Tuesday Links (6/22)

Happy Tuesday morning to you, dear readers. Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday. I got distracted by a "Pawn Stars" marathon on The History Channel and it all went downhill from there.

Couple of things to follow up on quickly:

-- Another uni number for you... Marc Deas will wear No. 26. Here's the most complete list I have for the freshmen...

Deas -- 26
Garrison Smith -- 56
Brandon Burrows -- 41
Hutson Mason -- 14
Demetre Baker -- 52
Ken Malcome -- 24
Kolton Houston -- 66
Jakar Hamilton --23

Oh, and according to Mark Richt, Brent Benedict is still not on campus yet -- and won't be until July.

-- Also, I posed this question via Twitter over the weekend and got a lot of responses.

which pro team - nhl, nba, mlb, nfl - would u least want to be a fan of? I can't top the orioles.

I got a number of votes for the Royals and Pirates. Those are both good choices, and considering how bad the Chiefs have been lately, it must be rough to be a sports fan in KC at all.

A few folks said the Lions. I guess... but so little is expected of Detroit that it's hard to really be disappointed. I mean, it's been a half-century now, so you kind of know what you're getting when you decide to be a Lions fan. The O's, Pirates and Royals all had pretty nice runs through the late '80s and early '90s at least.

The Clippers... yeah. But maybe they'll get Lebron. And they were in the playoffs a few years ago.

Got one for the Blue Jays. Hey, Toronto is six games over .500. Besides, if you live in Canada, the Blue Jays are the least of your problems.

Got a few for the Bills. Having a few friends who are Bills fans leads me to believe this is a quality suggestion. Our old pal Jay Adams is from Rochester and a big Bills fan. When we were driving back from covering UGA-Kentucky two years ago, we were listening to the local Bills broadcast on Sirius. Every commercial featured either the Bills kicker or punter as the celebrity spokesman, and Jay summed it up properly: "What does it tell you about your team when its kicker and punter are by far its most marketable players?"

And, of course, there's my Chicago Cubs. I can assure you, it's unpleasant to be a Cubs fan... unless you're actually sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley on a Sunday afternoon drinking an Old Style. Then it's not so bad.

Still... I keep going back to the Orioles. They really have everything you want from an unbelievably awful franchise.

Rich history utterly torn to shreds by more than a decade of sucking? Check.

Horrible owner that is so bad fans know things will never get better until he dies? Check.

Great ballpark that manages to remain nearly empty for most games anyway? Check.

Steve Bartman-type of moment that allows you to easily pinpoint the moment it all went wrong? Check.

Economically depressed city that genuinely needs a team to support but instead gets utter dreck year after year? Check.

Brand new team 30 miles south with star pitcher that is the darling of his sport and garnering tons of headlines? Check.

So I stand by my choice. It's the Orioles. In fact, I have a buddy who is a big O's fan. He's been to more than 30 Orioles games in his life and he's never seen them win. Now that's bad.

OK, some Tuesday linkage...

-- A crazy weekend won't end with much relaxation for Russell Henley. After finishing 16th in his first U.S. Open, he's off to Northern Ireland for more golf.

-- Ah, screw that Butts-Mehre expansion project now. Auburn's getting an indoor practice facility!

-- And speaking of the Butts Mehre project, here's a clip on YouTube of the unveiling of the original Butts Mehre Heritage Hall from 1987. Loren Smith hasn't aged a day. (h/t Ally)

-- One more follow-up on the Butts-Mehre additions. Here's an interesting note regarding the rare & expensive siding being used on part of the new addition, courtesy of a reader named Charles: "That siding stuff they are using is the same stuff used on the outside of Soccer City (the main soccer stadium in South Africa) which you can see on display at the World Cup and on ESPN around the clock these days ."

Thankfully, no vuvuzelas have been installed here.

-- Tim Tucker takes a look at Georgia's inside linebackers this season, which includes what I think will be one of the most interesting roster battles on the team: Christian Robinson vs. Marcus Dowtin. They're almost polar opposites, with Dowtin having the edge in terms of physical make-up, while Robinson might be a bit undersized. On the other hand, Dowtin has routinely been critiqued for his mental lapses, while Robinson is one of the best character guys on the team.

(Side note: An almost equally interesting battle is for the proper pronunciation of Dowtin's last name. For whatever reason, John Jancek referred to him as "Down-teen" -- and some others followed suit. Now that Warren Belin is coaching him, it appears to be a unanimous vote for "Dow-tin"... although it's more like "Doubtin'." In any case, if it had remained Down-teen I might have eventually moved him passed "Brandon" Southerland as my favorite routinely mispronounced Bulldog.)

-- A catcher on the Georgia baseball team was arrested on underage possession and DUI charges.

-- And the Diamond Dogs chat with Roger Clarkson about what they're expecting from David Perno in 2011.

-- Dawgs Online is excited about the changes to UGA's Web site. My advice would be the same as my advice on expectations for the football season: Be cautiously optimistic.

-- Team Speed Kills looks closer at what might be a rare opportunity for South Carolina to win the SEC East.

-- Tennessee's having some trouble selling tickets. I guess Lane Kiffin was good for something after all.

-- And speaking of the Lanester, the tiny high school in my home state that he's recruiting 13-year-old QBs from is under fire for... recruiting violations!

-- I just learned about "Icing" like two weeks ago, and it apparently is already near death. The same thing happened to me with parachute pants in 1990.

-- GQ breaks down the first season of "Treme," and comes to the conclusion that David Simon fell far short of his work on "The Wire." I still have a few episodes to watch, which I suppose speaks to my overall indifference about the show as the season wore on. I enjoyed it... but it did lack the urgency and depth that I loved about "The Wire."

-- Jane Lynch is making a return appearance on the season finale of "Party Down." I'm hoping this won't be the final episode ever of the show, but considering virtually every actor working on it has a gig lined up elsewhere for the fall... it's not looking good.

-- On the upside, "Eastbound and Down" returns on Sept. 26 -- and here's a preview.

OK, I gotta run some errands. Hope to have some more idle offseason chatter this afternoon. Stay thirsty, my friends.