On the brink of elimination, great job by the softball team as well as Mens tennis

So, after the great win on Thursday night, the Diamond Dogs then fell flat, losing 9-3 on Friday night, before blowing up in the 8th inning on Saturday afternoon. In a game where they trailed 6-0, they came back to take a 7-6 lead heading into the top of the 8th, only to watch Vandy score 11, yes that is right, 11 runs in their final two innings. The usually reliable Tyler Maloof didn't get the job done, Vandy got a couple bad hop singles, and the rest just snowballed. So now, the Dogs know what they have to do in the SEC tourney which is a double elimination tourney-win 3 games. They start the tourney playing this same Vandy team again which will NOT be an easy task. Win that one and they will play most likely #1 seed South Carolina in the second game. They have to play it one game at a time but certain they had their chances this weekend and really for the last couple weeks to avoid this type scenario. I would like to say I am optmistic but that would be a lie. I have already gone on record saying if they don't make the tourney, Perno needs to be fired immediately. I stand by that, and some might say I am a guy that just doesn't "get it" but I think I do get it. There are too many really good baseball players in this state for UGA to not be a very good team EVERY year-yes, some you lose to the draft but there are enough that don't go pro out of HS to stock your team. Yes, the team is much improved over last year but it would be hard to be worse than last years team. Three years ago this program was one win away from winning a title, to see how far they have fallen in three years, really unbelievable. Here are the records the past 4 years-including that national runner up team in 2008-

2008	Georgia	45–25–1	20–9–1	1st (East)	College World Series Runner-up
2009	Georgia	38–22	15–15	3rd (East)	NCAA Regional
2010	Georgia	16–37	5–23	6th (East)
2011	Georgia	28–28	16–14	4th (East)

I just think a new direction is needed, and Perno although a great Dog through and through, has been given his opportunity. I feel the same way about Mark Richt, if the football team does not win 8 games in the regular season this fall, he should be fired immediately after the last regular season game. I am realistic enough to understand there will be ups and downs in sports but you can't have too many downs when you are at a school like UGA. I know I am biased but our school has it ALL and then some. There is NO REASON our sports programs should not be every bit as good as UF, Bama, AU, LSU, TN-the other elite level schools in this conference. I am all for giving a coach the opportunity to win, a chance to turn a program around but I think this was the year for Perno-I hope he wins the SEC tourney-they are capable of pulling it off-you never know what might happen in a tourney situation. And, if they make the NCAA tourney, they are just dangerous enough to make some noise. But, there is no doubt they have forced themselves into a corner and it is going to be very tough to escape it. This will be the first tough decision in the big 3 mens sport that McGarity has faced-I don't believe keeping Richt after last season was a tough decision at all.

Better news is the UGA womens softball team took care of business in the Athens regional. They beat up on Ga State first, then UAB, and finally took care of FSU. Final damage for the 3 games, UGA 27-all opponents 4. WOW. Next up they will host Baylor in the super regionals. Baylor is the 11th national seed while UGA is 6th. You have to like their chances, they are 37-4 at home this year, they have 10-0 record over the past 3 years in NCAA games at home. If they can beat Baylor 2 out of 3, they will advance to the Women's College World Series for the third year in a row.

Also good news for the Mens tennis team who beat Tennessee 4-3 to advance to the final 4 of mens tennis, snapping a 5 match losing streak against the Vols-who were the 3rd seed to our 6th seed. I would say that was a great time to end that losing streak. Now, up next just happens to be defending national champ, Southern Cal, who is the 2nd seed. Match will be today at 3p. The ladys tennis team was eliminated in the quarters, losing to #1 and undefeated Stanford 4-0 on their home court.

Some recruiting scuttlebutt, Grayson athlete Denzel Nkemdiche has evidently committed to Ole Miss per the AJC and says he will not visit Athens. He says his brother, the likely #1 prospect in Ga and the nation in class of 2013 will come with him to Ole Miss likely. WOW-I have been covering this story for quite a while and if this does indeed end up happening, I will be shocked. Not that Denzel is headed there but that his brother would go there. Obviously Houston Nutt is a greasy used car salesman-we all know that about him but for him to possibly get this package, WOW. Thing is, if Nutt has another bad season like he did last year, will he even be the coach in 2012?? Course many will say the same about Coach Richt as well but then it all comes back to who has the better program between the two schools and there is NO DOUBT about that, even taking off my red and black glasses. As I have said before, Ole Miss is a beautiful campus, they have nice facilties as well-but nothing on the level of what we have in Athens. There is a chance Denzel does not qualify and if that happens, he will still end up in Miss, but at a JUCO there. So for now, this will continue to be TBD recruting situation.

A very solid 2012 prospect, Josh Holsey, has narrowed his list to UGA, AU, LSU and VaTech and will make his decision tomorrow at 3p. Many speculate that he will head to VaTech as a teammate has already committed there-some say AU is the team to beat. As for UGA, we were the last to offer (sounds familiar-hello Dillon Lee) and he has admitted he grew up a huge UGA fan-but did the late offer ruin our chances.

Speaking of late offers and all the anger this is generating, I am not really sure what to think honestly. On one hand, I think, as the state school we should be out in front with our evaluations and offers-thus we should always be one of the first to offer the elite kids. On the other hand, most kids ARE getting offers before their senior year so not like they have to go out and knock socks off during their senior year to get an offer-that has to be a real comfort to these kids-they know they have a spot locked up before their last year of HS even starts. So, in that way of thinking, why should these kids be offended when UGA waits to offer until they are 100% sure. As has been explained by Coach Richt before, UGA ONLY offers a kid they fully expect to have a spot for. Our opponents, because they are typically in states that do not produce nearly the number of blue chip players as our state, they will go ahead and offer immediately to figure this gives them at least a shot with Ga kids. They might not figure to have any chance to sign the kid but if they offer them, at least the kid knows he has that offer-and sometimes he decides to take the offer. When that happens, the other school might later in the game have to come back to another kid and say, well, we filled up your spot already. Now, I wouldn't mind UGA offering more kids and then it turns into a Texas situation-where a kid that really wants to be a Longhorn, he better take that offer fast or risk not being able to play at Texas. This is why Texas is usually close to finished in recruiting the summer before these kids actually sign on the dotted line. In reading these recruting updates, there does seem to be a lot of kids that "grew up a huge UGA" but then get mad because UGA offers late in the game. I could argue if you truly want to be a Dog, it shouldn't matter when the offer comes in, you jump on it. But, with these elite level prospects, there is something called ego that is involved. That ego/cockiness serves them well on the playing field because it comes with it extreme confidence in their abilities. Confidence is always a KEY ingredient in all sports on all levels. But, with that ego also comes expectations that you should offer me NOW and if you don't, you must not really want me. No doubt it is a tough job, recruting and deciding who you really want and how you go about recruiting these kids.

Personal note, my son plays for the pee wee title today, they have sailed through the winners bracket and even if they lose today, they still get another crack at the title Wed night. Yes, little league sports is all about learning the game and having fun but you don't get many opportunities to win a championship-so it becomes all about winning (yes, that is correct Charlie Sheen). My son is not the greatest baseball player yet- it is amazing how GOOD some of these 7 year old boys are, but he is having fun and loves his teammates and really wants a title. So, usually I reserve this spot for Go Dogs but for my son and his teammates, today I close with Go COWBOYS!! (Oklahoma State)