Richard Samuel: The Ultimate Team Player

Richard Samuel has been asked to wear many hats and fill many shoes for his Georgia football team. He was recruited out of high school as a linebacker/running back and he has flipped-flopped between both sides of the ball during his college career. This year he is even being asked to line up at fullback on occasion. He has made all these changes and done all that has been asked of him without so much as a whimper. He has sacrificed any personal gains for the good of the team. Period. He is the consummate "player's player". Last year against Florida he amped up his game, and his teammates, and helped Georgia sustain a fourth quarter drive to ice the game for his Bulldogs. Last night in Columbus, Missouri, he made a momentum changing play on a fake punt. Samuel fought off two blockers and made a tremendous tackle (pictured above) on punter Trey Barrow to foil the Tigers attempt to catch Georgia sleeping on fourth and eleven. It was the play that swung the game in Georgia's favor. Richard Samuel will do whatever it takes to make his football team better. He always has and he always will. He's just that kind of Dawg!

Jarvis Jones: Just Take Over the Game...

The stage was set. The cameras were rolling. Missouri was going to be the star of the movie. History being made: first SEC game, first SEC win. The storyline was going to read "Old man football won't cut it with Mizzou"!. Then a funny thing happened, one of the support cast got off script. Georgia's Jarvis Jones just took over the game. The player his coach, Mark Richt, said later "may be the best defensive player in America", just put the entire Bulldawg Nation on his back and won the game for Georgia. For the better part of three quarters, it really did look like the shoe might fit Cinderella's foot. Missouri rode the emotion of its fans, its state and a delirious stadium to the point of finding itself in a position to actually pull this thing off. However, the upstart Tigers had no answer for Jones. He completed his night with 8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception. But that doesn't tell the entire story.  He was a constant source of defensive pressure on Missouri's offense all night long. He put himself in position to make big plays. He made the guys around him play with more intensity. He made the game easier for his teammates on offense. He led his team to victory. He foiled all of the Tigers hopes, dreams and aspirations. Welcome to the SEC Missouri. Like the board on the UGA sideline read after the game,  It's not old man football, it's "Grown man football"!

Lynn Hughes: Georgia Bulldog Favorite

 

In 1965 and 1966, safety Lynn Hughes(#16) earned All-SEC honors. However, in 1964, as a sophomore,  Hughes began his Georgia varsity career as Vince Dooley's first starting quarterback. He teamed that year with fellow quarterback Preston Ridlehuber to give the Bulldogs a one-two platoon punch at that position. In that 1964 season, he led the team in passing and was fourth in rushing. During his last two seasons in Athens, he was used as a versatile two-way player as the Dawgs number 3 signal caller and starting safety. For his career, Hughes intercepted 10 passes as a defender and passed for over 700 yards as a quarterback. Lynn Hughes, one of Georgia's all-time great two-way players!

Andy Roddick: The Career Stops Here

 

On his 30th birthday, Andy Roddick announced that this year's U.S. Open would be his last professional tournament. Roddick, a former number 1, retires with 32 singles titles, including his career highlight the 2003 Open title. He had said that in a perfect world, the Open is where he would like to end his career. Welcome to your perfect world, Andy.

Stephen Strasburg: Now in Shutdown Mode

The Washington Nationals haven't pulled the trigger on star pitcher Stephen Strasburg, they've put the gun on safety and packed it up until next hunting season. After pitching slightly more than 159 innings, the team and manager Davey Johnson have pulled a Roberto Duran and said "no mas". As you recall, Strasburg is coming off 'Tommy John' surgery and the club had made the decision earlier in the season to allow him to pitch only around 165 total innings. This decision comes on the heels of a terrible outing where Johnson didn't feel Strasburg had his head in the game. Seeing as how the Miami Marlins shelled him for 5 runs in 3 innings , I don't think he had much else in the game either. Strasburg gives up the fight with his National holding a 6 1/2 game division lead over the Atlanta Braves. I'll admit I don't know much about TJ surgery, stress and strain caused by the throwing motion, or rest/work between starts. Having admitted that, when Washington arrived at the September part of their schedule, why not sit Strasburg out through the entire month? Their Eastern Division lead at that juncture was 7 1/2 games, so the playoffs were a reasonable assumption whether by winning the division or entering as a wild card team. Then they could have brought the guy back for the playoffs and still not exceeded the 165 innings total. That probably would not have messed his head up so badly as well, not to mention the fact it would have made the Nats much stronger contenders for a title.

SEC Spotlight

Two newcomers begin their Southeastern Conference memberships by hosting their opening SEC games today. Texas A&M and Missouri entertain Florida and Georgia respectively in games that are predicted to be hotly contested. In a crucial Western Division encounter, Auburn visits Mississippi State in a smash mouth brawl. All three of these crucial games run back-to-back-to-back on television, and the largest point spread of any of the games is 3 points. It's a great weekend to be an SEC college football fan. The number one conference in all the land captures the football spotlight once again.

Mark Richt: Why Make it Such a Big Deal?

Since before the beginning of summer camp for the Georgia Bulldogs, the questions being consistently asked were regarding upcoming disciplinary suspensions. Specifically, who is suspended, for how many games, and the specific rules that were violated. And for just that long, the answer typically given by head coach Mark Rict has been no comment. He has said he doesn't want to talk about it. He has said to  just wait until game time and see who isn't playing. He has basically said nothing. My questions are why and what's the big deal? Georgia has game suspensions every year, so what's so different this year? Just answer the questions Coach. Put the matter to rest. Allow the media to focus on something besides players being suspended at Georgia. Lay it on the line Coach. We've all been here before. Are we that afraid of Missouri that we want them to guess who's playing and who's not? I'm not buying into that. I'm back to my point of what's the big deal? Bacarri Rambo and Alec Ogletree are two key defenders for the Bulldogs whose playing status in in question for tomorrow night's game against Missouri in Columbia. There has been no comment by Richt concerning these two players. Again, what's the big deal. They're either playing or they are not. Just tell us Coach. The entire Bulldog Nation has been down this road before. Why make it such a big deal?

Billy Gillispie: A Wreck at Tech?

Texas Tech head basketball coach Billy Gillispie was discharged from a hospital after a six day stay. He was admitted to the hospital due to extremely high blood pressure. Gillispie leaves the hospital amid allegations against him of player mistreatment. Now it's situations like these that originally coined the phrase "out of the furnace and into the fire". The former Kentucky coach is entering his second year with the Red Raiders, after having finished 8-23 his first year. While at Texas Tech, he has already been reprimanded for exceeding practice time limits. That isn't hard to believe, after that record last year his kids need to practice all they can! No wonder the guy's blood pressure spiked with all that stress. Oh well, it's an understatement to say that Billy's not off to a great start at Tech. Sounds to me like the honeymoon ended quite some time ago. Just sayin'...

Brandon McCarthy: Way To Close For Comfort

After knowing what we know now, it's amazing that Brandon McCarthy walked off the field under his own power after being struck on the side of the head by a hard hit line drive on Wednesday afternoon. A CAT scan taken after McCarthy left the game revealed he had a skull fracture, and he underwent surgery Wednesday night. He is listed in stable condition in a hospital critical care unit. The 29 year old is said to be alert and resting comfortably.

College Football: Helmet Off, Next Play Off

Already the new helmet rule in college football is being second guessed. Even in the Auburn -vs- Clemson game this past weekend, Auburn was accused of intentionally trying to rip the Clemson quarterback's helmet off to force him out of the game for a play. The new rule is being enforced as a preventative safety rule. By that I mean it is intended to encourage players to strap their headgears on tighter so they won't be in danger of having their head exposed, thus not being forced to serve a one-play penalty. It is entirely possible this penalty could affect a key player in a key situation. I don't see it as an actual safety measure because once a helmet is off during the course of a play, the danger to the player exists immediately, even though by rule that player is supposed to stop on the play once his helmet is off. Action on a college football gridiron is happening too fast for that to be practical in many situations. Sitting out the next play isn't going to undo what happened during the previous play. It will be interesting to see how this rule plays out during the course of the 2012 football season. I do hope it keeps players safer somehow.

Paul Finebaum: Georgia is Vulnerable Against Missouri

Paul Finebaum is the ultimate Alabama "homer". That's fine with me, because college football makes it easy for all of us to be "homers". We all love our home team. I'm that way with Georgia. That in itself is the passion of college football. Finebaum believes Nick Saban 'hung the moon'. To him Saban is the ultimate head football coach, possibly the ultimate human being. Also to Finebaum, everything and anything that is not 'Bama, is nothing in his eyes. The other members of the SEC are fodder for his infamous radio talk show. When he gets an SEC team in his sights, he loves to start the bashing, always thick with sarcastic insults. It seems he is particularly pleasured when he gets to take his demeaning shots at Mark Richt and the Georgia program. This week he criticized Richt for being weak with his punishment and slow to pull the trigger on discipline issues. I really don't understand Finebaum's irritation with Richt in that regard. Richt has suspended more players with loss of game time, and kicked more players off of his Bulldog team than any coach in the conference.  He's 'run off' some exceptionally talented athletes because they've shown they are equally adept at causing trouble. He deals with discipline problems, he handles discipline issues, and he hands down appropriate punishment related to the specific offense. Finebaum is correct when he says Richt hasn't won a National Championship. He might even prove to be correct in picking Missouri over Georgia Saturday night. However, he's far from correct when he states that Richt doesn't handle discipline. But then again, Finebaum loathes all things not Alabama.

Atlanta Braves: They Look Good on Paper...

Just consider this Atlanta Braves lineup for a moment:

• 1B - Freddie Freeman
• 2B - Dan Uggla
• 3B - Chipper Jones
• SS - Andrelton Simmons
• RF - Jason Heywood
• CF - Michael Bourn
• LF - Martin Prado
•  C -  Brian McCann

That's a very impressive lineup from top to bottom. Those guys are solid defensively and potentially powerful offensively. The problem they are having down this stretch drive is keeping players healthy and getting players hitting on a consistent basis. In fact, very often, the Braves just do not hit. Manager Fredi Gonzalez has shuffled this lineup so many times trying to find the best hitting order, but almost to no avail.  One would think this lineup would be "Murderers Row", but that just isn't the case. It just seems that one or two guys at the most are hitting at any given time, or they all are hitting when the game is a blowout. If you see them score more than 5 or 6 runs one night, the next night they will be shutout or will score no more than 2. They can build some winning streaks at times, but they very rarely stay on hitting tears. It also seems that this club has a hard time getting that key two-out hit with men in scoring position. They tend to leave a lot of men on base.  All of these hitting woes need to change quickly. The Eastern Division title is all but gone for Atlanta, and their Wild Card advantage is dissipating as well. Another September collapse doesn't bode well for this franchise at all. Wake up guys, you're in a pennant race. A crucial one at that.