Tuesday Links (8-11)

Before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have written or commented during the past couple of weeks. I'm immensely appreciative of all the kind words from so many of you. As I've mentioned from time to time, the life of a newspaper writer has its perks and its problems, but having such a great fan base for readers makes the job pretty enjoyable despite all the other headaches.

While I haven't had time to respond to every single comment or email, I really do try to get back to anyone who writes, and I promise, I do read them all. If you posed a question and I haven't gotten back to you yet, there is probably one of two explanations: 1.) I'm still looking into the answer for you, or 2.) I may have answered it in a future post. For example, a few people inquired about where all the interceptions were coming from on Saturday, and in yesterday's practice notes Mark Richt answers the query. But, if you still have a question that I haven't answered yet, feel free to badger me again. I'll get to it eventually, I promise.

That leads me to this email I received from Brad H. the other day:

"When doing your links, try to do some focusing on what is going on with other teams on UGA's schedule and what is going on with them. A lot of people do a good job on game week of looking at an opponent, but what is going on at AU or GT that might effect what happens in our game even though it is 20 weeks away?"

It's a great point, and one that had actually crossed my mind already. With the relaunching of DawgBone, I've been thinking that some of my Georgia links are simply doubling up on things you've already read. I like linking to many of the lesser-known blogs, but for the most part, my guess is you've already hit a lot of the stories from the usual suspects, like the AJC and Banner-Herald.

So... I'm going to attempt to start linking to coverage from some of the other SEC teams (and Tech) in the future, but I was hoping for some more input from you guys. Are there any good blogs or sites covering those other teams any of you would recommend? It's amazing how little help Google is when trying to find non-mainstream coverage of teams.

Anyway, if anyone else has some other suggestions on improvement we can make to the blog, I'm always open to new ideas, so let me know.

In the meantime, here's some old school linkage...

-- First off, this is some great news: Birmingham's John Solomon writes that the SEC is planning to "tweak" their new media policy that prevents reporters from shooting video during games, practices and news conferences.

-- Chattanooga's David Pascall has a piece today on how Georgia's defense is preparing for a tough matchup against Oklahoma State's Dez Bryant.

-- The Oklahoman has a profile of Bryant in today's paper in which he talks about handling Heisman hype. Um, he was a Heisman contender? He needs to hire Lane Kiffin to hang some billboards or something, because I had no idea.

-- Georgia commit B.J. Butler says he plans to still look around this fall, but still expects to be in Athens next year.

-- The Athens Banner-Herald catches up with Brandon Bogotay to talk about the kickoff situation. I love the quotes from Jon Fabris in this story. That guy sure can say a lot without saying anything at all.

-- ESPN's preseason power rankings are out, and Georgia is one slot below Georgia Tech at No. 14.

-- Vince Dooley shares some thoughts on the SEC and Georgia's upcoming season with the AJC.

-- Tim Tucker writes about Georgia's need for a better pass rush this season. Two interesting notes: Apprently the SEC and the NCAA had two different sack totals for Georgia last year -- there was a "team" sack that the NCAA didn't include. Secondly, Mark Richt was less than enthusiastic in his analysis of the DEs yesterday. I'm thinking this is still very much a work in progress.

-- Mark Richt has taken a few lumps from critics during the past 12 months, but Dawg Stephen has a post up reminding fans why they should be thrilled to have Richt as their coach.

-- And that's perfectly followed by more silly talk about Mark Richt's job security from -- who else? -- Mr. Paul Finebaum.

-- Bleacher Report lists five players who will be key to Georgia's season.

-- I'm guessing a few fans will see this as a slap in the face: Georgia opens as a six-point underdog to Oklahoma State.

-- "Game Day" will open the season in Atlanta for the Alabama-Virginia Tech game, but Dancing in the Endzone has a great post trying to guess where ESPN will set up shop throughout the remainder of the season.

-- From the sounds of it, coaches are pleased with Matthew Stafford's work so far. About Them Dawgs! takes a look at the history of Georgia quarterbacks in the NFL.

-- The AP has a story on Alabama's Julio Jones, who apparently has all the good Terrell Owens qualities and none of the bad ones. Too bad. I love driveway sit-ups.

-- Looks like the folks at Clemson got a little ahead of themselves and now we get a full season of making fun of the Tigers for wearing girdles.

-- New York Magazine has an interesting article about why neoconservatives love Jon Stewart. Without getting too political, I couldn't agree more with the story. The sad part is, why does it take a late-night comedian to provide the one place where people with divergent political ideals can discuss an issue in an intellectual way? I think it says a lot more about the sorry state of journalism (on both sides of the political spectrum) than it does about Jon Stewart.

-- This is an interesting tidbit on "Lost" -- "Heroes" star Greg Grunberg has been asked to make a guest appearance to reprise his role as the pilot who was eaten by the smoke monster in Season 1. (You know, typing this stuff out makes me realize how absurd this show must seem to people who don't watch it.)

-- And finally, Jeff Owens was complaining the other day that he can't think of anything good to blog about recently. I'm going to suggest he follows the lead of this Colorado player who clearly has a future in writing... letters to Penthouse, that is.