sure it ever got better than this.

Im not sure I’ll witness a game like that again in my lifetime, though the 2022 Ohio State game was close. But that felt more like a “we escaped”. The Rose Bowl was pure, unbridled joy and happiness. It signaled that the long 40 years of frustration might actually be turning into something unfamiliar…Hope.

What a time to be alive.

Discuss.

Wednesday Wondering: Ladies Night

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In honor of Dolly, today’s Wondering is about the ladies…as in, who is your favorite female recording artist?

I’ll start:

Norah Jones

Ah, Norah. Sweet, sultry voice that lands somewhere soft between your ears and helps your head hit the pillow filled with sweet sounds and sweet dreams.

Ella Langley

Yes, she’s getting a ton of airplay lately and was a favorite of recent German World Cup visitor, Freddy, but that’s a damn fine song right there. Admittedly I get happy when the girls choose to listen to her on Spotify when they’re in the car with me.

Annie Lenox

I was a bit of a Eurythmics fan when I was younger and grew to like Annie’s voice. Just an old Gen X memory, I guess.

Tina Turner

Yep, another Gen X throwback, I knew Tina in her more pop days of the 80s, but her version of Proud Mary is something to behold.

So how about you? Who were your favorite female lyricists?

Wednesday Wondering: Saturdays are for the Boys

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Here’s a take from Bud Elliott, for what it’s worth.

Genuine question here…are your Saturdays a wash during the college football season? Do you have a hard and fast rule about not attending anything on a game day?

Honestly, fatherhood kind of changed my perspective on it…we would regularly attend birthday parties or events with the girls and just DVR it and go radio silent on the phones so we could watch it as a surprise later, or would, honestly, just tune in from time to time on the phone while doing something else.

Not that I don’t enjoy the game or game day, but it definitely got muted compared to younger life. Some things are still more important.

How’s about you?

Wednesday Wondering: 1996 Olympic Games

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Oh, the memories. 1996. Billy Payne. Sanford Stadium hosting soccer.

Thirty years ago, if you can believe it.

It was a glorious time to be alive. Gas was slightly above a dollar. Frasier, The Drew Carey Show, Everybody Loves Raymond, Whose Line is it Anyway, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Trainspotting and Sling Blade were big in the box office. An Extra Value Meal at McDonalds was $3.89 and you could get a double cheeseburger for 88 cents. Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, Mark Morrison, Sublime, Fugees, and the Spice Girls.

What once was, and what it is now. Where’d the time go?

Somehow, we were all in the mix of the world coming to Atlanta, or, at least, the South. Who knows what people thought about us all? We did our best to be hospitable but didn’t have social media like Freddy to let us know if we were getting it right. I remember serving tables at Allie’s Restaurant at the Atlanta Airport Marriott and hosting the men’s gymnast teams from all around the world, and where I realized the rest of the world didn’t tip servers. They didn’t know better. Can’t blame them.

We tip now for a teen barista to put coffee in a cup, pay over five dollars for it, and somehow be thankful. Whatever, as our Gen X teen selves might say.

I recall the torch making its way around Georgia, with the final lighting by Muhammad Ali himself.

It was an amazing time to be alive, might’ve been one of the last pure times of joyfulness I can recall. And then there was this:

There was fun, frustration, and controversy. It made for a rich tapestry of a story.

So, for today’s Wondering…what’s your 1996 Olympic memory? How was it for you? What is the most memorable aspect of it if you were here to observe it?

Wednesday Wondering: What’s the Ideal SEC?

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Hey Big XII, look what you used to be and look at the disgrace you are today! Monsters!

Wait…Monster is their corporate sponsor. Now it makes sense. Kind of.

Anyway, one oddity about modern P4 conferences…the SEC is the only conference where their is a contiguous border with all other members…

Well, that’s a point a pride, I suppose. At least we don’t have teams flying from across the west coast to the east coast to play in meaningless, bottom-feeder games, like having Stanford and Cal fly to Charlotte in the spring to play the most pointless ACC tournament game of all time…winner got to go home, when they didn’t want to be there in the first place.

Anyway, for today’s Wondering…what is the “ideal” SEC? Bigger? Smaller? Who would be in it, and why would you rationalize dropping or adding the teams?

I’d kind of prefer to drop the Texas teams, Oklahoma, and Mizzou and Arkansas. In football terms, anyway, it feels like Arkansas has been around a good while and just frankly doesn’t seem to care anymore, and really Mizzou just doesn’t seem to fit.

While that would leave us with 11 teams, if we had to add another I wouldn’t be opposed to dropping South Carolina. Outside of a few interesting years…yecch.

But, if we had to go in the opposite and just start adding more teams in the conference race for excess, give me a Virginia and an NC State, and if we’re dabbling around the northern areas that much, give me West Virginia and Kansas State. Make it an even twenty and keep it contiguous. Why not.

What’s your thoughts, at least today?

Wednesday Wondering: Hidden Talents

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This kid could make a fortune working for an outfitter that specializes in turkey hunting.

So, for today’s Wondering, what’s your hidden talent, Refugees? Mine, at least that’s been suppressed for some three decades, was that I was a top flight saxophonist back in the day.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Circa 1993, so long ago that I’m confident you wouldn’t recognize me today, anyway. And, no, I’m not the Tech dude. He was my high school bandmate who happened to become the Drum Major for the Tech “band”.

Aside from musical talent, I do dabble in writing from time to time (sarcasm), and have a unique ability to win over audiences when I’m doing presentations and lectures in my profession. Seriously, when you work in education, nothing is more grossly oppressive than another professional development, yet people beg me to come back and provide more after I’m gone. I don’t know how I do it, yet I’m glad I possess it.

So how’s about you…what’s your talent?

Wednesday Wondering: The Hell is Wrong with the Braves?

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This is concerning:

I’m of the camp to say that Sean Murphy is the biggest waste of money we have on the roster and I was never a fan of the deal that brought him to Atlanta. For those who don’t know, WAR is Wins Above Replacement, in other words, it’s a value add metric that combines elements of the position. For reference, a 0.0-1.0 WAR usually denotes a bench player or someone easily replaced.

For reference, Dan Jackson has a 14.5 WAR…anything above 8 usually suggests the player is All-Star or MVP.

Drake Baldwin looks like he’s still hurt and honestly they could go pick up Dan Jackson and put him in the lineup now and probably be better off. But that’s ignoring the endless amounts of bureaucratic bullshit that exists in baseball regarding contracts and activation deadlines that inhibits teams from calling up guys from the minors.

Case in point:

Anyway, maybe it’s a blessing that no one can watch the Braves right now, and maybe that’ll send a charge into the organization to make some changes not only to viewer opportunities as well as the roster, but knowing how the management views priorities right now, they’re more concerned with growing the megalopolis around the Battery more than the product on the field.

So, if you’re a fan…WTF is wrong with the Braves?

Wednesday Wonderings: Updating the Lexicon

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I had a down moment and was rifling through the Lexicon, realizing that we have probably added many new terms that need to be updated within the old Lexicon that was carried over from the GTP site.

I took the liberty of adding a few, so here’s a few samples:

Bobo (n.) – 1. a person lacking originality and critical thinking skills, particularly in the face of intense competition. 2. a person who cunningly adjusts to an opponent’s strategy yet is underscored of their efforts because of past and present failures. 3. Former quarterback and current Offensive Coordinator of the University of Georgia Football team.

Dammit, Bobo (n./adj.) – taken as a singular term, this refers to a poorly designed or poorly called offensive play in American football, particularly by University of Georgia Football Offensive Coordinator, Mike Bobo.

Geniuses (n.) – a collective of people posting only the wisest and most well thought out opinions on virtual discussion pages, particularly about sports.

Joey Freshwater (n.) – 1. The name given to a journeyman coach who served on the sidelines of several Southeastern Conference football teams. 2. One who seemingly fails upwards, despite personal and professional transgressions along the way.

Kurb Stomped (or Kirb Stomped) (v.) – when the opponent of a Kirby Smart coached Georgia Football team has been beaten thoroughly or in an embarrassing manner.

Rain (n.) – 1. A sudden release of cooled air particles from the sky that falls to earth as droplets of water, sometimes referred to as a “shower”. 2. The chief reason why the “#1 for a week” Tennessee Volunteers Football Team lost to Georgia in November of 2022.

Twix (n.) – A social media site, formerly known as Twitter, that was bought by a space cowboy who changed the name to “X”.

Ladd McConkey gallops to the end zone in the 63-3 Kirb Stomping of the Florida State Seminoles, December 2023.

Throw it out in the comments and I’ll fold it into the Lexicon, and give credit to whoever comes up with it like the Senator did, as well.

Wednesday Wondering: Wastin’ Away in Margaritaville

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Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.

Excuse me. Here’s today’s Wondering:

Personally, I’ve done A more times than I can count, lived in B and don’t desire to go back, have nothing interesting in C personally, but I’m torn between D and E. On one hand, it’s hard to top Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, and you’ve got the Everglades in there and West Palm and Miami.

But if I had to pick, I’d head back to E and just spend the two weeks in Key West.

Hemingway, historic downtown Key West, six toed cats, reliving Running Scared, living it up in Margaritaville proper. I think I could spend a proper two weeks there.

How about you? Where would you visit if you had the choice based on the Twix above?