Goodbye blogspot, hello wordpress

Ladies and Germs,

I have closed down shop here at blogspot (after a very long hiatus) and relocated to www.oldwillard.com, where I'm now hosting my blog on my own machine. Let me know what you think.

Peace

UGA versus GT - Nov. 25th, 2006

There's been quite a lag since I last posted anything UGA-related, so I wanted to make sure I get the GT pics up while the victory is still relevant, i.e. while UGA fans are still actively rubbing it all in.

Our tailgate got a surprise visit from Santa's delinquent, PBR-guzzlin' helper, Skippyclaus.

Other surprise visits at the tailgate: The token GT fan for the day and softball extraordinaire, Angela, who was camera shy, perhaps already sensing a shameful defeat.

And the Doctor:

Some other action shots from the tailgate:

And finally, an 8-4 season no longer hurts as much and there's reason to believe that this year was truly the cliche "rebuilding" season:

Ending the season with an away win at a then Nr. 5 Auburn and a "state championship" win at home against Georgia Tech really gave the team as well as the Bulldawg Nation a boost of confidence and much needed momentum going into the post-season bowl game (in Atlanta!!). We're all hoping Stafford's performance at Auburn as a freshman jettisons Stafford down the same successful career path that Greene's performance as a freshman in Knoxville did for him. I think knowing that he's the Nr. 1 QB for the team did a lot for his confidence. Playing the QB shuffle, in my humble opinion, has never been successful. The team needs one leader on the field.

One last note about the future of UGA football: I know I'm not alone in saying that I'm VERY grateful Richt has seen the light and has relinquished offensive play-calling duties to Mike Bobo, at least officially for the bowl game. Richt mentioned the offensive call duties were handed to Bobo during the GT game. Richt has long been criticized for taking on too much as both head coach and offensive coordinator, often resulting in poor play management decisions.

With a new paradigm in game management in place and a QB who has worked off all the rough edges, I think the Bulldogs have a lot to look forward to next season.

See everyone at the Dome!

UGA versus UF - Oct. 28th, 2006

There were some things I expected to see in JAX, like a UGA loss, and some things I didn't expect to see, which turned out to make post-game depression a little bit more bearable.

Like bona fide proof that the jean short is being kept alive by the Florida faithful:

And learning that I'm not the only one with my messed up humor:


The Dawgs were in their typical mood and form, that is, showing up for only one of the two halves. It was admittedly very hard sitting on the Florida side with 3 Florida (friends) fans during the first half. All in all a very fun trip but our efforts on the field made thinking about making the drive again next year very difficult.

And if the loss to archrival UF wasn't hard enough to swallow, it was announced this week that no network will be picking up the UGA vs. UK game, not even Lincoln Financial (formerly Jefferson Pilot Sports), the worst sports network known to mankind. Even they seem to have something better to do with their Saturday.

UGA versus MSU - Oct. 21st, 2006

After the loss to Vandy, all hopes of a packed stadium for next week's matchup with the worst team in the SEC, Mississippi State, quickly vanished - along with it the prospects of tons of jovial fans showing up to tailgate. Turns out, the one Saturday we didn't need to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to lay claim to our ground, was the one day we had all things unloaded and operational, including satellite, in record time: 20 minutes.

Dressing like this is normally outlawed in the 50 States, but Skippy knows how to pull it all off with a touch a class with PBR in hand:

Julie, I know what Brian wants for Christmas: a tent that doesn't crumble if you look at it funny.

The Dawgs came out poised in the first half and completely stalled in the second in what has become typical fashion as of late. A last minute fumble recovery saved us from another embarrassing loss in our own backyard. Dawgs win by a fieldgoal, 27-24.

See you next weekend in JAX.

UGA versus Vanderbilt - Oct. 14th, 2006

I can handle a loss to Tennessee.

Every year Georgia has the same 3-game hurdle that defines their season. Tennessee, Florida, and either Auburn or LSU. I can't remember the last time we've beat all three in the same season. So, the loss to the Vols, even at home, was not a hard pill to swallow. If anything, it would provide for good entertainment the following weekend as we could watch the Dawgs take out their frustrations on a lowly 0-3 Commodore side. 40-3? 56-0? Not outside the realm of feasible for UGA, right? Try 24-22, Vandy. At home. Homecoming weekend.

I don't have much to say about it now, I've tried to detach myself emotionally from the rest of the season. Every first down, every positive yard, every complete pass for the rest of the season is a blessing, as far as I'm concerned. Losing to Vandy, something that hasn't happened in over ten years, should serve as a real gut-check for our squad. I'm sure there are a couple of staff members dusting off their resumes, too.

If you would have told any Dawg fan before the game that Vandy would leave Athens victorious, they'd've probably fallen out of their chairs, like Brian:

What?

UGA versus UT - October 7th, 2006

Despite the horrendous outcome, it was the biggest and best tailgate of the season thus far. Skippy, our classically trained chef, organized a low-country boil, originally set to feature live blue crab, but Skip's "purveyor" apparently got a bad shipment. So blue crab got substituted with shrimp. A good chef knows how to react to hickups in the supply chain :)

You know it's a good tailgate when half the crew crashes at some point during the day. Here's Skip conserving energy before working the boiler:

We even got a little entertainment from a fratastic bunch raising money by selling swings at Fulmer's ride for a buck:

Can anyone pick out the only Gator fan in our bunch (all by her lonesome)?

Can't remember which branch of the military these guys were from but it was really cool watching them make pinpoint landings at the 50 yard line at night. The big scoreboard actually showed video from the cameras mounted on their helmets as they were freefalling in the night sky over Sanford stadium. You could see the guys checking their altitude on their wrist altimeters with the stadium directly below them. Three guys swooped in with the American, Georgia, and UGA flags trailing behind them:

The dawgs blew a 17-point halftime lead to lose their first of the season in front of another sold out Sanford.

UGA vs. South Carolina - Sept. 9th, 2006

Away game at Columbia, SC which means 1 of 3 things: gameday at Pam's, my place, or the Taco Stand in Buckhead, the official alumni gameday watering hole. This time, we went out to Pam's in the metropolitan area of Snellville.

Pam and Stace working the corn dip:

Hi there:

The game was a bit of a snoozer. Titan, Cisco, and Pam were feeling the effects:

UGA wins by a close margin and puts the Bulldawg nation to sleep.

UGA vs. UAB - Sept. 16th, 2006

Another warmup match for the Dawgs. And another early game which means we all got up at the ass-crack of dawn to start the tailgating promptly at 7am.

Here, most of the crew (Adam in the background doing his damnedest to get the satellite operational after Skip and I gave up...the first time):

Sista Love Pam and Stace all smiles:

Bro and Sis (me taking another break from the satellite):

Stace and me:

Sista Love and the Christina:

Stace's shirt says it all:

Before totally throwing in the towel with the satellite, I decided I'd grab it and start pointing in all general directions while Adam would monitor the reception. Pretty much the most inefficient way to figure out where to pick up the signal, but Skippy's ROTC training and my Webelo Scout skills failed earlier with trying to work the compass to point it in the right direction, at the right elevation, and with the right tilt we were getting from the satellite setup instructions. It worked.

Now, before all this, there was a little land dispute. As you can see, we setup shop at the end of a row in a parking lot. Enough room for one tent. What we didn't know was that we were going to get a neighbor hell-bent on not losing his favorite spot. Keep in mind, Skip was there before 7am to lay claim. This guy rolls up 8:30ish, begins to unload his equipment next to our tent. So far so good. There was enough room for a temporary staging area. We didn't even fuss when he started assembling his tent. We did ask for an explanation as to where he was tailgating for the day once he started literally standing in front of our satellite as we were setting it up and said we could move it if we had a problem with him standing in front of it. Adam approached the man ever so calmly and asked if he needed help moving his equipment to one of the wide open, green spaces adjacent to ours. He was not budging and told us we couldn't just claim the entire "island" to ourselves. Agreed. If the island was Puerto Rico. He also made a point to let us know his son or son-in-law was with the campus police and he could remind us of what the rules were. We all smirked. It was if he had just said, "I'll call the law on yuns!" At this point, we didn't want to spend anymore time making ourselves dumber talking to him, so Adam finished it up with a "enjoy the game." Here's the land our neighbor was clinging to:

His wife partying it up. Off the chain, baby:

Here's Pam and her "champagne:"

And finally, some shots of the Redcoats.

Drumline leading the Redcoats to the field for the pre-game show:

The Arches:

All in all, a great weekend. UAB really didn't pose a threat.

UGA vs. WKU - Sept. 2nd, 2006

I forgot my camera, so these pics were taken with the phone. Brought along my buddy, Andre, and introduced him to Georgia football culture.

Andre at the grill showing his Vikings pride. We got him a Dawgs shirt before he got to the stadium, though:



Just a pic from the stands where my bud, Andre, and I roasted our rumps off in the hot Georgia sun:

No big surprises during the game. It was a one-sided afair.

It's been a long time...

...since my last posts and a lot of the other "football" has been underway for over a month now. That's right, you're University of Georgia Bulldawgs have carved out a 5-0 record going into this weekend's faceoff with our hillbilly neighbors to the North from Knoxville, TN.

College football has helped fill that deep sports void I was feeling after the World Cup. The English Premiere is in high gear, so I still get my soccer fix on, but US Soccer has literally fallen off the face of the sports map. We are without a coach, have missed two international dates (these are dates recognized by soccer nations worldwide to schedule international matches. Club teams also recognize these dates and cooperate by allowing their players to leave for national duty), and have seen our once revered national coach make an ass of himself by publicly blaming a "weak" MLS for the US' poor perfomance in the World Cup. Not to mention, he's also isolated himself from US Soccer by speaking out against Gulati, the BMOC at US Soccer, calling him "a super fan" with no clue how the system works.

Anywho...thank God for the Dawgs, even if their shaky performances have left much to be desired. Too many comeback-from-behind efforts for me. I'll say the obvious and just point to our QB situation as the biggest area of improvement.

All right, so there's a little catching up to do here with all the tailgating that's been going on. See the next posts...

Another First...

...my first hockey match. Boston Bruins versus I can't remember who or when.

 

Beantown at Dusk

My last week in Boston, I started thinking of the things I wanted to do in town before I left. I never really got to walk or go for a jog along the Charles, so one day after work, I jumped in the rental and headed downtown for a run. I ended up parking near Cambridge and did a 30 minute run, crossing two bridges (I think one was part of Mass Ave) to complete a loop.

On the last quarter of the loop, I caught a cool view of the skyline and captured it with my camera phone:

I really liked Boston. But God bless'm. It's too damn cold for me. For a while before I started going back and forth between Atlanta and Boston, I was really thinking I was getting tired of Atlanta, maybe even outgrowing it. But being away really made me appreciate Hotlanna. Atlanta even started feeling like my weekend vacation destination during the early parts of spring and summer, when it was still shitay weather up north.

Ups to my Tewksbury crew. Hope y'all are all well!

First Class, Sittin' Next to Vanna White...

Well, since you asked, Jess...

As many of you may or may not know, my last day with the firm was August 1oth. Funny story. After my trip out to San Diego, which propelled me into the very non-exclusive ranks of Delta SkyMiles Silver Medallion status, I was excited to start reaping the rewards of all those miles flown. Silver Medallion is the first status category in the SkyMiles program - along with Gold and Platinum. To get Silver, you have to have flown 25k miles and the only real benefit is free domestic upgrades to first class when available. However, when you fly the business commuter routes and schedules, typically you're on board with 20+ Platinum members who have status over you when seats in first class open up before boarding.

So I go a couple of weeks hoping and wishing, but to no avail. Still cooped up in coach. But, on my last day with the firm, on my last flight, I got the upgrade. It was the first time in my life I had ever flown first class. I was a rock star. I felt like it was God's little gift for all the hard work. And I can tell ya, it's going to be hard going back to coach, people.

Drinks served before everyone is seated. An actual MEAL. And the leg room, hmm. To the seasoned road-warrior, all this is probably not a big deal. But it was my first time, so you know I had to break out the camera phone. Here's what it looked like from seat 3D, flight 409, Beantown to the ATL (equipment, MD-88):



So there you go, Jess. Silver Medallion.