Who's in and who's out at QB.

The AJC had one of those quick hitter columns today about the quarterback situation at UGA. I always love these things. To me it looks like somebody came up with an excuse to get to go to Athens for the day on the company, and these little articles are what they turn in to justify the trip and the beer tab.

While short this one made me think. The short summary basically says who is going to transfer at the end of the year. Being a graduate of the class of '99 I was there for the Donnan years and the terrible fall out that happened when Donnan named Quincy Carter the QB over the guys who were already there. Within a year our deep talent pool at qb was reduced to nothing as all 3 back ups transferred out.

Any Dawg fans remember this classic?

Of course no Dawg fan needs reminding of how that whole story went. I still have nightmares about that 5 interception game vs the Gamecocks. While I don't think Stafford will be the next Quincy Carter, its easy to see a similar scenario unfolding. Anyone who watched the G-Day game this past spring knows that there was Stafford and then there were the rest of the qbs. Terreshinski will get his chance and will be the starter on opening day. How long he remains the starter is up to him. As soon as he slips up the Matthew Stafford era will begin. The problem with that is what about Blake Barnes and Joe Cox? Sure you have Joe T and Stafford for next year, but the following year the last thing I want to see is Stafford and a walk on or a true freshman as his back up. From the comments made in the AJC article though it sounds like Barnes has excepted that he's just a back up and is ok with that role. Cox on the other hand probably already has his transfer papers filled out. Not that I could blame either guy for transfering. They were both high ranked big recruits, especially Cox, and could easily go somewhere else and start. Lets just hope the cubbard isn't left comeplety bare next fall.

Natalie's First Cereal

Natalie trying her best to spit out anything we put in.

That's just what we call Coach Speak Baby!

Someone really should get somebody to translate for CNNSI. Apparently nobody with their soccer coverage has ever heard of coach speak.













That's just what we call "coach speak", Baby. - Bruce Campbell

The most kicked around names to replace Bruce Arena if he is let go has been Jurgen Klinsmen, the German coach. Aparently, some genius decided it would be a good idea to just ask him if he was interested in the job at the press conference following Germany's victory over Sweden. Klinsmen's contract is up some time this year, and he hasn't said what he will do afterwards, but seeing as his team is still playing at least through next weekend Klinsman answered the only way he could.

"That doesn't interest me at all," said Klinsmann, reacting to speculation in the German media Monday that he was been lined up to replace Bruce Arena after the U.S. team's first-round exit at the World Cup. "At the moment, I'm only interested in my job and that has to continue to the final."

For anyone who doesn't follow sports more than casually that's what is commonly referred to as coach speak. Meaning they give you the answer they are supposed and don't give anything away about what they are planning. Why would Klinnsman come out and mess with his team's head a couple of days before their huge game with Argentina, by putting into doubt whether he plans to coach them again. Here's a news flash for the geniuses at CNNSI. You could ask any coach in the quarter finals about what they are planning to do after the World Cup and they'd give you that answer almost verbatim. The only exception might be Sven Erickson with England, who is getting the boot after the tournament, and even he would only alter so much as to say that would be something to consider after the tournament. Nobody is talking about what they are going to do after the tournament, until they lose. Any coach worth a crap is focused on who they play next and how to get his team to the quarter finals or the semis. Nobody is going to go blabbing to the press about how they are considering 20,000 job offers instead of focusing on the job at hand and how to win.

Worst Ref Ever?

I heard Alexi Lalas or Eric Wynalda one say that "Players can win games, Coaches plan to win games, but Refs can ruin games." It also reminds me of that old saying, "You never want to see a call decide the game." Well technically a blown call didn't change the result of the game. Eventhough it certainly took what looked to have the makings of a titanic clash and made it into something more along the lines of that action packed Saudia Arabis vs Tunisa match up. Granted its just kind of a thing with sports. Watch any sport long enough or follow any team close enough and eventually you'll get screwed over by a bad call or be left screaming at a ref, but generally its one or two things, and not the entire game. I think the worst part of the whole story though was that the same ref who took ref sucking to a whole new level was suspended before the last World Cup and not allowed to participate. So basically you suck it up and get suspended and then 4 years later they give you the chance to screw up all over again. What a wonderful organization Fifa is. :(

LARRIONDA Jorge
Nationality: Uruguay
Role: Referee
Date of birth: 9 March 1968
Height: 176 (cm)
Weight: 74 (kg)
Referee since: 1 January 1998
First international : Chile v Bolivia (20 June 1999)
Place of residence: MONTEVIDEO
Country of residence: Uruguay
Mother language: Spanish
Other languages: English
Occupation: Clerk
General interests: Breeding animals (birds, dogs, parrots, etc)
Best memory: FIFA Confederations Cup France 2003 semi-final: France v Turkey; 2004 Olympic Football Tournament Bronze Medal Match: Italy v Iraq

Thats the refs bio. Anyone else notice something a little "surprising" there. Look at his occupation. The dude is a convience store clerk. He works with Apu at the Quick E Mart. Besides showing that he has a high school education level, that means the bozo was selling smokes and gas, until the wonderful people at Fifa decided it would be a good idea to let him ruin a World Cup game.

The next great Fifa Ref?

Best Goal So Far?

Best goal of the World Cup? Kid Rock thinks so.


This is possibly the best goal so far in the World Cup. The video shows a replay of the goal. Its made even more spectacular by the run of Puyols that leads to the assist. Its just a nice goal. You want real proof though, just ask my wife. Even she said that this is an awesome goal. This was a dominating performance by Spain. I've seen a lot of the games, and I really like the way the Spanish team played. Most teams get up 1 or 2 goals and hit the breaks. The spanish team just kept going. I kept waiting for the camera to pan to the sideline and show Spurrier talking into his headset.

Say it ain't so Jim Bob. Say it ain't so....

Tennessee reserve quarterback Jim Bob Cooter, a fan favorite and one of the brightest players on the team, has been suspended indefinitely after his arrest early Saturday morning on a drunken driving charge near campus. Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said Cooter, a fifth-year senior, would miss the Sept. 2 opener against California.
-- The Tennessean

While every fan college football fan in America has waited patiently for the day, when Jim Bob Cooter would take his riteful place as the Volunteer quarterback. Its a shame his day in the spot light comes only after spending to much time in the neon lights. Why they won't give this kid his shot is beyond me. With a name like Jim Bob Cooter he was born to play at UT.

Why America refuses to watch Soccer.

Arena points to baseball and basketball, where U.S. teams have lost in international competitions but Americans continue to claim to be the best.

"We have our nice little, not little, our nice professional leagues where we call whoever turns out the winner the world champion, which is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard, and never win a world championship in any of these sports anymore," Arena said. "This [World Cup] is it. This is the real world champion.

"You don't understand that, because you're so used to Nashville beats Jacksonville, we're going to party in the streets. This is the best teams in the world in the most competitive sport in the world, and if we can build an American team to that stage, that's pretty impressive. We've come a long way in a short period of time."

That strange burning smell is the result of American sports fans taking a nice shot from Bruce Arena this weekend. The Coach makes an excellent point about the nonexistant dominance in sports that we supposedly win world championships in every year. When was the last time a US basketball team played anywhere near their supposed level of talent. And if anything the World Baseball Classic this spring showed just how far the US is from dominating anymore.

I've read alot of articles over the last week with one reason or another as to why US sports fans refuse to give any attention to professional soccer. While reasons like pace of the game and lack of scoring are all true to some degree, I think the truth of the matter is there is a little predjudice in any US sports fan. We want to believe that we are the best at anything. That we have the best athletes, the best fans, and the greatest teams. The truth is we don't even have those things in the sports we supposedly dominate. If you really take a minute to think about it. The reason the average sports fan doesn't like professional soccer is very simply we aren't very good at it. US sports fans don't like soccer, because we aren't the best, heck until the last World Cup we were a joke to the rest of the world. You can say what you want about the pace of the game, and all I'll say is Baseball. Talk to me about scoring and I'll say take a few hours and watch Brazil, Argentina, or one of the other high powered offenses at the world cup. There will be no shortage of scoring or at least offensively minded play. Plus there is always the argument of Baseball and Hockey for other low scoring games. (Say what you want hockey was on the rise, until those bozos killed themselves with a strike.)

In fact there is only one sport that the US can claim real dominance in. That would be American Football. Don't get me wrong I love football as much as anyone. When August comes along I swear off Sunkist and wouldn't be caught dead in anything orange. My heart bleeds red and black and I'll live and die with the fortunes of my team, but lets face the facts. The US "dominates" at football the same way Taco Bell dominates at making fast food mexican food. We are the only ones who play it, so of course we are the best. Plus anyone who trys to sell the greatness of football has to answer for NFL Europe and its low numbers as well as all the other spin off leagues that have had a go of it and failed. Granted it could just be the rest of the world showing the same prejudice for our football as we show for theirs, but its not like we can claim we don't deserve it.

All I'm saying through all this is sit down at some point over the next month. Find a schedule and then look up a good game. The Netherlands vs Argentina game on June 21 would be my must see game for the first round. Or if nothing else tune in to one of the US games. Personally I find nothing as exciting as the underdog Americans taking on the rest of the world at their game and winning, withe the rest of the world cheering against us.