I don't bet on college football games. Most of the time it's hard enough to decide which team will win without trying to factor in the point spread, and it's easier to enjoy the game without a financial stake in the outcome. However, I usually try to figure out which team will win in advance because I consider it an exercise of the same analytical skills I use to write my detective novels as "Rocky Leonard", and specifically the ability to apply logic and reason to problem-solving, especially if I care about the outcome of the game. As a Georgia Bulldog alumnus and football fan, I care about the outcome of the 2018 national championship game, and I'm aware that the bookies in Las Vegas have installed Alabama as a four point favorite. The prognosticators and pundits have also spoken: Colin Cowherd decreed that Georgia has absolutely no chance to beat Alabama, and according to him the Crimson Tide are "best team in football" who only lost a nail-biter to Auburn, (by "nail-biter", Cowherd apparently means losing the game by only 12 points as opposed to a 23 point margin.) UGA fans who have been upset by Cowherd's prediction that Alabama will thrash our Bulldogs in the National Championship game should note that this same "expert" analyst also predicted Oklahoma would defeat both Georgia and Alabama and win the national championship. Remember, the "experts" forecast Hillary Clinton would be President today, not Donald Trump. In other words, as my late Dad used to say, opinions are like a-holes. Everybody has one. Almost every writer at Sports Illustrated also picked … [Read more...]
Exceeding expectations
On February 10, 1980, the Russian national hockey team absolutely demolished the U.S. national team in an exhibition game in Madison Square Garden just prior to the Olympics, by a 10-3 score. Arguably the game hadn't even been as close as the score. The Russian team looked a lot like the Harlem Globetrotters on ice, and the U.S. team appeared to be significantly less competent than the hockey equivalent of the Washington Generals. They didn't even look as good as the Mighty Ducks (meaning the team coached by Emilio Estevez, not the NHL version.) After that brutal and humbling loss, U.S. coach Herb Brooks made a very interesting observation. He said: "Sometimes a real butt-kicking is good for a quality team, or a quality athlete." Incredibly, less than a month later the U.S. national team managed the unthinkable and defeated the Russians in the far more-important "Miracle on Ice" rematch in the Olympics. Do you believe in miracles? I do. I happened to watch that 1980 hockey game in the SAE fraternity house in Athens, Georgia as it happened, in real time. And yesterday I witnessed a similar sports miracle. Georgia won the SEC Championship by three touchdowns by the same team that had beaten them by more than three touchdowns, only three weeks earlier. Don't pinch me. If I'm dreaming, I don't want to wake up. The University of Georgia Bulldogs are the 2017 SEC Champions. Say it again, out loud and proud. Go Dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof woof woof woof! Who could have believed it, before this season started? Heck, who besides our players and coaches believed it … [Read more...]
Georgia’s next defensive coordinator
First of all, let's get something straight up front. I have no special access to insider knowledge. I don't have a mole inside the UGA athletic department. No little bird has been whispering in my ear. Nobody who knows anything has told me anything that no one is supposed to know. In other words, take my analysis with a grain of salt, if not the whole shaker. I've been blessed with the God-given ability to use my brain to think like a private detective, which coincidentally comes in quite handy because my day "job" is to write detective novels. I use the pseudonym Rocky Leonard to differentiate the novels from my nonfiction writing. Kirby Smart does not have my number on speed dial. Nobody has divulged any Georgia Bulldog secrets to me. I'm a writer, not a sports journalist. Like Sergeant Schultz from the old television show Hogan's Heroes, I hear nothing. I know NOTHING! But I think I know who Kirby Smart might be planning to hire as his defensive coordinator, given only the fact that he didn't retain former UGA defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. Coach Smart's hires for the offensive side of the ball seem to be excellent choices, especially considering the overwhelmingly positive reaction that came from the experts in sports journalism and the fact the new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach have experience working together. Nothing has been said about the defense, though. If we have confidence that the (soon-to-be) former defensive coordinator at Alabama has a clear plan in mind for the Georgia defense, we should assume that Coach … [Read more...]
