Well the day has finally come. Score Atlanta’s new website is up and running. There have been several rewrites of this initial Bulldog blog, as the launch date for the site was pushed back a couple of times, so unfortunately, my first post “Dooley replaces Griffith as head coach” is no longer relevant.
But hey, no time to look back, we can only move forward. And in moving forward, let’s go over what to expect from this blog. Before we do that, however, I first must take a moment to pay homage to some of the fellow scribes who have spent time covering the Dawgs. I would like to acknowledge the Chip Towers’ of the world, the Marc Weiszer’s, Josh Kendall’s, Dean Legge’s, and Steve Patterson’s. That goes for former Georgia AJC beat writer and current ESPN employee Mark Schlabach and columnist Terence Moore as well. Do not look for this writer and any of the aforementioned journalists to be exchanging barbs on You Tube.
With that being said, if you’re looking for fresh and provocative opinions look no further. This is the place to be. Expect to get a unique insight into the happenings of Bulldog sports in each post. And speaking of sports, presently there are current and former Bulldog athletes getting set to head to Beijing as members of the U.S. Summer Olympic Team, but the biggest stories as of late have evolved around happenings outside of the field of play.
FOLLOW THE LEADERS
The four arrests involving UGA athletes over the past two weeks made not just the news in the local sports arena, but made the “news”- even bumping the death of Uga VI (God rest his soul) out of the lead story. Whenever stories like these burst through the conscious of the general public they are most often reported under the mantra of athletes in trouble with the law. But a closer look at the recent arrests sheds light on the incidents and offers some opportunities for commentary about the teams they affect: the football team and the men’s basketball team.
The arrest of football players Trinton Sturdivant and Justin Anderson for simple battery were followed by the arrest of teammate Michael Lemon on felony and misdemeanor battery charges. What do these incidents have in common, besides possibly taking away some of the Bulldogs’ depth along the line of scrimmage early in the season? (Sturdivant and Anderson may face suspension and Lemon, a defensive end, is currently suspended indefinitely). The players mentioned have all been in the program for two years or less and are not yet the mature leaders that are representative of a team’s character.
Lemon is embarking on his redshirt sophomore season and is listed on the depth chart as a member of the third team. While Sturdivant started all 13 games last season, he is still only a 19-year old true sophomore. Anderson spent his first season with the team a year ago as a redshirt. It is never good to see anyone make headlines for the wrong reasons, but in the case of the football team it is noteworthy to point out that the guys that have gotten into trouble have not been the ones that set the tone for Georgia. Team leaders like Dannell Ellerbe, Matthew Stafford and Mohamed Massaquoi appear to be keeping focus on the upcoming season, which is important because it’s the attitude of the leaders that becomes pervasive throughout any team.
As for the basketball team and the arrest and subsequent dismissal of Billy Humphrey, it represents another instance in which a player’s inability to take care of business off the court may ultimately affect head coach Dennis Felton’s team on the court. Humphrey was a senior to be and, despite previous disciplinary incidents, was thought to be one of the team’s leaders for the 2008-09 season. But now the Bulldogs second-leading scorer from a year ago is gone, leaving a backcourt of rising sophomores, walk-ons and true freshmen to fill the shoes of him and the graduated Sundiata Gaines. Humphrey joins recent players Mike Mercer and Takais Brown as guys Felton was counting on to help turn the program around, but could not stay out of trouble. Last year’s miracle run through the SEC Tournament was enough to quiet the wailing after the departures of Mercer and Brown, but how many times can a program go through unplanned rebuilding and have it pay off in the end?
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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