Welcome back to the WSB Sports Blog! I know it's been a long time, but we are back on a regular basis. And thanks for being here...er...there...wherever the heck you are. You're a great American...blah...blah...blah.

First of all, there is no truth to the rumor that WSB Washington Correspondent Jamie Dupree tried to gouge out my eye the other day. Jamie, for those of you who don't know, is a Florida Gator and the Brandon Spikes of the newsroom. Therefore, he has been known to resort to some dirty, low-down trickery. But no, he did not try to plop out my eyeball this past weekend. But a chop-block by Dupree is not out of the question....

Now about that eye gouging incident of Brandon Spikes.

Please...let's give it a rest.

Yes, I am a card carrying member of the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network. Yes, I do feel bad when the Dawgs lose. But I have no problem with what Spikes did or attempted to do. Why? IT'S FOOTBALL. The on-field trash talking in the Georgia-Florida game was beyond belief. Tempers were at an all time high, and I would bet you this: the eye gouge was only one of the many over the top techniques in that game. It was just the only one the camera caught.

Did you ever hear of Conrad Dobler? In the 70's he was an offensive lineman for the then St. Louis Cardinals. He was, and still is, considered the dirtiest player in the game. He punched defensive linemen, he bit them; he even would go over and spit on an injured player who was down on the field. He would be quite a topic if he were playing today. He would be a YouTube and ESPN sensation. As a side note, unfortunately Dobler, who is now 59, is almost 90 percent disabled due to the pounding he took as a pro football player. He is suffering financial hardship due to the fact that he gets no disability from the NFL. I'm sure the religious right would say that's it is God paying back Dobler for his transgressions, but it actually is the NFL and all the billions they make turning their back on one of the players who made them what they are. Anyway, that's for another time....

Still if I want a good football team, I do not seek the efforts of choirboys. And, and this is the biggest thing yet, the culture we have created today applauds, actually holds in high esteem, the bad sportsmanship we now see on the playing fields. And at the forefront of this is ESPN. Just watch SportsCenter. The show is full of bad sports, cheap hits, and bad behavior. The young players today? Oh, THEY watch SportsCenter. So, what do you think is the end result? Yes, in effect, you can trace the Brandon Spikes incident all the way back to the Mickey Mouse of the sports world, the World Wide Leader, ESPN.

Meanwhile, the UGA football season of misery goes on. Let's hope we can gouge out an eye or two on our way to a good conclusion to what has been a challenging fall of 2009.