AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 21
Friday, December 21, 2007
Merry Christmas! See you in New Orleans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the spirit of Christmas and, after a very busy regular season, we’re going to shut down the blog for a few days to celebrate the Holidays. We’ll meet again next week when I get to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl and the BCS championship.
Until then, here are my Christmas wishes for some very special people.
1. The City of New Orleans: A prosperous, but safe, bowl season. The city has been rebuilding towards this moment since Katrina hit. Hundreds of thousands will come to New Orleans to celebrate the Sugar Bowl and the BCS championship game, which will be held just six days apart. The hospitality industry will do their part. They always do. The folks in charge of security also have to do their part. It won’t be enough for New Orleans to be safe. It must also be PERCEIVED as safe.
2. Bobby Petrino: A sense of humor or something, anything, that makes this man seem like a human being. He has gotten beaten up in the press worse than any coach I can remember and a lot of it is well deserved. But some of it, as is the case in today’s media culture, was over the top. Here is the reality Petrino must face. At some point every coach, no matter how good he is, has to engage the public and rehabilitate his image. That’s because every coach, no matter how good he is, will someday need the benefit of the doubt. Because of Petrino’s personality (or lack thereof) and because of his flirtation with Auburn in 2003, nobody was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he left the Falcons. Some of the complaints about the Falcons coming from his camp might have had some merit. But nobody was listening because Petrino has made no deposits in the bank of personal credibility.
3. Paul Johnson: For Josh Nesbitt to be a quick study. Taylor Bennett may be the Georgia Tech quarterback in 2008 as Johnson installs his offense in bits and pieces. Urban Meyer did this at Florida with Chris Leak in 2006 but gave Tim Tebow enough snaps for him to get comfortable with the offense. I guess you could say that it paid off in 2007. Nesbitt, who played at my old high school (Greene County), is a very gifted athlete who must now learn to make split-second decisions. That is what makes Johnson’s offense so effective. You need to watch a lot of film, lad.
4. Phillip Fulmer: The right offensive coordinator. Fulmer, as you might imagine, has received a lot of interest in the opportunity to replace David Cutcliffe. The word I get is that Fulmer will take his time and won’t make a decision until after January’s coaches convention, where he will have an opportunity to interview a lot of people in a very short time. Still, the decision comes down to this: Does Fulmer stick with the comfortable or does he do something a little bold and outside the box-at least for him? Part of Fulmer’s problem with portions of the Tennessee fan base is that they are, for lack of a better term, simply BORED. That happens when coaches have been in one place for so long. Staff changes provide the opportunity to get the fans juiced up again.
5. Bobby Bowden: Some good news and some equally good vision about the future. The cheating scandal at Florida State is bad. I won’t try to sugarcoat it. But this kind of stuff is so far removed from the head coach that you can’t lay it all at Bowden’s feet. Still, he is in charge of the football program so, like it or not, he has to take responsibility. It sure would help Bowden to win the bowl game over Kentucky.
Here is the greater concern. The suspensions of 20-plus players will carry over into the first three games of next season. If Florida State comes out of the gate slowly and the season goes South, it will be time for Bowden to take a hard look in the mirror. After watching Bowden’s magnificent career, it would break my heart to see it end badly for him.
Merry Christmas, folks. Thanks for your support this year.
Tony B.
