"Suspended" by the Powers that Be...

You, yes you, can now watch George Rogers'
game-clinching  fumble against the Bulldogs
in 1980 from our Digital Network for as little
as $3.99!

On Saturday morning, I had received a couple of emails asking why my blog had disappeared.  This disturbing development was certainly news to me, but sure enough, I visited my site and it had indeed been removed since early Friday.  I finally got it restored yesterday morning. 

I did some digging and found out that there was a very good reason for my blog's disappearing act: I had committed a major violation and because of it, I was being punished by the powers that be!

It seems that the 40 or so videos of old Bulldog games I had posted on YouTube over the last one-and-a-half years and embedded into my blog posts were committing copyright infringement.  XOS Digital - a division of XOS Technologies, Inc., and the group behind the SEC Digital Network - has apparently been on a mission to rid the Internet of any video depicting members of the SEC.  They finally caught up to me a few days ago, and in the process, got rid of every last one of my 40+ freakin' videos that I spent hours cutting up and preparing!    

Suddenly, without any sort of notification or warning of my wrong doing, my blog was temporarily removed, all of my videos were wiped out, and my YouTube account was suspended.

I got my blog back and that's what really mattered to me the most.  Losing the videos isn't that big of a deal; however, there was an audience (albeit, a small one) that enjoyed watching my old clips of the Bulldogs from yesteryear.  Now, because Jake Scott, the "Junkyard Dogs," Herschel Walker, Scott Woerner, Terry Hoage, Garrison Hearst, etc., played for SEC member Georgia, their videos can no longer be posted; XOS Digital will have none of it.  

I can no longer share my clips with the Bulldog Nation, but am forced to watch them by my lonesome (and I mean all alone -- strangely, my wife doesn't enjoy reliving the 1976 Florida game with me).  However, if the Bulldogs were a member of the Big Ten, for example, the videos would remain on my blog and up at YouTube for the few viewers that actually wanted to watch them.

Also, how ironic is it that the SEC Digital Network, who emailed me countless times a year or so ago wanting me to post its "SEC Video Zone" (or whatever the hell it was) on my blog (which I actually did for a short period before I noticed it was slowing down my site) is run by the same group that reported to YouTube all of my "infringing acts"?  Bunch of squealing bastards...

One quick look at the SEC's site and I notice it has one of my favorite old Bulldog classics "on demand" -- the 1980 Georgia-South Carolina game.  Before you could go to YouTube, or my blog, and view clips from this game.  Now, you still can view the clips from the very same game via the SEC Digital Network, but it's gonna cost you: $3.99 to rent, $6.99 to own.

Now, I get it.  It's all about the almighty dollar.  And folks that already have plenty of them, only want more.  Oh, well.  You live and learn -- that is, me and numerous others, who were not looking to make any money, but simply enjoy video clips of our favorite SEC teams from the past and present. 

On a positive note, I'm nearly finished with my Georgia-Florida manuscript, so I should have more free time beginning next week to dedicate to my now video-less blog.