Where did Jeff go?
He’s moved to a new location. Check him out on the new blogging platform and let him know what you think.
Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > April
April 2008
Were we wrong about the Hawks all along?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Playoffs represent a new season. Seldom are they an alternate universe.
But a team that finished the season with 37 wins is holding serve with a team that had 41 wins by the All-Star break.
But a coach thought to be walking the green mile of employment looks at his team after 224 losses and thinks, “Maybe we should run.”
But a roster, which for most of the season has resembled misplaced pieces from several puzzles, suddenly forms a picture.
Tuesday was just an off day. It was supposed to be the day after. Four playoff games, four playoff losses, and good night. See you tomorrow for the housecleaning. Instead, the Hawks are 2-2 with the Boston Celtics going into Game 5, and suddenly every assumption has morphed into a question. The direction. The general manager. The coach.
Two wins. Should two wins force us to rethink everything?
Joe Johnson smiled. He thought back to last Wednesday. A 19-point loss to Boston in Game 2 followed a 23-point loss in Game 1, which followed three losses to the Celtics by a combined 43 points during the season. The thought occurred that maybe the NBA should have some sort of mercy rule in the first round.
“I mean, it was tough,” Johnson said. “I ain’t gonna lie, because they pretty much manhandled us in Boston. But I knew we were pretty good at home, and after we won Game 3 it gave us a lot of confidence going into Game 4. Now we just have to grow up on the road.”
Go right ahead. Grow up. Win in Boston. Why not?
What else is down the Rabbit Hole? Oh look — it’s Steve Belkin with a peace treaty. What better place for another Mad Tea Party?
The Hawks over the Celtics. Twice. Does this change everything: who they are, what they can be, what we think we thought?
Even if you expected the Hawks to show some fight in Game 3, you probably didn’t expect a win.
Even if you expected a win in Game 3, you certainly expected a loss in Game 4.
Even if you expected a loss in Game 4, you never expected the Hawks, your Hawks, Hades’ Hawks, to fall behind 16-3, only to rally — or trail by 10 in the fourth, only to rally again. And win. Again.
Zaza Pachulia goes all Charles Oakley on Kevin Garnett. Joe Johnson goes from being a great complementary piece to from another planet. Al Horford goes from rookie to leader. Josh Smith goes from familiar mental meltdowns and 19 points in Games 1 and 2 to Mr. Steady and 55 points in Games 3 and 4.
The Celtics suddenly don’t look so great. They look old. They look like they’re cracking.
Oh that Lewis Carroll. He’s got a million of them.
Just go with it. Some things aren’t supposed to make sense; they’re just meant to be watched and enjoyed. Ride it like you rode Georgia in the SEC tournament. Watch it like you watch a cartoon. Just because a coyote can’t really accidentally blow himself up with Acme dynamite, only to be in the next scene lining himself up in a slingshot to catch a road runner, doesn’t mean — you know, like, it can’t really happen.
Today is not the day for questions. For starters, the questions would never get answered, certainly not before tip-off. If a 37-45 basketball team that often lacks toughness, courage and resilience suddenly becomes a playoff threat with toughness, courage and resilience, isn’t it best just to wait for the next scene?
Maybe after the commercial, they tear apart the 1971-72 Lakers. Zaza to Wilt: “You’re going down.”
“No one even had us winning any games,” Mike Bibby said. “So for it to be 2-2 is big for us. People still aren’t giving us a chance. And until we win [the series], they’re always going to say, ‘I told you so.’ “
In truth, regardless of the outcome, nobody projected 2-2. Nobody knows what will happen next. If it’s all fantasy, go with it.
Permalink | Comments (87) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Blank looking to sell Ryan’s hope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s a great old story about the launching of Home Depot, when Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus supposedly stood in the parking lot and handed out $1 bills just to get people to walk into the store.
Slight correction.
“It wasn’t me, it was our children,” Blank said Monday. “Bernie and I took our kids out of school. The stores opened at 11 a.m. and we told our wives, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll have them back in school by noon.’ But at 9 o’clock at night they were still out there. Nobody came. We couldn’t even give all the dollar bills away.”
So take comfort. When it comes to the state of Falcons and where they rank in our unconsciousness, at least there’s this: Blank won’t resort to standing outside the Georgia Dome, handing out $1 bills to draw spectators.
But the mere fact he even joked, “I would be happy to do it if we thought it would work,” says something.
Blank is in full sales mode, somewhat pleading with fans to support the team. (“If this sounds like an appeal, it is an appeal.”)
The team’s website is splashed with the word, “New!” which, as I seem to remember from my one marketing class in college, is the thunder-jolt of any sales campaign.
The jerseys of draft picks already are on sale, before even their first mini-camp.
Ticket prices have been cut, and the season-ticket waiting list - which once carried claims of being “at least 90,000” - has been replaced: “Screamers Wanted - Season Tickets Now Available!”
Sheet rock! Hammers! Harvested souls left behind by Bobby Petrino! We’re blowing it out to the bare walls!
Dollar a dance?
Six years ago, Blank purchased a franchise that had never managed consecutive winning seasons. Hard to imagine, but he’s got a bigger challenge now. At least in 2002 he could sell Michael Vick. Now he has to sell hope.
Nothing against Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith and Matt Ryan, the franchise’s three new cornerstones. But hope has kind of been trampled in these parts.
This sort of thing doesn’t just bounce back, especially when there’s lingering debate over whether the team took the right player in the draft.
Blank: “The fans have been through a lot the last two years. We’ve had two coaching turnovers and the off-the-field issues with Michael. People have 1,001 questions related to the future. But I do believe we’ve turned a corner.”
And then: “Yes, we’re selling. But quite honestly, it’s an appeal to fans to support their team. I think the organization and the coaches and players deserve the support of the community. We’ve tried to do the right thing.”
People are watching. The question is whether people are buying. Season ticket-holders had until March 21 to renew. Several thousand didn’t.
Question: Were renewals down?
Answer: “Absolutely. They were significantly less than in the past.”
Question: What are the numbers?
Answer: “We don’t need to dwell on that. But we need to dwell on the fact we have a lot of seats to sell.”
We all knew this was coming, almost from the time Vick was indicted. The team crumbled. Fans either rebelled or lost interest or both. Petrino’s back-door exit, Bill Parcells’ two-faced negotiations, Rich McKay’s awkward job change - that’s all just ugly window dressing. At this point, it’s about winning or at least convincing people you’re not that far away.
Blank said at a news conference this weekend, “We’re doing everything we can to put our house, your house in order. … We want to ask our fans to be an integral part of our success.”
But he’s a smart guy. He knows in the end it’s about the product, not concepts or gimmicks. It’s going to take more than Matt Ryan’s highlight package from Boston College. It’s going to take more than a freshly painted Georgia Dome, new red seats and slogans like, “A New Era, New Excitement and New Hope.”
Because it’s hard to sell losses. Even with a handful of $1 bills.
Permalink | Comments (65) | Categories: Falcons/NFL
Dimitroff’s day of reckoning arrives
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — In his final pre-draft news conference this week, Thomas Dimitroff declared that every position on the Falcons was open to “recalibration.”
I’m not sure if “recalibration” is listed in the general manager’s book of euphemisms. But at the least, it sounded better than saying: “Top to bottom, we pretty much stink.”
The NFL draft begins Saturday. It’s the first for the Falcons since the latest organizational blowout: general manager, coach, personnel department, quarterback and most of the roster’s major organs.
Not to put any added pressure on Dimitroff. But this is a little like being the first new developer on site at Pompeii.
“I feel good — I feel solid,” the Falcons’ general manager said. “It’s not like I’m angst-ridden at all.”
He admitted the other day that he hadn’t slept well the night before.
“Maybe it’s because I had two Pop-Tarts before I went to bed,” he said.
That would be the preferred explanation over, say, round-the-clock panic and obsession, which would be understandable. This may be the most significant draft in Falcons history.
Losing seasons hardly qualify as an anomaly for this franchise. But never have the Falcons had to overcome so much baggage, from the scorched-earth sagas of Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino to the hangovers of recent personnel decisions, declining ticket sales and a somewhat fractured fan base.
Dimitroff has 11 draft picks to play with, including six in the first three rounds, pending trades. As makeovers go, this is as enviable a position as a general manager can be handed, given the backdrop. There is flexibility to move up or down in any round, to accumulate picks or consolidate them.
But Dimitroff will never be scrutinized more than this weekend. This is the first time he is taking phone calls from known predators — other general managers — attempting to schmooze him right up to the moment they steal his lunch money.
He is an evaluator of college talent by trade. But if his picks don’t pan out, his perceived past influence on personnel matters in New England would be minimized by critics. “It was all Belichick and Pioli,” they will say.
And if the Falcons don’t come out of this draft with their quarterback of the future and significant building blocks to appease the jaded masses, Dimitroff will find whatever latitude he’s being afforded will shrink.
But if it all seems a little overwhelming, you wouldn’t know if by talking to him. He just has to remind himself at times that he can’t fix all of the problems at once.
“Sometimes you step back and you think: ‘It’s an ideal scenario, we have 11 picks, and we get this, this, this and this.’ But we all realize that’s not realistic. You do get caught up in the idea of, ‘Wow, can you imagine if we picked all of these guys?’ That’s enticing. But you have to step back and take a deep breath and realize what’s realistic.
“My focus has always been to go one step at a time. We took care of the coaching search. We took care of free agency. My feeling is that we made sound decisions, and now we go on to the draft. This is my world, so to speak.”
Fact is, all of it is Dimitroff’s world now. Every position is open for recalibration. Or a sledgehammer.
Warrick Dunn, Alge Crumpler, Rod Coleman, Wayne Gandy, Byron Leftwich all were released. DeAngelo Hall was traded. It will be a while in Flowery Branch before the names above the lockers aren’t written on tape.
What has Dimitroff thought of all this?
“Time-consuming, thought-provoking and enjoyable,” he said.
The first two were a given. The third is a monumental achievement without sedatives. But the real grading starts Saturday with the third pick of his first draft.
Today, the Falcons. Tomorrow, world peace.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Categories: Falcons/NFL
Falcons should ignore Ryan temptation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Given that people like Thomas Dimitroff can hear terms like “waist-bender” and “hips-and-turns” and realize its only two scouts talking about football and not, like, tryouts at the Cheetah, far be it for me to dictate what he should do in the NFL draft this weekend.
(Except maybe the obvious: Stay the heck out of Blacksburg.)
But there is growing speculation that Glenn Dorsey, the LSU defensive tackle, is not going to be there when the Falcons pick third Saturday. Miami already has signed offensive tackle Jake Long with the No. 1 pick and perceived concerns that Dorsey will go second overall to St. Louis are complicated by the fact the Rams are run by former Falcons personnel assistant Billy Devaney, which means the usual pre-draft disinformation campaign has even more arms and legs than usual.
No Dorsey would leave the Falcons with two choices: 1) Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan; 2) Anybody else.
Just a thought: Anybody else is looking pretty good and, at the least, a whole lot safer.
Ryan may seem like the easy choice. He’s the tall, good-looking, strong-armed, quarterback a franchise loves to throw its marketing arms around. If the Falcons are now like a stained dress shirt, Arthur Blank must look at Ryan and think, “Eureka! Spray and Wash!”
The problem is that the Falcons have so many problems other than quarterback — and if they make a mistake at quarterback with the third pick in the draft, it will set them back several more years, which, given their current state, would be about 12 B.C.
Ryan has been a terrific college quarterback. But think about it: Is he any more highly regarded now than David Carr, Ryan Leaf, Rick Mirer, David Klingler, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Andre Ware, Tim Couch, Alex Smith, Heath Shuler, Kerry Collins, Cade McNown or Trent Dilfer were in the same time frame?
Ryan looked really good against Georgia Tech. He threw a lot of touchdown passes in the ACC.
Sorry. I need more.
NFL teams have a long inglorious history of overreaching at quarterback. The position is viewed as the quickest fix for a team deemed a pathetic mess. Fans get impatient. Sponsors don’t return calls. Owners get antsy. Media — well, we have our moments.
Dimitroff would do well to live by his own words when he first got here from New England. “I’m kind of a quarterback snob,” he said. His former team, the Patriots, took Tom Brady with the 199th pick.
If he is really that sold on Ryan as a franchise-changer, then he should take him. But given the backdrop, that seems unlikely. If Dorsey is gone, the Falcons would be better served using the pick on another defensive tackle (Sedrick Ellis) or trading down to pick one later.
Football hasn’t changed that much. Even if there are four receivers on one side of the ball and six defensive backs on the other, games still usually hinge on one team punching the other in the mouth.
The quickest way for the Falcons to get respectable and competing is by building the defense. A strong presence on the line inside would create more room for ends John Abraham and Jamaal Anderson (if we are to assume Jamaal Anderson will still have a career).
The advantage of the Falcons having so many early picks — six in the first three rounds — is there will be plenty of time to draft offensive linemen and a quarterback later (noteworthy: Brian Brohm will be available long after the third pick.)
New head coach Mike Smith was a defensive assistant in Jacksonville and Baltimore. He said he is trying to take a “more universal view” of the team and the draft now, given his new responsibilities.
“You have to change your mind-set,” he said.
But Smith’s mind-set with the Falcons still will be old school: tackle, block, run the ball. Spending the third overall pick on a quarterback who might be less than extraordinary seems a colossal risk.
If the Rams pass on Glenn Dorsey, the Falcons’ decision is easy. If they take Dorsey, it should be just as easy. Stay on that side of ball.
The stain will come out eventually.
Permalink | Comments (129) | Categories: Falcons/NFL
Bald truth: Hawks still struggling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN…
10: In hopes of inspiring his players to victory, Hawks coach Mike Woodson shaved his head before the start of the playoff series against Boston. Question: Wouldn’t designing a half-court offense have been more productive?
9: Here’s some Atlanta Spirit kismet for you: The Hawks finally make it to the playoffs and their first two games are in Boston — the ownership base of Steve Belkin, who remains locked in litigation with, well, the non-Belkins (it’s easier than listing all of the other names).
8: In hopes of inspiring his partners to victory in court, Bruce Levenson just shaved his head. Once again, a well-designed offense would’ve been better.
7: I’m hearing radio commercials advertising tickets available for Games 3 and 4 at Philips Arena. Not a good sign - unless you’re from Newton.
6: If you believe it’s a monumental achievement that John Smoltz is about to hit 3,000 strikeouts, consider how many he would have if he wasn’t a closer for three seasons.
5: I remain skeptical of Georgia State’s hopes of building a successful football program, given it has not been able to do the same with its basketball program (a cheaper and less-daunting endeavor). That said …
4: E-mailer Omar O. has a pretty cool idea: “I noticed that the Dawgs have not got an opener for 2010. Georgia State’s first game should be in Athens. It would make all the sense in the world. Do you agree?” Yes, I do. While it sounds strange, Georgia State would gain more attention losing — even by a lopsided score — to the most followed sports team in the Atlanta area than winning a game over a low-profile opponent.
3: Dept. of Spin: A Coca-Cola spokesman said the decision to pull its sponsored float out of the torch relay in Japan was related to security, not politics. Reality: It’s unrelated to either. Product placement is all about image (and sales). I ain’t no expert, but I’m guessing it’s hard to float campaigns like “a Coke and a smile” when protesters are tackling torch runners in the background.
2: Don Waddell says the Thrashers are “a couple of players away” from being a competitor. And I agree: Sidney Crosby and Nicklas Lidstrom. Other than that, I would say the team is one general manager away.
1: Kevin Garnett shaves his head. Seems to work for better for him.
Permalink | Comments (61) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Rookie from Curacao stabilizes Braves’ staff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It will be some time before there’s a change for the coveted honor of “Greatest Player To Come Out Of Willemstad.”
But given the ascent of Jair Jurrjens — and the simultaneous faceplant of Andruw Jones — we may be witnessing the pecking order in Curacao in mid-morph.
Jurrjens is rapidly becoming the iron man of the Braves’ decomposing pitching staff. He pitched seven innings against Los Angeles on Sunday, allowing only one run on three hits with a career-high eight strikeouts in a 6-1 win.
He also leads the staff in innings pitched (25 1/3). That’s not what anybody projected. But given we’re not out of April yet and the Braves have five pitchers (two starters) on the disabled list, they can adjust.
Three of Jurrjens’ strikeouts came against Jones, the former Brave and, for that matter, the former threat. Now, striking out Jones might not be considered a monumental achievement anymore, given his .169 average and 21 strikeouts in 59 at-bats. But it’s as close to a cold slap as you can feel in Curacao.
Jurrjens, 22, was a batboy when his older brother played in the same youth leagues with Jones (nine years his senior).
“I saw him when he was a little bitty guy,” Jones said Sunday. “He used to hang around with his dad and come to the games to watch his brother play.”
Jurrjens joked that, “Maybe the whole island” was watching Sunday. For their own health, let’s assume the Detroit Tigers had their eyes closed.
Jurrjens was penciled in as the Tigers’ fifth starter until they decided to deal him as part of the Edgar Renteria trade. It’s early. But if Jurrjens’ first four starts this season aren’t an aberration, Frank Wren will be hard-pressed to make a better trade in his tenure. Jurrjens potentially could be at or near the top of the rotation for several years.
“He knows how to change speeds already at a young age,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “He’s got a great arm. I talked to people in Detroit, and I’ve heard nothing but good stuff. Who knows? All we saw in spring training was good, so we’ve grown to expect it.”
He won his first start of the year against Pittsburgh (also the Braves’ first win). He allowed four runs in seven innings in a 4-3 loss at Colorado, hardly a crumbling act. In his third start, he yielded only two runs in six innings against Florida — but lost when the team was blanked, 4-0.
Then came Sunday. Jurrjens faced 28 batters and allowed only six to reach base (three in scoring position, other than a two-out, fourth-inning homer by Russell Martin). The Braves led the Dodgers only 2-1 when Jurrjens left after seven innings, stranding 12 runners. But a four-run eighth blew it open, and the Braves — who already have seen starters John Smoltz, Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine hit the DL this season — won again behind the 22-year-old on a gray-hair rotation.
He threw 114 pitches. He wasn’t tired. “I know my pitch count was up, but I felt good,” he said.
He was stunned when he first heard about the trade to Atlanta. He was a Braves fan as a kid, but the Tigers had signed him as a non-drafted free agent and made him the first pitcher in the majors to come out of Curacao.
“I wasn’t so happy because I grew up playing with the Tigers — it was like leaving a family,” he said. “But after talking with my family and my agent, I felt better. Now I’m really happy I’m here. Not a lot of people play for their favorite team.”
Now he will become an island favorite. Jones visited his former teammates in the Braves’ clubhouse Saturday and spoke with Jurrjens. “He’s doing really good — I’m proud of him,” he said. “I told him to just stay strong and everything will be fine.”
The two are headed in opposite directions. But Jurrjens couldn’t assume anything when he faced Jones for the first time in the first inning. This was the legend from his home island.
“I tried not to look at him because I know I’d have to smile,” Jurrjens said. “So I looked away.”
Then he struck him out. He did it again in the fourth and the sixth. Change may be afoot at the top in Willemstad.
Permalink | Comments (27) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Colangelo returns pride to USA Basketball
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chicago — In the past few days, we have seen Dennis Felton shave his mustache and Mike Woodson shave his head.
Given this unexpected intersection of hoops dreams and extreme grooming makeovers, what would this mean for Mike Krzyzewski’s suspiciously consistent jet-black ‘do if the U.S. Olympic basketball team suddenly gets crazy and, like, even beats Puerto Rico?
The NBA playoffs began this weekend. The league is composed of the best players in the world. As Krzyzewski said the other day, while discussing the game’s growth overseas: “We’ve had somewhat of an arrogance in our basketball community and in our country, in terms of saying, ‘It’s our game.’ Well, it’s not our game. It’s the world’s game.”
Here’s the problem with that statement: There are approximately 450 players in the NBA. That breaks down as: 375 are from here, 75 from somewhere else.
Maybe it’s not just our game anymore. But I kind of like the odds.
This past week, U.S. Olympic officials, coaches and athletes congregated in Chicago for a media summit, part of the buildup for this summer in Beijing.
Noteworthy was how members of USA Basketball suddenly were as humble as the rower.
When the United States began sending pros to the Olympics in 1992, it seemed less about reaffirming superiority (a given) than it was a global marketing venture. But after going 24-0 with three gold medals in three Olympics, the U.S. team became Exhibit A for all that was wrong about this decision.
Players didn’t seem to care. They went to Athens for the plane ticket, the vacation and the suite aboard the Queen Mary 2. The threat of losing a shoe contract would’ve been a greater motivator than winning a gold medal.
They lost their first game. By 19 points. To Puerto Rico. They went 5-3. The U.S. Olympic record before Athens: 109-2. They won a bronze medal. No word if anybody melted it down for paper clips.
The Acropolis had more living creatures.
“I was embarrassed,” said Jerry Colangelo, the long-time Phoenix Suns executive and a Hall of Famer. “I was embarrassed to watch those games — I can’t be any more honest than that. It was a sad moment to see the state of basketball, as far as the U.S. was concerned.”
What bothered him most?
“The body language. The performance. The attitude.”
Note: He didn’t say anything about talent.
Body language, effort and attitude aren’t problems in the playoffs. They shouldn’t be problems in the Olympics.
Eight months after Athens, USA Basketball asked Colangelo to become its managing director. He demanded, and was given, total autonomy. He named Krzyzewski the coach. Thirty-three players — including the Hawks’ Joe Johnson — were selected to the senior national team. From that, the 12-man Olympic roster (and three alternates) will be named. Colangelo has had face-to-face meetings with each player.
“They were told, ‘When you walk through this door, check your ego. This is about we. This is about us. This is about the USA.’ We’ve talked to them as much as we can about their attitudes. [A repeat of Athens] is just flat out not going to happen — because if it does they’re gone.”
The playoffs are the best time of the year in the NBA, less because of the talent than the fact the best teams win. If the U.S. team does another faceplant in China, you wonder if momentum will increase to go back to sending college players.
Colangelo is aware of the big picture: “There has to be a goal. There has to be an objective other than just fixing and painting the house. That goal is to win a gold medal, but more important is how we do it. We want continuity.”
“We’re a team now, we’re not a selection of All-Stars,” Krzyzewski said. “We want to set a program that will make other players want to be a part of the Olympics. We have a unique opportunity to set the standard.”
Funny. That used to come naturally.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
Dan Reeves would fit at Georgia State
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In hopes of creating interest and unearthing financing to back a start-up football program, Georgia State went less the buttoned-up fundraising route than the, “I know. Let’s put on a show!” route. All it took was employing a 64-year-old coming off knee replacement surgery to channel Mickey Rooney.
“Pan-pan-pant! “Her-her-hers! “That’s the way you spell it! “Here’s the way you yell it! “Panthers! Panthers! Yeah!”
And then, Dan Reeves composed himself. He must have felt it necessary to explain his behavior (if for no other reason than to salvage any chance he had of working in the NFL again).
“My wife was the head cheerleader,” he said.
Georgia State President Carl Patton officially announced Thursday at 2:10 (nice touch) that it will begin playing football in 2010. He and athletics director Mary McElroy will hire a coach this summer. It seems to me they’ve already found one.
I know. Why would Dan Reeves, who has 39 years as a player or coach in the NFL and a relative 15 minutes in college — his four years as a player at South Carolina — want to coach a start-up I-AA team?
Well, for one, a lack of options. Football still runs through his veins and, fact is, the chances of him landing another pro job are slim. He still lives here. He could be merely the “closer” in recruiting, if given the ability to hire his heir and a chief recruiter immediately.
He would be embraced again, as he should be, because nobody deserved to be run over by his players and drop-kicked out the window like he was in Flowery Branch.
Georgia State doesn’t need merely a good football coach to make this work. It needs credibility — for the players who will need to be convinced to come here at the start, for the fans who will need to be convinced to keep buying tickets and shirts and hats through the rough times.
Reeves all but shot down his interest Thursday, without actually saying it. “I don’t know that I’ve got professional football out of my blood,” he said. “That’s where I’m more comfortable. I’m just not sure I want to do something unless I’m 100 percent sure that’s what I want to do.”
And then: “I told people, ‘I don’t want you giving money because you think I’m going to coach.’ “
But he might be more ready for this transition than he realizes.
Reeves has been an adviser/consultant/pompom-pappy for Georgia State for 53 weeks. He was instrumental in the school already raising $1.2 million, much of which came from people who have never given a nickel to the campus. He walked into boardrooms and sold them on the idea of Panther football. He talked about recruiting advantages, about the fact Georgia Southern has 39 players from the Atlanta area, about all of the alums in this city who are now CEOs and CFOs and will support the program.
By the end of the speech, I was ready to bust up the wedge for him.
The cheer? It was borrowed from Reeves’ high school, Americus. It turns out the school also was known as the Panthers. The team colors: blue and white. Reeves cheered and did everything but start bonfires while others were opening checkbooks.
McElroy laughed when first asked about the possibility of him coaching. “I think I’d have to raise a whole lot more money,” she said. But she went on, calling Reeves “a celebrity,” and talked about how, “He got people fired up. When we were in a room, I would just stand back.”
This is going to be a difficult undertaking for Georgia State. McElroy estimated the start-up costs for football at $7 million. There’s a chance that the team will have to practice on a high school field at the outset, until a permanent facility with offices can be built. Losses will far outnumber wins for a while. Everybody will need something or someone to cling to.
I know. Dan Reeves, from Super Bowl player and Super Bowl coach, to Georgia State. Sounds crazy. Even he hasn’t really allowed the thought to sink in.
Maybe he should.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment |
Hawks give little cause for optimism
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If the idea Saturday night was to gauge how the playoff-bound (still, probably, we think) Atlanta Hawks might have a prayer in the postseason against the potentially title-bound Boston Celtics, we didn’t get an answer so much as a headache.
They went from even midway through the second quarter to 11 down at halftime in part because 220-loss coach Mike Woodson chose to rest Mike Bibby with two fouls. (Woodson in hindsight: “I goofed,” or words to that effect.)
They outscored Boston, 21-8, to start the third quarter to take the lead and make a game of it — only to lose a six-point lead and the game, 99-89, despite the fact the Celtics kept their starters on the bench the entire fourth quarter. The game meant nothing to the Celtics, but that didn’t stop Sam Cassell from channeling the energies of those senior citizens who swam in the magic pool in “Cocoon.”
Bottom line? The Hawks’ magic number to reach the postseason is down to one, only because Indianapolis lost at home to Charlotte. But when a win is sitting there for you on your home floor and the opposing coach isn’t moved to put a starter back in the game, what does that say for your chances in a potential first-round matchup?
When asked if this loss was deflating, Woodson said later: “You can’t put it like that… . It’s not discouraging. We’ve just got more work to do.”
The Hawks went to Indianapolis Tuesday night knowing a victory would all but clinch a playoff berth and eliminate the Pacers — a potential four-game lead with four games remaining. Instead, they got smoked. They trailed by 25 points in the third quarter and lost by 14. The lead for the eighth seed was down to two games.
The organization, as one would expect, has been trying to fire up the masses for this late-season run, putting playoff tickets up for sale and running a blur of radio ads to promote this new era. The long playoff drought would soon be dead, yes?
A win Saturday would’ve ended this suspense. Instead, we merely have prolong speculation. Woodson is aware his job is on the line. The scrutiny and the playoff scramble must be getting to him. Before Saturday’s game, I attempted to ask him a question in a group setting about trying to clinch a spot. But he cut it off.
“I’m not taking no comments from [you],” he said. And then he turned to the others, saying: “Go ahead guys.”
There was no further explanation. I can only assume it’s because I had not yet put down a deposit for playoff tickets.
Some of the players tried to paint Saturday’s loss as no big deal, but Josh Childress said: “This was definitely a game we should’ve won.”
Little things would’ve helped. How about doubling on Cassell? Woodson later said only, “We didn’t have an answer for him.”
Of having Bibby, his starting point guard, on the bench early in a relative must-win game, he said: “If I had it to do over again, I probably would’ve had his butt on the floor.”
The last time the Hawks played an extended season actually came in a shortened season. An owners’ lockout limited the 1998-99 season to 50 games. The Hawks made the playoffs at 31-19. They won a five-game series over Detroit, then got swept in round two by the New York Knicks.
The Knicks series turned out to be significant foreshadowing. Atlanta tumbled to 28-54 the following year. It was Lenny Wilkens’ exit song. The Hawks haven’t had a winning season since.
Still, probably, we think, they will be in the playoffs this season. But the foreshadowing for round one didn’t get any better Saturday.
Permalink | Comments (53) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Sports, politics collide yet again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are many who still believe the idealistic notion that sports and politics need not bang heads in Olympic years. As if 200 nations, bringing an unstable mixture of languages, beliefs and agendas, can peacefully unite in Eden for 17 days, all in the name of seeing who runs the fastest over 400 meters.
This dream was blown apart long ago. Before Moscow in 1980, when the United States led a boycott over the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan. Before Munich in 1972, when Israeli athletes were assassinated by Palestinian terrorists. Before Berlin in 1936, when Hitler hoped the Games would serve as proof of his superior race over blacks and Jews.
Politics and sports were a lethal mix as far back as the Ancient Olympics, when the Greeks formed military alliances during chariot races. Co-existence never had a chance.
China is host to the next Summer Olympics. It has long been criticized for its record in human rights, its policies in Tibet and Darfur and Myanmar. Protests were inevitable.
So was one word: boycott.
Boycotting the Opening Ceremonies (at least) in Beijing has become the flavor of the month in political circles in the U.S. and across Europe. Not surprisingly, a central figure of the civil rights movement has followed in step.
Georgia congressman John Lewis, who took “Freedom Rides” on buses in the segregated South and helped organize sit-ins at lunch counters in Nashville, is calling for at least a partial boycott.
“I’m not saying right now there should be a total boycott of the Olympics,” Lewis said by phone. “I just think we should not attend the Opening Ceremonies. At the same time, even if we attend, we should find a way to make it clear to the government of China that we are standing with the people of Tibet. Their civil rights and basic human rights shouldn’t be trampled on.”
Lewis was among 15 U.S. House members who last week signed a letter by California congressman Maxine Waters, urging President Bush not to attend the Olympics. Waters also introduced a House resolution in August asking Bush to boycott the Games “unless the Chinese government acknowledges and condemns the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of the Sudan.”
Lewis echoed those sentiments, adding: “The people have been crying out for some time for China to change its ways. There are those who have been standing up and advocating change in the last few days, and it [resulting protests] doesn’t look good to many around the world.”
President Carter withheld sending an Olympic team to Moscow as a protest over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Lewis supported such a move. (He wasn’t a member of Congress at the time, but had been appointed by Carter to direct ACTION, a federal volunteer agency.)
When asked if he would favor a total boycott of the Beijing Olympics should progress not be made in China, Lewis said: “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten to that point. But what China has been doing of late is pushing more and more people to take radical steps to [bring attention] to the issues.”
Lewis added, “I don’t want to see anything that hurts the athletes. I’m not saying athletes shouldn’t go to participate, like we did in 1980. But heads of state and legislative bodies and leaders who believe in standing up for human rights have to find some way to protest, to speak up and speak out. There may not be a better time.”
China has hardly budged. Only recently did organizers agree to open Internet access during the Games.
We’ve seen protesters scale the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge. We’ve seen banners depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.
What does China see? Nothing, apparently. Consider this headline on the official Beijing Olympics Web site Wednesday: “San Francisco embraces Olympic flame with pride.”
Organizers have referred to the torch run in news releases as the “Journey of Harmony.” That journey presumably didn’t take into account the thousands of protesters in London and Paris, where the run had to be cut short. On five occasions in Paris, protests forced the torch to be extinguished and the torch-runner to take shelter in a nearby van.
In San Francisco — where protests are common for far less important matters than human rights — several thousand, including Tibetan monks and nuns, lined the six-mile course. Police were everywhere, even on Jet-Skis in the bay. Protesters carried Tibet flags, marched across the Golden Gate Bridge and shouted, “China lie, people die.”
It’s not quite the Olympic motto: “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” But by now, we should be used to athletics being the subplot.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment |
Putting Vick’s ‘comeback’ in perspective
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN…
10: Win tonight at Indiana and the Hawks will have all but clinched a playoff berth.
9: Win tonight at Indiana and the Hawks will have all but clinched a playoff berth. (I didn’t believe it the first time, either.)
8: Too much is being made of the fact that Michael Vick was seen playing football with fellow inmates at Leavenworth. I’ll be more interested if he gets transferred to Folsom, just to see how he does in the West Coast offense. (I know. Cheap.)
7: Seriously, though: For those who took Arthur Blank’s correspondence with Vick to mean that he’s holding the door open for the quarterback to return, don’t. It’s not happening. Blank is not going to give a definitive, “No,” on the subject at least until after the team’s attempts to recoup part of Vick’s signing bonus are resolved. And he may not even say it then, for fear of further alienating Vick’s fan base. But it should in no way suggest No. 7 has a future here.
6: I realize Roy Williams somewhat left his heart in Lawrence, Kansas, when he took the North Carolina job. And this should not in anyway suggest that the man’s affections for his former school affected his coaching job with the Tar Heels. But how did you feel about seeing him sitting 10 rows behind the Kansas bench at Monday night’s final?
5: Actually, it wasn’t just sitting 10 rows behind the Kansas bench that seemed curious. It was cheering and wearing a large Jayhawks sticker on his shirt and also doing an interview on CBS with a Jayhawks sticker on his Jacket. He did all but paint his face. Ask yourself: If this was SEC football, and Nick Saban lost a game as Alabama coach to LSU, then was seen the following week supporting LSU in the SEC championship game, how would Alabama fans feel? Would Georgia fans wince even a little bit if Mark Richt lost a game to Florida State, then stood on the Seminoles’ sideline in a bowl game the following week?
4: The Thrashers did not clinch a playoff berth.
3: The Thrashers did not clinch a playoff berth. (Actually, you probably believed that the first time.) Just one question: When Don Waddell keeps defending his position and says, “We need to keep moving forward,” doesn’t that suggest the franchise is actually moving forward? The Thrashers have made the playoffs once in eight seasons, never won a post-season game, just finished with the third-worst record in the league, had their fewest wins (34) in three seasons and lost their most games in regulation (40) since the third year of the franchise (47 in 2001-02). One more step forward and they’re off the cliff.
2: Congrats to Ilya Kovalchuk for speaking up about changes being necessary, because there’s really only two things that may force owners hands here: 1.) The threat of losing another superstar who sees no direction from the front office (see: Marian Hossa); 2.) empty seats.
1: Braves starters: 3-0, 2.33 ERA. Braves relievers: 0-4, 5.33 ERA. Did somebody hit replay?
*Commenting has been turned off.
Smoltz shows his mettle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After seeing John Smoltz become disabled in the spring and Mike Hampton become disabled before the bullpen door swung open, the Braves’ starting rotation was overdue for something other than Waterloo Sunday.
Somehow, it figured that such a moment would come against the team’s divisional rival and the game’s best pitcher.
“You know how John is,” Tom Glavine said before Sunday’s game against Johan Santana and the New York Mets. “He relishes big games.”
Adrenaline never figured to be an issue for Smoltz. But after making only one late spring start and then slamming on the brakes because of shoulder issues, there were obvious questions about the man’s health.
But Smoltz lives for these situations: the doubts, the fears, the sense of inevitably some get when a television camera catches him wincing on the mound or in the dugout. He showed it again Sunday. He threw five shutout innings in his first start of the season against a team, the Mets, who had scored 29 runs in their first four games. He allowed two hits. He struck out six. He rarely got behind in the count. Also, his arm didn’t fall off — even if “a knot” in his shoulder eventually forced his exit.
“I feel like sooner or later somebody’s going to write, ‘Hey come watch him pitch. This is going to be his last game,’ ” Smoltz said later. “I know that’s part of the territory.”
Before Sunday, even he mentally tiptoed into that territory. No, Smoltz never has had the sense that his career was over. But there were questions in his mind. Given the shoulder and his inability to throw as much as he would’ve liked in the spring, there had to be some doubts.
“There was some unknown in the sense that I didn’t know how sharp I could be,” he said. “Mentally, I knew I would be as sharp as I could be. I just didn’t know if I could execute.”
This is how you define control for a starting pitcher: Smoltz faced 18 batters. He started the count 0-2 or 1-2 against nine of them. He retired 12 of 14 batters after the first inning (when he walked two with two outs, leading to Smoltzian glares at home-plate umpire Gerry Davis following each).
“He was ahead of the count all day long,” manager Bobby Cox said. “That’s so important. It’s the most important thing you can do as a pitcher, along with locating your fastball.” (He did that, too.)
Smoltz started feeling discomfort in the shoulder in the fourth and said he “wasn’t as sharp in the fifth,” although he retired the Mets in order. He came back to the dugout, told Cox and that was it.
“It kills me to not go out there for the sixth and possibly then seventh inning,” he said. “I’m a seven-inning guy. That’s the way it’s going to be this year. But for the first start, I’ll take this.”
Seldom has there been so much misdirection before a start. First came the spring setback, causing Smoltz to miss a start. Then he originally was slated to pitch Sunday, only to have Cox push it back a day following Friday’s rainout — only to get back the assignment after pulling a trade with his teammate, Glavine, who will pitch in the chill of Colorado Monday night).
“I understood John’s concerns with his shoulder,” Glavine said. “Colorado’s not the easiest place to pitch, and it’s not the easiest place to recover from, either.”
So what does Glavine get out of all this? He smiled. “Not sure yet,” he said. “I’ll probably get it back on the golf course.”
The importance of April wins can be overstated. But given the backdrop, this was significant. Smoltz put this match-up in proper context the other day. When asked about facing Santana, the Mets’ $137.5 million acquisition, he said, “Well, it’s me against me right now.”
He expects to make his next start Friday in Washington. There won’t be nearly as much buildup for that start, and the Braves’ are fine with that. They’ve had enough drama.
Permalink | Comments (35) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Expectations could bite Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — There are delusions and then there are SEC-fueled delusions, which are like delusions on steroids. These are the delusions that make the fall that much harder. These are the delusions that can drown a team before it ever plays Auburn or Florida or, in the case of Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe.
It’s April. It’s spring football. The real kickoff is in nearly five months. But the delusions in Athens began shortly after Georgia steamrolled Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and finished No. 2 in the rankings.
Expectation levels? They passed absurd two blocks ago. What’s it going to be like in August?
Matthew Stafford rolled his eyes.
“It’s above and beyond,” he said when asked about the tidal wave-like buildup. “But I think we kind of like it. We realize we need to be pushed.”
It’s April. It’s spring football. The phony season kickoff, Saturday’s Red-Black game, drew 19,874 fans. Imagine if the weather wasn’t miserable. The school sold 11,000 advance tickets before cutting it off. Media coverage was at an all-time high. The game was televised by CSS and broadcast by three radio stations. The AJC even had five representatives in the press box, which is significant considering only box lunches were served.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” said Vince Dooley said of the off-season buildup. “There was a great anticipation in 1980. But that wasn’t so much for the season as it was for Herschel [Walker].”
Georgia will play 12 regular-season games next season. Theoretically, it can play 14, with the SEC championship and a bowl game. It only seems like the team can go 37-0.
The Bulldogs should be very good next season. They have legitimate national-title hopes. But meteoric expectations — particularly in April — give coaches the willies.
Mark Richt dealt with this sort of thing often when he was an assistant at Florida State. “We were preseason No. 1 [in 1988],” he said. “Then we went to Miami and got beat 31-0, so we didn’t handle it very well.”
Richt certainly won’t have a problem when the Dogs begin next season with a high ranking (anywhere from No. 1 to No. 4). It’s more the months of brainwashing he’s concerned about.
“First of all, one of the many reasons why we’re ranked high, or we’re going to be ranked high, supposedly, is because of what last year’s team did,” Richt said after the spring game. “I just tell them: ‘That team is gone. Those leaders are gone. That chemistry is gone. You’ve got to start over. To this point, you guys haven’t really proven anything. You’ve got to earn the right to be considered a great football team.’ That’s what we’re in the process of doing. The one way we can do that is focus on the moment.”
Thus far, at least the school’s marketing wing is staying grounded. There were no “14-0” shirts in the bookstore. But the former coach said it would be easy for the players to get sucked in by the expectations.
“They’re human, and they’re young,” he said. “It’s hard for it not to affect them. So you do everything you can as a coach to keep them focused. It starts in spring practice. The problem is, you don’t know if what you’re saying to them is enough compared to what the alumni is saying to them, or what they’re reading.”
The extreme example of this happened in Tuscaloosa. Nick Saban’s arrival at Alabama led to 90,000 fans attending the spring game. Some had improbable BCS bowl projections. When the Tide won its first three games, some fans expected the team would be 8-0 going into the LSU game. Instead it lost at home to Georgia and nose-dived, going 4-6 the rest of the season, including the loss to Louisiana-Monroe.
You can already see the potential for disaster here. Some already are making bowl plans for Miami (home of next season’s BCS championship). Open with easy wins over Georgia Southern, Central Michigan and South Carolina and some will skip ahead several games in their mind to Florida week.
Beat the Gators and it will be, “How would we have done against Nebraska in ‘71?”
“There’s always a danger factor,” Stafford said, “when people talk about you being No. 1 or No. 2, but only if you treat it the wrong way.”
So far, the Dogs are 0-0. The trick is remembering that.
Permalink | Comments (128) | Post your comment | Categories: UGA/SEC
You name it, Hampton’s had it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First it was the calf. Then it was the forearm. Then the back. Then the elbow, the oblique, the hamstring, the groin, vertigo, gout, brain freeze, demonic possession, high cholesterol, low biorhythms, closed chakras and going blind from sitting too close to the television.
Mike Hampton isn’t an injured pitcher anymore. He’s a wrenched ankle away from being the poor schlep on the Operation game. He’s way south of Chris Chandler and just north of Monty Python’s Black Knight.
Off go the arms.
“It’s just a flesh wound.”
Off go the legs.
“I’m invincible! The Black Knight triumphs!”
King Arthur passes.
“Oh, all right! We’ll call it a draw.”
For the 957th straight day, Hampton did not start an official major-league game Thursday night. He suffered an injury. A new injury.
A new injury? Who knew there were any left?
This time, it was a strained left pectoral muscle. He has been listed as moment to moment.
“Cold night,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said before the game. “Not good for hamstrings and groins.”
Cold night. Hot day. Leap year. Summer solstice. Like it matters.
When a pitcher goes nearly 32 months without a real start — with seven times on the disabled list and two major surgeries since 2005 — it’s safe to assume this is not all about weather conditions.
Mike Hampton suddenly has the durability of a Peep in a microwave.
If you’re Hampton, what’s keeping you from throwing in the towel? I mean, except maybe the fear of a torn rotator cuff.
“No, not really,” when asked he believed his fate seems doomed. “For the first 30 minutes I was pretty down. But I’m still optimistic.”
That’s one. He’s going back on the disabled list, and he hasn’t even thrown an official pitch yet.
“You think you’re ready to go, start the year and turn the page and …”
And then — same, same.
He said he felt soreness in the left pec — an unusual injury for a pitcher on Monday. He got treatment. He felt fine Thursday — for 23 pitches in the bullpen. “I turned it up, and it started biting me,” he said.
Trainers told him the injury is “minor.” Yeah.
Hampton’s $121 million contract — $43 million paid by the Braves in the final three years — mercifully ends after this year. When the deal expires, all parties will have paid off: the Rockies, the Marlins, the Braves and Aetna.
He last pitched Aug. 19, 2005 against San Diego. He allowed seven runs and 11 hits in 31/3 innings. In some painful foreshadowing, Hampton even was hit by a pitch by the Padres’ Chan Ho Park. He went on the disabled list with a herniated disk soon after. Other injuries and two elbow surgeries followed.
In the past several months, the Braves have watched Hampton rehab. But it seemed more like they were watching somebody stack wine glasses, waiting the inevitable crash.
“We saw him in Arizona before he went to Mexico [for winter ball], and he looked great,” Cox said.
Mexico. First game. First inning.
“He did the splits on a wet mound,” Cox said. “The hamstring went.”
Hampton made it to spring training. He suffered a groin strain, but the arm held up: a .500 medical batting average.
“I feel good about where I’m at,” he said at the end of spring.
Then came Thursday night. Lazarus, he wasn’t. It was 51 degrees but Hampton didn’t blame the weather. He didn’t really blame anything. But the strain was undeniable.
At 7:09, one minute before the scheduled first pitch, the Braves announced Hampton was scratched and would be replaced by Jeff Bennett. TV kept showing replays of his warm-up tosses, like the Zapruder film.
Hampton, who has been through quite a bit, said: “It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do, step off the mound [in the bullpen] and hand somebody the ball.”
The Braves media game notes indicated Hampton is trying to become the first plus-35-year-old pitcher to win 10 games after missing at least two years since Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe in 1946.
Rowe died in 1961. He might have a better shot than Hampton to repeat the feat. It would be an achievement at this point if he could just make it to the mound.
To view previous comments to this blog, click here.
Permalink | Comments (87) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Hawks’ playoff berth guarantees nothing for Woodson, Knight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After eight straight seasons of misery, three straight last-place finishes, so many luckless draft lotteries and, maybe worst of all, the final days of Alan Henderson, the Hawks are close to completing perhaps the biggest exorcism in franchise history. They are nearing a playoff berth.
These moments generally are celebrated by the thirsty masses. Strangely, the Hawks seem to have no masses, at least none that are celebrating.
Instead, they’re waiting. When is the collapse? They’re wondering. Does this mean Billy Knight and Mike Woodson aren’t getting fired? They’re bracing. Is an eighth seed just the backdrop for a public stoning by the Celtics?
Unfair? Maybe a little. The Hawks have won eight out of 10. There was a time when winning eight out of 10 would’ve been viewed as paradise, style points be damned. But if there was any doubt that the futures of the franchise and it’s principal parts remain a concern, owner Michael Gearon reaffirmed as much Tuesday.
Nobody got a guarantee on future employment.
Gearon would prefer the focus not be on the organizational structure right now. (It’s not what you would call a great marketing tool.) But he did nothing to douse speculation that the futures of his general manager (Knight) and coach (Woodson) are open-ended.
“All I can tell you is we continue to evaluate the GM, the assistant GM, the coach, the assistant coaches and the players on an ongoing basis,” Gearon said. “With respect to what we’re going to do after the season, I don’t have a crystal ball. With respect to now, I like the way we’re playing.
“I will say this: I’m not opposed to doing anything. I want to make the playoffs and I want to win long-term. But what matters to me most is: Are these kids learning how to win? That question is more easily answered when the season’s over. We’re not in the mode right now of, ‘Is our GM going to be here or not? Is our coach going to be here or not?’ Are certain players going to be here or not?’?”
He neither confirmed nor denied that Knight and Woodson both are at the end of their contracts, saying only: “Whether somebody has a contract has nothing to do with whether we want somebody back.”
He intentionally stayed clear of tangibles. What if the Hawks miss the playoffs? What if they reach the postseason with a record of 38-44 in the weak Eastern Conference, and then get drilled in four games by Boston? Do Knight and Woodson have magic numbers?
Bottom line: What defines success?
“That I can answer: Learning how to win on a regular basis,” Gearon said. “Look, I don’t know if we’re going to make the playoffs. I hope we do. But I would tell you what’s more important to me than making the playoffs — what I want is for our kids — is that they believe in themselves. I want them to realize that they’re capable of being a premier team in the East. That’s been my goal from the beginning. If we play well and improve and make the playoffs, then I feel good about that. If we make the playoffs and win the first series but then play awful in the second series, I may not feel good. It’s not just about the wins and losses. I’m looking at the development of players.”
It has been a losing PR battle. Knight does or says little to ingratiate himself to fans or media (nor does he seem to care). Woodson’s career record is a cartoon (103-217). The ownership brand, the Atlanta Spirit, more often ends up being a punch line (and will continue to be until litigation ends). And then there’s all that history.
“I would agree with you [about fans’ feelings],” Gearon said, “and that’s a product of two things: the franchise has been out of the playoffs for a long time, and the perception of this team.”
After all of those seasons of misery, a playoff berth nears. But Wednesday night, when the Hawks play host to Toronto, Philips Arena could be half-empty again. It will take a lot more winning to convince the masses, define direction — and, apparently, guarantee employment.
Permalink | Comments (75) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
Services »