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April 2008
Management’s lack of patience hurt Hawks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nine years.
That’s absurd.
During an era of parity in sports, which includes the NBA, where you can become significant out of nowhere with a couple of quick and bold moves, it took nine years for the Hawks to go from clueless as a franchise when it comes to reaching the playoffs to wherever they are now.
So where are the Hawks now? For one, they are preparing for a Game 6 on Friday night at Philips Arena during their ongoing first-round attempt to shock the Boston Celtics. There wasn’t supposed to be even a Game 5. The Celtics and their league-leading 66 victories during the regular season were expected by many to sweep their way past a Hawks team that won 37 games, the lowest victory total of anybody entering the postseason.
For another, the Hawks are where they should have been seven, six or at least five years ago. Back when they last made the playoffs, management joined its knee-jerk fan base and howling media (OK, I’m guilty) to fret over what they all considered to be an old and slow team. That Hawks team was good enough to reach the second round before dropping four straight to a New York Knicks bunch that eventually reached the NBA Finals. It’s just that, for longevity’s sake, the Hawks franchise needed a young and fast team that resembles the athletically gifted one that it has now in the playoffs.
We’re back to the absurd. It took all of those nine years, along with two different general managers, two different ownership groups and four different head coaches for the Hawks to reach this point.
The operative word here is incompetence regarding the Hawks’ botching of an otherwise decent plan. We mention as much, because if you wish to improve in the present and the future, you must learn from the past, and much of the Hawks’ past over the past nine seasons was brutal.
“Yeah, and if you look at it and if you go to [former Hawks general manager] Pete Babcock, he definitely would take back the trades that he did or whoever made those particular trades,” said Steve Smith, a Hawks broadcaster, who was among those slam-dunked by Hawks officials nine years ago after that Knicks sweep. He was the shooting guard on that “old and slow” team before it was dismantled for a rebuilding program that has lasted longer than Japan’s recovery from World War II. Added Smith, “People took us for granted. We were winning 50, 55 games a year. We were in the Eastern Conference, which was the Western Conference back then, the powerhouse conference.”
In fact, during the Hawks’ run to the playoffs with Smith in the latter 1990s, they were eliminated by the elite, ranging from Reggie Miller’s Pacers to Shaquille O’Neal’s Magic to Michael Jordan’s Bulls to Patrick Ewing’s Knicks.
Hawks management panicked anyway by unleashing a two-year purge that involved Lenny Wilkens, only the NBA’s all-time winningest coach, efficient point guard Mookie Blaylock, center Dikembe Mutombo, who was so “old” back then that he still is young enough right now to help the Houston Rockets in the playoffs, and consummate professionals such as Grant Long and Tyrone Corbin.
“If they would have kept that team together, we would have had a chance [for a championship],” Smith said. “When you look at my five years in Atlanta and the nine years I played in the East overall, Chicago won six of those championships.”
That’s Chicago, as in Air Jordan. Those Bulls were as potent as these Celtics are supposed to be now. Even so, these Hawks have been competitive against these Celtics for long stretches. Said Smith, when comparing his Hawks team to this one that is the youngest in the playoffs, “They’re definitely a lot more athletic. We just had more experience.”
Translated: Smith’s Hawks team was “old and slow,” but not enough for ownership and management to throw the franchise into a nearly decade-old funk.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Picking Ryan ‘highly debatable’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — Matt Ryan? Not a brutal pick for the Falcons at No. 3 overall in the NFL draft on Saturday, but it was far from brilliant. Mediocre comes to mind, and so does this thought: If Michael Vick wasn’t officially gone before as the face of the Falcons, he is now.
That is, unless Vick leaves his flag-football team in prison as an offensive tackle, defensive tackle or cornerback, among the slew of positions his former team still needs to solidify to become relevant again.
Whether the Falcons still need to fill Vick’s old position of quarterback after selecting Ryan is debatable.
Highly debatable.
These two things aren’t debatable: First, with Ryan’s selection, Falcons officials dramatically sacked the public whispers about whether No. 7 and his exciting but controversial ways ever will return to the franchise again. Second, if you go by logic when it comes to trying to change the momentum of a reeling franchise, the Falcons just blew it, especially with the extraordinary Glenn Dorsey sitting there on the draft board as the defensive tackle that they really need. That’s because they don’t have any defensive tackles worth mentioning. Not only that, franchises such as the Falcons with offensively and defensively impaired lines should start by building those lines.
Instead, the Falcons drafted a quarterback, and remember: They don’t have enough decent folks to block for the guy anyway, even if he does play any time soon. It also isn’t comforting to know that the Falcons tried to help Ryan’s plight by trading for another first-round pick at No. 21 to reach for Sam Baker, an offensive lineman with short arms and owner of a damaged hamstring last season at USC.
Ryan has normal arms, and he lacks health issues, but he does have history issues to overcome. Quarterbacks taken in the first round often evolve into Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, David Carr or Alex Smith instead of somebody good. And, yes, Ryan has a nice resume. He completed 59 percent of his 654 passes last season at Boston College for 4,507 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was the ACC Player of the Year.
It’s just that Leaf was Ryan after leading Washington State to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years while throwing a Pac 10-record 33 touchdowns. Couch was Ryan after leaving Kentucky with NCAA records for completions in a season and career completion percentage (67). Carr was Ryan after winning the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award while making Fresno State significant in football for the first time ever as a Sports Illustrated cover boy. Alex Smith was Ryan after helping Urban Meyer jump to the Mighty Gators after Ryan became the mighty engine for Urban Meyer’s spread offense at Utah.
Let’s just say Leaf, Couch, Carr and Smith aren’t in Starr, Montana, Favre or Manning territory. “Yeah, I’ve understood that along the way, as far as the percentages,” said general manager Thomas Dimitroff, running his first draft for the Falcons, or any NFL team, for that matter. “However, I think with Matt, it’s a combination of the intelligence that he has. The leadership ability that he has. I can’t stress it enough. He not only has the ability to take the offense but the whole team [to success]. To me, that’s huge. “I’ve been around a situation in New England where we had a quarterback with that same ability.”
Speaking of New England and that quarterback, Dimitroff spent six seasons working in the Patriots’ scouting department, and this is the same Patriots franchise that won three of its four Super Bowls with Tom Brady leading the way.
Brady was a sixth-round pick.
With all of those picks for the Falcons (11 overall, including four among the top 48 to start the day), they could have selected Dorsey at No. 3 and taken a chance later in the draft on John David Booty, Chad Henne or Andre’ Woodson becoming their Tom Brady. After all, those quarterbacks aren’t that much more of an NFL gamble than the one they got.
Permalink | Comments (125) | Categories: Falcons/NFL
Confident Blank leaves draft choice to new GM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been an epidemic for days, maybe weeks. Whether the setting is a supermarket, a red light or a church parking lot, inquiring minds keep asking, “So who are the Falcons going to draft?” To the chagrin of the questioner, my reply always is the boring but honest, “I don’t know.”
That’s because I don’t know, which brings us to some wonderful news for those dreaming of a Dirty Bird replica someday in terms of success. When I asked Falcons owner Arthur Blank that question of the moment earlier this week at his Buckhead office, he chuckled before responding in a hurry, “I really don’t know.”
Such an admission is huge, because it means the omnipresent Blank when it comes to his preferred role of running an NFL franchise is taking the right approach regarding this weekend’s NFL draft. He is suggesting that he’ll stay out of the way and that he’ll let his football people do what they were hired to do.
“They’ve done really good work,” said Blank, referring to general manager Thomas Dimitroff and coach Mike Smith, both only months on the job of trying to restructure a heavily flawed roster for a franchise that has digressed steadily on the field for three consecutive seasons. Added Blank, “I think Mike and Thomas really have a great relationship. Often times I’ll call them pretty late at night, and they’re always together, always watching tape. So I’m real happy with that relationship.”
Said Blank later, after describing the strengths and weaknesses of others he has hired since buying the Falcons six seasons ago, “I’ve got complete confidence in this duo. I really do.”
Sounds like Blank is edging closer toward that historically successful NFL model, where owners own, general managers general manage, coaches coach and players play. Then again, let’s make sure. Barring a possible trade, the Falcons will spend Saturday on the clock with the No. 3 pick overall. What if Dimitroff wants defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, but Smith wants defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis and Blank wants quarterback Matt Ryan?
Whose voice would count the most, and would others in the Falcons’ war room hear Blank’s voice at all?
“Thomas will make the decision,” said Blank, flatly, before scaring us a little by placing some roundness to his answer with the following: “But Thomas is a very collaborative guy. The decision will have already been made [by Saturday] … They’ll tell me that these are the five or six players … If Miami [who signed offensive tackle Jake Long earlier this week at No. 1 overall] and the Rams [at No. 2 overall] take this player and this player, this is who we’ll take at No. 3. They’ll run every scenario for me, so I’ll be aware on Saturday, and obviously, they’ll be aware of what the final pick will be.”
Yeah, but how much will Blank influence that No. 3 pick either now or later? He has spoken with Dimitroff and Smith “on a regular basis” regarding the draft, and the owner was scheduled to spend “three hours” on Thursday in Flowery Branch reviewing the draft board with the general manager and the coach. Plus, at the request of Dimitroff and Smith, Blank joined them on a trip to scout quarterbacks.
Sounds like the owner is doing more than just owning. “I would say this. Who I want [in the draft] is not a factor in this. I mean, it really isn’t a factor,” said Blank, leaning forward in his chair. “What I want is Mike Smith and Thomas (Dimitroff). It’s the coach and the general manager. It’s their decision now to make the football decisions. I’ve made the decision to hire what I think are the two outstanding people to run the football side of business for us.”
Sounds like the owner actually will just own in this case. Hopefully, for the Falcons, it will happen in all cases.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Categories: Falcons/NFL
Smoltz is what greatness is all about
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Smoltz blew it. Then again, he hadn’t much of a choice. The crowd wanted to celebrate greatness forever Tuesday night at Turner Field early in the game, but greatness still had the rest of the third inning to pitch against an overmatched group of hitters for the Washington Nationals.
That’s why, when the moment arrived at 7:44 p.m., with greatness zipping a splitter past Felipe Lopez’s bat for a 3,000th career strikeout, those among the 23,482 gathered for a lengthy and noisy group hug of greatness wouldn’t sit down or shut up. They went on and on, preparing to boogie in Smoltz’s name until who knows when. Instead, they were silenced in a hurry at 7:45 p.m. You can blame the wildest one-minute standing ovation you’ll ever see on Smoltz ending his acknowledgement of the moment with a gigantic smile before he climbed back onto the mound to continue with the rest of his life.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Smoltz, smiling later, before delivering a shrug. “That’s where I didn’t know what to do. The fans were great with every pitch. It certainly felt like there were 40,000 or 50,000 people with the noise they were making. I wanted to give them as much respect as I could. But at the same time, I wanted to try to honor the game and try to win the game.”
Smoltz was 1-for-2. Courtesy of his ongoing role as the consummate professional, he honored the game by keeping his moment to a minimum, but his seven impressive innings (five hits, one earned runs, 10 strikeouts) weren’t enough to keep the Braves’ bullpen from losing the game in his name.
Even so, greatness never loses.
Greatness is an always-strikingly fit 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds. Greatness ignores the fact that 40-year-old arms aren’t supposed to do the powerful things that the one for greatness consistently does. Greatness never gives into aches and pains. Instead, greatness counters with grit and determination no matter what. Greatness also cherishes the postseason, where no pitcher owns more victories than this version of greatness.
It takes greatness to explain the true essence of greatness. So listen to Braves manager Bobby Cox describe his more than two decades of watching this greatness named Smoltz: “I didn’t know he was such a great athlete until I got to know him better. I didn’t know he was so intelligent until I got to know him better. Those combinations lead to brilliance.”
In this case, such combinations lead to brilliance, longevity, toughness and a 3,000th strikeout. As for the latter, Smoltz, along with all of his splendid attributes too numerous to mention, pitched in a major-league game for the 706th time. By the end of that third inning, he had accomplished something that Cy Young couldn’t do while compiling a record 511 victories.
Warren Spahn couldn’t do it, either, despite 14 trips to the All-Star game, and Bob Feller couldn’t do it along the way to three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters. In fact, they’ve played professional baseball since four years after the Civil War. That said, only 15 other pitchers have done what Smoltz now have done for a career.
Three thousand strikeouts.
That’s a lot of strikeouts, but it isn’t a lot for greatness. “When Smoltzie made his first start in 1988, I was four years old, and my mom was probably picking me up in pre-school,” said Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur, chuckling. “He also closed for three-and-half years, and you’re not getting that many strikeouts out there when you’re closing. Plus, he also missed another whole year because of surgery.”
Actually, Smoltz missed nearly two years courtesy of injuries. Which means greatness has a way of overcoming things.
Well, many things.
Just not the Nationals this time, at least not in the victory column.
Permalink | Comments (37) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Hawks right to believe they can win
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s another reason why Hawks ownership should ignore the foolish who want Mike Woodson slam-dunked as coach sooner than later: If you don’t believe you can do the impossible, you won’t. And guess what? With much help from the guy who supposedly is overmatched, too tough on his players or just bad, the Hawks believe they can do the impossible.
They really do.
After you stop giggling, you should rise and applaud. Everybody knows the Chattahoochee River will swap places with the Boston Harbor before the Hawks upset the Celtics during the next few days. Even so, when the Hawks dribble in their first playoff series in nine years tonight at TD Banknorth Garden against a Celtics franchise with greatness stretching from its past to its present, the Hawks will do so with exactly the right attitude.
It’s the only attitude that any team of any stature in any sport should have when entering the playoffs.
“I think the players and Mike believe that they can win,” said Michael Gearon Sr., who joins his son, Michael Jr., as the primary owners running the Hawks for Atlanta Spirit, LLC. Gearon Sr., spoke on Saturday, adding, “This is not that they think they are entitled to win, but they think they have the potential to win. I talked to Mike yesterday, and I was like, ‘Hey, this is really the top team in the NBA.’ Then Mike responded, ‘Yeah, I know. But I think we can do this, and I think we can do that.’ I mean, he really believes that, under the right circumstances, anything can happen.”
It won’t happen here. While the Hawks needed a desperate spurt to reach the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 37 victories, the Celtics were cruising toward their league-high 66th victory. While the Hawks have zero world championships, the Celtics have 16. Simply put, the Celtics are a Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen better than a depthless Hawks bunch that is the youngest team in the playoffs.
It’s about attitude, though, and when the Hawks players arrived this week at Philips Arena for practice, they had a replica of the NBA world championship trophy inside each of their lockers.
Was that Woodson’s idea? He nodded from behind his desk. “When you make the playoffs, they’re not going to remember you if you go out in the first round, or even if you lose in the championship game,” said Woodson, whose Hawks have improved in victories during each of his four seasons (13, 26, 30, 37). They’ve done so despite turmoil around them, ranging from one owner suing the other seven to the death of a teammate to management’s refusal to acquire a decent point guard during Woodson’s regime until late this season. Added Woodson about the Hawks’ role in the playoffs, “I just want our guys to have the attitude and to have the mentality that, when you go into Boston, you know they’re thinking about winning the championship. So we better be thinking the same way.”
Actually, Josh Smith was thinking that way for a while. He told me three weeks ago that he, along with other Hawks players, wished to resemble last season’s Golden State Warriors team that ignored their status as a No. 8 seed to shock the No. 1-seed Dallas Mavericks in the first round.
Now Smith has changed his mind, but in a good way. “We’re just trying to find our own path and do our own thing in the playoffs, but what [Golden State] proved is that things along these lines can happen,” Smith said. “[The Celtics] are beatable. They’re a good team, but nobody’s invincible.”
The Celtics are close to such a thing, but who cares? The Hawks players don’t, at least that’s their story, and with Woodson whispering confidence into their ears, they’re sticking to it.
Permalink | | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Darren Woodson surprised by Herschel’s mental issues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now it makes sense.
Or does it?
Who knows what to believe anymore when Herschel Walker’s tongue is flapping, and you’re listening?
If nothing else, everybody has to ask themselves the following when it comes to their past dealings with this University of Georgia legend: So was that the real Herschel speaking, or was it one of the two, seven, 12 or how many other Herschels that supposedly existed through the decades, according to “Breaking Free,” the recently published book written by either one or several of those Herschels?
I’m wondering as much as anybody, especially after a bizarre conversation I had with Walker last autumn that I eventually wrote about. One moment, we were discussing Knowshon Moreno’s dramatic rise to become the 21st century version at Georgia of Garrison Hearst, Rodney Hampton, Tim Worley and the aforementioned “He’s running over people!” guy from Wrightsville. The next, Walker was sprinting out of nowhere to mention how he wished to knock the arrogance and everything else out of Steve Spurrier in a boxing match.
Where did that come from?
At first, I thought Walker was kidding, because this didn’t make sense. We weren’t talking about Spurrier, the South Carolina football coach, who is years removed as Georgia’s Darth Vader with the Mighty Gators. Even so, Walker wouldn’t let this Spurrier thing drop. That’s because Walker wasn’t kidding, and it didn’t matter that the physically imposing former college and NFL star was 45 to Spurrier’s 62. Walker just kept steaming and ripping Spurrier for taking his old school to task a few weeks earlier over the Bulldogs’ juvenile moment in the last Georgia-Florida game.
That moment came after Georgia scored the game’s first touchdown, and coach Mark Richt watched all of his Bulldogs follow orders by rushing into the end zone to celebrate the moment. Spurrier said later that he would have countered Richt’s move by sending one of Florida’s third-stringers into the Dog pile to pick a fight and force the SEC to suspend a slew of prominent Georgia players.
“Well, you know, is that not insulting? That’s totally insulting for a coach of [Spurrier’s] stature to say something so stupid,” said Walker, the disgust in his voice becoming more pronounced by the millisecond. “So my question I say to him is, if he’s got that much guts, why don’t he step in a ring against me? You don’t say something that silly, because you’re going to get somebody hurt. Georgia was punished, because that’s a penalty. They didn’t go out to hurt anyone. He talks about hurting somebody. How much guts do you have? Step in a ring with me, and we’ll see.”
This was one of those other Herschels speaking.
It had to be.
Given the real Herschel’s historically peaceful spirit and strong spiritual leanings, the only person that the real Herschel would challenge to a fight would be Satan, at least according to most.
“You know what? This just blows me away, because I never in my wildest dreams would have thought something mentally was going on with Herschel Walker, of all people,” said Darren Woodson, the perennial Pro Bowl safety who played two seasons with Walker for the Dallas Cowboys in the mid-1990s. Woodson added over the phone on Friday from his home in Dallas, “He was always in the same mood, in the same place when he came out of the locker room. He was a big guy, a gentle guy. He talked to everyone. He was a regular at Bible study.
“I can tell you this: I played with [defensive lineman] Alonzo Spellman who you just knew was bipolar, but there was not one person in that locker room who would say they saw any sign whatsoever that Herschel was sick.”
So what’s going on here? Woodson paused, sighed and then said, “To sell books? I don’t know.”
I don’t know, either.
Permalink | Comments (33) | Categories: UGA/SEC
Falcons have upgraded at offensive line coach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — Among the primary keys to the Falcons’ season, which only the enlightened will mention between now and their September home opener, is the anti-Alex Gibbs. “Well, I don’t yell as much as he does,” said Paul Boudreau, the team’s third offensive line coach in as many years, sliding into a grin Tuesday after a minicamp practice.
He’s also the anti-Mike Summers, Gibbs’ successor and Boudreau’s predecessor with the Falcons. While Boudreau has worked more than two decades in the NFL for nearly everybody you can name, Summers joined the Falcons before last season with zero experience in the league.
Not good. In fact, nothing more needs to be said about Summers, who was as overmatched as the guy who brought him to the Falcons, Bobby Petrino. But here are a few more things to say about Gibbs, the eccentric coach now screaming with the Houston Texans. Gibbs had this crazy deal near the end of his Falcons career where he didn’t have to work most of the week and could fly into town on game days.
Boudreau isn’t into long-distance coaching, and unlike Summers, Boudreau’s résumé suggests he won’t need training wheels on an NFL sideline. So this new regime under the affable Mike Smith is sounding promising.
“Last year in St. Louis, we had 100 different combinations of offensive and defensive players, because every Monday there was a surgery,” said Boudreau, referring to his second straight year of trying to guide his Rams offensive linemen through physical turmoil. In 2006, after Boudreau joined the team, he used 10 different players on the line, including nine different starters. Even so, Steven Jackson kept running and Marc Bulger kept passing to unprecedented personal heights.
Added Boudreau, “We had guys [with the Rams] coming in Wednesday and starting on Sunday who didn’t even know our system, so we’ve got to make sure with the Falcons that if you’re out here, and if you’re not working, and you’re injured like Todd [Weiner, recovering from last year’s knee injury], that every play you’re taking a rep mentally. I’ll turn around and say, ‘Hey, what’s the play?’ If he doesn’t know, then that means he’s not paying attention. He didn’t take a rep mentally.”
So far, so great, according to Boudreau, who had to take care of some college scouting business on a trip the other day. Before leaving, he told his offensive linemen that he left a bunch of tapes in a room at Falcons headquarters. The tapes showed his technical work with linemen in St. Louis and those in Jacksonville during his three seasons with the Jaguars. He said watching the tapes wasn’t mandatory.
The room was packed.
Maybe, just maybe, the Falcons will have a complete offensive line for the first time since they reached the NFC championship game after the 2004 season. It eventually became incomplete under Gibbs, because it had smallish, quick guys for his preferred cut-blocking system. Those offensive lines were proficient enough at run blocking to lead the league in rushing for three consecutive seasons, but they were brutal at pass blocking. Then again, the Falcons’ offensive line couldn’t run block or pass block when Summers employed his power-oriented system.
The bottom line: Just six NFL teams have allowed more sacks than the Falcons (133) over the past three seasons.
So was it the scheme, or was it the players?
“The key word is that we’re all starting fresh, and things that happened in the past, perceptions and everything, are kind of thrown out the window until there’s something new out there,” said Weiner, the Falcons’ starting right tackle. “There’s always certain mentalities — some true, some not — about certain players, certain people. And until you really get to know them and see their everyday work ethic on the field, it’s hard to have a total perception.”
The total perception of Boudreau is that he knows what he’s doing. That’s a huge start for the Falcons.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Falcons/NFL
Immelman win was a fluke
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — Stuff happens, even if you’re Tiger Woods. But he usually is immune to stuff. That’s why hole after hole on Sunday, with relentless wind gusts turning heavenly Augusta National into golfing purgatory on earth, everybody kept waiting for two things that never happened.
Let’s just say Woods somehow didn’t create enough ways to win the 72nd Masters, and Trevor Immelman somehow didn’t create enough ways to lose it. Both things were remarkable, especially when it comes to what was a toothless Tiger for most of the brisk afternoon, but both things mean nothing in the long run.
All Immelman did was become the latest nice story out of nowhere to wear a green jacket for likely the only time in his 28-year-old life. There are so many chapters to this story. He spent last year’s Masters munching only on toast during the four days courtesy of a stomach virus. Later that winter, he had a cancer scare.
Then you have that Gary Player connection: Immelman’s idol from his native South Africa once took a picture with a 5-year-old Immelman. It also was 30 years ago that Player won his third and last Masters.
Some nice stories at the Masters only last for a while, though. Just ask Zach Johnson, last year’s champion out of nowhere. He enjoyed a year of sitting on the couches of late night talk shows and exchanging handshakes with gawking strangers before spending this year’s Masters sliding back into the shadows of the Georgia pines throughout Bobby Jones’ famous playground.
This is more about Woods than Immelman, though. When it comes to the Masters and any major tournaments, this is always about Woods. Said Stewart Cink about the Tiger effect at tournaments, “It’s like trying to breath air at the top of Mount Everest. There’s not a lot of it left over.”
This will make Woods angry. This also will make Woods better. So, if you’re wondering where the world’s best golfer goes from here after boldly stating that winning all four majors this year was “easily within reach,” he still is a mighty favorite to complete the three-quarters Grand Slam after the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA championship.
“I learned my lesson there with the press,” said Woods, forcing a laugh at the 18th green after another ugly putting day within Richmond County. He finished 5-under-par for the tournament after shooting a 72-71-68-72 284, and get this: While watching (and maybe fuming) in the clubhouse, he saw that he was within a few missed putts away from Immelman, who predictably crumbled a bit down the stretch. Said Woods, “It’s one of those things, when you’re out there playing, you couldn’t care less (about what people think of your comments). You’re just trying to win a golf tournament. You just try to put yourself in a position, which I did.”
Woods just couldn’t find miracles or birdies in his putter. While Immelman had nothing to do with Woods’ inability to sink putts beyond 10 feet, Immelman did have much to do with Woods’ inability to produce miracles. That’s because Immelman had used all the miracles up.
Not only for Woods, but for everybody else in the Masters.
Just five months ago, Immelman was recovering from a surgery in his native South Africa after the discovery of a cancerous growth in his back. He eventually lost 25 pounds. So, after the second day of what would become his four days of doing a rarity by leading the Masters from wire-to-wire, he said of his physical ordeal, “You know, it definitely gives you perspective, because I went from winning a tournament to lying in a hospital bed waiting for results on a tumor. So it definitely made me realized that golf wasn’t my whole life.”
In contrast, golf really is Woods’ whole life, which is why the rest of his peers better enjoy this while they can.
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Never count Woods out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — He still can win it, so shut up, at least if you’re among those who keep yapping about Tiger Woods and his honest tongue. He said what he said about sitting “within reach” of snatching golf’s four major championships during the same year, and it was what needed to be said.
When you’re this omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent with various Nike sticks in your hands, you can say such things and back them up. Exhibit A: Eldrick T. Woods, otherwise known as Tiger, now within roaring distance today at the Masters of wearing a fifth green jacket. It has just taken a while for the most gifted and driven golfer who ever lived to do his usual thing at Augusta National by jumping from the deepest sections of the azaleas whenever Sunday comes near.
“No doubt, I put myself right back into the tournament, and the pin locations will be a little bit more accessible tomorrow,” said Woods, sounding pleasantly smug on Saturday after sealing his third round with a miraculous recovery shot out of the pine straw at 18 along the way to a 4-under-par 68. As a result, he is 5 under for the tournament and trailing four guys who have managed a collective zero major championships to Tiger’s 13.
This is why Woods can say whatever he wants to say whenever he wants to say it. This also is why anybody who doubts what Woods can do on a golf course at any time and with any deficit and at any venue should consider sticking a 5-iron down their throat.
Woods still can win this Masters, all right, with just a touch of help (such as those folks ahead of him feeling Tiger pressure). If so, he will keep his dream alive of doing what previously was considered the impossible by replacing his Tiger Slam with a real slam involving victories at the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. Before that, he’ll have to battle, not only those underwhelming folks ahead of him on the leaderboard, but the chilly and strong winds that are expected to make Augusta National have enough teeth to bite even a Tiger.
Said Woods, suggesting that he couldn’t care less, “I know I have a lot of work to do tomorrow, obviously, because the conditions are supposed to be pretty blustery tomorrow and a little bit cooler. But, again, you just have to hang in there. You just have to stay patient out there.”
You just have to be the Woods of late Saturday afternoon, which was pretty good when it counted the most. The Woods of early Saturday afternoon was pretty mediocre, courtesy of a front nine that featured missed opportunities. After he birdied No. 2, he went seven consecutive holes watching his birdie putts slide either out of or just shy of the cup. So all he needed to stay in the vicinity of putting his putter where his mouth has been was something wonderful at Amen Corner.
Well, at least Woods wasn’t woeful by finishing the heavenly but daunting holes at Nos. 11, 12 and 13 with two pars and a birdie to complement his other three birdies for the afternoon. As a result, Wood still has more than a prayer today.
It won’t take a long one for Woods, because he has been a miracle worker before after trailing by significant margins when entering the final round of a PGA tournament. In 1998, he was down by eight strokes to Ernie Els during the Johnnie Walker Classic before winning in a playoff. He trailed Matt Gogel and Mark Brooks by five strokes (and by seven after 11 holes in the final round) two years later in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and he took the event by two strokes.
Not only that, Woods has triumphed six times on the tour after trailing by seven shots after 36 holes.
Woods trailed by seven shots after 36 holes this time.
The fact that Woods is struggling this much at all in the Masters is making the Tiger bashers roar louder. They also take glee in the fact that he has never won a major when trailing after three rounds.
Then again, who cares?
Tiger doesn’t.
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Mickelson fans making noise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — To the delight of the Phil Mickelson fanatics who form a coalition at Augusta National that is loud and large, Tiger isn’t quite Tiger at the moment, and nobody outside of putter heads knows those other guys atop the leaderboard at the Masters after two rounds.
Thus the persistent Phil cries, especially when they see their lanky hero lumbering down the fairway with an energy snack in one hand, a bottle of water in the other and a sloppy smile just a touch of his cap away.
“Way to go, Phil.”
“Phil! Phil! Phil!”
“We’re behind you, buddy, and just keep doing what you’re doing.”
“We love you.”
So you know what? If Mickelson actually wins this thing on Sunday for a third time, you should cover your ears. He could make his fanatics scream long enough to make everything swimming and crawling around Rae’s Creek go deaf. It’s just that Mickelson has to keep doing the remarkable, which he often does, and he has to stop doing the ridiculous, which he often does. In case you haven’t been paying attention to Mickelson’s underachieving career, he often does both in the same tournament, which was the case on Friday at Augusta National.
There was no way Mickelson or anybody else from Planet Earth was supposed to whack that ball out of the pine straw to the right of the No. 2 fairway and watch it settle just an easy wedge shot away in front of the green. Later, Mickelson turned a potential bogey into a definite birdie after he plopped a blind shot over the mound at the No. 8 green and watched it trickle close to the pin.
Unfortunately for Mickelson, there also were a couple of botched birdie putts on the back nine that just didn’t make sense. Well, they made Mickelson sense, especially since such things happen to the world’s No. 2 player all the time.
Maybe that’s why the galleries at Augusta National love Mickelson so much, at least according to somebody who knows something about love.
“I guess everybody sort of feels sorry for him,” said Frank Mebane, a Southern Baptist minister, moving with Mickelson from hole to hole with his wife, along with most others on the course who were not part of the Tiger Woods crusade. “Vijay Singh, for instance, is kind of set off by himself and really doesn’t want anything to do with people. Not only that, I think a lot of people believe that Phil doesn’t get the credit that he deserves for being a great player. He’s just somebody we can easily pull for.”
Whatever the case, those fanatics are giddier since Mickelson’s five-under 139 after two days puts him in a third-place tie with the legendary Steve Flesch, and Ian Poulter. The leaders are folks named Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker.
Simply put, all Mickelson has to do is stop choking to have a chance.
These were tiny chokes.
“I thought I had putted great today until 15,” said Mickelson, telling the truth about a hole the featured the best and the worst about his game. We’re talking about the massive Par 5 that gives players the option to lay up with their second shot or to go for an easy birdie or better over a scary pond that stretches in front of the green. Mickelson always goes for it with the crowd always roaring its approval, but there were groans this time. The swirling winds pushed Michelson’s shot far to the right of the green, but the Good Phil chipped to within four feet of the cup.
He didn’t make it. “It wasn’t that hard. I just overplayed the break, and that left a bad taste,” said Mickelson, who also wasn’t pleased on the No. 16 green when he pushed another birdie putt left of its target from maybe 12 feet. Then the Good Phil returned on the next hole when he sent a putt on a 30-foot journey that swung left, then right, before plopping in the hole for a birdie and more yells from his people.
“To be honest, the folks here have treated all people great, and they’ve really treated the past champions wonderful, and I’m fortunate to be one of those,” said Mickelson, who was correct, but only to a degree. They treat Mickelson beyond great, along the lines of Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus when it comes to Masters reverence.
Now all Mickelson has to do is start wearing green jackets like them.
Few days in sports rival the Masters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — It started with Arnold Palmer drilling a ceremonial shot into the morning fog before a thick and nostalgic crowd. It ended in brilliant sunshine with Justin Rose doing what he often does. That is, he placed at least one of his arms in a green jacket by leading on the first day of a Masters or by sitting in the vicinity.
In between, with thousands of the calmest folks you’ll ever see gawking over nature’s beauty as much as the golfing talent everywhere, there were enough splendid moments Thursday at Augusta National to make you wonder if sporting life ever gets better than this.
It doesn’t. Not at Super Bowls, not at World Series games or Final Fours, Daytona 500s or anything else without an Amen Corner and Ike’s Pond.
Once again, the grass was the loveliest of green. Once again, the only thing more striking under the bright sky than the dogwoods and the Georgia pines were the azaleas. Once again, there was a bunch of Tiger Woods, too. After an afternoon of mediocrity on the front nine, he became worse than that. He had bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14. Then either Bobby Jones or Earl Woods reached from the clouds to help Tiger sink an uphill chip for an eagle on the 15th, and he gained instant momentum to keep his fifth Masters victory likelihood alive after finishing an even-par 72.
Still, for the longest time, the only thing missing to make this even more of a mid-April version of heaven on earth was a hole-in-one. Then, right below me, there was that sound and then that sight. First, I heard the crowd easing into a roar, and then I saw Ian Poulter’s tee shot ignore the water and the three bunkers around the frequently magical 16th green to land 25 feet from the pin. The ball eventually found its way to the bottom of the hole after a relatively slow but definitely persistent roll.
This was the hole that Palmer and Jack Nicklaus used to become even more famous with birdies along the way to Masters victories. Mostly, this was the hole that featured Woods’ twisting chip shot that finally sat on the lip of the cup forever during his fourth and last victory at Augusta National three years ago.
Others were more prominent than Woods on Thursday, but only on the leaderboard, where Rose and Trevor Immelman led everybody else with 4-under 68s. There also was your typical Masters guy out of nowhere. This time, his name was Brian Bateman, shooting a 69 to tease the ghosts of Hogan, Nelson and the rest before vanishing by Saturday afternoon. Then there was defending champion Zach Johnson, owner of a respectable 70 in his attempt to remove “fluke” from paragraphs mentioning his name and “Masters.”
Woods was the star of the Augusta National moments, though. In fact, he contributed heavily to the day’s mighty ambiance by just breathing. While Arnie had his Army, Woods has his version of the whole armed forces, along with the joint chiefs of staff. He inspired a growing collection of fans (a quiet mob, really) to follow him from shot to shot. Among those, you had a prominent Bulldog in Georgia athletics director Damon Evans, a prominent Gator-turned-Gamecock named Steve Spurrier and an appreciative 80-something-year-old retiree from Venice, Fla., named Steve Davis.
Davis was the most indicative of the masses. After he watched Woods close the afternoon with a par on the 18th green, Davis couldn’t hide his misty eyes above his widest of smiles as he walked away with his son, Andrew Davis. “This was part of his ‘Bucket List,’ ” said the younger Davis, referring to the movie featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman doing a wish list of things before they die.
The older Davis laughed, while glancing back at those still cheering Woods as he headed toward the clubhouse. Said Davis, still glancing and laughing, “I always wanted to go to the Masters, and I finally got this chance, but my wife is in rehab, and she even said, ‘Go.’ So here I am, and it’s all through now. You know, it’s like, ‘See Tiger, and then die.’”
Davis laughed some more, then he frowned before adding in a hurry, “Well, not quite.”
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The anti-Hootie, Payne modernizing Masters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — No question, Billy Payne is into the 21st century. That’s why I miss Hootie Johnson at Augusta National, because this is a 19th century sort of place.
I say that in a good way. Well, except for that antebellum clubhouse, stuffed with servants ready for a sequel to “Gone With the Wind.” I also could do without all of those omnipresent folks in yellow jumpsuits. They sprint from behind the azaleas to snatch trash out of midair before it hits the ground.
Those things haven’t changed in the seamless transition from Hootie to Billy, especially since Billy was Hootie’s choice as successor. Here’s what has changed: a boost in television coverage, adding the par 3 event; paying customers able to bring kids between the ages of 8 and 16 to the Masters for free; an invitation to folks to use the Internet to give advice to Augusta National honchos on how they can improve and promote golf around the world; a breathtaking spot that seats nearly 2,500 on the hillside at the No. 16 green.
So, keeping within his role as the anti-Hootie, Payne did the unthinkable this week. He sauntered into the massive media center at Augusta National, and he greeted each of the disbelieving reporters looking his way with a firm handshake, an infectious smile and a brief conversation.
When the man of the moment came my way, I had one question.
Actually, it was a thought.
This guy looks just like Dan Reeves, the former Falcons coach. Payne laughed, before adding, “I’ve heard that before. And when I’m walking around the course, I have a lot of people who think I’m Hootie. Even though I’m about 20 years younger than he is, they still confuse us.”
He does look like Hootie. Sometimes, he sounds like Hootie. That said, Billy Payne is no Hootie Johnson, who was perfect for this place. He was a traditionalist. He was a hardliner. He was blunt. He was unyielding. He was just Hootie, who essentially was equal parts Cliff Roberts and Jack Stephens, the other Masters chairmen obsessed with trying to keep the future away from the present and past as much as possible around Augusta National.
This isn’t to say Payne isn’t some parts Hootie, Stephens and Roberts. In fact, Payne delivered four such moments of yore Wednesday during his State of the Masters address.
There was that Martha Burk moment, when someone tried to ask Payne about Augusta National’s famous ban of women members. He answered, “I would tell you what I’ve told you in the past, that I don’t talk about membership issues. That’s reserved for the private deliberations of the members, and other than that, I’m not going to talk about it.”
What about that new initiative that allows children in for free? What kind of numbers are you expecting? “I’m not going to tell you,” Payne said smugly. Why not? “That’s like a speed-of-the greens issue,” said Payne, trying not to grin but failing after laughter filled the room.
Then there was a question about whether Augusta National would agree to being part of a video game someday. “Well, we’re not going to be included on other people’s video games,” said Payne, before his final Hootie, Stephens and Roberts moment. So, Billy, given the raging debate among players over the decade-old rough, would you consider plowing the stuff down? He said, “If you ask 100 people, 50 would take the other side, but we like our side, and that’s what we’re going to do. We like it.”
Hootie would be proud. That is, if Hootie were around. He has been conspicuously invisible at Augusta National during the past few days after serving as chairman from 1998 until the 2007 Masters. Then again, was that Hootie or Billy at the end of Wednesday’s State of the Masters address, when a reporter thanked Payne for the extraordinary improvements to the press area and asked if Payne also had someone who could “write our stories.”
Payne paused, smiled and then gave his best Hootie impression of all: “We could do that, too.”
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There’s Tiger, then everyone else
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — You know it. His gifted but overmatched peers won’t say so directly, but they know it. Even the azaleas and the dogwoods know the inevitable is coming Sunday when Zach Johnson places a fifth green jacket around the red-shirted shoulders of You Know Who.
Tiger Woods can’t lose.
Tiger Woods won’t lose.
So, to save a little time this weekend at Augusta National, Woods’ peers should pack their bags and spikes now and drive quietly back down Magnolia Lane before the embarrassment starts.
Let’s start with what those not named Tiger Woods have to say. They’ve got to tell you that the most dominating athlete in the history of his sport really isn’t inside their heads these days. Consider Padraig Harrington’s version of claiming the grass at Augusta National is chartreuse instead of green. “I would always say, you know, when it comes to Tiger, you have to actually do your own thing and not think about it,” Harrington said Tuesday after his practice round. “It’s the only way to deal with any player. You play your own game and do your own thing. If it doesn’t come up good enough, just shake the other guy’s hands and say, ‘Well done.’ “
Nice try, Padraig, but it’s not going to work. Just like the others, Harrington has visions rattling around his head of Tiger’s fist pumping up and down after doing something great. “From another player’s standpoint, from my standpoint, he makes me want to get better,” said Zach Johnson, who isn’t just another player. He’s the defending Masters champion, and just like the others he hasn’t a chance. The primary reason Johnson fell out of the Eisenhower Tree or something to grab last year’s tournament had much to do with gusty, chilly winds, Woods’ inability to putt and a mighty dose of luck.
Now Woods is Woods again, with five victories in his past six PGA starts and nine in his past 11 tournaments overall. Johnson forced a chuckle, before adding, “[Woods] says he can get better, which is absolutely scary. I mean, I know I can. It’s encouraging. Makes you want to work harder. He’s a freak in a good way.”
Actually, he’s a freak in a Tiger way, which means his domination is self-created by combining the physical and the psychological in extraordinary ways.
Translated: Woods plays and thinks better than everybody else.
There is this talk, for instance, about somebody (OK, Woods) becoming the first guy in the modern Grand Slam era to win all four majors in the same year. Phil Mickelson is pretty good. In fact, he’s won the Masters twice. He’s also ranked No. 2 in the world behind You Know Who, and here’s what Mickelson says about anybody winning the Grand Slam: “I don’t know. I think that’s probably the most difficult feat in golf. I think that it could be pretty cool to see it done. The last tournament or two there would be some incredible pressure.”
Said Harrington, making his ninth Masters appearance, “I think you really do have to go back to the Nicklauses and the Hogans and guys like that to think of the last person who you really consider [had a chance] to win four.”
Then again, why talk about anybody winning four majors, suggested Johnson, when it’s difficult to win one? “I’m going to go into majors looking for opportunities,” Johnson said. “That’s all it is. I want to be in contention. I want to have opportunities to get in contention.”
Now contrast those timid remarks against Woods stating boldly before this season that grabbing the Grand Slam was “within reason.” Upon reflection, maybe he has changed his mind over the past few days, weeks and months.
“Nope,” Woods said quickly, with a straight face, during his interview session Tuesday. That’s the psychological thing we were talking about. His overwhelming confidence not only intimidates his competitors — whether they admit it or not — but inspires himself. Added Woods, “I mean, the reason why I said that, you have to understand why I said that, because I’ve done it before.”
Sounds good to me.
Unfortunately for Woods’ competitors, it sounds pretty frightening — whether they admit it or not.
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Braves, Mets ready to go 15 rounds
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yes, it’s April, and, yes, everybody in the major leagues remains a rest of the spring, a whole summer and part of an autumn away from the end of the regular season. Even so, this is a key time. If it ever stops raining over Turner Field this weekend, you’ll have two of the historically strongest teams in the National League East going cleat-to-cleat against each other.
The Braves and the Mets.
They both are expected to join the Philadelphia Phillies as sort of baseball’s Ali, Frazier and Foreman in the division, with somebody delivering a knockout punch somewhere near the last round.
Thus the question: Is this like boxing or something, where one guy tries to do enough stuff early to slip inside of the other guy’s head the rest of the way?
The answer is yes, but those in this situation have to say no for politically correct reasons. Then again, Braves pitcher John Smoltz was into The Straight Talk Express long before that other John named McCain thought about the Oval Office, and Smoltz shook his head Friday night at his locker after hearing the question.
“No, no, no. I don’t know what the gauge is, but nothing in baseball the first 25 games can make that happen,” said Smoltz, referring to the possibility of one team successfully using that head-games thing against a key opponent. He spoke before a storm blew away the opener of this scheduled three-game series. Added Smoltz, “The season is so long. If you were to do what we did in the expansion era… it will never happen again, when you [could dominate a particular team], that longevity can have that effect. You can’t have that in a series, and not even in two series.”
We are talking about the Braves, though, winners of 14 consecutive division titles before the Mets stopped that streak two seasons ago. Then came last season, when the Mets did much to push the Braves toward a second consecutive third-place finish in the NL East with five victories in the last six games between the two through early September. Just like that, the Mets were cruising toward another title, but they did the impossible by giving the Phillies the division after losing a seven-game lead with 17 games left to play.
So the Mets really want to show in a hurry that their choking is over, and the Braves really want to start along their way to a 15th division title in 17 years, and each team really wants to do well against the other for so many reasons.
With apologies to Smoltz, those reasons include that head-games thing.
“There definitely are messages that are sent, but most messages in baseball are sent on the field,” said Mets utility player Marlon Anderson, a veteran of 11 seasons. “It involves coming in, playing hard and taking care of what is your business. As far as talk goes, no. But, yeah, when you’re coming in here against the Braves, playing against the Phillies, playing against the top teams in your division or even against teams that aren’t very good, you have to set a tone early during the season. You have to do that so that you’re not passive.”
The Mets aren’t familiar with such a word, at least if you go by their aggressive move in the offseason. They acquired Johan Santana, a splendid left-handed pitcher. He was slated to face Smoltz and his Hall-of-Fame right arm Sunday in a tone-setting game for both teams, but the rainout forced Braves manager Bobby Cox to move Smoltz’s start to Monday in Colorado.
In case you’re wondering, the Braves also were aggressive in the offseason. They re-signed Tom Glavine, their star pitcher for 16 seasons before he left to spend the past five with the Mets. “Yeah, I’ve had a few questions asked of me [by Braves players about the Mets], just like I did for years when I was over there about some of these guys,” said Glavine, suggesting that he provided more than a few answers.
After all, Glavine wants to help his new team send the Mets sprawling against the NL East canvas by October.
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Braves’ only weakness is their bullpen
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Francoeur told me something funny before the Braves’ home opener on Monday night at Turner Field. He said the previous night, when they lost their season opener at Washington on a Ryan Zimmerman home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, a Washington-area reporter asked Francoeur, “So do you still like your chances of winning the division?”
Francoeur laughed. Not only when he told me the story, but also after the reporter asked him the question.
Now the Braves are 0-2 courtesy of Monday night’s bullpen-induced meltdown against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In a flash, the Braves went from a 4-2 lead after five innings to a 9-4 deficit to a 9-9 tie after rallying in the bottom of the ninth to a 12-11 loss in the 12th.
Here’s my question to me: Do I still like the Braves’ chances of winning the division?
Yes. Definitely, yes.
Despite those ugly defeats, the Braves already have flashed signs of a glaring positive: Starting pitching. Both Tim Hudson and Tom Glavine did their jobs, and now we’ll see tonight at Turner against the Pirates if rookie Jair Jurrjens looks as good as he did in spring training.
Next the Braves will start the rejuvenated Mike Hampton, suggesting that he’ll stay injury-free for a change. The Braves also will have the return of John Smoltz over the weekend after his brief trip to the disabled list for a sore shoulder.
Neither the New York Mets (Pedro Martinez is displaying more and more physical cracks) nor the Philadelphia Phillies (Jamie Moyer is how old?) can top the potential goodness of the Braves’ starting rotation.
It’s just that the Braves have these bullpen issues, at least for the moment.
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