The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a pretty harsh article about former UGA quarterback David Greene’s pro career with the Seattle Seahawks, and how he’s not even cutting it as a third-stringer.
This preseason was to be David Greene’s opportunity, his chance to prove the Seattle Seahawks weren’t faulty in using a third-round draft pick on him two years ago.
If Greene could prove himself a viable backup, maybe team president and general manager Tim Ruskell wouldn’t regularly be scanning the wavier wire for an available veteran quarterback.
If Greene could show the confidence and ability to lead Seattle’s offense, coach Mike Holmgren wouldn’t be so cautious with second-string quarterback Seneca Wallace, and perhaps take advantage of Wallace’s athleticism in other ways.
Greene’s first chance came in Seattle’s second preseason game at Green Bay — and it was a failure.
The essence of being a college football fan is schadenfreude, a German word that has no direct English equivalent and means taking pleasure from other people’s misfortune. It’s why I was giggling like a retard who was handed a coloring book after reading that article.
Anybody hear how D.J. Shockley is doing with the Falcons? Oh, I remember now.
Cross-posted to my Rocky Top Talk diary
Richt ruined Greene his last two years there with constantly making him look over his shoulder at Shockley. Completely destroyed his confidence and probably cost them a shot at a National Title just to make sure Shockley didn’t transfer so they could have him start one year.
Here is your etymology fact for the day.
There is a Latin word, “sang-froid” which literally means cold-blooded, but has a similar meaning to schadenfreude.
One would think that “schadenfreude” would be a Germanisation of the Latin word, considering the similar meaning and the fact that, lexicographically, they are the same.
However, they developed independently and do not share the same root (”kaiser” of course, being the most common Germanisation of a latin word, and I believe one of the very few, but I digress).
I’ve always found that immensely fascinating, although, I would not be surprised to know that I, out of 6 billion people, am the only one who does.
And just one final note, some lexicographers and dictionary editors feel that “epicaricacy” (about which, I just read quite an interesting article a few weeks ago) is a close English equivalent to “schadenfreude”.
However, I am of the mind-set that such a dowdy word can not have any true bearing on the English language.
Greene had more than a strong enough arm at UGA, and made some clutch, clutch throws. He was way ahead of Jason Campbell. Really surprised Green’s not at least a legit NFL backup QB, while Campbell looks to be a solid starter for the Redskins.
Would be crazy if Greene gets cut while the infamous Reggie Ball makes the Lions as a WR.
Damn your red haired hide, that Shockley thing was a cheap shot! Poor old falcons…
Wow dude. It’s sounds like you’re still a little bitter over the 2001 “hobnail boot” game. Or could it be stemming from David Green taking three out of four from UT during his time?
Georgia never beat Manning. k thx
Heh! Totally true! I give credit where credit is due. Peyton is pretty incredible and very talented.
But your post was about David Greene. And while Peyton has gone on to amazing things in the NFL and Greene has not, my joke was that your enjoyment over Greene’s failure probably stemmed from Greene pwning UT for three out of four years.
Will you be attending the game this year? Richt hasn’t lost at Neyland (Athens North) yet and I’m curious if you have any predictions.
Even thought the post was about Greene, I just noticed the Peyton reference in the title. My bad.
No doubt, the hobnailed boot left a bitter taste in my mouth, both for Greene and for Larry Munson. I was at the game and didn’t get to hear Munson’s commentary ’til later, though. You’ve never heard a louder stadium than when Travis Henry (I think it was a Travis Henry) ran a touchdown back for UT with 45 seconds left, and you’ve never heard a crowd get quieter than after the hobnailed boot. It was a good night for a schadenfreude connoisseur.
I was also at the game in Athens last year, which might have been an even better night for a schadenfreude connoisseur. All that hope when UGA was up by (what? 22?) near the end of the half. All that dejection at the end.
Predictions for this year? Fulmer has taken two of the last three from Richt, but they both have been in Athens. The away team has had the upper hand in this series of late, which puts UT at a disadvantage. I think whether there’s a decent chance to break that streak up or not will depend on whether Erik Ainge’s broken pinky finger turns out to be a big deal. We’ll find out more this Saturday.
Right now, I’m not terribly optimistic about this season, as should be evident from the need for me to get my kicks dragging former players from other teams down.
I’d like to go to the game this year, but have no plans as of yet. We’ll see if my source for tickets from last year comes through again this year.
The fact of the matter is that Holmgren felt his hand was forced when Greene was drafted. The Seahawks ownership wanted him and Holmgren didn’t want a QB from that draft…period. As such, Holmgren was hell-bent to have ANY QB drafted at that time fail to prove the infallability of Mike Holmgren. It’s well documented that Holmgren (and his giant ego) feels that he should have complete and total control over all player and team issues. This is why Green Bay was glad to see him leave. As for Greene’s “failure” during the ONE pre-season game in which he got to play this year, should I also point out that Holmgren suddenly sat his starting tackles just prior to the game? Nothing like telling your QB that he’s probably going to be running for his life (and Greene was.) Should I also mention that the Seahawks running game got completely shut down in the same game? Did Greene play poorly? Yes. Was he ever given a legitimate chance? No. In his pre-season appearances, he never even had the chance to play with anything close to a full corps of starters. In Greene’s three pre-seasons, he got to play in fewer than eight quarters while Seneca Wallace, who is so stupid that he still requires a tutor for his “learning disability” to learn the offense after five pre-seasons (and that’s a fact) often played entire halves. (Did you know that Wallace was only given SEVEN passing plays to run while Hasselbeck was hurt last season?) Greene still could be as good or better than either Manning. I guess more wins, more yards, and fewer interceptions than Petyon in college mean nothing? Someone here mentioned that Greene was looking over his shoulder at Shockley while at UGA. That’s absurd. Shockley was awful. He lucked up with decent stats in his senior year with an offensive line that finally had some experience and a running back corps that averaged over five yards per carry. During Greene’s final two years at UGA, his offensive line gave up more sacks than any other team in the SEC. During his junior year, Greene was running for his life against (national champion) LSU while his receivers dropped SIX passes in the first half alone. My whole point here is that he is a very talented guy and the last thing he needed was to be under the “direction” of a vindictive egomaniac like Holmgren. Had Greene been drafted by a number of other teams, I have no doubt that he would have been very successful. All he needs now is a coach at least willing to give him a legitimate chance (as I sit here and watch lowly Trent Green in Miami throwing horrible pass after horrible pass as a starting QB.) I just look at Eli Manning and Jason Campbell (and many others) starting in the NFL and have to shake my head in disbelief.
J,
You raise valid points about Holmgren and how Greene was drafted stifling his opportunities. I have no doubt he could have played somewhere or at least been a legitimate back-up under better circumstances. But I also don’t buy that’s he’s anywhere near Peyton Manning’s level talent-wise, or he’d be playing somewhere.