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

Before we get to some Georgia-related items, a little comparison for you this morning.

After one day on Twitter, I’m up to 82 followers. After one day on Twitter, ESPN’s Erin Andrews is up to 6,522 followers. Hmm. Go figure.

I don’t watch “Dancing With The Stars,” which will feature Ms. Andrews this season, but I gotta say how can you root against Buzz Aldrin?

OK, moving on:
--Buck Belue gives the lowdown on Remerton, where Zach Mettenberger was arrested early Sunday morning on five misdemeanor charges.

-- Sporting News Today has former UGA defensive tackle Jeff Owens going 31st overall to the Colts in the first round in their mock draft.

I’m not the most tech-savvy guy around.

I was behind the curve in the late 1990s on this cell phone thing. I still don’t own an iPod.

But it’s not like I’m a dinosaur.

I live by the DVR, rely on the GPS on road trips and like satellite radio.

Anyway, the time has come to tweet.

I know that readers aren’t always coming to the Athens Banner-Herald Dogbytes page or the Hedge Clippings blog on their own. So I figured it’s time to bring our Georgia football and basketball coverage to you on my new Twitter page.

Please follow me at twitter.com/marcweiszer

I plan to post updates there. You will still find plenty of other Georgia athletics related stuff at twitter.com/abhsports from sports editor David Ching.

You can follow me for updates from Nashville later this week when I cover the men’s basketball team, which plays Thursday night against Arkansas.

Georgia will be the No. 6 seed from the Eastern Division in the SEC basketball tournament next week and play Arkansas Thursday.

South Carolina's 77-73 upset of No. 13 Vanderbilt clinched the No. 5 seed from the SEC East. Georgia's 50-48 loss to LSU later in Baton Rouge had no bearing on the seed, but it did leave the Bulldogs alone with a last place finish in the division.

Georgia (13-16, 5-11 SEC) will play Thursday at 9:45 p.m. ET in Nashville against the Razorbacks, the SEC West’s No. 3 seed. Arkansas (14-17, 7-9) ended up with the No. 3 seed after visiting Ole Miss came from behind to beat the Razorbacks, 68-66, this afternoon.

The Bulldogs will have what will be viewed as a more favorable draw than it would have as a No. 5 seed if its gets to the quarterfinals.

The winner of the Georgia-Arkansas game will face Vanderbilt on Friday.

If the Gamecocks win Thursday, they will have Kentucky—the nation’s No. 3 ranked team—waiting in a quarterfinal game.

Via Beyond the Trestle, a candidate announced for Athens-Clarke Commission today.

Sara Bickerton, 28, is program coordinator for the Athens Literacy Council and assistant program manager at the Jack R. Wells Boys & Girls Club. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Georgia. Her Facebook page describes her political views as liberal/progressive. She is also listed as “special commandante for charitable outreach / sign making czar” in the Washington Street Liberation Army, a group of young political activists who describe themselves, tongue-in-cheek, as breaking the "Republican ... monopoly on fear-mongering, macho-posturing, and willful ignorance."