Wednesday Links (10/8)

Today's UGA news...

-- The AJC's Mark Bradley writes that Matthew Stafford's success has been hampered by the line in front of him. It's true that Stafford has played behind an inexperienced line the past two years, but Get the Picture uses some actual numbers to disprove much of Bradley's discussion.

-- Chip Towers wonders why there doesn't seem to be a lot of excitement for UGA-UT.

-- The Big Lead debates which conference is better: The Big 12 or the SEC.

-- ESPN's Chris Low debates which coach is better: Les Miles or Urban Meyer. The numbers aren't anything that surprise me, but they are counter to the general opinion.

-- Low also discusses Brannan Southerland's return and David Cutcliffe's departure.

-- Herschel Walker sold cupcakes in Manhattan for "Celebrity Apprentice."

-- The Athens Banner-Herald -- despite a lack of quotable material from Georgia's linemen this week -- that the O line has worked on opening up running lanes for Knowshon Moreno and company this week.

-- As the Tennessean's Bryan Mullen writes, however, it won't be just UGA's offensive line under the gun on Saturday. Two of UT's O linemen have been suspended.

-- Britton Colquitt returns to Tennessee's special teams this week, and I think that's one of UT's big advantages in this game. The Vol's punting game has really struggled this season.

-- Red & Black's Tyler Estep blogs about Georgia's tight end issues.

-- Chip Towers takes a crack at explaining the Kiante Tripp move, too.

-- None of these have much to do with UGA, but I couldn't help but notice the insane number of ridiculous stories on the Web yesterday, including: Luke Walton's stalker (by the way, get a look at the stalker -- yikes!), a Voodoo princess in Macon, an Astros pitcher and a FEMA executive getting arrested at a wedding, and a former Power Ranger facing the death penalty. And that didn't even include Arian Foster's new language. No wonder the stock market is tanking -- the world is going crazy.

-- And one last thing: I hate to be too preachy (oh, who am I kidding, I enjoy it) but this is an issue near and dear to me. Like most of you, I get much of my news from the Web these days, but I also work for a newspaper. Without that newspaper, this blog wouldn't exist. Unfortunately, newspapers around the country are failing quickly.

A few weeks ago, before the UGA-Arizona State game, we swapped stories and info with the folks at the East Valley Tribune in Phoenix. That won't be happening again thanks to a ridiculous amount of budget and job cuts at that paper.

This is the wave of the future, folks. Newspapers are cutting jobs, cutting coverage and, in too many cases, cutting quality. It has happened in Macon, in Atlanta and all around the country.

I greatly appreciate your patronage of this blog, but if you care about your sports coverage -- from UGA to high schools to the pros -- I can't encourage you enough to buy your local newspaper. And when your local newspaper is cutting the things you care about, let them know about it.

I am certain that people still care abou the news, but if trends continue on this path, the avenues for you to get that information from professional, informed sources will be increasingly smaller.