65 thoughts on “Huddle Up 2/26/2024”

  1. Indirectly Georgia football related, but Josh Pate is pretty darn convinced the Almost Competitive Conference is getting ready to implode. I listened to his latest show this morning on my walk, and his sources seem to believe FSU is going to find a way out by 2025 to end the litigation. If that happens, others will follow suit.

    • I could be wrong (and frequently am), but business litigation tends to drag on until each side calculates the financial upside/downside, then adds in the estimated cost of litigating to the bitter end, and a mostly financial sweet spot is negotiated. When the end goal is financial, as opposed to establishing some kind of principle, it becomes a math problem. Sometimes, one party will grossly overestimate their position (HELLO, JAN KEMP!), but generally corporate weasels don’t want to spend X to maybe win if X minus $1 will deliver certainty.

      There’s plenty to argue about (HELLO, BILLABLE HOURS! Hey, lawyers got to eat, too.) for the next year or so. But 10 years of being locked in to a deal means, to me, FSU. can buy their way out, but it’s going to cost a ton. Maybe they can finance it, but it’s hard for me to see ESPN contributing toward cannibalizing the very favorable deal they have with the whole ACC so they can pay FSU a ton more money. Also, the value of their ACC deal takes a hit. It probably blows up the ACC, and while some pieces aren’t very valuable on the open market (HELLO, GEORGIA TECH! Disney isn’t exactly thriving lately, and the suits there are the most soulless bean counters in the universe.

      Plus, I don’t see where the value in adding FSU or Clemson to the SEC lies. I could arguably see value in UNC or Virginia from a tv market standpoint. But they suck at football. Is denying the Big10 a foothold worth it? Panic leads to rash decisions, and adding Dollar General Texas (lots of attitude, used to lording over the rest of their conference value wise) seems rash to me. If you could buy them for what they’re worth and sell them for what they think they’re worth, you would be making Bezos money.

      Guess we will see.

        • He undoubtedly has better sources than I do, and maybe the deal closes faster if FSU has figured where to get the buyout cash. I enjoy Joshb although I don’t always agree with his opinions, he is usually pretty thoughtful. Especially for a guy from Harris County.🙂

      • “Sometimes, one party will grossly overestimate their position”
        In the college football world, no better example of that than the conference formerly known as the PAC 12 (now PAC 2), thinking they were worth WAAAAAAAY more than their media rights partners did.

        • You can take a bad hand and play it badly. I do wonder if someone is miscalculating that same kind of way with the long term profitability of conference realignment. All the moves the last 30 years seem to be based, at least partly, on the idea the market on ever goes up. But even growth markets have downturns, and eventually they mature.

      • To counter your Disney “soulless bean counters” argument. If that is the case, and I’m not saying it isn’t, then why to they keep producing these woke agenda movies that lose $ millions at the box office?

        • If you ask me (and I’m not going to try to make this as a political argument, just an economic one), I think they do it because they’ve seriously miscalculated the market for “woke agenda” movies. Seems to me Hollywood is a bit of an echo chamber, and it skews heavily toward the ESG/DEI end of the spectrum. For now, nobody is willing to step up and say “Hey, maybe The Marvels is a bad idea” or “taking a beloved classic like It’s A Wonderful Life and changing it completely by randomly working in Underrepresented Groups won’t sell.” They make these changes, the market decides it doesn’t like being preached/dictated to, and the movie tanks. It doesn’t matter if the market unenlightened, if they hate your product. Spending 500 million on a story people hate won’t save your job if it loses a couple hundred million. It takes the bean counters a minute to read the tea leaves, but they will, or they will go broke. It’s a math problem.

          This is not a value judgment on the worth of Underrepresented Groups, or Artistic Freedom. If you want to produce a movie on any topic, so be it. But, every single story doesn’t have to be about every single group.And when your movie seems unpopular, lashing out at your audience as ignorant hicks, etc, seems like an odd way to persuade them. Disney is finding that out in a very real, expensive way now. People didn’t love Snow White because it was a humorless, politically correct but of propaganda. So people who loved the original possibly won’t love the new version, which seems based on the idea that all the stuff you loved is horrible.

          The interesting thing to me about markets (any market), is they tend to self correct over time. Smart people who can do math realize at some point the customers decide what they want. When your product is fun, and what you offer is not fun, people stop buying it. So, you A, make it fun, bring back your core, make money, or B, you stick to your guns because you think your customers are wrong, and you can either change their minds or replace them with ones who share your views.

          Disney is making money on theme parks right now. That’s keeping them afloat. ESPN has been choking a bit on losses from cord cutters. That sweet cash from carriage fees is going away fast, and streaming isn’t a panacea yet. The large sums they throw at conferences seems based on the old, very profitable model. Maybe college sports will become the new wrestling. A niche, ppv market that makes money but nobody really cares about. The hardcores are still there. But if the market gets pricey, people will do something else. The first response to this is GIVE THEM MORE OF THE BIG STUFF, but the price goes up, too.

          I’ve seen Disney suits plan to be all streaming in a couple of years. I imagine the price will be over 50 a month. If they try to sell that with screamers like McAfee and Steven A, buenos suerte.

          • The market and share holders have spoken. Start making movies that people want to see.

    • Crawford knows this state. He coached up
      Greater Atlantic Christian well and has made other HS stops in GA. Don’t think he’s coached RBs but he’ll do fine with UGA’s talent.

      • I’m sure he got hired for his abilities, but it’s a nice little middle finger to his former employer. Don’t forget, nerds: we run this state. We take what we want. You take a couple of our guys from the portal, or a consultant from our staff? We let you have them. Don’t start thinking you’re on our level, pencil necks.

        FTMF🤣

    • Yep, I’m a fan of this hire. Crawford seems like a young Dell McGee to me. Wish he had a year or two coaching RBs, but he should be good at it very soon.

  3. Spring practice starts two weeks from tomorrow. Insert “hell yeah, brother” gif here.

  5. I’ve been thinking a little about the season. In recent history, we’ve had some stinkers (while not losing) the week before the October open date. With the confluence of factors, my inner Munson is growling about the trip to Austin. We’re a 1.5 point favorite right now. It feels like the game if you are a betting man (which I’m not) to take Texas and the point+.

    Check your hat at the door and tell me what you think. Am I onto something or smoking something?

    • Dawgs will lose if they don’t bring their A-game. That said Kirby’s at his best on revenge games and the Dawgs owe ‘em one.

    • Totally agree here. I’ve got friends coming into town and we’ll overpay for tickets to be sure.But UT has a really good team and it’s tough to win here. That said, if you’re talking about spreads I might wait and see where this one goes before taking the 1.5 points now. It could be 3-4 by game time.

    • Texas is back! Until they’re not. 41-24 Dawgs with an offense that rolls and enough concern on defense to keep GTP 2.0 lit.

    • Oh no Mr. EE,
      don’t ever bet against the Dawgs.
      Sometimes I will skip a GA game when it comes to a bet, but I can never bet against my team.

      • I don’t bet on sports, period, unless I happen to be in Vegas. I don’twager on Georgia games unless I really believe I can bet on the Dawgs. I would never bet against UGA even it were a no-brainer type of game like the ‘95 WLOCP.

    • My concern is that we’re likely to be starting/playing some youngsters and freshmen in that game. I am aware that Kirby “let go” Dumas-Johnson to open a spot for fill in name here. He likes his talented but young guys and I have faith. But traveling to Austin early has me a little queasy, too. I don’t know enough about UT’s roster to make any points but here’s hoping they are young like we are.

  6. A couple of times I’ve tried posting a link here over the last few days to an article on Dawg Sports about consideration for expanding the playoff from 12 to 14. I must’ve done it wrong, because neither one of those posts ever appeared.

    I may have missed it, but has anybody else here seen that?

      • ESPN wants more content. College suits want more money. Who cares about players or fans, except as assets to exploit? And who cares about traditional rivalries? I hate all of this.

        • MaconDawg,
          There comes a point where the players’ bodies and willingness as non-professionals to go play 16-17 football games gives out. A point at which fans’ wallets cry uncle and we’re treated to the sight of a half-empty stadium at a playoff game. A point where the universities’ hunger for cash outstrips what the networks are willing to pay.

          It’s ever more clear that the powers that be in college football aren’t going to stop until they find where that breaking point is. They won’t pause for reflection at the edge of the precipice. They’re going to go right over the edge with cash in both hands.

          So very true. Looks like a union is coming down the tracks and with that comes work stoppage, lost seasons and no one wins.

    • Mentioned it as well the other day. Didn’t even take them on season to feel the need to be more “inclusive”.

    • that’d be my fault. WordPress has some sort of spam algorithm that views links in comments as spam, I guess. Anyway, there were about 7 comments waiting my review. I just approved all of them. You may have some “double posts”. Some of the comments it was holding didn’t even have links in them. Not a very reliable algorithm.

  7. SI.com has an article with Paul Johnson ripping Geoff Collins a new asshole. It’s newsworthy to me as it’s representative of the difference in class between tech and UGA’s coaching transition. Kirby and Richt aren’t a source of embarrassment.

    In other news RR has found a new go-to blog for his morning coffee (scoop of vanilla ice cream with coffee today).

  9. …and in recruiting news,…Big Time (fill in the position) has the Dogs in his Top 50…..

  10. Yet another well-deserved humiliation for the NCAA. I think there needs to be some kind of parameters for NIL but the judge wasn’t buying this nonsense: “NCAA president Charlie Baker said the restriction on recruiting inducements was written because the association wants athletes to choose their future schools based on the best educational opportunities rather than where they could make the most money.”

    https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/39585390/ncaa-enforce-nil-rules-judge-grants-injunction

  11. Surprised no one mentioned that the Diamond DAWGS remain undefeated.
    And in other news the Hoop DAWGS released their annual “wait till next year” mea culpa with the egg they laid over the weekend.

    • The Dawgs are tearing up the diamond in baseball and softball so far this season. I’ve watched all the baseball games so far, the last 2 ended with 9th inning wins. I’m still reserving judgment until SEC play begins. But, Charlie Condon was SEC player of the week this week. His batting average through 7 games is .643, second best in the country. He might be good at baseball.

    • That was not an egg they laid, that was a big pile of stinky sheeoot, trust me, am a big fan of UGA basketball (men/women), once we got into sec schedule, we found out who we are and where we need to go to be competitive, week in and week out, if all goes as planned, sec could have half the conference dancing somewhere…GO DAWGS!!

  13. With both the Coley and the Crawford hires, the overriding theme seems to be their recruiting chops. You can’t develop talent unless you first acquire it.

  16. Btw, Otis, I have noticed that links are highlighted in red (not blue) which is appropriate for a Bulldog blog. Somewhat surprised The Senator didn’t make that choice himself.

    • I can’t explain that. I think it may have to do with links clicked on and not clicked on. If you haven’t clicked it, it’s blue, if you have it is red? I think. If we continue on here permanently, I will look into the settings and see if I can make that a permanent link color…

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