Thursday Links (1/21)

Straight to the links today...

-- T Kyle King does an exceptional job of putting the first nine years of Mark Richt's tenure at Georgia into perspective in Part 1 and Part 2 of an extended analysis of Richt's career. What's so interesting though is, for all the data King has to write about given that Richt is the longest tenured head coach in the SEC, it's hard not to get the feeling like the real grading of Mark Richt begins now.

-- Patrick Garbin has a must-read analysis of Georgia's defensive line dubbed "the hog index." To be fair, Garbin swiped the idea from elsewhere, but it's an interesting look at how the Bulldogs stacked up against the rest of the SEC.

-- If Todd Grantham bolts Athens for anything other than a head-coaching job, it's gonna cost him some serious cash.

-- Da'Rick Rogers is still planning to take a trip to Tennessee, which keeps his commitment to Georgia a question mark.

-- Bleacher Report offers six points to ponder in 2010 for the Bulldogs.

-- Damon Evans isn't sweating the hefty salary Georgia will be paying Todd Grantham.

-- UGA Blog has some video of 2009's hardest hits, which includes an appearance from Reshad Jones.

-- Bruce Feldman ranks the top 10 signing classes of the past decade and, surprisingly, only three come from the SEC.

-- OK, so as I proved yesterday, injecting the mere notion of politics into a blog can be dangerous, so I'm clearly treading on thin ice here, but it's a college football story so why not?

The New Republic takes a look at what it means for Tim Tebow to appear in an anti-abortion ad during the Super Bowl... an ad which CBS has officially approved for the airwaves.

Regardless of my personal opinions on the issue, I'll give Tebow credit for sticking to his convictions and being willing to be a public voice about causes he cares about. (I've criticized people like Tiger Woods for backing down from anything controversial, so it's only fair I credit Tebow.) But from a professional perspective, I hope Tebow understands the Pandora's Box he's opening.

When a radio personality asked Tebow at SEC Media Days last year if he had been "saving himself" for marriage, there were plenty of journalists who saw it as a cheap stunt. It probably was. But I never considered it out of bounds because Tebow had brought up the issue of abortion just 20 minutes earlier on his own. When you make your personal opinions part of the public discussion (which, as I said, I commend him for doing if it's something he really cares about) you have to keep in mind that the rest of it is all fair game now, too.

Given how many questions already surround Tebow's future, it will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

-- The ugliness is nowhere close to over in Knoxville, and Lane Kiffin's mama has had enough. (And here's the article that got her so worked up.)

-- More problems including a transfer and suspension at South Carolina. I guess this is Vandy's year to win the East.

-- Here's an update on the video I posted earlier of the uproar before Lane Kiffin's final UT press conference: Poynter has an interview with the TV news director that was the most vocal critic of the process. (h/t Henry)

-- Chris Low counts down the 10 best games of the decade in the SEC with just one appearance by Georgia.

-- USA Today writes about the changing image of the college head coach. This story to me has a bit too much of the "you kids today with your rock and roll music..." feel to it. Are coaches really bigger jerks today than they were 30 years ago? They money is a lot bigger, so there is certainly more reason for coaches to bail on a team. But there's also a lot more reason for colleges to bail on their coaches. It's a two-way street. And before we write off this new generation of violent head coaches who pick on their players, I seem to remember a story about Woody Hayes...

-- After three straight close losses, the Red & Black reports that Georgia's hoops team is happy to have some time off.

-- This is without a doubt the saddest story that I've read today and, more importantly, the most inexplicable. Seriously, kids aren't really this stupid, are they?

-- It looks like things are finally wrapped up for Conan O'Brien and NBC.

-- Ed Helms pays tribute to Conan through the magic of song.

-- Apparently Conan is just the latest victim of the Will Ferrell curse.

-- Things are getting particularly ugly between Jay Leno and David Letterman.

-- The L.A. Times has an interesting roundtable discussion with five big-name directors.

-- Plenty of "Lost" links today... Michael Emerson chats about the final season of the show with TV Guide; The show's creators have several thousand words about Season 6, none of which are spoilers; And EW actually has a pretty interesting look at how time travel in other films might be related to the plotlines of "Lost."

-- Take a moment of silence before biting into your gordita today: R.I.P. the founder of Taco Bell.

-- And finally, a list of the 15 best sitcom dads of all time. I like the list because a.) it gave me a chance to enjoy the theme song to "Mr. Belvedere" and b.) it reminded me of the existence of "Just the 10 of Us." Seriously... how bad did TV used to be? (And also... how did Bob Uecker afford a full-time, live-in butler on a local sports anchor's salary?)