Kirby Smart needs to take the wheel when it comes to Georgia football's speeding epidemic
If you’re not a Georgia football fan, here’s a hot new recommendation for your summer reading list. It’s a deep dive into Kirby Smart’s football/racing program by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Fans from rival schools will find these liner notes irresistible:
“Since Kirby Smart became Georgia’s head coach in late 2015, dozens of players have engaged in reckless, often lawless behavior that put them and others in jeopardy: excessive speeding, street racing and driving under the influence, among other offenses. Players have illegally brought weapons onto Georgia’s campus. They’ve gotten into bar fights. They’ve been charged with domestic violence and sexual assault.”
That’s true to some extent. It was true to a large extent at Florida when Urban Meyer was winning national championships.
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But the investigative piece makes you wonder if Smart’s taken a page out of Meyer’s head-in-the-sand disciplinary playbook.
The “permissive culture,” as the AJC terms it, has turned the streets of Athens into the Daytona 500. Players have gotten about 300 traffic tickets since Smart was hired, 60 of which were deemed serious.
The worst came in January when offensive lineman Devin Whitlock and a recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy were killed in a street-racing crash. They were racing a car driven by All-American defensive lineman Jalen Carter.
It’s not clear what the deterrence is for such mayhem.
“Everybody wants to know what the punishment is,” Smart said. “Well, the players know what the punishment is.”
Whatever it is, it doesn’t appear to be having the desired effect. Maybe the scrutiny will prod Georgia into reviewing how it handles its disciplinary business.
It’s a hit piece, for sure. But some targets deserve a good whack…
Stud of the Week: Novak Djokovic, for winning a record 23rd Grand Slam tournament at the French Open. He’d probably have a couple more if Australia and the U.S. hadn’t banned him for not getting a Covid shot. Seems so quaint now.
Stud II: Tom Brady. While taping a YouTube video, he stood on a yacht, threw a football and hit a drone that was hovering over the water. The Air Force should hire him the next time a Chinese spy balloon drifts into U.S. airspace.
Dud of the Week: The YouTube jerk who harassed Brittney Griner in an airport, yelling questions like whether she’d had sex with Vladimir Putin. Wish he’d try that at the Moscow airport.
Dud II: The freakout over the Griner incident and how WNBA teams should take charter flights so players won’t be exposed to public airports. The guy was a clown with a cellphone, but from the reaction you’d have thought he was Conor McGregor and Griner was “Burnie” the mascot.
Speaking of which, did you catch the halftime stunt last Friday night with McGregor and Miami's mascot? McGregor got carried away and punched Burnie so hard, the mascot needed to be checked out at a nearby emergency room.
Next up: McGregor vs. the Phillie Phanatic in UFC 290.
The navigation app Waze has started using Roger Federer’s voice to provide directions. It tried to use John McEnroe, but the app just screamed “You cannot be serious” every time a driver took a wrong turn…
Burnie Redux: NBAMascots.com describes Burnie as a “7-foot tall, furry, red anthropomorphic fireball.” Funny, that’s how Bill Walton self-identified when he played for Portland 40 years ago…
I was on vacation last week and out of the sports loop. Did Saudi Arabia really buy the PGA Tour?...
In 1985, Sports Illustrated famously duped the world with a fictional story about Sidd Finch, a Mets rookie who could throw 168 mph. This week, National Review Online duped the world with a fake story about Brady Deeker, a non-binary catcher Toronto’s calling up to celebrate Pride Month.
I remember being skeptical of the Finch story from the start. The Deeker piece seemed quite believable…
Congrats to former UF center Udonis Haslem on his 20-year NBA career, all with the Heat. The 43-year-old played only 65 games the past seven seasons but was kept around as a mentor and exemplar of “Heat Culture.” Knowing Haslem, he may still make occasional appearances as a 7-foot tall, furry, red anthropomorphic fireball...
Observation of the Week: ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith called Nikola Jokic a “Big tub of lard” midway through the NBA Finals. The Big Tub averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds, 7.2 assists and was named Finals MVP…
This Just In: Georgia has gotten commitment from 5-star racer Kevin Harvick…
After 41 years, Pat Sajak announced Monday that this will be his last season on “Wheel of Fortune.” “I just wanted to hang around one more year than Udonis Haslem,” he said.
That’s about all the space we have for this week’s Whitley’s Believe It or Not. Till next time, if you encounter somebody in an airport yelling stuff about having sex with Vladimir Putin, feel free to go Conor McGregor on them.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Fast times for Kirby Smart's UGA football program come with a price
