Thursday Links (2/12)

Five days away... did you miss me?

My trip home was mostly successful. Convinced my dad to put new brakes on my car, got a cheesesteak from Pat's, Had a half dozen meals at Wawa, helped my niece ring in Year 7 for her... all in all a good time. But here I am, back in wonderful Athens with the prospects of a sunny afternoon to boost my spirits, and I must say, it's good to be back. And what better way to kick things off than with links to work other people did while I was on vacation...

-- ESPN held a conference call with Mel Kiper on Wednesday that I was unable to be a part of, but apparently the man with the best hair at the WWL still thinks Matthew Stafford is worthy of the top overall pick in April's draft.

-- Jeff Owens has a Q&A with Joe Cox on his blog, but he's apparently planning a post on Marcus Washington later today... thus marking the first time he's scooping me on a story. I'll have a post on Marcus later this week, and I'll also have a story on Owens' blogging.

-- Mark Richt won't fight with Lane Kiffin, as Michael Carvell writes. And Carvell won't fight with crazy drunks at Sand Bar. Circle of life.

-- ESPN's Chris Low, on the other hand, has the full rundown of the Kiffin drama.

-- So who misses Dennis Felton already?

-- On my list of favorite McMahons, 960 the Ref's Dave McMahon ranks well ahead of Vince, but still a bit behind Jim, who led my Eagles to an 8-3 record in 11 games in 1992. Nevertheless, he sent along a handful of podcasts during my absence (Dave, not Jim) that I thought I should share: Tennis coach Manuel Diaz, hoops coach Pete Herrman, and baseball coach Dave Perno.

-- The fine folks at Every Day Should Be Saturday called this potential rule change a giant steaming pile of you-know-what. I think that's giving it too much credit, an opinion shared by Get the Picture.

-- I'm a sucker for lists, and Bubba N Earl count down their top 5 sports commercials of all time. Good choices, I'll admit, but my list would be much different. I'd have to make room for the Crocodile Hunter's "This is SportsCenter" ad, and I loved the Baseball Tonight send up of "Bull Durham," too (sadly, I couldn't find video, but Peter Gammons in drag is hilarious).

-- Syracuse can't win on the road to save their lives, but at least Jim Boeheim can find a solution to college football's problems.

-- Courtesy of Deadspin, here's your weekly update on Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy's sex life. But hey, at least he didn't lose to Tennessee by 31.

-- Just when you thought ESPN couldn't sink any lower and "Around the Horn" couldn't be any more useless, well, actually maybe this is an upgrade.

-- Now how will I rock out in an elevator?

-- Just in case watching Florida beat UGA by 30 isn't romantic enough for you on Vanentine's Day, may I suggest a trip to Waffle House? And of course, no romantic Waffle House stories would be complete without watching THIS. I'm going to Albany after the UGA game on Saturday, so I have no doubt the conclusion to my Valentine's Day will also be at a Waffle House, so I have no right to criticize.

Sorry, not a ton of UGA links today, but I'm just getting back into the swing of things. We'll have a few posts later today which promise to be more interesting. Oh, and I still have to watch "Lost" on DVR, but if you're looking for some discussion of last night's episode, here's where you want to go.

(Oh, and did you notice? Not a single mention of a certain former Jets QB who I won't believe is retired until next year's Super Bowl is over.)