"Well, That Was Fun"--Mark Richt

After watching yesterday's Georgia game against Tennessee (several plays over and over again so that I could understand what had just happened), I made a list of possible titles for today's post:

• Shootout at Sanford
• Georgia Scores Points with Gurley Man
• No Worry for Murray
• Bad Day for Tyler Bray
• Sucks to be a Volunteer in Athens
• Red Coats Tire of Playing University Fight Song
• Yum, Yum! I Smell Turnovers!

I chose as my title Mark Richt's post-game quotation: "Well, that was fun."

Yes, it was.

It was fun watching Todd Gurley race down the field like his pants were on fire. It was fun watching Keith Marshall sprint 75 yards to goal. It was fun watching Damien Swann's turnover and the successful two-point conversion with a completed pass to Downtown Marlon Brown.

Lots of Dawgs had successful plays last night, which is why I think the team's success this year is teamwork, not reliance on one player. Yes, Jarvis Jones (26) is a powerhouse, but I didn't hear his name on the loudspeaker very much yesterday. Todd Gurley (3), Keith Marshall (4), Michael Bennett (82), Tavarres King (12), Marc Deas (23), Damien Swann (5), and John Theus (71) all had their share in the Dawgs' victory yesterday. Even my favorite #22 Richard Samuel IV (not to be confused with fellow Bulldogs Richard Samuel III and Richard Samuel Jr.) got in on the action yesterday.

I'm noticing that Samuel gets one play each game. He now reminds me of two seasons ago when second string quarterback Logan Gray would get one chance on the field to spell then quarterback Joe Cox (whatever happened to him?). I started calling him One Play Gray. I could start calling Georgia's #22 One Play Samuel. It doesn't have the same ring to it as One Play Gray, but then again, it wouldn't make sense to call him One Plamuel Samuel.

Yes, the game was fun. It was also weird. In fact, another possible title for this post could have been "Weirdness." For instance...

Special Teams:  Yes, they're special all right--special in the sense that we never know what we'll get from them. I couldn't help remembering Stephen's comment last week:  "Extra points are an adventure for Georgia this year." So true. Apparently the same applies to Tennessee. For example, in this play, Tennessee's pooch kick landed right in the middle of the big G, where Marc Deas pounced on it gaining Georgia possession.

Then there was Tennessee's attempt at a 28 yard field goal, which went wide to the left and made me wonder if Blair Walsh had snuck into Tennessee's locker room and suited up.

Georgia had its weirdness also. For instance in the fourth quarter, the special team set up for a punt but then rushed into a regular offensive formation to drive the ball. But their change of mind delayed the game and cost them a penalty, so they ended up punting 36 yards. I had to rewind that one two times to figure out what was going on, and still, I ended up asking, "Huh"?

Tavarres King's Near Miss:  It took officials almost ten minutes to decide whether Tavarres King had actually scored in the second quarter. When did his knee go down? Before or after the ball hit the line? Did it really hit the line or not? Where exactly was it? And if he didn't score, where was the line of scrimmage? Thank goodness for slow-mo instant replay. Without that we'd probably still be watching the officials scratch their heads. But the weirdness to me was not the analysis of that play. It was Tavarres King's reaction to it. That man has a tongue a mile long! He must be part snake!

Hair Dos (and Don'ts):  My loyal readers (all three of them) already know my opinion about long hair on a football player. I never understood why Jarvis Jones, Marlon Brown and Todd Gurley want to sport their hair extensions during football season, leaving them available for opposing players to grab. Not only that, but hair poking out of a helmet just looks bad. And then I noticed Tennessee's #84 Patterson. He has long hair, but he keeps it bunched up under a little sock.

Now, I still think that hair do leaves a little handle out the back of his helmet for Bulldogs to grab, but at least his braids aren't flopping all over his shoulder pads like the legs of some mutant octopus. At first I thought Tennessee's head coach Derek Dooley had required the hair sock for all his players. But then I saw other Volunteers with the octopus thing going on under their helmets, and that just demonstrated to me that at least in the hair department, Tennessee's Patterson has more sense than Jarvis Jones does.

Fans' Fashion Sense: This was more cute than weird, but one Georgia fan was dressed up like Waldo. I hope somebody got a long shot photo of him in the crowd, because that would have made a good jigsaw puzzle.

I also heard the sports announcer say that Barbara Dooley, wife of former Georgia head coach and AD Vince Dooley and mother of Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley, came to the game wearing pair of pants with one red leg and one orange leg. I would like to have seen that. I couldn't find a photo of those pants, but I did find a photo of her in this jacket.

Well, I declare.

So Georgia's victory over Tennessee was fun for lots of reasons. Next week the Dawgs take on the Roosters as Georgia travels to Columbia to meet Carolina. That'll be a fun game to watch too because Davis will be home for the weekend, and I can watch the game with him.

Go, Dawgs!

Rams Beat Pants off Blazers

For the second time this season, the St. Peter the Apostle Rams went head to head with the Bethesda Blazers:

This time, though, Bethesda's boys came better prepared. They'd practiced. And they came determined not to let the game be a shutout. They succeeded, but in so doing, they got a little overzealous and brought the game to a standstill just before halftime.

Poor Zach Strickland (21) absorbed the ram's share of the Blazers' enthusiasm, as one of Bethesda's lineman (I think he was #44 long) mowed him down and left him lying on the fifty yard line with a sprained neck. Zach gave us quite a scare, but fortunately he was all right.

Still, Rams don't like it when one of their own gets carted off the field in an ambulance. So while the Bethesda boys thought the Rams might be a little skittish after seeing a teammate get injured, just the opposite happened. They got mad.

And they decided to take those Blazers to the cleaners.

Who had a good game Tuesday night? Drew Tison (#5) scored three times for St. Peter's (He ran down that field so many times, I almost lost count). Aiden Anderson (#9) also earned a lot of yards rushing (That time I did lose count), and I think he scored too, leaving the Blazers a little frayed at the seams.

Lawson had a splendid moment in the fourth quarter as he completed a pass from #18 Adam King. Wide open, Lawson leapt up and cradled that ball like it had a homing device taking it right to him. At first, we all though Lawson had scored a touchdown. Even the referee had his hands in the air. But then the officials realized he was on the five-yard line, not the goal line. It took several more downs, but our boys finally took that ball to the goal post (Way to go, Drew!).

By the end of the game, the Rams had ripped up the Blazers, 28-6. Our boys really know how to work as a team.

Do you know who else works as a team? The parents! Our team's moms and dads gather weekly to rally behind our boys. For instance, whenever the team needs someone to work the chains, Stephen Remler and Sean Sheppard always step up to the plate (I know that's a baseball metaphor, but it still works).

And who serves as the team organizer and keeps the stats for our boys every week? Carmen Thompson. Look at her up in that press box, keeping her eye on that field, making sure she gets all those statistics correct.

Carmen also coordinates the moms' spirit wear. Look at these great tee shirts Carmen ordered for us from Bahama Joe's! They have our boys' names on the back with their numbers too. That way when we sit in the stands, everybody knows who our players are. We will wear these shirts proudly next month at homecoming.

Nancy, Allison, Mary

 

Lesley

 

And Kristi is our parent videographer. She hardly had a seat the whole night because she felt duty bound to capture the game for posterity in digital video. We might just see the game on YouTube next week!

Our boys wouldn't have fine-tuned athletic prowess without the help of all our coaches and trainers:  William Autry, Lawton Tison, George Miller, Barry Dodd, and Tommy Harrison. And special words of appreciation go to head coach Scott King, who has stuck with these boys, football and basketball, for the past two years. Way to go, Coach King!

Next week the Rams take on Savannah Christian. Tune in to Remlerville to learn how the Rams butted the Raiders!

Georgia 48, Vanderbilt 3

Another victory for Georgia, but it's not one I can get too excited about. Don't get me wrong; I like to see Georgia win just as much as the next person, but when the opposing team gets the spanking Vanderbilt did last night, it's not as much fun to watch. There's no challenge.

Wait. Let me rephrase my thought.

I would like to see Florida take a spanking any day of the week. But with any other team, I'd like to see the game be at least a little bit of a struggle for Georgia too. It's nice to see when the home team has to try to win. Even when Georgia messed up big time, Vanderbilt just couldn't compete.

For instance, Vandy had so many penalties in the first half that the sports announcers described them as "epidemic." What an apt description. I thought the Commodores came with a goal to color the field yellow.

Even in the second half, when they got their act a little bit more together, they just couldn't catch a break. Their ONE time they got the ball across the goal line, the player lost control of it, so the referee ruled it a touchback and not a touch down.

Poor Vandy.

But it's not like Georgia didn't give them any opportunities. For instance, look at this disaster of a field goal in the first quarter:

Now, this is a family friendly blog, so I refrain from using bad language in my posts, but when I saw this play, I couldn't help yelling, "What the ____ was that?" You fill in the blank. I'll give you a hint. I didn't use the term Sam Hill.

As Stephen said, "Extra points are an adventure this year for Georgia." I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank goodness we got all our extra points after that, but one of them did have to bounce off the goal post before it went through. 

Then there was Malcom Mitchell's decision not to wave for a fair catch at the kickoff. Instead, he had the brilliant idea to run the ball and only made it to the five yard line. We might as well have wrapped up a touch down and given it to Vanderbilt as a gift. But even with that disadvantage, the Commodores failed to hold Georgia back, and the Dawgs' offense drove the ball ninety-five yards to a touchdown, bringing the score to 27-0.

By the end of the third quarter, I'd lost interest in the game. Even when Richard Samuel stepped onto the field, I watched just long enough to be amused at the fact that he has the name SAMUEL IV on his jersey. I guess that's to help the rest of us distinguish him from his father and grandfather, who must also be on the field wearing red #22 jerseys.

Then I wondered about women playing football. "Why hasn't that ever caught on?" I asked Stephen. "We have women's teams in every other sport except football."

He didn't reply. I think he'd fallen asleep.

So I began an internet search on my iPad. As it turns out, not only do women play football, but they do so professionally in three leagues: The Independent Women's Football League, the Women's Football Alliance, and the Women's Spring Football League. Who knew? (Not me). And as it turns out, we have a women's team in Savannah!  The Savannah Sabers just finished their 2012 season. They're part of the Women's Football Alliance. They play out in Garden City. Atlanta has some professional women's football teams too. Next spring, I might just go out and see some of those games.

Meanwhile, I'll get excited about Georgia's next game against Tennessee! The Volunteers! (In last week's post, I said we'd be playing them last night. I read the schedule wrong. So I'm glad I'm back on track). Go Dawgs!

Saturday Night's All Right

Big day yesterday.


And not just for me. It was big for the whole family. Up in the Big Apple, Davis was cavorting with his godfather, Aloysius, having a fun guys' weekend, roaming Times Square, meeting all kinds of fun people, and doing I don't know what all. I've been checking Facebook all weekend for posts on Davis's page to see what he's been up to. But there's no activity there, which only shows me he's having too much fun to pull out his phone.

And then there was the charity tennis tournament at the Savannah Yacht Club to benefit St. Joseph's Candler Hospital. Laurie and Alicia had come to town for BC's commissioning (because Taylor and Kristen were going to the ceremony and dance), so while they were here, they signed up for this tournament. Just for fun, you know. But they ended up winning the whole dang thing! Congratulations!

I hope they got more than those tiny little flags.

And it was also a big afternoon for me, as I had my book signing at E. Shaver Bookseller, right after Savannah author Mark Murphy had his (and if you haven't read The Shadow Man, you're in for a treat).

 Also, Sabra came to town for our biggest Saturday night event, the Elton John concert, which was, I think, a much better choice than the Georgia football game because 1) it was Elton John and 2) Georgia played the Owls. 

So before I reflect on the musical performance at the Civic Center, I'll just make a few remarks about the Georgia game because I'm supposed to be doing football blogs this season:

Football
 Georgia won. Duh.

Yesterday's game was the Owls' first game in the SEC, and they made a good show for themselves, all things considered. Although it was smart of Georgia's Jarvis Jones to sit this game out to nurse his injury, had he been on the defensive line, I don't think the Owls would have earned the 20 points that they did.

I also wonder who came up with their mascot. The Owls? Couldn't they have made those owls a little fiercer? The Barn Owls? The Screech Owls? The Fighting Owls? Plain old owls just seem so wise, not athletic. The only team mascot I know of that's less exciting is the Chanticleers.

Enough of that. I'm looking forward to the next game when Georgia takes on...

the Volunteers!

We've really got a tough season this year.

Elton John
  In spite of a nagging bout of bronchitis that had him hospitalized in L.A. last May, Elton John gave a spirited performance last night at the Martin Luther King Arena in the Savannah Civic Center. And for that I must thank Benedictine Military School for scheduling their commissioning on the same day, which resulted in Katie Bradley's inability to enjoy her Mother's Day gift, so she sold it to me. Thanks, BC!

I told Katie I'd get some video footage of Sir Elton singing her favorite tune, "Levon." I have fulfilled my promise and sent that video to her. What she may not realize, though, is that I almost  missed that chance. Here's why:

The Civic Center is dark during a concert, and the rows on the floor aren't well marked. So Sabra and I ended up in the wrong seats--twice. Both times we got kicked out by their rightful owners, and the second time that eviction occurred by way of a fat lady who I thought was going to bounce us right out of the building. 

Armed with her flashlight, she told us we had to move down the row.  I told her someone was in our seats, so she replied, "I'll make them move." And off she huffed to the other end of the row, where we found my friend (and Katie's sister in-law) Kathleen McCarthy.

To make sure everyone was in their assigned positions, Fat Lady shoved herself over the knees and feet of Kathleen and other Elton John enthusiasts. I followed her into the fray, but Sabra wisely stayed in the aisle. That's when Kathleen, knees tucked under her chin, asked, "Are you going to come in also?"

Sabra replied, "No. Fat Lady's got to come back out first. I'll just wait."

And she was right. Fat Lady did eventually emerge from the row, and Sabra and I took our correct seats. By the time that was over, I realized Elton John was in the middle of "Levon," and I screamed, "Oh! I have to take a picture for Katie!" Here it is:

Sir Elton sang only one song I didn't know:  "Holiday Inn." I wasn't sure why he sang it. Nobody else knew it either. In fact, it was during that song that everyone decided to take a break and sit down. And it was during that song that I was able to take a good look around me and reflect on the crowd. I came to this conclusion:

We might have been rocking out like we did in our high school and college years, but we were really just a bunch of old people at a concert.

We could try to be as cool as we wanted. We could hold up our flashlight phones and flick our lighters during "Candle in the Wind." We could sway and close our eyes during "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and hold one hand in the air and nod our heads like the cool people we thought we were. But the fact remains. We were rocking out with the Geritol crowd.

We could sing along with the music. We could even get in our friends' faces and point our fingers at each other while singing along. But we didn't know all the words (or we'd forgotten them), because we'd only sing during the most memorable moments of each tune, thereby interrupting Sir Elton, even though he's the person we came to hear.

Here's how "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" went down:

Elton John:  "Back to the howling out out in the woods/Back to the horny backed toad/Oh I've finally decided my future lies/Beyond the yellow brick..."

Audience:  Rooooaaaaad! AHHHHHHH! AHHHHH!

The bright stage lights confused my camera, and in the darkness I couldn't find the right settings (poor eyesight--another indicator of age), but my Fuji Finepix's audio recorder made no mistakes as it captured the voices of the fans around me. We've got no business singing in public:

Well, we might be old, but Elton John is too. On the way home, Sabra made an apt observation: "You know we used to carve people's heads out of apples and then let them sit in the window to dry and wither? Elton John looks kind of like an apple head."

Yeah, it's blurry. But there we fogies do a lot of jostling around at rock concerts.

He does, bless his heart. But who cares? At sixty-five, he can still sing up a storm and put on a great show. He's twenty years older than I am, and after months on the road and a pulmonary infection, he has more energy than I do on my best day. And we oldsters in the audience had a great time. If he comes back to Savannah, I'll be sure to buy tickets, and I think I'll take Katie Bradley with me.

Going Green: A Night for the Knights

On Friday night, the Remlers continued their football streak with a short trip to Penn Waller Road for the Frederica Football Fest, hosted by friends of Fredrica Academy, Brett Remler and Bobby Blake. Brett and Bobby don't do anything halfway. No, they decided if they were going to support them team, they'd support it whole hog, which is about what they had cooking on their grill prior to the big game against Savannah's St. Andrews School:

And how did they get that bodacious grill all the way up to Savannah, why in Brett and Bobby's bodacious beefmobile, of course (otherwise known as the Fredrica Academy Grillin' and Tailgatin' trailor (I like the term bodacious beefmobile better, though). 

They surely did serve up a tasty meal, and they fed almost all of the Remler family:  me, Stephen, Lawson, JoJo, Pop Pop, Kelley, Taylor, Laurie, Kristen, Alicia, Randy and Katheryn. And after we'd all had our fill, we ambled over to the St. Andrews stadium to watch the Fredrica Knights lance the Lions. 

Carson Remler played offense. There he is. Number one.

Trey Tolleson (3), played offense. There were some other boys, too, but it was hard to tell them all apart. Whenever I tried to get a good photo, some photographer with a tripod wold get in my way. Besides (and this is an uncanny coincidence) whatever football game I attend, whenever I try to take photos of the players, I can only get pictures of their backs!

They all look alike to me.

 

But the parents can tell them apart, and that's the important thing. Oddly enough, Fredrica Academy was the visiting team, but they had more fans in the stands than the home team. How's that for school spirit? 

We must have had some impact on the team, because the Knights reigned victorious 40-12 on St. Andrews' field. Way to go, Knights! 

More football is on the schedule tomorrow night as Georgia takes on Florida Atlantic! I can't say I'm biting my nails in anticipation. It's hard to give a hoot about the Owls.

  More football reports on Sunday!

Who's That #20? He Sure Is Good!

The number 2 seems to be lucky in this household. For instance, when I published Dunaway's Crossing, I had successful book signings at a number of businesses featuring the number two. In July, I signed books at Two Women and a Warehouse. Then I had another signing at Two Smart Cookies. The next weekend, I was off to St. Simons to sign books at Two Friends. Actually, I have TWO book signings at Two Friends because in a few weeks, I'll be off to sign books at their Perry location. In December, I'll be signing books at One Fish, TWO Fish on Whitaker Street.

The power of TWO seems to be working for Lawson Remler as well. During his SECOND game of the season, my number 2-0 made TWO pass interceptions against the behemoths that make up Blessed Sacrament's offensive line.

Two!

As a result, I got to see what a safety is really supposed to do.

Much of the time, while the rest of the team is doing this...

Lawson is in the back field, covering the receivers who want to complete a pass and run for the boal line:

And if that receiver does complete the pass, it's Lawson's job to bring him down, which he did a few times. But what he'd really like to do is get in front of that receiver and take the ball away from him and run for the other goal line, like this:

(I know the picture's blurry, but everything was going so fast, and I was really excited)

Even I can tell from the sidelines that a pass interception is hard to do. And Lawson managed to complete TWO of them last night against the Blessed Sacrament Irish. And once he did, he ran for that goal line like his pants were on fire, not only gaining possession for the Rams, but also moving the ball 35 to 40 yards closer to the right goal line. 

GO, LAWSON!

Unfortunately, he was never able to take the ball all the way down the field, and by the end of the game, Blessed Sacrament took the win. But Lawson left that game on a high, partly because of his exciting performance, but also because when he walked off the field, he was surrounded by cheerleaders, including one special girl, Smiley Riley:

Not a bad night for a boy who had to be talked into playing football this year. And because poor Ian Heap's foot is injured, Lawson's ended up playing offense and defense (TWO positions!). He never left the field last night (most of our team didn't because the team's so small), and his legs were screaming at him on the way home (so he took TWO ibuprofen). This season is not what Lawson expected, but last night, he wasn't complaining!

Something lit a fire in Lawson last night. Maybe it was those magic gloves (I noticed Drew Tison wore a pair also). Maybe it was the hearty dinner he ate beforehand. Maybe it was a combination of the two. I'll never be sure, but just to be on the safe side, we're eating the same dinner next Thursday night too:

Hugs from Richt

Last week, Missouri's defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson claimed of his team, "If we execute, nobody in this league can touch us. Period."

Famous last words.

Jarvis Jones (29) didn't just touch the Tigers; he caught them by the tail.

In fact, football talk around Savannah had me thinking Georgia fans weren't really sure what would happen on Faurot Field Saturday night. But in spite of several incomplete passes, a number of penalties that prolonged the third quarter, and some underwhelming attempts at field goals by Marshall Morgan (13), the Bulldogs left Columbia with a 2-0 record and left Sheldon Richardson sucking his thumb.

Maybe it was because Missouri hadn't played Georgia in 46 years. Maybe it was because the last time the two teams met in the Orange Bowl in 1960 Georgia won 14-0. Maybe it was because last night was Mizzou's first SEC game. Maybe it was because the Tigers were a little too confident. But whatever the reason, their game started off so awkwardly, they made Joe Cox's butterfinger ball drops look professional.

The first quarter showed us this:

Now, this play is surprising on its own, but when you also consider that Mizzou quarterback Dorial Green-Beckham is six and a half feet tall, this play is even more jaw dropping. The center snapped the ball so high that Green-Beckham had to jump to try to catch it, and it was still way over his head! I wonder how Sheldon Richardson can explain that.

Or this:

This is not the only fumble palooza we saw from Mizzou. This was first quarter's ball scramble, but we saw another one just like it in the fourth quarter. Both times Georgia recovered the ball, and on the second time, Georgia's Jordan Jenkins (59) got it on Mizzou's five yard line, which, after a penalty and a couple of downs, allowed #24 Ken Malcome run for a touchdown.

In spite of the time warp that was the third quarter, last night's game was fun to watch. I especially liked seeing the following:

• Richard Samuel:  My favorite player (#22) was back, this time playing on the defense, and stopping Dorian Green Beckham cold after his sneaker quarterback keeper. That played earned Samuel a hug from Coach Richt. I'm glad Samuel got some kudos on the sideline, and I'm glad he got some field time. I just wish I'd seen more of him. After that play, we didn't see him back on the defensive line. 
• Blake Sailors:  I hadn't given #7 any thought before he tackled Mizzou's receiver after the kickoff. I'd grown so accustomed to watching receivers take a fair catch that I'd forgotten they have to wave in order to do so. Last night Missouri chose to run the ball a number of times, and in the third quarter, Sailors decided to mow that Tiger down before he had a chance to take one step. Icing on that cake was that a Mizzou teammate earned the Tigers a penalty for blocking the back, thereby pushing the Tigers back ten more yards. Sweet.
• Jarvis Jones:  With all due respect to Todd Gurley, Tevarres King, Marlon Brown, and Michael Bennett, they all had their ups and downs last night. But defensive back Jarvis Jones was on it; in fact, he helped me understand why I need to pay more attention to the defensive line (well, that and the fact that my son is the safety). Twice, Jones caught the Mizzou offense off guard, once in the first half, obstructing Dorian Green Beckham's pass, sending the ball a-bouncing, and then again in the last quarter with a pass interception, which he then ran to the goal line. In fact, I think that play should have been a touchdown. That ball touched the end zone before Jones's legs went down. But the officials called it otherwise. I think Jones was robbed. Still, he got lots of hugs from Richt.

Sheldon Richardson's big mouth aside, I was struck by Mizzou's school spirit and their attractive stadium. When the camera first panned the grandstands, the fans looked like they'd been coated with pollen. My eyes itched just to look at them. Upon closer inspection, I noticed all the students were wearing identical tee shirts. So the University of Missouri must have provided them, and I was pleased to see, especially in these days of institutional budget cuts, the university spending money on students. Kudos to their Student Affairs or Athletic departments, whoever funded those shirts. Finally, I really liked seeing the custom of the incoming freshmen building that big M out of rocks in the end zone of the stadium. I thought that was a fun and different activity.

But I also appreciate an irony of Mizzou's spirited traditions. The University of Missouri has a giant bass drum, named Big MO. It's been a Mizzou tradition since 1981, and it's handled by alums rather than current students. Because the current Big MO has suffered wear and tear over the decades, a new drum has been ordered to replace it. The new Big MO will be nine feet in diameter and weigh more than eight hundred pounds, making it not only the biggest collegiate bass drum in the United States, but the biggest bass drum in general. And do you know who's making it? Neil Boumpani of Boumpani Music Company. Where? Barnesville, Georgia!

Can't touch that, Sheldon Richardson.

Rams 30, Blazers 6

St. Peter the Apostle opened its varsity season Saturday morning with a rigorous game against the Bethesda Academy Blazers. St. Peter's reigned victorious with a score of 30-6. If mascots are any indicator, there should have been no surprise. Ours is a horned mountain goat.

Theirs is men's sportswear.

But if size is any indicator, there should have been no telling what would happen on O'Brien field this morning. Bethesda had some whoppers on its team--so big, in fact, that for a moment, I though the league had gotten confused and matched St. Peter's up against Savannah High School.

Look at Bethesda's #79 and #32. They're huge!

But then they also had some players on their team that worried me because they were so small. Don't get me wrong. I know we have some smaller boys on our team too, but Bethesda's #11 so was so tiny, at first I thought he was a third grader who wandered onto the field. And he was matched up against Lawson. 

 He was so small I drew an arrow pointing to him. 

I was hoping this tyke wouldn't get his hands on the ball because if he did, he would just run through Lawson's legs and zip on down to the goal line like a little mosquito before anybody would know what was happening. Fortunately, Bethesda's little guy never touched the ball, and all Lawson had to do was put a hand on the kid's helmet and hold him steady while the rest of the scrimmage took place.

 

I'll tell you who had a great game today:  Matt Lowenthal (yes, that Matt Lowenthal). Matt scored the Rams' first touchdown, and then he scored another! I think his mama put a quarter in him before he reported for warm-ups. And another player who had a great day was Garrett Ducey, who completed two passes for the team, one of them earning St. Peter's a first down. 

There's Matt. He's #24.

And Garrett is on the left hand side, #40, the one with the name Garrett written underneath him.

Even though Lawson usually plays defense, he played on both sides of the ball this time because SPA's Ian Heap was injured. So he got into the game a little more today (as you can see in the photo above), his defensive play was more significant today than his offensive play. He got in on some pretty good stops against some speeding Blazers, and I was proud each time the announcer mentioned his name on the loudspeaker. 

And then I noticed what I think made a big difference:  his gloves. 

Nike gloves. The same kind college football players wear. Maybe even pro. No wonder he looked more confident on the field. The professional strength rubber on those gloves made it easier for him to grip an opponent and push him out of bounds. Yes, gloves were the trick. I wish we'd known about them earlier. If gloves make him that much more effective on the playing field, imagine what they can do for him in the way of unloading groceries or pushing a lawn mower! Can't wait to find out.

And I can't wait to see Saint Peter the Apostle Rams play again on Thursday, September 13th as they face Blessed Sacrament. Although  Blessed Sacrament has some behemoths on its team too (real neanderthals, I tell you), Lawson won't be intimidated. He'll have the mighty gloves. Which means he can hold those big boys back, paving the way for Matt, Drew, and Garrett to run the ball across the goal line.

Go, Rams!

 

Dawgs versus Buffalo:

"I hope Georgia plays better against Missouri next weekend than they did yesterday." That was Stephen's morning-after assessment of yesterday's season opener against Buffalo.

"Why? " I asked. "Did you think they didn't play well yesterday?" I'm always a little puzzled by Sunday morning critics of a team's winning game. To me, if the team won, they played well. At least they played well enough. But Stephen looks at the game differently.

"If you look at how Alabama played against Michigan," he explained, "and then at how Georgia played against Buffalo, you'll see a big difference. Had Georgia played against Alabama yesterday, Alabama would have won."

Well, yeah. And I see what he's saying. 'Bama's an SEC team. Georgia won't play them this year, but the Dawgs should be prepared to beat them as well as any other SEC team that good.

But I didn't watch Michigan play Alabama last night. Neither did I watch Notre Dame play Navy yesterday morning (And can someone please explain to me why Notre Dame played Navy in Dublin, Ireland? Why do the Irish want to watch Americans play American football? If an Irish rugby team called the Americans came to Savannah to play, I would not be interested). It's all I can do to watch the St. Peter the Apostle Rams each Thursday and Georgia each Saturday. Must I really watch all that football to really understand the game? Or can I be a legitimate Georgia fan by watching the Bulldogs play? Please weigh in. There's a poll on the right.

Meanwhile, I'll offer my assessment of what happened between the hedges Labor Day weekend:

Overwhelming:

• Todd Gurley: Do you think he wants to be Herschel Walker, Jr.? If so, this freshman's off to a good start. A hundred-yard run to a TD sure wins a player a lot of friends, and you can rest assured no one's going to tease him about having a "girly" name. If he keeps up that momentum, Bulldog fans might just start calling him The Blur.
  I did find it interesting that only one other Georgia player has made a 100 yard run for a touchdown, and that was Brandon Boykin in 2010. I guess Gurley and Boykin have both been eating their Wheaties (although apparently Boykin's been lacing his breakfast with a different kind of flakes). 
• Tevarres King, the Academician: He's in a doctoral program. I didn't realize one could be a graduate student and play college football. For some reason, I thought it was strictly an undergraduate sport. But the TV announcers said yesterday that King graduated in May, and now he's working on his doctoral degree, and he'll receive his master's degree along the way. Stephen says graduate students can play as long as they're still eligible. I wonder when King's eligibility runs out. And when it does, will he still pursue that doctorate? I hope so, and in hopes that he does, I place his academics in the overwhelming category.
• The Helmet Rule:  The NCAA has passed a new rule that if a player's helmet comes off, he has to sit out a play before returning to the field. There's some qualifying clause in there having to do with the ball carrier, but I didn't catch that. I'll have to look it up. Still, I'm a big proponent of this new development. NCAA, you rule!

Whelming 

• Hot Potato: That was a fun double pass from Murray to Wooten to Marshall in the second quarter. This play would have made it in the "overwhelming" category had Marshall caught the ball. And who knew Wooten could throw that well. We've watched him run and catch for so long, it never occurred to anyone he could throw that well. Now if we can just get Marshall to hold on to the ball. Wooten couldn't have thrown it any better for him.
• Aaron Murray's Arm:  Murray's been working all summer on his quarterbacking skills, which is a lot more than anyone can say for other Bulldogs (Isaiah who?), and I could tell immediately when he threw that first pass, which almost landed across the railroad tracks behind Sanford Stadium. Murray had to try a few times before gauging those passes correctly, so he gets points for strength. And once he figured out the distance, Wooten and King were ready for them. Murray might climb to the "overwhelming" category if he can keep from overthrowing that ball the rest of the season. That second quarter 63 yard completed pass to King gives him a little nudge, too.
• Jarvis Jones:  Even though the defense left much to be desired (see below), linebacker Jarvis Jones rises to the "whelming" category because right how, he is the defense. For much of the game he was on Buffalo's quarterback, Zordich, like a refrigerator magnet. And he had to be because Norman and Williams were too busy standing around. Jones's hair, on the other hand, falls in the rank below.

Underwhelming

• Jarvis Jones's Hair: Cut it. Please. 
• Richard Samuel: I hate to put him in this category. I love Richard Samuel. I've been watching him play for the past several years, rooting for him when the chips were down. I love that he reads, and now that he's been on the team all this time, I've solidified my status as Richard Samuel fan. Unfortunately poor Richard can't catch a break. Two seasons ago, he just couldn't make a go of it on the offensive line. Then last year, when the game started looking up for him, he got hurt. Yesterday, I saw him get in on only one play, and that was a flop. Keep reading, Richard. I'll still be your fan, along with your mom. But I'd like to see you make it up to "whelming" status. 
• The Defense:    Yesterday I decided to pay special attention to the defensive line. Since I've become more "safety conscious" this year, I especially wanted to see how the safety Dawgs played. One problem is that the safeties (Georgia has two of them) are so far back on the field that they're often not on the screen, so it took almost two quarters for me to figure out who they are:  #36 Sean Williams and #11Connor Norman. I didn't see them do much of anything at all, and that wasn't just because they were off camera. In the second quarter, Georgia's defense let Buffalo advance to mere inches from the goal line. Thank goodness Buffalo's Zordich threw an incomplete pass.
• Speaking of #11:  Aaron Murray is #11 on the offense. Connor Norman is #11 on the defense. I realize the team is so large the players have to wear duplicate numbers, but it seems to me that the coaches could figure out how to not duplicate key players' numbers, such as that of the quarterback. When I watch the defensive line and see a #11 out there, I'm taken aback at first. Maybe Norman could be #00. Richt should make him work up to a number.
• Count Up: Georgia got a penalty at the end of the second quarter for having twelve men in the lineup. Earlier they had only ten in the lineup. The team has a hundred players with ten fingers each. You'd think they'd be able to count to eleven.

If I'm going to watch the defense...
I have to remind myself of what a nickel back and a dime back are. Figuring out the safety is easy when watching the St. Peter the Apostle Rams. There's only one of them. But in college ball, apparently, the team can have safeties all over the place, even though they don't provide much safety at all.

Maybe Mark Richt should be a little more "safety conscious" as well...

On to Missouri....