OC Democrat Dan Matthews just passed along this news release:

Georgia Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Michael Mills will be speaking to the Oconee County Democratic Committee during their regular monthly meeting 7 pm Thursday, March 18, 2010 at the Governmental Annex Building on Highway 15 south of downtown Watkinsville.

Mills is a former Legislative Aide to former Secretary of State Lewis Massey and served as the Press Secretary for former Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor and should not be confused with the bass player for the rock band R.E.M. of the same name.

Bet he wins the primary in Athens anyway.

In related news, Michael Stipe should not be confused with gubernatorial candidate DuBose Porter just because they have the same hair.

Georgia's players wanted to enjoy their 77-64 SEC Tournament win over Arkansas Thursday night for at least a little while before thinking too much about tonight’s 9:45 ET quarterfinal showdown with No. 20 Vanderbilt.

“We’re going to focus on them when we get back to the hotel,” forward Trey Thompkins said after scoring 23 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in a game that ended after midnight back in Athens.

Who could blame them? Georgia pulled away late in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for its largest victory since it beat Tennessee 78-63 back on Jan. 23.

Vanderbilt will have to deal with a Bulldogs team that beat the Commodores 72-58 on Feb. 6 and nearly beat them again in a 96-94 Vandy win on Feb. 25.

Georgia presents problems that Arkansas doesn’t.

“Georgia’s a little bigger and more physical around the goal,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said this week when talking about the possibility of matching up with Georgia or Arkansas.

Boss Shumba doesn't have a shark head on his wall, but Rep. Paul Broun grilled the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration, the federal agency that regulates fisheries, at a committee hearing Wednesday over rumors that the NOAA plans to ban fishing.

The rumors stemmed from an online ESPN column and other blogs, according to the New York Times.

Team Broun provided a transcript of the House Science and Technology Committee hearing:

BROUN: As an individual who got involved in politics, I began my political activism because of my conservation ethics and because I am a hunter and fisherman, and your agency Ocean Policy Taskforce is apparently talking about instituting a policy that would lead to a ban of recreational angling in the United States.

There are certain parts about my job that I love more than others. One is the free surprises that come in the mail. This afternoon, the Living editor Julie comes up to me and hands me a packet with a press pass and wristband for Here's a the St. Patrick’s Day festival in Columbia, S.C., this Saturday.

I went to the festival every year when I was in school at Here's a USC . And it just so happens I am going to be in South Carolina this weekend visiting a friend AND a college friend’s band is playing that night. Lovely how things work out huh?

But I was wondering why the ABH got a press pass for a festival in Columbia, and then I looked at the music roster and saw that Here's a Athens’ own Perpetual Groove was headlining one of the stages. So thanks Columbia for thinking of us here in Athens. I’ll be seeing you on Saturday!

NPR has an article about the massive strike in Athens over austerity cuts. Athens, Greece, that is.

But, given Athens, Ga.’s fondness for protesting, what if we were to take to the streets?

(Cue wavy lines and dream-sequence music)

The Georgia National Guard fired tear-gas and stun grenades at masked protesters in the heart of Athens on Thursday, as thousands of workers went on a city-wide strike that closed schools, shuttered bars and left hospitals staffed for emergencies only.

University of Georgia faculty and staff, teachers and other government employees are protesting harsh new austerity measures imposed by the government to try to cut the state's massive budget deficit.

We’re gearing up for a long day of basketball here in Nashville.

Long because Georgia tips off at 9:45 p.m. ET (or a tad bit later) against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament.

It’s one of four games on tap today. There's four more coming on Friday in the quarterfinals.

“It’s a festival of the regular season,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. “I think all the teams coming together and being in one venue, the fans, the media that follows them, just everybody in the SEC family coming together.”

Tennessee is 11-5 in the SEC, the third best record in the conference, but it’s 9-7 Ole Miss and 9-7 Mississippi State from the SEC West that get first-round byes.

Pearl isn’t going to complain about the tournament format now, saying he just wants to focus on LSU. “In the offseason, I’ll comment on how conference tournaments, you know, how we think their formats can be improved. …It’s a fair question. I just don’t want to answer it right now.”

Via Tim Bryant:

“Athens Area Habitat for Humanity director Spencer Frye says he'll have an announcement one way or the other within the next two weeks on whether he is a candidate for Mayor. Frye has been considering a campaign to replace a term-limited Athens Mayor Heidi Davison.”

All signs point to Frye running, but the wait continues. At this point, I'm halfway expecting Pozzo and Lucky to stop by.

In other news, potential Commission District 1 candidate Sara Bickerton said her campaign is not official yet, but she is seriously considering running. Beyond the Trestle has a brief interview with her, and look for more info here as soon as I get the final word that she’s in.

Heading out of town on my way to Nashville for the SEC men’s basketball tournament.

Since Georgia’s playing the late 9:45 ET game on Thursday against Arkansas, the Bulldogs and Razorbacks are practicing last later today.

Let’s make this a country-music themed blog post since we’re heading to the Music City.

I can’t say I knew much about Jason Aldean before I ran across a story from The Daily Collegian before he played a concert at Penn State and offered this: "I'm a big [University of] Georgia Bulldogs fan, but everyone roots for good ol' Joe [Paterno]."

So Tennessee may have Kenny Chesney, but Georgia’s got Aldean, a Macon native who has a No. 1 country song titled “The Truth.”

From The Boot.com:

From a brief break to attend a wedding at a drive-through chapel in Las Vegas. Here’s what we missed over the past four days:

• The budget went from worse to worser.

Georgia forward Trey Thompkins was named today a first-team All-Southeastern Conference pick by the league's coaches, the first Bulldog to receive such an honor since Jarvis Hayes in 2003.

The 6-foot-10 sophomore is second in the SEC in scoring at 17.7 points per game and fourth in rebounding at 8.2. He averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds last year as a freshman.

Thompkins was one of five unanimous selections on the eight-man first team.

“I think Thompkins is a special offensive player,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said last week. “He is really, really terrific. He can score inside. He can score outside. He can make turnaround jumpers, jump hooks. He puts it on the floor. He does a lot of different things. …Not only in our league but in the country, I would be hard pressed to find too many guys more skilled and talented and gifted then he is.”

Here’s the complete list of awards from the SECsports.com
First Team All-SEC