GT punter Pressley Harvin was named first team All-America. UGA punter Jake Carmada made third team. Carmada started strong but faded as the season progressed. GT RB Gibbs made third-team freshman All-America.
Labor Day 2021: UGA opens in Charlotte against Clemson. Should be a good game. Tigers will start a new QB and RB, and have several new starters on defense. Dawgs return JT Daniels, several good RBs, the top 3 or 4 receivers, and a loaded defense. If allowed, the stadium will be packed with fans from both teams.
Every month my electric company, Cobb EMC, sends out a magazine about things going on around the state. The January issue had a story about Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. He and his fiancé, also a Cartersville native, have started up a food bank program in their hometown.
NFL: Washington released their number one draft pick from 2019, second year QB Dwayne Haskins. Kid just wouldn’t grow up. Had been coddled by his parents all his life. Unpopular opinion: perhaps the Falcons should pick him up.
In the leadup to this college season I was impressed with the leadership and maturity of Ohio State QB Justin Fields, but play this year wasn’t as dynamic as his 2019 season. Still his QB rating was near the top in the nation. Falcons fans want him to be the top draft pick. Knowing the Falcons, they’ll pick the BYU QB instead.
I should’ve picked Liberty, especially after Coastal Carolina’s thug life performance against BYU.
UGA basketball team is 7-0 headed into conference play tomorrow.
Sunday afternoon I cleaned up the house and did some laundry. We’d had a mess built up getting ready for Christmas, and had been gone ever since.
After a nap and Kroger stop, I went down to Piedmont Park for Mary-Clayton’s brother’s wedding reception. Less than 60 in attendance in a big meeting hall. I arrived 45 minutes late and was the first to leave about an hour later.
Had a productive Monday. Started work early, at 7 am. At lunch I drove over to the polls to vote, but the line was super long. Instead went to Wal-Mart for one item, and the Kroger next door for something else. Lots of people off work and out and about. Later I tried to clean the Jeep battery cables but didn’t make much progress. Decided to head to Wal-Mart on Mansell for a new battery. Probably a long wait, but it went quicker than I expected. Then gassed up the Jeep and cashed in a coupon and the new East Cobb Jim & Nicks BBQ.
Last night Will needed help picking up a full size refrigerator from his in-law’s house in Cartersville. I met W near I-75 and rode up with him. Dr. Gilbert had the fridge all ready to load in the pickup. On the way back I hopped in the Jeep and drove down to W&MC’s to help, arriving at 9 pm. His friend Aaron came to help. Was a chore getting the fridge up his narrow front steps. Then had to take off the doors to get it inside. Also had to take off the doors of the old fridge to get it outside. Didn’t get home until midnight.
PHIL NIEKRO [SABR Bio] his Hall of Famer’s pitch was so effective that it actually became his nickname. “Knucksie” became the master, as much as one could, of the knuckleball. His signature pitch is actually thrown with the fingernails dug into the baseball’s seams or cowhide cover. His father taught him the pitch with the hopes he wouldn't have to work in the coal mines. No other pitcher won more games after the age of forty - a full 121 of his career 318 career pitching victories came after he turned 40. With his younger brother Joe, Phil racked up an amazing aggregates of 539 wins, the most by any two or three brothers combined in major league history. Joe had contributed 221 wins to the total. His brother’s sole career home run came at his expense - Joe’s HR 29-May-1976. Phil’s total of 24 years pitching in the majors places him in very select company, and no pitcher with his specialty pitched longer or tallied more wins, innings pitched or strikeouts. Among knuckleballers, Niekro sands alone with 318 W, 5,404 IP (4th all-time among all pitchers) & 3,342 strikeouts.
During his time in professional baseball, Niekro witnessed the administrations of seven different U.S. presidents. Niekro’s first year in the minors was 1959 and he retired in 1987. Presidents during that span were Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. Won Gold Gloves in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1983. In all, 24 seasons in the majors, with 21 years pitching the Braves, beginning in Milwaukee in 1964, is the most for any player for an NL team. He was five times an All-Star and although he didn’t win a Cy Young Award, he received consideration for the award in five separate seasons. An All-Star in 1969, 1975, 1978, 1982 & 1984.Received CYA votes in 1969 (2nd), 1974 (3th), 1978 (6th), 1979 (6th) & 1982 (5th).
He said “Mr. Baseball” turned his career around. While teammates for ATL in 1967 Niekro had a young catcher who was not about to call for a knuckleball with a runner on third base, fearful of a passed ball that would allow the runner to score. But another catcher, Bob Uecker, told Niekro that if he was ever going to be a winner he had to throw the knuckleball every pitch and that he, Uecker would try to catch it. Niekro led MLB in ERA (1.87) that season despite Uecker also pacing the majors, but in passed balls—(27) in only 62 G. Phil, his brother Joe, and NBA great John Havlicek grew up playing many sports together in Lansing, Ohio. Phil delivered the eulogy at Havlicek’s funeral just last year.
Note: no Dec 28 blog post yesterday, kinda on purpose. Had such a busy day, plus I arrived home exhausted at midnight. Had an hour to get in a post if I’d wanted, but I’d posted an extra time back in October, out of frustration with the new blog format. Plus 2020 is a leap year, so there will be 366 posts anyway.
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