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As of Thursday, Feb. 12, this little blog has relocated to a new home on AJC.com. It’s the same newspaper, the same Web site and the same writer (feel free to groan) — there’s just a new URL.
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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > October > 06
Monday, October 6, 2008
Bradley’s Buzz: SEC coaches raise a fine whine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Apparently there is crying in football
The SEC prides itself on football and misses no opportunity to note that five conference coaches have won national championships. Surely the SEC will be further heartened by the news that six of its coaches — half the league, in other words — have made the FoxSports list of the sport’s 10 biggest whiners.
I won’t dispel the drama by revealing which famous SEC coach FoxSports ranks No. 1, but I will offer this tease: In a major upset, the Urban Crier is only No. 9, which places him behind Bob and Mike Stoops. If I were Florida, I’d whine that my coach wasn’t given his due. I might even file a formal protest.
Respect the Ramblin’ Wreck!
If it isn’t careful, Georgia Tech is going to ruin its value as a stealth team. Too many people are taking notice. Stewart Mandel of SI.com suggests Tech will be in the ACC race to the finish.
Having covered the Tech-Duke game, Heather Dinich of ESPN.com is apparently of two minds. In one post she calls the Jackets maybe the ACC Coastal Division’s best team, while in another she contends that, among conference members, only Virginia Tech and Wake Forest deserve to be ranked in the Top 25.
For what it’s worth, Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com foresees Tech playing in the Music City Bowl, while his colleague Bruce Feldman has the Jackets bound for the Champs Sports Bowl. Both writers, you should know, ticket Georgia for the Cotton Bowl.
More scrutiny for O’Leary
You’ll recall that George O’Leary came in for criticism after Dustin Vaitekunas claimed the coach ordered Georgia Tech players to slam into him during a practice in 2000. Now at Central Florida, O’Leary’s methods were the subject of an Orlando Sentinel investigation after a player — wide receiver Ereck Plancher — died after collapsing in a March workout.
The story, by Josh Robbins, quotes former players — including former Jackets Ken Celaj and Zach Piller — as being both pro- and anti-O’Leary, but it reaches no real conclusion. Not surprisingly, O’Leary wouldn’t consent to be interviewed. Neither would any current UCF player.
Bad news for the Atlanta Spirit (Part 1)
The Thrashers open their regular season Friday, and early prognostications don’t see them playing beyond their 82nd game. The Canadian site TSN ranks them as the NHL’s second-worst team. Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports tabs them as 25th-best in a 30-team league, and Scott Wraight of SI.com pegs them No. 26 overall.
And, in a category totally foreign to me, The Hockey News ranks the Thrashers last in something called the Goalie Confidence Index. Which makes sense, sort of. If you were a goalie and you saw you were rated as the league’s worst, you wouldn’t be too full of yourself, either.
Bad news for the Atlanta Spirit (Part 2)
The Hawks are practicing, which John Hollinger of ESPN.com suggests they need to do. He projects them as a 31-win team, which would mean they’d finish six games worse than last season. His colleague Marc Stein rates the Hawks 22nd-best in a 30-team league.
But there are, you’ll be relieved to know, glad tidings to be found. Writing for SI.com, Steve Aschburner does not — repeat, does not — include Mike Woodson in his list of five NBA coaches on the hot seat. Although, pragmatically speaking, there’s no way Woodson returns for 2009-2010 if the Hawks regress.
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