Sitting this one out
Monday August 4, 2008
Before we lose perspective on Georgia’s offseason troubles, let’s remind ourselves exactly what the situation is at this point.
- OG Clint Boling: One game. Impact: minimal. The line won’t miss a beat against Georgia Southern.
- FB Fred Munzenmaier: Two games. Impact: significant. This suspension along with Southerland’s injury has left Shaun Chapas as the only regular fullback for the first few games. The staff has had to shuffle some reserves around just to have enough practice bodies behind Chapas.
- LB Darius Dewberry: Two games. Impact: moderate. Dewberry is one of the top linebacker second-teamers, and the Dawgs will have to look a little more critically at their SLB depth chart. This suspension might get Akeem Hebron on the field sooner than expected.
- SN Jeff Henson: Indefinitely. Impact: minimal. Bo Fowler has stepped in at the long snapper position before and will do it again.
- DB Donavon Baldwin: Indefinitely. Impact: minimal. Depth is always important, but Baldwin is currently listed third on the free safety depth chart.
- DE Michael Lemon: Dismissed from team. Impact: moderate. Georgia fortunately has some depth at defensive end, but Lemon was supposed to be in the mix. His departure isn’t the end of the world, but it isn’t insignificant either.
In case you’re wondering, Georgia’s high-water mark for suspensions entering the season was 2003 when 8 players were suspended for the season opener at Clemson. Defensive starters Will Thompson and Kentrell Curry were also injured for that game, and things were so bad in the secondary that a freshman walk-on named Tra Battle was pressed into service.
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Lead us not into temptation. « Get The Picture
August 4th, 2008
2:14 pm
[…] #3: Groo helps. Because you can’t tell the (non-)players without a […]
Texas_Dawg
August 4th, 2008
4:09 pm
Munzenmeier… significant? Pfft. Whatever. Not having the 3rd-string fullback for two warm-up games? Yawn.
Travis Fain
August 4th, 2008
5:51 pm
It’s not the suspensions that bother me. It’s the focus.
How many of our guys were involved in a barroom brawl less than 24 hours after being named the pre-season No. 1 team?
Jim from Duluth
August 4th, 2008
10:49 pm
Not having the #3 FB available matters when the #1 guy is already injured. Period.
Jim
dawgontap
August 4th, 2008
11:26 pm
And the result of that game? 30-0, right? We weren’t quite as deep then. If anything, all this does is focus the rest of the team.
JudgeDawg
August 5th, 2008
12:33 am
If Baldwin was a bystander at the bar and got hit by a beer bottle aimed at someone else, then he wouldn’t be
“involved in a barroom brawl” an more so than the guy who is hit by a stray bullet is “involved in a shootout.” The police report is linked at the ABH web site. It simply reports that Baldwin was at the bar and got hit by a bottle thrown by someone who he did not see. At this point there are no other witnesses. The report does not say if he showed signs of intoxication.
If that is all there is to it, he shouldn’t be suspended for anything.
Ally
August 5th, 2008
6:36 am
He should be suspended if CMR says he should be suspended. Period.
The guy just had a dui a few months ago. I’m sure from CMR’s perspective, Baldwin had no business at a bar, in a brawl.
I don’t get how that’s not clear to some fans.
Judgedawg
August 5th, 2008
9:27 am
Ally, I may quarrel with your definition of “in a brawl”. Analogy. The guy sitting next to you at Sanford gets into a fight with the guy next to him. The guy next to him throws an punch, misses the target, and hits you.
Under my world view, you were not “in a brawl.” Maybe, in yours, you should be escorted from the stadium, too. I’d bet you would raise all kinds of heck if you were.
I don’t know what happened. All I know is what is in the police report, and the police report is consistent with him being hit by a beer bottle that missed its target and hit him, and says nothing about him being involved in the fight to a greater extent.
The report is silent about whether he had signs of intoxication. Maybe he was, but you would have to assume facts not known to conclude that. There is nothing illegal about him being at the Library. If it is case where simply he was in a bar after being told not to be in a bar it seems that it is less than a “kick him off the team” thing. I’ll bet you will see him reinstated with some type of punishment such as running the stadium steps.
Ally
August 5th, 2008
1:39 pm
The term brawl was used by CMR and many fronm the media ad nauseam since Sunday. That’s probably why I chose the term.
“I don’t know what happened.”
Exactly. Neither do I. But I’m willing to bet my season tickets that CMR knows more than both of us.
And that’s precisely the point that I wish other dawg fans would get. We don’t know the facts, the police report certainly doesn’t tell us everything, and most importantly its not our business. Call me crazy, but I have faith that CMR knows what he’s doing – certainly better than you, me, or any other fan. So I trust his judgment. If CMR chose to suspend him indefinitely than I believe he had a good reason to do so. And therefor, have no reason to question him. But, that’s just me.
The fact of the matter is we can debate all day the ins & outs of the situation, rumors of what happened, etc., but it just doesn’t matter. What does matter is that CMR isn’t a judge, police officer, nor member of a jury. His methods of discipline are spelled out for him by the administration in some cases, and are often up to his discretion in other cases. He can choose to suspend his players if he feels it is necessary. Apparently he does and Baldwin is facing those consequences. That’s good enough for me. And that is the real point here.
Go Dawgs!