Flash-mob hysteria, QB injuries and that other football
Why shouldn't Aaron Murray be able to enjoy a pick-up game? (AJC staff)
I was off Monday and away from the UGA blogosphere during the afternoon when the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it furor over Aaron Murray’s ankle set the Bulldog Nation atwitter — or, I should say, aTwitter.
So the ankle that “team sources” told a student journalist was broken in two places turned out to be merely sprained in a pick-up soccer game and no real threat to Murray’s status as Georgia’s starting quarterback. Stand down, Hutson Mason and Christian LeMay.
What was most interesting to me coming in on this flap after it was over was seeing some fans harumphing about how Murray was irresponsible and shouldn’t have been playing soccer or any other nonfootball sport where he risked injury, to begin with.
Listen, if you’re going to try and make bubbleboys out of UGA’s “franchise” athletes, you might as well also ban them from riding those scooters that are the preferred mode of transportation around campus for today’s Bulldogs. Riding in Athens traffic is a lot more dangerous than playing soccer.
Besides, that sort of thinking ignores the fact that these kids are, for the most part, athletes, not just football players. Many of them grew up playing more than one sport. Mark Richt certainly recognizes this, as we’ve seen with the diving excursions and having the team play ultimate frisbee after practice for fun and fellowship. Guess what, many of them shoot hoops when they get a chance, too. They’re college kids, let them have some semblance of a normal life!
The other thing that struck me was the way the Murray incident brought to the surface that streak of latent soccerphobia that seems to permeate a certain strata of Southern sports fans and sportswriters. So we’re told that Murray getting hurt is one more knock on a game that ought to be reserved for kids or “furriners.”
You can thank soccer for giving us Kevin Butler. (University of Georgia)
I’ve never really understood the irrational fear and loathing that soccer engenders in some folks around here, unless it’s just because in the grand scheme of the “beautiful game” Americans aren’t worldbeaters. Sort of like the way some Georgia fans have always tended to put down “basketball schools.”
Just remember this about soccer, though. UGA folk hero Kevin Butler was all-state in that other football for Redan High and without his soccer skills, he no doubt never would have made that 60-yarder against Clemson, gotten a Super Bowl ring and been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
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196 comments Add your comment
jarvis
February 22nd, 2011
3:33 pm
then again 0-6 against winning teams isn’t great, eh?
Swarles Barkley
February 22nd, 2011
3:34 pm
Soccer is not easy to play. This is not debatable. I do not like the sport, but anyone who’s tried playing it (including myself) will tell you it’s difficult to perform at a high level in soccer.
WIN WITH RICHT
February 22nd, 2011
3:34 pm
Thanks, Adams family is my favortie show, I watch re-runs all day long.
Swarles Barkley
February 22nd, 2011
3:35 pm
Then again, you kic a ball in a goal and run. I’ve never played it myself.
Swarles Barkley
February 22nd, 2011
3:35 pm
Murray played great against Idaho State, ya’ll go easy on him, HE’S A FRESHMAN!!!
jarvis
February 22nd, 2011
3:36 pm
Murray’s winless record when getting behind in a game, 0-6, isn’t good either.
dawgfan is dumb
February 22nd, 2011
3:37 pm
dawgfan, you are dumb and boring.
WIN WITH RICHT
February 22nd, 2011
3:38 pm
Murray showed great judgment by playing that soccer game before Spring. He should be rewarded with an award for his intelligent choice there.
dawgfan is dumb
February 22nd, 2011
3:38 pm
I am the onyl smart one here.
Swarles Barkley
February 22nd, 2011
3:40 pm
Man oh man, did you see Murray play against La Lafayette last year? Wow, looked like Cam Newton on that game. La Lafayette is a lot better team than people think.
jarvis
February 22nd, 2011
3:41 pm
Even though Murray didn’t score against UCF in the Bowl game, he tried hard.
Swarles Barkley
February 22nd, 2011
3:42 pm
Murray’s winless record when getting behind in a game, 0-6, isn’t good either.
Swarles Barkley
February 22nd, 2011
3:42 pm
Murray excelled against Idaho State. He was so cool under pressure. The future is bright. Watch the video from that game.
jarvis
February 22nd, 2011
3:43 pm
Man oh man, did you see Murray play against La Lafayette last year? Wow, looked like Cam Newton on that game. La Lafayette is a lot better team than people think.
WDE
February 22nd, 2011
3:54 pm
I’d just like to point out that there was not a single post on this blog telling people to wait out the Cam Newton situation.
WIN WITH RICHT
February 22nd, 2011
3:58 pm
This ain’t Paraguay or France. In the SEC football is KING!! Who gives a rat’s hairy patoot about that sport.
WIN WITH RICHT
February 22nd, 2011
4:00 pm
WDE
The Cam Newton situation? Cam has jumped ship and will watch in the rearview mirror as probation hammers Awbarn. Just like Reggie Bush did at USC>
WDE
February 22nd, 2011
4:02 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wIm_41OIOM#t=0m8s
Frank
February 22nd, 2011
4:02 pm
WDE: “I’d just like to point out that there was not a single post on this blog telling people to wait out the Cam Newton situation.”
Huh? And?
WDE
February 22nd, 2011
4:03 pm
I love Georgia, but act like an Auburn fan on here.
WIN WITH RICHT
February 22nd, 2011
4:03 pm
WDE-
Duh, like we all didn’t know that?
Frank
February 22nd, 2011
4:05 pm
WIN WITH RICHT: “Duh, like we all didn’t know that?”
Really?
WDE
February 22nd, 2011
4:06 pm
Please don’t ask me no hard questions about Auburn, cause I ain’t a real Auburn fan, just fake it here. Ok?
WDE
February 22nd, 2011
4:08 pm
I like to choose handles that either have :
1) CURSE WORDS (wde–YOU KNOW WHAT THE d STANDS FOR, RIGHT? hEEE HEEE)
2) words that can be re-interpreted in a a bad way
I do have a 5th grade sense of humor.
Oakwood Dawg
February 22nd, 2011
4:20 pm
Wow, is debo ticked! Can’t be a dawg fan—must be a transplanted yankee cause he doesn’t know that college football in the deep south is not only a religion but also the most watched sport. He needs to transport himself back to the north before one of our rednecks gets to him and makes him wish he had never come south.
Bo Williams
February 22nd, 2011
4:23 pm
How many TD’s did Murray and AJ score in their bowl game? How much progression did they show between games 4 and 12? So which game is more indicative of how good they are, they early games or the last game?
shane#1
February 22nd, 2011
4:25 pm
It is time for Richt to go. We can’t have football players running around on a field and getting hurt. Sarchasm now turned off.
Buck Blew
February 22nd, 2011
4:28 pm
thank the heaven’s above and soccer for Kevin Butler…..the greatest Dawg of all time. even greater than herschel and me.
Dixie Redcoat Band
February 22nd, 2011
4:29 pm
Let’s see, soccer…the only game you can walk away from for 2-3 hours and return and the score is still 1-0.
Averyboy
February 22nd, 2011
4:32 pm
That shrill screaming yesterday was the projection of every THUGA fan’s real fear that they don’t really have much to put on the field next year, and if Murray goes out….instead of the usual 3 to 4 losses, it’s back to another 5 loss season minimum.
WIN WITH RICHT
February 22nd, 2011
4:45 pm
Who has stolen my handle?
Flatwoods Dawg
February 22nd, 2011
4:49 pm
Down here in by the swamp, we ain’t into soccer. Thought it was a girlie sport. BTW, I thought hockey was something that floated in the toilet instead of a sport until the USA won the Gold Medal.
shane#1
February 22nd, 2011
5:03 pm
Flatwoods Dawg. “down here in the swamp”, well howdy neighbor!
Old School
February 22nd, 2011
5:04 pm
Soccer is a communist plot to make sissies out of America’s youth.
UGADawg83
February 22nd, 2011
5:10 pm
Bill,
Some days its just better to write nothing at all. This was the most inane blog you have ever produced.
South Ga Dawg
February 22nd, 2011
5:21 pm
AFTER GOING 6-7 THEM BOYS DONT NEED TO BE DOING ANYTHING BUT LIFTING WEIGHTS AND WORKING ON FOOTBALL AND SCHOOL RELATED ACTIVITIES.
VININGSDAWG
February 22nd, 2011
5:30 pm
We need to quit the Auburn stuff, Nothing will happen there. It is the product of being BCS CHAMPS.
Give Murray a break, he could sprain his ankle in downtown Athens getting drunk.
dawgfan
February 22nd, 2011
6:43 pm
I don’t think soccer is a sissy sport or that its un-American. I just think its dumb and boring. There is very little strategy involved relative to American football. Its just a bunch of guys kicking a ball around and tripping each other. That’s it. Sure, they can run fast and have great endurance. Whoopee. Its dumb. Oh, and did I mention its boring? No one can claim with a straight face that its not a boring sport when the combined scores are 4 points or less. Its dumb and boring. End of discussion.
SHANKIT
February 22nd, 2011
6:44 pm
Congratulations again to the AJC for assembling their group
of idiotic bloggers to another stupid topic by an idiotic “journalist” ???
A.J. finished the drill by running out of bounds
February 22nd, 2011
6:48 pm
Enter your comments here
Yaz
February 22nd, 2011
7:00 pm
I’ve never understood how anyone – even an alumnus – could support and take pride in UGA’s football team. When you look at their history for the past forty years, how can anyone ignore Jan Kemp and the “remedial studies” scam, the Jim Harrick fiasco, the DUIs in the athletic office, the DUIs and other arrests of players, the #1 party school tag (i.e., the most drunk students), the suspensions and outright dismissals, the Fulmer Cup, and on and on?
As disgraceful and humiliating as it is, I don’t see many alums and fans demanding an end to this sordid activity. It sets UGA apart as the kind of school most people abhor, and it’s become an embarrassment to the whole state of Georgia.
Will it never end? Apparently not while Mark Richt is at UGA. Richt is perhaps the biggest hypocrite in the United States. But even with all the cheating and lawlessness that he ignores, he still can’t win the SEC.
So you’re paying him to be BCS champions, but he can’t even win his SEC division. So why do you pay him millions of dollars a year?
Just asking.
The Tick
February 22nd, 2011
7:23 pm
mark richt and aaron murray are going nowhere in 2011 … except the BCS championship game!
mdbatl
February 22nd, 2011
7:41 pm
Yaz,
Go back to Boston and don’t win the World Series.
AltamahaDawg
February 22nd, 2011
7:59 pm
You’ll have to ban them from JoeT’s weight room as well.
Although this appears to be one of those many phantom stories. Somebody says something stupid in a blog, (usually with some agenda having nothing to do with the topic), somebody copies it for lack of an opinion, then the blogs report it as if “people” are saying….
Roy
February 22nd, 2011
10:15 pm
Thats funny getting hurt playing with the Grass Fairies!
Ted Striker
February 22nd, 2011
10:17 pm
EXCELLENT column, Bill. Outstanding.
dawgfan
February 22nd, 2011
10:20 pm
Yaz, crybaby bitter loser no life Techies such as yourself are an embarassment to the state of Georgia. Most of your alums don’t even stay here after they graduate. They just pizz in our sewers, clog up our streets, and dirty up our air. And what does the State of Georgia get in return? Not a damn thing. You leave and turn your noses up at Georgians. All take and no give. Why don’t you pukes go ahead and move your school to Singapore or something? You won’t be missed.
college football
February 23rd, 2011
12:05 am
MURRAY FOR HEISMAN!
cloudman
February 23rd, 2011
8:21 am
SOCCER is for sissies
The Ghost of Wally Butts
February 23rd, 2011
8:28 am
Guess some of the avid dawg fans would have been happier if Aaron would have been doing more customary or typical off-season dawg activities….like getting arrested or selling Libery Bowl jerseys or something.