Do you hear that? What is that? Oh, it’s just Kirby Smart and the entire athletic department getting ready for war on the media and the AJC. With yesterday’s strongly worded letter from UGA athletic attorney and the press conference held by Smart, AD Josh Brooks, and two other representatives, it is well-known where the University stands against the Investigation piece published by the AJC.
Ever since the tragic accident took place after the championship celebration on that cold January night, there has been a flurry of questions about if the Georgia program has cultural issues.
The program has sat by and kept its mouth shut, which it has every right to do. With Smart comments during the press meeting, it seems as though he takes the issues brought up in the AJC piece and the players speeding seriously.
Nobody with a brain can say there is not a problem and the same can be said to people who think there is some dark evil force at the Butts-Mehre facility. We are all on the outside and are not going to know.
That includes the media too, Only the players and staff know if they have a culture issue. The public and the media will not know until it affects the play of the football team and if these types of stories keep coming out.
Now some things need to stop, the speeding has gotten out of hand. But is it any better in Auburn, Alabama, or Eugene, Oregon? I have no idea, especially in today’s N.I.L. world. Giving 18-23-year-old males disposable income and fast cars usually is a recipe for disaster. So to me, it does not show institutional chaos. It feels like opposing fan bases are rooting for it, odd.
The questions that the AJC raised on the accident are questions that should be answered and acknowledged. Now I’ll leave my opinion about the Judd articles out of this but it falls more in line with what UGA athletic attorney said.
But this is positioning, I believe, in anticipation of SEC media days. There are going to be a ton of questions about the program and whether is there a culture issue. Kirby and the Athletic program are aware of this and went ahead and started fortifying their defense of the culture. If we know one thing about Kirby Smart he can build a defense. Look for a combative Smart for SEC Media Days.