Thanks to my buddy Chuck, who tends bar at the Taco Stand downtown -- a place where I spend an inordinate amount of time and money -- I got a chance to see what former Georgia quarterback Blake Barnes is up to lately.

He's quarterbacking what I guess is a semipro football team in Paris, France. Blake's team, the Flash, was profiled on CBS' Sunday morning news show.

Seems like a fun thing for a young guy to do for a few months. Blake always seemed like a really nice kid, so I hope he has a good time over there.

You can watch the video here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6183311n&tag=cbsnewsVideoArea.0

Georgia filled the last opening on its football coaching staff on Friday with the hiring of Vanderbilt assistant Warren Belin as a linebackers coach.

Belin coached that position with the Commodores for the past eight seasons and was recruiting coordinator the past two.

His addition to the overhauled Bulldogs defensive staff was announced two days after national signing day for recruits and more than two months after coach Mark Richt fired three defensive assistants on Dec. 2.

“I’m looking forward to the next step in my career with Coach Richt and the opportunity to compete for SEC and national championships,” Belin said in a statement released late Friday afternoon.

Belin will coach either inside or outside linebackers in the Bulldogs’ new 3-4 scheme, but Georgia didn’t specify which one. New defensive coordinator Todd Grantham will also coach linebackers.

The heavy snow expected to hit the mid-Atlantic region hard today is closing schools, delaying and canceling flights and keeping some people away from work.

It also means that Pulaski County High School in Dublin, Va., won’t retire Todd Grantham’s number like it was scheduled to tonight.

The new Georgia defensive coordinator was slated to have his old football jersey number—53—retired with family in attendance before the school’s varsity basketball game tonight.

“That’s been in the works for about a year,” Grantham said Wednesday after Georgia announced its new signees and before the jersey ceremony was postponed. “I’m going back.”

The event has been postponed to a later date, according to the Pulaski County Patriot. Carolina Panthers tight end Jeff King also is getting his number retired.

Other Friday tidbits:

Spencer Frye is not running for mayor – yet. Sure, he attended a forum for mayoral candidates in July, and he raised more than $11,000 for his potential future campaign that he’s supposedly not running right now. Because he’s not an official candidate – yet.

Come to find out, Frye consigliere Bo Mabry started a Frye for Mayor Facebook page. With almost 800 members. On which his dad wrote, “This is really great. Being mayor is a really great thing. I believe you will do a fantastic job.”

Candidates lay groundwork before publicly announcing all the time, but enough is enough! Spencer, come out of the closet!

Are you worried that the government will implant a microchip into your body without your consent? If so, the state Senate has your back.

From the Associated Press:

State senators are moving to protect Georgians from being implanted with a microchip without their permission.

The Senate voted 47-2 on Thursday to approve a bill banning the practice without consent. Doing so would be a misdemeanor considered assault and battery.

Even with permission, implantation could only be performed by a doctor. Anyone who has a microchip implanted without their permission would be entitled to sue for damages.

''I would say our recruiting class is a lot like our year this year. We didn't have the kind of year that I wanted to have, but we still did a lot of good things. We won eight games. That's not good, but ...I'm not going to try to paint a picture that's any different than what it is ... we definitely lost some good players.”

Those words could have been uttered by Georgia coach Mark Richt yesterday on national signing day as Georgia's run of signing top 10 rated recruiting classes ended after eight straight seasons.

They actually were spoken by Jim Donnan on Georgia’s signing day in 2000 when
Donnan lost some in-state recruits to Georgia Tech and top lineman Sean Young to Tennessee.

There were rumors that Donnan was going to N.C. State and that Rodney Garner was going to leave coaching to become a sports agent.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker didn’t get much ink in my story about the Democratic gubernatorial debate Tuesday. Roy Barnes and DuBose Porter had most of the best lines of the night. But Baker did give a good answer to a question about health care reform that didn’t fit in the article.

Georgia has a 19th member of its 2010 signing class, but wide receiver Lonnie Outlaw
from Wilcox County isn’t expected to play for the Bulldogs until 2012, according to his high school coach.

The 6-foot-7 200-pound Outlaw, rated a two-star prospect by Rivals, is headed to Georgia Military College.

“He was definitely going to have to go the junior college route,” said Wilcox County coach Mark Ledford, who said Outlaw is short a credit to qualify to play under NCAA standards.

Georgia coach Mark Richt was impressed with Outlaw’s athletic ability when he watched him play basketball last Friday. Georgia coaches were coming to see Wilcox County quarterback Nick Marshall.

“This all kind of went down very quickly,” Ledford said. “We started talking about it the past couple of days.”

OK Losties … Have your minds gotten back to normal yet?

I’m not sure mine has. Yesterday I had to get to work really early (well, early for a copy editor) so I could get home to watch the three-hour premiere, so I was a tad bit sleepy while watching. But I must say, I didn’t see any of it coming …

SPOILERS AHEAD ... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!

The long talked about move of running back Richard Samuel to linebacker is now a go.
"That’s a move that we decided to make," coach Mark Richt told fans at Butts-Mehre this morning. "He was anxious to make that move and we’re going to see how that works out."
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo mentioned Logan Gray still as a quarterback who will compete with Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenbeger this spring.
Richt said that Alec Ogletree will be a safety. Some wondered if he would play outside linebacker.
"We really think he can make a big impact for us," Richt said.
Georgia announced Mike Thornton's signing during Richt's talk with the fans.
The last signee--defensive lineman Garrison Smith from Douglass--soon followed.