Wednesday Links (4/21)

A few links, and then I'm taking the next 36 hours or so off. Be back with notes from Mark Richt's appearance in Columbus tomorrow night...

-- Mark Richt spoke in Eatonton last night, but he's not answering anything about Zach Mettenberger. No surprise there.

-- Ugh. Bring on the next firestorm. Georgia's backup punter was arrested on public intoxication charges. The sky is falling.

-- Patrick Garbin adds his usual excellent historical perspective to the Zach Mettenberger situation.

-- The Red & Black wonders when the details of the Mettenberger case will be revealed, and the UGA Blog thinks more information should have been released.

I can understand the hesitation to give out any information or background or offer a single quote or statement on the parts of Mark Richt, Mettenberger or anyone else involved. As I've learned, you really can't say anything without expecting it to be parsed endlessly.

But the other thing that I'm not sure gets considered enough by players and coaches who prefer the "no comment" route is that, just as a segment of fans are to judge what you do say, there's a segment that will just as quickly look to fill in the blanks of what you don't say.

The only way to have any control over the message is to at least offer a message. Otherwise, speculation becomes truth to a whole lot of people.

-- Mike Moore is ready to take on the NFL, says Bleacher Report's Kimberly Nash.

-- Bernie has a preview of all the Dawgs in the draft this year.

-- The Red & Black has more love for Vance Cuff's fine spring.

-- Don't know if this is anything fans would be interested in, but all schools are required to complile a compliance report every 10 years, and Georgia's just came out. If nothing else, it serves as a good look back at how many changes have come in the last decade.

-- Spring game attendance numbers, courtesy of Mr. SEC. Ah, Vandy. You're so cute for trying.

-- The timetable for Big Ten expansion might be sooner than later.

-- Leather Helmet Blog has some follow-up questions about conference expansion.

-- Clear eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.... Man, I'm glad "Friday Night Lights" is back soon.

-- The AV Club talks to Ellie Kemper from "The Office," who says she still fears she'll be fired at any time.

-- The Chicago Tribune has a long interview with Anthony Bourdain. I just watched the "No Reservations" in Maine the other day and now I really want to go to Maine.

-- Larry David is on board for another season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

-- I'm seeing Conan O'Brien in Atlanta in June, but I have to admit, I'm extremely jealous I missed a special appearance by Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready at one of his Seattle shows. The video is HERE.

-- Stuff of Legend has some instant analysis of last night's "Lost" episode. I'll offer a few as well...

* Overall I thought this was everything a final season episode should be. We got some answers, the chess pieces were clearly being assembled for a final showdown, and there were some great moments for many of the underused characters this year -- particularly Kate and Claire.

* Speaking of the answers, I thought the explanation of the Man in Black as Jack's dad was delivered in a much more natural way than the overly expository dialogue we got from Faraday or Michael in past episodes.

* Of course, if what the MiB said is true, then how did he appear as Jack's dad in the hospital in LA two seasons ago? He can't get off the island, right? And we know Flocke is not above lying.

* Then again, a lot of the "rules" put in place this year seem to clash with things we've seen in seasons past.

* Poor Frank. He gets like three lines all season and "looks like someone got their voice back" had to be one of them. What did Jeff Fahey do to the writers to deserve this?

* Speaking of Frank -- why was he included in Sawyer's rogue group, but Miles wasn't?

* The Sun-Jin reunion was actually better than I thought, but mostly because there was no great build-up. Still, I've grown to care far too little about those characters to really care that much, and I groaned when Locke asked Sun if she was giving him "the silent treatment," as I knew it was just a way of reminding viewers -- "Hey, Sun's lost her ability to speak English. Don't forget that because it's going to be important when she finally sees Jin again."

* Still, entertaining episode all around, and the story finally seems to be shifting into a higher gear. My current estimate on chances I'll be happy with the final episode: 45/55, which is a slight step up from last week.