Moving to a new location
AJC blogs are moving to a new technical platform. So check out Terence Moore’s new blog home and bookmark it.
Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > March
March 2008
Braves can do better than this
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They were jilted lovers.
That’s all.
So this wasn’t surprising on Monday night at Turner Field: With future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine returning to the Braves after pitching five seasons for the dreaded New York Mets, he made an instant transformation among those in the Braves Nation from baseball Judas to the most blessed person who ever lived.
It was unofficially Thomas Michael Glavine Appreciation Night for what otherwise was the Braves’ home opener. That’s because Glavine received more hugs and cheers than anybody from the frequently lively crowd whenever his name was mentioned. He rose to the occasion. Just one of the two runs that the Pittsburgh Pirates scored off his 42-year-old left arm was earned during his five innings. Still, his efforts weren’t enough to keep the Braves from watching their 4-2 lead become a 9-4 deficit before they scrambled to tie the game with five runs in the ninth.
The Braves’ middle infielders have to do better than this. Errors by second baseman Kelly Johnson and shortstop Yunel Escobar produced runs for the Pirates on routine plays. The Braves’ bullpen also has to do better than this. After Peter Moylan watched the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman blast one of his pitches into the Washington night for the game-winner Sunday, a series of Braves relievers were pounded by the Pirates for seven runs.
There was Glavine, though, among the reasons why the Braves were supposed to rise higher than everybody thought. In other words, nobody was supposed to know the Braves were going to rise higher until it was too late. That’s why, depending on how you look at it, this is exactly what the post-division-streaking Braves don’t need: Early believers, at least when it comes to those away from the choppers and the chanters. Let’s just say this team can’t do what it was preparing to do, which was hide in the large shadows of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Mets before sprinting to the National League East championship.
Suddenly, the Braves are getting lots of unsolicited love from everywhere.
At least three prominent talking heads at ESPN say the Braves will go from finishing third in the division the past two seasons to capturing it. Fox Sports baseball insider Ken Rosenthal also picks the Braves.
The same goes for our David O’Brien, along with me, by the way.
This can’t be good, can it? “You know, at first we thought it would have been better for us to sneak up there, and if people wanted to talk about us some and give us a few compliments, we’d take it,” Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. “We feel like we’ve got a great team.”
Well, it’s a good team. It was only a decent one last season after a slew of pitching issues for a franchise that was immune to such things during its record 14 consecutive division titles. As a result, to complement the Braves’ impressive collection of returning sluggers and exceptional manager Bobby Cox, management strengthened that pitching in several ways, starting with going back to the future for Glavine.
Victories aren’t as important in Glavine’s world now as innings, and given his latest outing, he looks poised for his normal 200-plus at season’s end. He’s joined in the Braves starting rotation by the efficient Tim Hudson, off to a splendid start after his debut in Washington on Sunday night. Then you have the esteemed John Smoltz, the healthy Mike Hampton and the promising Jair Jurrjens. The bullpen remains a scary work in progress (see those late-inning collapses), but it has potential and flame-throwing Rafael Soriano as a closer.
Nothing has happened to shake the confidence of those believers.
“When you look at our clubhouse, and when you talk to our guys, you got a sense as we started rising in the opinion polls that our guys were feeding on that a little bit,” said Frank Wren, the Braves general manager, already making nice strides in his first year on the job. “(Braves players) were used to this for so many years that they were accustomed to being the top dog. So, we liked it early in spring training to be under the radar, but the more attention we got, the more they seemed to thrive on it. So I guess we like it both ways.”
Those believers would like the Braves a lot better if they start fielding and relieving as well as they can.
Which is better than this.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Tech’s Johnson clearly in charge
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No coaches have more distinctive personalities than those involved with college football. Take Georgia Tech, for instance, where Bobby Dodd was a battler, Bill Curry was a philosopher, Bobby Ross was a perfectionist, George O’Leary was a screamer and Chan Gailey was a — well, he was a what?
Tech offensive tackle Andrew Gardner paused before saying, “Coach Gailey was a nice guy. He was more of a hands-off coach in that he coached the coaches and the coaches coached the players. He probably was a real pro-style coach in the sense that, once his players earned a level of trust by making good grades and staying out of trouble, he expected them to be responsible for themselves.”
You know where we’re going. So what is Paul Johnson, Gailey’s successor, who was a head coach of distinction at Georgia Southern and Navy for 11 seasons? His first group of Yellow Jackets finished their fourth spring practice on Saturday at Rose Bowl Field, where the week was dominated by two consistent sights: Johnson teaching and his assistants yelling.
Which means what about Johnson, especially compared to the coaching personalities of Dodd, Curry, Ross, O’Leary, Gailey and the rest?
“Gosh, I don’t know. I’m probably a little of all of them,” Johnson said, sliding into a smile. “I try to be a teacher, but sometimes you have a lot of intensity if it calls for that, and sometimes it doesn’t require that, and you have to just do what you think needs to be done. Players can tell you [about my personality] better than I can. I don’t know what their perception of me is.”
They don’t know, either.
That’s because their perception of Johnson is a work in progress.
Here’s what they do know: Their new guy won a couple of Division I-AA national championships at Georgia Southern and made Navy football relevant for the first time in decades. Even though their new guy has an eternal love affair with the triple-option offense, he has spent large chunks of his first spring with the Jackets throwing and throwing some more. In other words, their new guy isn’t obsessed with trying to shove Tech’s round pegs that aren’t triple-option friendly into the square holes of his preferred offensive style. Their new guy also has shown wisdom by not having preconceived ideas of who can do what and allowing open competition.
Plus, their new guy already isn’t into folks who bark. Consider that Johnson has “Beat Georgia” on more than a few items around Tech’s practice fields.
“We’re still trying to get to know Coach Johnson, but we already can tell that he’s a no-games coach,” said cornerback Jahi Word-Daniels. “He sticks to the rules. He’s all about doing the right thing, and he wants perfection, and he wants to get the best out of us every time we hit the field. I’m sure we’ll learn more about him as the spring, summer and season goes on. But you can tell right now that he won’t accept anything less than the best from us.”
The same goes for Johnson’s wired assistants during practices. According to Johnson, such a thing isn’t a coincidence, with Johnson adding, “We need to be high energy, and I really believe that the players react to how the coaches are. So we’re asking them to get after it and move around with intensity, so we need to do exactly the same thing.”
No problem there for linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary, a holdover from the Gailey regime, who is among the many assistants who keeps his tongue flapping and legs churning before, during and after drills. This is Jean-Mary’s fourth year at Tech, and he once spent two seasons as a graduate assistant under the intimidating Lou Holtz at South Carolina.
Said Jean-Mary, “Make no mistake about it. You knew who was in charge at South Carolina. You knew Lou Holtz was the captain of the ship. When he walked into a room, he had everybody’s attention without saying a word. That’s the same thing I’d say about Coach Johnson.”
Here’s another thing you can say about Johnson: He’ll add more yelling to his teaching along the way. How much more? It will depend on whether his Jackets are moving closer to beating Georgia.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC
Hawks hope to make a little playoff noise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Prepare yourselves for a dangerous thought involving the Hawks’ short-term future, and here’s why: Sports folks are perennially into that cliche about taking things (all together now) one game, one day, one whatever at a time.
Consider, too, that the Hawks have more than a few issues right now. After missing the postseason for an NBA-high eight straight years, they are among the underwhelming but competitive group of four teams battling for that eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Most immediately, they’ll meet one of those teams tonight at Philips Arena, where the Chicago Bulls will join the Hawks in trying to become the least mediocre bunch on the court for an evening.
As for that dangerous thought, what if Harry The Hawk joins that cow in jumping over the moon and the Hawks really do make the playoffs?
Good news. At least one Hawks player has the correct response to what logic says would be a massacre for his team in the first round against the Boston Celtics, the NBA’s most gifted powerhouse in years. Suggested Josh Smith: Who would listen to logic if Harry The Hawk and an acrobatic cow actually did that lunar thing?
“We’re most definitely hungry, and we’re not just satisfied with making the playoffs, because we want to be a Golden State in the playoffs,” said Smith, referring to the Warriors’ clobbering last year of the supposedly mighty Dallas Mavericks. In that first-round matchup, the Warriors played out of their minds by forgetting they were only a No. 8 seed and eliminated their No. 1 seeded foes in Game 6 with a 25-point blowout.
The Celtics would be a No. 1 seed, and the Hawks would be a No. 8 seed. Which would mean what compared to Warriors-Mavericks of 2007?
Well, not that, but who knows? Maybe the youthful Hawks would discover ways to make the veteran Celtics huff a little more between puffs. Added Smith, “We want to resemble Golden State in that they came out [against Dallas] with the passion and the intensity that showed that they knew that they were going to play heads up with anybody that they faced.
“In regard to just making the playoffs, we talk about it pretty much about nearly every day to make sure that everybody stays focused on the task at hand.”
We’re back to that cliché about staying in the present, where the Hawks have fluctuated during their playoff run between dandy, decent and dreadful. They’ve done so, not only from game to game but from quarter to quarter. You can blame inexperience, the adjustment to new point guard Mike Bibby, a bench that coach Mike Woodson uses only as a last resort and a flawed roster that still needs a talented big man and a strong leader.
You can’t blame the schedule. With the 31-40 Hawks holding a half-game lead over the New Jersey Nets for that last playoff spot in the East, the Hawks will spend the next three games against opponents with lesser records (the Bulls, the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies).
Then again, none of that helped the Hawks earlier this week when they vanished after halftime in Chicago before re-appearing too late near game’s end.
Thus the reluctance of most Hawks to think beyond this second.
“The main focus and the main goal for us is just getting there [to the playoffs] first,” said Josh Childress, the Hawks’ splendid sub. “Obviously you look and you see who you’re potentially matched up with, and that’s something that we have to keep our eyes on. But the biggest goal for us right now is just getting there.”
Joe Johnson, the Hawks’ most valuable player, agreed, saying, “If we did make the playoffs, we could be a scary team. It’s only up to us. It would be a tremendous accomplishment knowing that this franchise hasn’t been there in, I mean, what? I don’t even know how many years it’s been. We just have to come in and really focus in on what we have to do.”
Then Johnson sighed, adding, “We just have to take …”
You know the rest.
Permalink | Comments (25) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Tradition going, going .. almost gone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is so ridiculous. The first couple of Major League Baseball games this season ended before many fans could yawn their way out of bed.
It’s bad enough that Opening Day is years removed from its rightful place in Cincinnati, only the birthplace of professional baseball.
But Japan?
There is no way the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A’s should have started the season during the last two days anywhere but Fenway Park, McAfee Coliseum or any other diamond that sits between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Then again, there is now way this madness involving American professional sports leagues playing games that count on foreign soil is going to stop.
It’s all about the potential for the greedy folks involved with these leagues to add megabucks to their megabucks. So, while the NFL already is holding regular-season games in foreign lands, the NBA is thinking about it, and baseball has joined its football counterpart by actually doing it.
I understand what’s happening here and why it’s happening. I just don’t like it, especially when the most endearing part of what was our national pastime keeps getting belted a few steroid-induced swings toward the ozone.
Tradition.
Once, the baseball opener always was in Cincinnati, and it always was the only game played that day. Now you’ve got this Japan mess, and then you’ll have the Braves becoming part of the “United States” opener on Sunday night against the Nationals in Washington D.C.
Then, on Monday, you’ll have 1:05 p.m. starts for the Kansas City Royals against the Tigers in Detroit and the Toronto Blue Jays against the Yankees in New York.
Then the Reds will play the Arizona Diamondbacks at 2:10 in Cincinnati as mostly an afterthought.
Night games in the World Series starting later and later. The DH rule. Lights in Wrigley Field. Interleague play and wild cards. The Dodgers bolting Dodgertown and the Yankees bolting Yankee Stadium. Opening Days near Tokyo Bay instead of the Ohio River.
Yes, look toward the ozone.
Tradition in baseball is going, going, almost gone.
Not that those greedy folks care.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Hawks benefit from having Dominique around
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It took awhile, but this is exactly the way it should work for the Hawks. I mean, everywhere you look, it’s Dominique, Dominique, Dominique.
Surely you’ve heard of The Human Highlight Film, otherwise known as Dominique Wilkins, the past, present and forever face of the franchise. He’s the Hawks vice president of basketball, which means he is an advisor to the Gearons, the primary owners who run the team for Atlanta Spirit, LLC.
“While Michael Gearon Jr., is like a brother to me, Michael Gearon Sr. is just like a father,” said Wilkins, a popular courtside fixture at Philips Arena for home games. He also is a studio analyst for pregame, halftime and postgame shows of Hawks telecasts.
Here’s the biggest thing: Away from the slew of cameras and autograph seekers, Wilkins is doing what he should have been doing since his Hall of Fame career ended nearly a decade ago. That is, he is passing along his considerable hoops knowledge to current Hawks players.
Or shall we say that Wilkins finally is allowed by the Hawks to do so.
It isn’t a coincidence, for instance, that after Wilkins began huddling around practices this season with guys on what is the NBA’s youngest team, the Hawks began flying in the vicinity of their first playoff berth this century. More specifically, talented but raw Josh Smith is evolving into something beyond just a fancy dunking and blocking machine. With help from Hakeem Olajuwon during the summer and even more help from Wilkins throughout the regular season, Smith is closer to becoming a complete player.
“You can have a tendency to get away from the basics, but [Wilkins] has been there to help me polish that up,” said Smith, who often works with Wilkins either before or after practices. They discuss the physical as well as the mental, and then Smith dribbles toward combining the two. Smith added about Wilkins, “He’s also been there to teach me new moves on the block, and it’s been great. Just being able to get bits and pieces from a Hall of Famer — oh, man — you think about that all the time.”
Which means something was wrong with the way previous Hawks ownership and management viewed Wilkins’ role with the franchise.
Wilkins had no role.
That’s because the majority of those in charge of the Hawks for Time Warner couldn’t care less about Wilkins’ icon status around town. In fact, they resented it. How else can you explain why they only used Wilkins as sort of a well-dressed complement to Harry The Hawk?
“Oh, no question that was the case,” said Wilkins, who often asked Hawks officials before Atlanta Spirit took over four years ago for more visibility with the franchise. They listened, nodded and then continued to ignore him. Added Wilkins, “I didn’t understand why they had a problem with me, because I’m an easy guy to get along with. The thing is, I love the Hawks, and I love the city of Atlanta, and I don’t think there is anybody around who wants this team to win more than me.”
The Gearons might challenge Wilkins for such honors. It was Gearon Sr., a former Hawks general manager, who helped organize the deal with the Utah Jazz in 1982 that brought Wilkins to Atlanta. “Listen, everybody knows how I feel about Dominique, and he’s a very intelligent guy, and we’re fortunate to have him actively involved with the franchise,” said Gearon, who simply is making the Hawks resemble the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics and other teams that promote their star players from the past.
Just ask Wilkins, recalling a conversation he had this year in New Orleans during All-Star weekend. “I was talking to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, and we mentioned how we all have basketball expertise, and how we’re all able to teach it in a way that guys understand,” Wilkins said. “You see the position that Bird is in [as president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers] and what Magic is doing for the Lakers [co-owner and vice president].
“That’s what I like about the owners that we have now with the Hawks. They’ve given me the opportunity to do the things that I like to do.”
It has helped Wilkins, and it really has helped the Hawks.
Permalink | Comments (28) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Terence Moore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After more than 30 years of working for major newspapers, I’ve had several claims to fame. They go beyond the various awards I’ve won from the Associated Press, the San Francisco Press Club, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Sporting News and various Georgia sportswriting associations.
For instance:
- I wrote the first story ever about future baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.
Yes, I’m getting old.
This was back when I worked at the Cincinnati Enquirer, and Griffey was an 8-year-old megastar for his Knothole League team. He played every position, but he primarily was a pitcher. Opponents regularly sobbed when they headed toward home plate with Griffey on the mound.
- In addition to the Enquirer, I worked at the San Francisco Examiner covering the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco Giants before I began writing a sports opinion column. I came to the AJC in December 1984. Along the way, I covered three of the six coldest games in NFL history.
The worst was the Freezer Bowl in Cincinnati between the Bengals and the San Diego Chargers for the American Football Conference title in 1981. The temperature was minus-9 with a wind-chill factor of minus-59.
I’m still shivering.
Permalink | |
Services »
