Yes, James Franklin and Todd Grantham Almost Fought
by cocknfire on Oct 15, 2011 11:56 PM EDT
in SEC Football
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PrintThere was something odd that happened at the end of Georgia's hard-fought win at Vanderbilt. Beyond the blocked punt that almost gave Vanderbilt a chance to come away with a win after it looked like the Dawgs had the game safely in hand, and beyond a receiver dropping the would-be winning touchdown. It started -- well, listen, I'll just let James Franklin tell you what happened.
@marcweiszer
Marc Weiszer Vanderbilt's James Franklin:"I went to find coach Richt and didn't find him, so I found one of his assistant coaches and it didn't go well."
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What does he mean when he said "it didn't go well"? He means it went something more like this:
via 30fps.mocksession.com via SBN Atlanta
Whatever Georgia defense coordinator Todd Grantham is saying there, he's very emphatic about it. I'm betting it's not a disagreement about the concessions choices at Vanderbilt Stadium. So what did Grantham feel so strongly about?
@marcweiszer
Marc Weiszer#UGA defensive coordinator Todd Grantham on incident with Franklin: "I love my players and I'm going to support my players."
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Whatever Grantham said, it was apparently enough to set off James Franklin -- a man who generally appears to be in control of his emotions. So we were treated at one point to the sight of Mark Richt trying to separate Grantham and Franklin, along with what appeared to be a few players.
Then, the players started to jaw at each other, facing off for several tense minutes before order was restored. At the same time, a Georgia player whose name escapes me at the moment was lying on the field injured. (That might have had something to do with the confrontation, given that the Georgia defense was on the field when the game ended.)
You'll remember that this isn't the first time that Grantham's intensity has gotten the better of him. And he was hardly the only SEC coach to lose his cool on a day when Will Muschamp had one of the longest and greatest rants at officials in college football history.
But if you're one of those who think distractions matter, then Georgia might have given up an intangibles edge against South Carolina in the race for the SEC East. (The Gamecocks did not look sharp in their first outing following Stephen Garcia's dismissal.)
It does make the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party that much more of a must-see game. Someone is throwing a punch; the only question is whether it's Grantham or Muschamp, and what the other guy does after that.
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Crapping in the sandbox
If I were playing with my kid at the playground, and I saw a kid crapping in the sandbox, I’d let the kid’s parents know. Some parents would thank me for letting them know,and some would go Todd Grantham, “I love my kid and he can crap where he wants” on me. I think Franklin was trying to point out that there was a kid crapping in the sandbox, because he’s the kind of guy that would want you to tell him if his kids were doing that. Not sure why he mentioned it to Grantham… probably forgot about the choke incident last year. Maybe it wasn’t the appropriate time to bring it up, seeing as how the heretofore listless Vandy offense just showed a whole lot of life against Grantham’s D. I’m guessing he wasn’t in the mood to be told his kid was crapping in the sandbox after he nearly crapped the whole bed himself.
The Georgia player was injured
http://twitter.com/#!/hownowbrowncow/status/125420118321803267
DawgSports/Falcaholic/Talkin' Chop
I Rarely Go Ad Hominem, But
Dinard, you are an ignoramus and my beagle knows more about football than you. The story line could just as easily be about Franklin saying his kid can continue chop blocking, holding, and hitting low from behind. At best, it takes two to tango.
by Hogbody Spradlin on Oct 16, 2011 8:41 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
to go with your analogy
What if said parent started yelling at your kid instead of coming to you first? Franklin said he looked for Richt and “couldn’t find him” and went to an assistant instead. Which means that he was pissed off and started jawing at the first coach he saw. The game was Chippy on all sides. Instead of dealing with it like professionals, both Franklin and Grantham acted like a-holes. It doesn’t matter who started it, but Franklin shouldn’t get a pass either. If he had taken the time to find Richt, I’m sure it would’ve gone down differently. But he was a hot douche, and he found a hot douche in Grantham. But at least Grantham isn’t the head coach.
by Mark Mandingo on Oct 16, 2011 9:30 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Vandy was cut-blocking all night with a few from behind
Franklin was pointing and chirping at a Georgia player as he approached Grantham and Grantham stood up for his player. Given his history in Jacksonville last year, Grantham will probably take the fall on this one in the media, but Franklin was the aggressor here.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
Video evidence
Looks pretty obvious that Franklin is pointing at Shawn Williams (#36) who had been called for two PF’s. What was said, we’ll never know – but it clearly set Grantham off.
This game was chippy all night and I attribute that largely to the Vandy players continuously cut-blocking Georgia players from behind and it not being called.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
Personally, I think they should both take some flack for this
They’re supposed to be the adults in this situation. I understand how hard keeping your cool can be — I get a fiery temper from my mother’s side of the family — but the coaches are supposed to model the right behavior to their players, not give in to their emotions because somebody said something
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
by cocknfire on Oct 16, 2011 12:51 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
this I can agree with
these are grown ass men, charged with the task of helping these kids become men. Instead, they both set a poor example in sportsmanship and acted like children. Both should be embarassed over this, and both should face some sort of punishment.
by BamaThrasher on Oct 16, 2011 1:38 AM EDT up reply actions
@Cocknfire: Meh, good PR move for both guys.
Plus, Mark Right gets tough guy points by proxy
by Hogbody Spradlin on Oct 16, 2011 12:57 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Mark Richt. Unintentional typo
by Hogbody Spradlin on Oct 16, 2011 1:00 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Dang.
I had already printed up 10,000 “Mark was Right!” bumper stickers.
by vineyarddawg on Oct 16, 2011 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Amazing
I don’t think I have ever seen a player doing what 36 did during the second half of the game. Dancing/taunting in theendzone while his teammate was down. Pointing at our players and coaches repeatedly during the game and pretending to laugh his head off. That is why Vandy fans were booing so much in the second half. I have always thought that Georgia was the classiest: still think the fans and Head coach are but in 40+ years of watching football I have never seen a player behave that way. I hear everyone complaining about Franklin but they didn’t get to see 36 since he was always back away from the line. I hope Richt can see video of the activities on the entire field to see what the problem was. I think the UGA fans that were sitting near us saw it too and understood what the issue was. Hopefully Richt will talk to the young man. I still like Georgia fans and Richt, I just think most of the commenters didn’t see any of the stuff the young man was doing. Hope he learns why you can’t act like that.
by vandygal78 on Oct 16, 2011 12:18 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 1 recs
It was a chippy game
Its easy to see those things that are classless. But the cutting was there too. Having to worry about your knees on every play gets to you after a while. Franklin should’ve taken it up with Richt. If he had, we wouldn’t be talking about it. But everybody lost their cool. You think we were classless, we think the blocks were cheap. The reality is somewhere in the middle. It would be great on Tuesday if Franklin and Grantham would come out and say they handled the situation poorly. They could’ve done it last night, but they didn’t.
by Mark Mandingo on Oct 16, 2011 1:14 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It is weird that Franklin said he couldn't find Richt
Normally after the game the 2 head coaches are heading to midfield to intentionally meet each other. Unless Richt was off somewhere else doing something out of the ordinary it doesn’t seem plausible that Franklin would find Grantham first or that he would have had to take any real effort in looking for Richt in the first place. I’m not saying he is lying, but it is an abnormal situation either way.
What's stranger, if you buy Franklin's version of events
Is that he went out there to have a cool, calm and collected convo with Richt and then, failing to find Richt, his zen got completely shattered and he started haranguing Shawn Williams (whose back was to Franklin and thus clearly hadn’t been the instigator) and then initiated unpleasantries with Grantham. Gee, James, that sure got out of hand quickly.
SEC Pigskin Podcast with Barney Able and Dorsey Hill
http://www.secpigskinpodcast.com/
by aproposdenada on Oct 17, 2011 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions
One thing I’m tired of as a Dawgs fan, is that none of the coaches of this team had any emotion before Grantham came. As Richt was, they’d just stand on the side line with their hands on their heads frustrated.
Now, when a coach defends his players visually on the field, half of the fans are saying he should be fired for lack of class. Did Spikes have class when he facemasked Ealey on purpose? Did Fairley have class when he tried to injure Murray’s ankles multiple times? I’m proud to have this man on the field to defend our players.
My dad taught me how to make meat for sloppy joes and my mom let me turn over hot dogs on the grill.
by ChopMaster on Jun 25, 2011 7:25 PM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Jun 28, 2011 9:50 PM EDT reply actions
"Here in the National League where we play REAL baseball, DH means double-header." -Me.
"Whatever Grantham said, it was apparently enough to set off James Franklin..."
Not that it matters, but Franklin was clearly the instigator:
http://mypict.me/index.php?id=328133928
http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/name-that-caption-a-penny-for-your-thoughts-mark/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3-ncac8w4Uo
And what I got out of his “we won’t back down” press conference is that he — very rightly — had his team come into this game determined not to be the patsy. Georgia is a wobbly traditional heavyweight that they could land some punches against, so Franklin wanted to be the aggressor. That was evident from the trick plays, the fake punt, the chippiness, the chop blocks, etc.
I don’t begrudge them that. If you want to take over Vandy and have it be something other than Vandy, then you go hard after a team like Georgia.
I do begrudge the passive aggressive “we’re gonna play with class” posturing after the fact. Franklin wanted this fight and he got what he asked for. It’s disingenuous for him to feign surprise at the outcome.
As a Georgia fan, I was disappointed to see Grantham take the bait. I understand standing up for your players and, if it makes his defense his defense that much more willing to run through a wall for him with Florida next on the docket, then all the better.
But this was Vandy. And, regardless of what James Franklin wants Vandy to be, Vandy to Georgia is a team to be dispatched in a gentlemanly but businesslike manner. The shenanigans in Nashville this year and in 2007 are embarrassments and Richt is right to call them out as such.
SEC Pigskin Podcast with Barney Able and Dorsey Hill
http://www.secpigskinpodcast.com/
There is a difference between fiery and childish.
There is a difference between standing up for your players and foolishness.
Grantham was pissed that his defense looked like garbage against a horrible offense and he let Franklin get to him. How hard would it be to say, “Don’t talk to my players”? What a clown.
"The first person I would like to thank is the good Lord, for giving me the ability to play the game of football. Because without the ability to play the game I would have been at Auburn." - Marty Lyons
by crimsonpride19 on Oct 17, 2011 12:47 PM EDT reply actions
and how difficult
would it have been for Franklin to talk to Richt? Anybody that thinks only one of these guys is a clown can join them.
by Mark Mandingo on Oct 17, 2011 12:53 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
He did talk to Richt. Right after Grantham finished showing his childish ass. Franklin was obviously in the wrong trying to speak to an opposing player. I’m choosing not to speak about Franklin and his errors because he’s the head coach of VANDERBILT. Then again Georgia is starting to look a lot like them so this is probably a pointless conversation.
"The first person I would like to thank is the good Lord, for giving me the ability to play the game of football. Because without the ability to play the game I would have been at Auburn." - Marty Lyons
by crimsonpride19 on Oct 17, 2011 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions
you're right
UGA’s education has improved the last ten years. We’re not anywhere close to Vandy though, but we’re third and very close to Fla. Thanks for the compliment!
by Mark Mandingo on Oct 17, 2011 1:16 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Whatever makes you feel better buddy. Surely there’s a blog that focuses on SEC academics somewhere.
"The first person I would like to thank is the good Lord, for giving me the ability to play the game of football. Because without the ability to play the game I would have been at Auburn." - Marty Lyons
by crimsonpride19 on Oct 17, 2011 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions
thanks for making me feel better
blog buddy.
by Mark Mandingo on Oct 17, 2011 2:10 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
So HCs of Vanderbilt get a pass?
Franklin’s the head coach of a team in a BCS conference. I think it’s reasonable to expect some gravitas from that role, even if it is Vandy. If Franklin came out looking for Richt, he wasn’t looking very hard, as he was barely across the sideline when he began accosting a Georgia player who wasn’t even looking at him.
None of this excuses Grantham for taking the bait. I’m just mystified at how Franklin keeps getting a pass in spite of being the clear instigator.
SEC Pigskin Podcast with Barney Able and Dorsey Hill
http://www.secpigskinpodcast.com/
by aproposdenada on Oct 17, 2011 1:09 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
meant in response to Crimsonpride19
SEC Pigskin Podcast with Barney Able and Dorsey Hill
http://www.secpigskinpodcast.com/
by aproposdenada on Oct 17, 2011 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions
You're right.
He shouldn’t get a pass and his part in this was just as deplorable as Grantham’s. I think where people are excusing him is in the fact that it’s a first offense and we really don’t know much about him yet. Grantham is not new to this type of behavior, though. Everyone is acquainted with his lack of decorum. That was really what I was commenting on. But, you’re right, Franklin shouldn’t get a pass.
"The first person I would like to thank is the good Lord, for giving me the ability to play the game of football. Because without the ability to play the game I would have been at Auburn." - Marty Lyons
by crimsonpride19 on Oct 17, 2011 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Anyone Consider...
That it might have been a UGA player that started this? Easily could have been #36 taunting Franklin as he crosses the field (36 was spotted doing this earlier in the night—so it’s not too much to imagine him doing it post-game as well), Franklin responds, Grantham walks in on it without realizing what is going on and then KABOOM.
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