If you’re like me, you missed out on the early feeding frenzy on airline tickets for the Arizona State game. Maybe you weren’t sure if you were going. Maybe your group was dragging its heels making arrangements. Maybe you were betting on the price of oil to crash and send fares plunging. Good luck with that.

Anyway, here you are in mid-June, and fares for non-stop flights are pushing $450 and not budging. You’ve listened to Paul Westerdawg and Kanu and have your social agenda in order and possibly even have tickets taken care of. But you’re still procrastinating about a flight.

AirTran has come through with a flight option that checks in at just over $300. I have to credit my lovely wife with finding this one. She affects the outcome of the Florida game, and she finds good deals to road games. What a catch. Here are the details:

• Outbound: AirTran flight 1940.
  Leaves 8:40 p.m. on Thurs. Sept. 18, arrives 9:45 Phoenix time
• Returning: AirTran flight 1941.
  Leaves 10:40 p.m. on Sun. Sept. 21, arrives 5:17 a.m. Monday morning

Yes, those are some late flights, but they come with some advantages:

• If you’re up for it, a night out in Tempe isn’t out of the question on Thursday. If you’re staying near Tempe, you’ll probably be off the plane and checked in by 11:00.
• You have all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in town. Having Sunday to recover from gameday won’t suck.
• If your work vacation time is tight, these flights give you the option of working Thursday and Monday if you’re reasonably close to Atlanta. I know turning around and going into the office on Monday after a red-eye and a football weekend isn’t the most appealing option in the world, but it’s there if you need it.

Again, those flights check in at just over $300 for the round trip after taxes and fees. I don’t know how long these prices will hold, so jump on it. I doubt you’ll find anything cheaper as we get closer since most of the seats on other flights are already booked. You might be able to do better if you are willing to forgo the non-stop flight, but be cautious of booking with Frontier as the future of the airline is uncertain. If you want to continue to hold out, I second Kanu’s recommendation of kayak.com.

If you’re still looking for a hotel, you might try the Hyatt Place Tempe / Phoenix Airport. It’s no more than two miles from both the airport and Sun Devil Stadium. They also have 42″ flat panels in the rooms which any sports fan should appreciate.

The Coliseum Practice Facility has been open for about a year now. For fans who haven’t toured or taken a look yet inside the facility, UGASports.com has a photo feature up taking you inside the men’s basketball area. I’ve written about how the facility measures up nationally, but don’t take my word for it…

One parent of a high profile prospect said, “My son and I were at the Dean Dome(UNC) last week, and this place beats that hands down!”

Mitchell Boggs was a key relief pitcher on the 2004 Georgia squad that reached the College World Series. Now with another group of Bulldogs on their way to Omaha, Boggs is set to record another personal milestone. He will make his first major league start on Tuesday night for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Cincinnati Reds. Boggs made his MLB debut on Friday out of the bullpen and gave up one run in two innings of work.

Mitchell Boggs and Josh McLaughlin celebrate after beating Georgia Tech in the 2004 super regional. Photo: Red & Black

Some nations require years of residency and an exam for citizenship. In Russia, all it requires is a professional basketball contract.

Olympic dreams are commonplace for elite athletes. In many sports the Olympic gold medal is the summit, and you’d be hard-pressed to find an athlete who hasn’t been inspired along the way by watching one of his countrymen excel at the Olympics. But spots on the Olympic team aren’t as commonplace, so the dream of playing for one’s country never becomes a reality for most. Because of lineage or birthplace, dual citizenship is an option for some. For others, Mother Russia is willing to help.

Three WNBA players – including two former Georgia Lady Dogs – have made the 24-member preliminary squad for the Russian national women’s basketball team. How can native-born American citizens play for the Russians? ESPN explains in the case of WNBA star Becky Hammon,

Under Russian league rules, (Hammon) was able to obtain a passport and become a naturalized citizen because she had never appeared for another country in a FIBA-sanctioned event. In other words, she was still eligible to compete for Russia internationally.

Hammon’s papers were approved quickly by the highest levels of the Russian government, just as they were for former Bucknell guard J.R. Holden, who hit the game-winning shot last summer to help Russia win the 2007 Eurobasket Championships. Holden, too, will compete for Russia in Beijing.

Kelly Miller and Deanna Nolan are the former Georgia players on the squad. Both played for Russian club teams in the WNBA offseason and acquired Russian citizenship as a result. Neither was selected for the American national team (a questionable decision in Nolan’s case), so playing for Russia might be their only shot at playing in the Olympics. 20 years ago, this news would have been scandalous – if not impossible. How about now? Does it bug you that American athletes would take Russian citizenship in order to participate in the Olympics, or do you respect the decision to chase their Olympic dreams any way they can?

It’s been a busy offseason when it comes to the leadership of the BCS conferences and schools.

• First, Notre Dame AD Kevin White opts for the arguably less-stressful and lower-profile vacancy at Duke.
• Then Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announced his retirement last week.
• Now we learn that Pac-10 commish and defender of the Rose Bowl Tom Hansen is on his way out after 26 years.

The Big 12 named Dan Beebe its commissioner less than a year ago. Though Tranghese and Hansen will continue on for another academic year, we’ll still see a turnover of more than half of the BCS leadership between 2007 and 2009.

Will this sudden turnover have much effect on things like the BCS and college football postseason? I doubt it. It’s important to remember that conference commissioners serve at the pleasure of the presidents of the conference’s schools. Though there is plenty of room for each commissioner to make his mark on his conference, major policy decisions are likely to be guided by those presidents. In other words, if the Pac-10 presidents as a group oppose a playoff (and it seems as if they do), Hansen’s replacement is likely to share that view.

Still, it will be interesting to see what new blood brings to the table and if any of the newcomers become polarizing figures in their own right.

Mike Slive (2002), John Swofford (1997), and Jim Delany (1989) are now the elder statesmen of the BCS conferences. In case you’re wondering who might be next to retire, Delany and Swofford both turn 60 this year, and Slive is approaching 68.

Sometimes the events just speak for themselves:

Georgia Bulldogs 1st – Peisel singled to right field (1-0 B). Olson hit by pitch (2-0 B); Peisel advanced to second. Beckham walked (3-1 BBBKB); Olson advanced to second; Peisel advanced to third. Poythress walked, RBI (3-1 BBKBB); Beckham advanced to second; Olson advanced to third; Peisel scored. Massanari singled to left field, 2 RBI (1-1 KB); Poythress advanced to second; Beckham scored; Olson scored. Brown to p for Surkamp. Cerione singled, bunt (0-0); Massanari advanced to second; Poythress advanced to third. O’Bryan grounded out to 3b, RBI (2-2 KBSB); Cerione advanced to second; Massanari advanced to third; Poythress scored. Allen singled to center field, 2 RBI (0-1 F); Cerione scored; Massanari scored. Thoms singled to left field (0-0); Allen advanced to second. Peisel singled to right field (1-2 BKFF); Thoms advanced to second; Allen advanced to third. Olson flied out to lf, SF, RBI (2-2 KBSB); Allen scored. Beckham singled to left field, RBI (0-0); Peisel advanced to second; Thoms scored. Poythress singled through the left side, RBI (0-1 K); Beckham advanced to third; Peisel scored. Cutler to p for Brown. Massanari reached on a fielder’s choice (0-1 F); Poythress out at second ss to 2b.

9 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

After the wonderful dismissal of rival Georgia Tech in the regional round, it was reasonable to wonder if the Georgia baseball team could get back up for a series with an unfamiliar opponent. Georgia’s recent postseason opposition had been regional or conference foes like South Carolina, Clemson, FSU, and Georgia Tech – all very familiar, all usually very good, and there was no problem getting up for those teams.

But here was N.C. State. The two programs don’t play each other. They, more or less, don’t recruit against each other. N.C. State’s story was one of a solid but not traditionally-strong program having a great season and seeking its first trip to Omaha since 1968. Georgia fans probably even cheered the Wolfpack when the boys from Raleigh dispatched South Carolina in the regional. Though a trip to the College World Series is always its own motivation, I wondered in the back of my mind if a letdown was possible after the euphoria of taking two games from Tech.

It didn’t take long into the series to discover that 1) N.C. State was a very formidable opponent and 2) it would indeed be very enjoyable sending them home.

It started on Friday when Wolfpack coach coach Elliott Avent asked the home plate umpire to examine Trevor Holder’s cap for a foreign substance. (The cap, of course, checked out clear.) It continued on Saturday when Georgia star Gordon Beckham was hit not once but twice by Wolfpack pitching. It came to a head Sunday afternoon when Wolfpack reliever Drew Taylor hit Lyle Allen following a Joey Lewis home run in the bottom of the 6th. Intentional or not, the pitch just below Allen’s head fired up the Bulldogs to finish the job and enjoy the beating as if it were an SEC or regional rival. Though the umpires and coaches did a good job of keeping the emotion from boiling over, the Bulldogs made sure to get their revenge on the field.

• "We wanted to make them sorry for Lyle getting hit," catcher Bryce Massanari said. "It woke up the sleeping dogs. After that, we just wanted to pour it on and embarrass them."
• "Embarrass them," (Gordon) Beckham said about Georgia’s mindset. "I think we got like eight runs after that, didn’t we?"
• "We were asleep," (coach David) Perno said. "We were in the dugout going ’12 outs. 12 outs, we’re going to Omaha. Nine outs.’ All of a sudden, they woke the bats back up."

If a pitch aimed at a Georgia batter’s head led to a five-run explosion in the bottom of the 7th, Wolfpack pitchers must have been peppering the family members and girlfriends of the Bulldog team prior to the game. Georgia erased any concerns about a tense nailbiter by putting up nine runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. The fact that the only scoreboard drama of the day came when State closed to within six runs indicates how complete of a win it was. On offense, eight Georgia singles combined with two walks and a hit batsman did the damage in the 1st. On defense, Nick Montgomery had yet another strong outing, and he was helped with strong plays in the field by Ryan Peisel, Lyle Allen, Matt Cerione, and Gordon Beckham.

While history might remember Allen’s HBP as the spark for Georgia’s final push at the plate, the first few runs actually came at a very important moment in the game. LSU’s dramatic comeback against Cal-Irvine on Sunday demonstrated that no lead is ever safe in college baseball, so the Wolfpack’s three runs in the top of the 6th were enough to get one’s attention after four straight scoreless innings from the Bulldogs. Gordon Beckham’s first home run of the day, a solo shot to left, got the Bulldogs back on the scoreboard and helped to stem what might have been the beginning of an NCSU comeback. Lewis’s two-run blast completed the scoring for the inning, and Georgia had answered the visitors’ challenge and ensured a relatively anti-climatic finish.

There were no need for Keppinger-esque heroics, and Josh Fields was, if anything, sloppy in closing out the 17-8 win. Instead, the lopsided win provided an opportunity to reflect on the many accomplishments and storylines across the roster. From Beckham’s star power to the emergence of Nick Montgomery to timely hits from the bottom half of the lineup, Sunday’s win gave us the chance to enjoy it all.

Click here for an outstanding gallery from UGASports.com of the celebration.

When NC State deposited two Trevor Holder pitches over the fence in the top of the 3rd inning in Friday’s opening game of the Athens Super Regional, I had a flashback to the opening game of the 2006 Athens Super Regional. South Carolina hit five consecutive home runs in the second inning and jumped out to a 9-0 lead on the host Bulldogs. In the 2008 opener, three straight Wolfpack batters – including the #9 batter – hit deep shots, and two found their way out of the park. It wasn’t looking good for Holder who recently struggled with shoulder problems and had a so-so regional.

But the right-handed junior wasn’t about to allow a repeat of 2006. On the day he found out that he was drafted in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Florida Marlins, Holder buckled down, got out of the 3rd, and went another 5 2/3 innings without allowing another earned run. The Bulldogs quickly answered those two runs and went on to a convincing 11-4 win over the Wolfpack. Holder ran out of gas just one out away from his first complete game after giving up 7 hits, 2 runs, and recording 5 strikeouts. Justin Earls came in to record the final out.

Prior to Friday’s game, the Wolfpack hadn’t allowed more than ten runs in a game since a March 14th loss to Miami. Starter Clayton Shunick was dominant at times, but Georgia took advantage of two weak innings to do their damage. The Bulldogs scored four times with two outs in the bottom of the 3rd, and they chased Shunick with five more runs in the 6th. Matt Olson and Gordon Beckham got the Dawgs going with key two-out hits in the 3rd, but the bottom of the order once again was a big part of the story. Lyle Allen, Miles Starr, and Joey Lewis combined for 5 RBI including a two-run homer by Lewis.

That 2006 Super Regional had a lesson: even if you get your tail kicked, you start out 0-0 in the next game. Georgia bounced back that year to win two straight over the Gamecocks and advance to Omaha. Friday’s opening win by Georgia puts them in great shape just one win away from the CWS, but they’re not there yet. The good news for the Bulldogs is that they have everything going for them right now – they’ll have a fresh bullpen, a partisan crowd, and the bats show no signs of cooling off.

As expected, Gordon Beckham and Josh Fields were taken early in the first round of Thursday’s Major League Baseball draft.

• Beckham was drafted 8th overall by the Chicago White Sox.
• Fields improved on his second-round selection of a year ago by being selected 20th overall by the Seattle Mariners. Atlanta’s loss is Seattle’s gain.

With their futures certain now, here’s hoping that these Bulldog stars can end their college careers on top.

UPDATE: Georgia football signee Xavier Avery was selected 50th overall by the Baltimore Orioles. According to his father, Avery is baseball all the way. Some fans I’ve read have been griping that Avery’s scholarship could have gone to someone else, but I think the coaches knew and expected that Avery was going to go the baseball route and factored that into the numbers for this signing class. His decision actually clears up a situation where Georgia might have been over the football scholarship limit.

While it’s serious news that Jeremy Lomax was arrested on speeding and concealed weapons charges, it is encouraging to see him step up and accept his fault in the incident.

Most fans assume a suspension, but alcohol-related incidents are the only ones for which a suspension is mandated. Depending on Mark Richt’s discretion and the eventual outcome of the charges, Lomax’s discipline could range anywhere from a multiple-game suspension to “internal” discipline such as additional running.

This tidbit is also encouraging: when potential starters are driving 1991 Chevy Caprices around town, you can be pretty certain that the NCAA won’t be moving their Tuscaloosa branch office to Athens any time soon.

The company whose name is on the stadium which hosts the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is being bought out.

I was reading this post at CFR that was, at face value, just another innocent-enough post about the playoff discussion ("jeez – he’s about to make another playoff post," I hear you say). One sentence in particular took me off on a tangent.

The Plus One is effectively the gateway to — shudder — a real playoff in college football.

I’m probably (almost certainly) not the first to raise this question, but is the "plus one" the point of no return or did we already pass the playoff event horizon with the introduction of the BCS?

We hold the regular season sacred, but why is the national champion not named immediately after the regular season? That’s not a ridiculous question; until 1968 the final polls were released before the bowls. The interim between 1968 and 1998 moved the focus of the national title to the bowls, but there was still very little formal structure in terms of determining a consensus champion. The Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance attempted to put some framework around the postseason, but the introduction of the BCS in 1998 was the biggest shift to create a single championship game between the nation’s two best teams.

What is the BCS, then, if not the mechanism behind a two-team playoff? Is the current discussion a question of playoffs vs. BCS, or does it all just boil down to resistance against the "bracket creep" of expanding our current two-team playoff to four teams or more?

I don’t ask these questions as gotchas for those who consider themselves playoff opponents. Truth is, there aren’t only two sides on which to come down on this topic. Unless you’re for a return to the ’80s-era bowl free-for-all or a wide-open 64-team tournament, there’s a ton of middle ground with plenty of tradeoffs to talk about. But asking "how big do we want our playoff to be" versus "do we want a playoff at all" are two very different questions, and the time to have that discussion might have been ten years ago.

By now you know that Georgia’s SEC opener against South Carolina will be at 3:30 on CBS. It will be the nation’s first look at this title contender, and I couldn’t think of a better network on which to make our national debut.

It’s not that Georgia hasn’t had significant wins on other networks. The Sugar Bowl destruction of Hawaii was on FOX, and the overtime defeat of Alabama was on ESPN. But FOX managed to turn a dominant bowl win into a trudging and tedious broadcast that just…wouldn’t…end. ESPN’s production of the Alabama game turned on Mike Patrick’s bizarre fascination with Britney Spears.

But great games on CBS can be transcendent. From the South Carolina and Auburn games in 2002 to the LSU game in 2004 to the Florida and Auburn games last season, appearing on the Canine Broadcasting System has been great for the team. They haven’t always won on CBS, but we’re assured of a first-rate production and broadcast team. While other networks flounder when a close game turns into a rout, the broadcast booth becomes one big party at CBS.

Pendulum Swings Back

Deserved or not, the SEC tied its own record with nine teams in the 2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament. While there is plenty to back up the SEC, I think the reason for nine teams is much simpler: the SEC received only five bids last year – a result that was at least as controversial, if not more, than this year’s nine bids. This year it was the Pac-10 who got five teams in, and defending champ Oregon State was a casualty of that fact. We’ll see if the committee takes that into account next year.

Good News

Finally, it’s always a little weird to get personal with someone whom you "know" only through bits and bytes, but it’s nothing but fantastic news that Doug’s father is doing well. It’s an incredibly jarring experience when the men we hold up have a brush with their own mortality. Father’s Day will have a little more meaning than usual this year.

Georgia will welcome Raleigh Regional winner North Carolina State to Athens this weekend for a best two-of-three series for the right to advance to Omaha and the College World Series.  Here’s the schedule; some warm afternoon games are ahead.

Athens Super Regional Schedule

Friday – Noon on ESPN
Saturday – Noon on ESPN2
Sunday – 4 p.m. (if necessary) on ESPN

Ticket Information

All-Session tickets to attend the NCAA Baseball Athens Super Regional, featuring Georgia and North Carolina State, will go on sale online via www.georgiadogs.com, at the Athletic Association Ticket Office window or by calling 1-877-542-1231 (toll free) beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3.

All-Session Reserved tickets are $40 with the all-session general admission price set at $30. Both All-Session ticket packages include a ticket to all Athens Super Regional games including Game 3 if necessary and provide fans with a discount off the individual game ticket prices.

All tickets ordered for the Super Regional will be distributed via Will-Call. Patrons may claim their tickets prior to the regional from the Athletic Association Ticket Office beginning on Thursday, June 5 at 9:00 a.m. Regional tickets will also be available for pickup at the Foley Field ticket windows each day of the Super Regional.

For more information, visit www.georgiadogs.com and click on the link for tickets or call the Ticket Office at 1-877-542-1231. Visa, Mastercard and Cash are all accepted forms of payment.

“Can anybody f#@*ing play out here?”
– Danny Hall, during Monday’s 7th inning mound visit

Thoroughly unimpressed with the accomplishment of the Georgia basketball team, the Georgia baseball team demonstrated this weekend just how easy it is to win 4 games in 3 days.  Georgia completed the comeback by winning four straight games through the loser’s bracket, and they finished off Georgia Tech 18-6 in Monday night’s regional championship game.  Georgia’s hot bats were aided by six Tech errors, and Bulldog pitching allowed just one run after surrendering five to the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the first inning.

With a loss already against them and drifting dead in the water against Louisville, the Diamond Dawgs shed a May malaise with one swing of Gordon Beckham’s bat.  In the 30 innings since that pivotal 7th inning against Louisville, Georgia has scored 47 runs.  They won the final three games of the regional by a combined 40-9 margin. 

Matt Olson had already cemented his place among the great Tech beaters, but the Athens Regional MVP one-upped himself with a freakish 18-26 (.692) batting performance over the weekend.  That total included seven hits over two elimination games against Georgia Tech.  It says something about Olson’s weekend that Bryce Massanari, in the middle of a 13-game hitting streak, was overshadowed.

As much as I can go on about the hitting, the story of the weekend had to be Georgia’s pitching depth coming through.  Regular starters Stephen Dodson and Trevor Holder struggled on Friday and Saturday.  Even reliable closer John Fields wasn’t himself on Saturday.  But beginning with Dean Weaver’s solid middle relief against Louisville, the pitching settled down.  Nathan Moreau and Justin Earls followed it up with strong showings against Lipscomb.  Nick Montgomery’s complete game shutout of Georgia Tech in Sunday’s nightcap was the outstanding performance of the regional. 

Montgomery’s outing on Sunday let Georgia get to Monday’s championship with plenty of arms on the bench, and they would need most of them.  Starter Justin Grimm failed to record an out during a disastrous first inning that saw Tech turn a 3-0 deficit into a 5-3 lead.  Alex McRee quickly settled things down, and he would hold Tech at bay allowing just a single unearned run in the 4th.  Weaver was brought in for the 5th, but he took a wicked shot off his pitching arm and had to leave the game after facing just one batter.  His condition and availability for the rest of the season is unknown. 

With Weaver out the Dawgs turned to Will Harvil, and Harvil became the latest Bulldog to make the most of his opportunity. Harvil allowed no runs and just three hits over four innings while the Bulldog offense built its lead.  Josh Fields finished the job in the 9th, but the issue was no longer in doubt then.  After the first inning it looked as if we were in for a high-scoring shootout, but Georgia’s middle relief of McRee and Harvil made sure that the scoring was one-sided.

Naturally a win like this over Georgia’s rival carries added significance.  The season series, led by Tech after the regular season, now finishes 3-2 in Georgia’s favor.  It’s the third time this decade that Georgia has ended Tech’s postseason.  Even bigger, the Dawgs are now 15-0 in elimination games at Foley Field. 

With another emotional regional and a draining march of five games in four days, Georgia will have to come back to earth quickly.  N.C. State will be coming to Athens for the Super Regional this weekend, and they are as good as any team Georgia faced during the regional.  The Wolfpack were 18-11 in the nation’s toughest conference, and they are 41-20 overall.  N.C. State swept through their Raleigh Regional with a 3-0 record and eliminated South Carolina to advance to the Super Regional.