Final Feelings: The Final Tuneup
Dylan’s Final Feelings:
I have procrastinated so much school work this week until tonight and now I’m here writing this instead of actually doing the work. I have two papers I have to turn in tomorrow, and I’m about a quarter of the way through one. There’s a decent chance that when this is published I will be on my sixth cup of coffee and on my 26th consecutive hour without sleep. Although I hope that isn’t the case.
With practice this week, Georgia was forced inside all week due to the perpetual rain and cold weather that ruined every Athens resident’s week. One person told me within the program that as a result, Georgia would come out flat against UMass.
That makes sense, but, come on, it’s UMass. What would a slow start look like against the Minutemen (an awesome mascot by the way)? Fourteen in the first quarter? I’m not sure, but UGA should blow these guys out of the water. I would think Justin Fields will be playing by the second quarter, Matthew Downing at the end of the third/start of the fourth.
That’s what will make this game fun, though. It’s been a while since we’ve seen some of the young guns play a lot in games, guys like: Jamaree Salyer, Azeez Ojulari’s, James Cook (a little surprised we haven’t seen him at all), Fields, Deangelo Gibbs, Kearis Jackson, Luke Ford, John Fitzpatrick to name a few. I expect Georgia to win, cover, and hopefully make this game quick, 51-3.
I know y’all don’t want to hear about Texas or Big 12 football, but I DON’T CARE. It’s either here or in my diary, and sadly y’all got stuck with it.
So they play Iowa State this week at home - two-and-a-half point favorites over the Cyclones, who, after like a decade and a half of being a joke, are actually decent now! I don’t think they are ready for Austin though. If it were at Iowa State, I’d take them easily. But give me the Horns in DKR.
Side note: Texas-Georgia with a home-and-home is going to be awesome. I’m dropping whatever is going on in my life then to go to those games. Sorry to my future dog, wife/girlfriend, employer, family, whoever. I’m seeing that game.
The Aggies have UAB at home this weekend. I think that is all I need to say.
For Thanksgiving, I’ll be heading back home to Austin. It’s been a minute since I’ve been there (July), so it’s nice to go back. It also means talking to my family about how my life is going, which I always love.
No grandma, I don’t have a girlfriend. Yes, there are a bunch of “cute Georgia peaches” out there but I still don’t have one.
No grandpa, I’m not going to be an MLB player, I stopped playing baseball 10 years ago. And before you ask, I’m not going to be a lawyer or a stockbroker, either. I’m going to be a journalist. Yes, grandpa, I can make a living doing that.
These are actual conversations that I already know I’ll be forced to have, but it will be fine. As long as they bring the food and beverages, I’ll bring the answers to any question they have.
Matt’s Final Feelings:
It was a good week for Georgia recruiting as the Bulldogs picked up a commitment from four-star running back Kenny McIntosh.
After the loss of five-star John Emery, it was important for the staff to get a running back in the fold for the 2019 class. McIntosh took his official visit to Georgia last weekend for the Auburn game and saw all he needed.
Georgia now sits at 18 commitments with room for about six or seven more guys. Georgia’s remaining targets consist of 5-star OL Clay Webb, 5-star LB Nakobe Dean, 4-star DB Tyrique Stevenson, 4-star DB Kaiir Elam, 4-star DB Nick Cross - and room for possibly another quarterback or running back. Overall, the Bulldogs are in a great spot heading into a very important December.
As for the current commits, I still feel very good about Georgia landing 5-stars Nolan Smith and Travon Walker. Those guys will still take their official visits, but they are very firm Georgia commitments right now. It took a lot to get those two to sign anywhere else in December.
Last week I went to go see the sloppy, muddy Marietta-East Coweta game. I went to see five-star Arik Gilbert, a player I’ve been high on for years now, but he wasn’t the same player without quarterback Harrison Bailey who was out with an injury.
He still made a handful of catches and tackles, but it wasn’t exactly a five-star performance this time for Gilbert. The terrible weather sure didn’t help though.
Friday I’ll be checking out Georgia commit Dom Blaylock as his Walton Raiders take on Hillgrove. A solid matchup between two Cobb County teams, there will be lots of talent on both sides of the field. Obviously, Blaylock is headed to Georgia, but Hillgrove defensive lineman Myles Murphy is another major target for Georgia in the 2020 class. This is shaping up to be a Georgia-Alabama-Clemson battle with the Bulldogs currently in a great spot.
As for my week, it’s been pretty average. I’m in the process of moving, so that’s always stressful, but I’m ready to get it all over with.
Usually, this week is a wash every year. I love Thanksgiving, so the entire week before it goes by insanely slow. We’ve got all the crazy cousins coming over, and the girlfriend will meet most of the family for the very first time. What could go wrong?
I’m just ready for some turkey, ham, mac and cheese, creamed corn, dressing, and everything else that comes with it. Oh, and football. If the weather will cooperate, it should be a solid Thanksgiving.
Now back to football. Georgia plays UMass this week. Awesome. At least you’ll be able to see a lot of younger guys play. More and more 2018 signees have played each and every week, so that shouldn’t change against a team like UMass. I expect to see a good bit of Justin Fields, Adam Anderson, Channing Tindall, Otis Reese, Jamaree Salyer and some others as well. Georgia should win this game by at least 40 points, so I’ll give a final score of 51-7.
Dean’s Final Feelings
What’s Dylan’s problem with his grandparents? Also, I thought coffee girl was a girlfriend - did that fizzle already? Also, it sounds like you have a problem with time management/procrastination… that’s on you. Matt isn’t even bothering lecturing us on “his Birds” anymore - even he doesn’t believe that bullshit anymore.
You know what? This is the week to take the other team and the points against the Dawgs. We’ve seen three straight weeks of Georgia not only covering the spread, but doing so comfortably. Looking back, its hard to see why the Gator line dropped all the way to UGA -7. That was dumb knocking down the line that low.
The Dawgs have vanquished the Gators, Kentucky and Auburn by a combined score of 97-44. That’s about as lopsided as it gets in conference play against ranked teams.
Naturally, the reaction of the betting market was to jack up Georgia’s line against UMass. So Georgia comes into this thing a 41.5-point favorite. And while UMass plays like, but is not, in fact, an ACC team, this line is far too large for me to stomach. That’s because Georgia will get up in the first half slowly, and then allow a score or two in the second.
Keep in mind that while Georgia is scoring at a healthy pace, they are doing so with consistent scoring - not lopsided 60-point outbursts. These Dawgs haven’t scored over 50 this season. Any score from the revolutionaries, and you put your money at real risk taking the Dawgs.
Just my take, but I would take UMass, or sit this one out.
We’ve got Thanksgiving in Hiawassee this year - Christmas at the in-laws (pray for me). That means the usual down-and-out routine from my two Tech cousins. These are spectacular people who have been subject to the whims of Paul Johnson over the last ten years. They don’t bother bringing up basketball.
Frankly, we are more likely to talk about family stuff and the reality of the day than sports. And I can assure you that they are very much big Tech folks. They give to the institution and athletics… they love their school.
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But they also see it for what it is - one of the premiere academic institutions in the country, but one that is struggling to find its place in an athletic world where the Jackets have become an afterthought. My cousin Joe went to Tech during the 1990 half national title. He had the car (whatever it is called) at his wedding. He sits in the section of Bobby Dodd that isn’t overrun by opposing fans. Like most successful people, the outcome of an athletic contest isn’t the end all be all of his life, but he would certainly enjoy more trips to the Orange Bowl than he’s seen in his day.
(Quick side note about Joe: 1. He's been struck by lightning before... 2. We used to blow up cow patties with fireworks; If you don’t know what a cow patty is I can’t help you )
I don’t know how you fix Tech. Just winning in football isn’t going to solve all of the problems. But losing or going sideways isn’t getting you anywhere, either. When I was growing up in Atlanta in the 1980s and 1990s it felt like Tech was at least a threat to Georgia in sports. I don’t get that feeling anymore.
Tech might not want to admit it, but Georgia is making strides in catching Georgia Tech in academics… we can’t at all say the same thing about Tech doing that in sports. In fact, it is getting worse for the Jackets.
In my lifetime Tech has beaten UGA in football 11 times. Since I went off to college it has happened six times. Sure, the two programs have split the last four matchups, but what about that reflects the feeling on the ground about the future ahead for these two programs?
The budgetary realities of the Jackets, who are in the bottom third of the ACC, dictate that competing on an every-year basis with Georgia in all sports is hard to expect. The Dawgs have the No. 6 overall budget in all of college sports - nearly double what Tech spends.
No. 6 overall > bottom third of the ACC (no matter what click bait Danny Kanell says).
If this sounds like me having sympathy for Tech please calibrate your palate, and understand that this is laying out the reality as I see it on the ground - this is lopsided, and it is going to continue to be lopsided for the foreseeable future.
Guaranteed wins? Those are fairy tales, but this doesn’t look better soon for Tech.
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We’ve talked so much about the best rappers of all time that I think we are missing out on what was some of the best music of the time at which rap blew up in the mainstream (if you want to call it that) of American music - the 1990s.
Real quick background on me first. I went to Tucker High School; my best friend went to Druid Hills and my girlfriend for much of my time in high school went to Decatur. If you know anything about DeKalb County in the 1990s you can do the math on all of that.
Or, to put it another way, I didn’t grow up in north Fulton, Cobb or Gwinnett County.
In addition, perhaps more importantly, I played four years of AAU basketball with the Atlanta Celtics organization. I was one of two kids on the team “not” from inner city Atlanta… the other was future UGA TE Larry Brown (By the way, I saw Larry on the sideline this weekend before he got his All-SEC recognition, and he was signing the Star Spangled Banner about as loud as anyone I have seen not “designated” to sing it this weekend on the sideline before the Auburn game… {Note to Larry… you can play basketball; you can play football; you are bad at signing and tennis.})
With that said, here is my list of quintessential or you-forgot-how-good-they-are songs form the 1990s (and I am certain I am missing several).
Garth Brooks - 'Friends In Low Places' (1990)
A few things on Garth. First, look how skinny he was in 1990. Next, he took radio by storm. You simply could not get around him being on the air in the early 1990s. It was one of the songs that let you know that country wasn’t dead, and that it as coming for the top of the charts for the remainder of the decade.
I’ll be OK, too Garth.
Geto Boys - 'Mind Playing Tricks On Me' (1991)
First, Bushwick Bill - I’m not sure I need to expand on that. Also: The guy in the video is literally punching concrete… not cool. Its a song about being paranoid.
LL Cool J - 'Mama Said Knock You Out' (1991)
Folks thought LL was gone - a product of the 1980s who was going to stay there. But then he came through with a classic. The Unplugged version is probably a little better than the orignal, but I can’t get past the deodorant. Unplugged was overdone after a while, but this was up there with the best of the decade in that series as well as one of the best songs of the decade.
*** Nirvana - Come as You Are (1992) ***
This… this song was the song from Nirvana. You can have Smells like Teen Spirt, which was their arrival on the scene and was all over the radio. But it was Come as You Are that I really think hit the nerve that was that time in the 1990s. Its probably Nirvana’s best overall song, and it is constantly overlooked in favor of other songs by the band.
White Zombie - 'Thunder Kiss '65' (1992)
Probably that song you heard when you were handing out with all of the druggies/hippies. Don’t try to understand it. It makes no sense. The video… I’m not even sure where to start with that one - I think Frankenstein is lost in the desert for some reason, but I can’t tell why. Again, don’t think, just play the song. Don’t wonder why all the members of the heavy metal band have decided to dread their hair.
Radiohead - Creep (1992)
Here come the Brits to settle things down a little bit. Things have gotten a little bit out of control with all of this rap and heavy metal
“What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” - Sounds like the 90s to me.
*** Ice Cube - 'It Was a Good Day' (1993) ***
If you don’t like this song we can’t be friends. Also, Larry Brown used to scream: “Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp, and it read LB’s a pimp.”
Don’t forget: “I got a beep from Kim…”
Outkast - 'Player's Ball' (1993)
These two. I don’t think anyone knew what to make of them when they started out. How could you? No one was like Outkast before; and I don’t think we’ve seen much like them sense. Yes, Atlanta rap has its particular sound, but Outkast only sounds like Outkast.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Thuggish Ruggish Bone (1993)
Crossroads was Bone’s huge hit, but there were several tracks these guys had that were better, and this was their best. Easy E-influenced Bone came out of the midwest, and was all about murder, ouija boards and high-pitched backgrounds. Skip, Crossroads go right to Thuggish Ruggish Bone.
Lisa Loeb - 'Stay' (1994)
Your college girlfriend needs to talk, and this song is a primer. SHE HAS FEELINGS. WHY AREN’T YOU LISTENING? DID YOU EAT HER ROOMMATE’S RICE KRISPY TREATS AGAIN? YOU KNOW SHE DOESN’T LIKE THAT…
“I don’t understand if you really care… I am only hearing negatives.”
*** Notorious B.I.G. - 'Juicy' (1994) ***
“Get a grip…” No, I never read ‘Word Up Magazine’, but we didn’t know what New York rap was about to hit us with - perhaps the greatest rapper of all time. Biggie was large and didn’t care. He was smooth and letting you know what was real in Brooklyn.
Alanis Morissette - 'You Oughta Know' (1995)
Why is she screaming at me? Would she do what in the theater? WHY IS THIS SO INTENSE? “I’m sure she’s make an excellent mother…” WAIT… ARE YOU PREGNANT?
Alanis brought it, and she was pissed.
*** Oasis - 'Wonderwall' (1995) ***
This might be the song of the 1990s - certainly of rock. Oasis, the greatest rock band ever… just ask them, came out swinging with this one. Beatles references. This song was awesome. Awesome. They have some other great songs as well, but this was the one everyone remembers, and with good reason. It looked like these guys were about to take over for good… and they let you know that was their plan. Ugh. What a great song.
“There are many things I would like to say to you, but I don’t know how.”
Fugees - Ready or Not (1996)
This CD was everywhere. The Fugees weren’t much like anyone else, either. They had that in common with Outkast, and they were very chill.
*** The Verve - 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' (1996) ***
Top one-hit wonder of the decade. It still stands up in a way that many other ones don’t. Excellent song. Excellent, probably top five of the decade. So much angst. “You are a slave to the money, and then you die…” Yes, what a song.
Spice Girls - 'Wannabe' (1996)
Yes Posh Spice, I will get with your friends. Girl power.
Lauryn Hill - 'Doo Wop (That Thing)' (1998)
Lauryn is back, and she nails it. “Stop acting like boys and be men.”
Jay-Z - 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)' (1998)
First of all, great album - you don’t get that at all now, and you didn’t get that a ton back then. This was pre-Beyonce Jay-Z… he was unpolished; raw. Hard Knock Life was a basic come-up story. We used to be this… now we are this. Jay-Z did his best to take what Biggie started and run with it.
Eminem - 'My Name Is' (1999)
Here comes white trash to take over rap, and Eminem did take it over. Yes, he was white, but Eminem wasn’t from Manhattan or Brooklyn like the Beastie Boys. He may as well have been from Mars, but he was from Michigan - Detroit to be precise. Wait, is this guy’s name Eminem or Slim Shady? The platinum blonde hair (even Kirby had an unfortunate run in with that at one point); the nutty nature of his songs; “Am I comin' or goin’? I can barely decide.”
Me, either, but I am going to stick with Posh Spice.