AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 02
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Some New Year ramblings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So much to say. Where do I begin?
I’d start with the Rose Bowl, but I’m still in hide out and recovery mode from yet another West Coast letdown by my Wolverines (the plan was to go to bed Monday night and wake up today and do Jan. 1 all over again. Didn’t work. 2007 stinks like dirty gym socks already, @#$@ !#@^# Lloyd #%#$%Q! Carr).
The better coached and better prepared team whacked us for the second straight game, so we deserved what we got (a 32-18 visit to the LA woodshed for those of you who slept through the New Year after partying like it was 1999 on Sunday night). I wonder what it would take to lure Boise State’s coach away, because there is a man who coaches the way it should be done. They played like that game was the only game on earth and their lives depended on winning it. Their performance, as well as my Wolverines’ inept showing, is a stark reminder that there needs to be a playoff for Division I-A college football. There’s no excuse.
But I’m done with that, for now (I promised I wouldn’t internalize these things in ’07 but going 11-0 and then finishing 0-2-tailwhoopins is hard to swallow folks. Nobody likes to talk smack like I do about my Wolverines and now I have to shut my yapper for another year).
I had high hopes for 2007 in general, but they were dashed a few hours in when I heard that Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams had been shot and killed. Sports, guns and death are always intertwined these days and it’s unsettling. It makes you (or at least me) wonder, is it just a confluence of the usual suspects in these sorts of incidents (late nights, clubs and alcohol-fueled bravado) or what? I wouldn’t dare tell anyone where to spend his or her own time. But I can see leaving the clubs alone in ’07, just because.
The end of 2006 was not picnic for the boys from Hawksville. Seven straight losses to end the year, surely you’ve read about it by now. Seven straight. … And they’ve been as ugly as that sounds, everything from blown leads (Chicago and Utah) to wire to wire blowouts (Houston) and feeble attempts at competitiveness (Detroit, Cleveland and San Antonio). It’s like watching the scrawny kid on the bus get smacked around by the school bully every day and knowing that there’s basically nothing anyone can do to stop it, until the scrawny kid decides to bow up and swing back.
The Hawks seem like they’re still deciding if they want to fight back (and yeah, I’m talking about the players, because in the absence of reinforcements –- which don’t appear to be on the way any time soon — it’s up these guys to do something about what’s going on). Their effort against the Spurs Sunday was valiant, if not futile.
But again, I’m wondering about some things as 2007 begins:
— How much more of this will Joe Johnson take before he blows up on a teammate, a coach or a Hawks executive about having to carry the entire load? (I know, nobody has to feel sorry for him on payday and all that noise. But just because you sign for the big bucks doesn’t mean you sign up to be ground into dust in the prime of your career because there isn’t adequate support around you).
— Who else might be ready to explode now that the good vibrations of early November have subsided? No one likes losing for prolonged periods of time. No one.
— Who is the bonehead that decided to give New York (from that diabolically stereotypical VH1 nonsense Flava of Love) her own show? The TV viewing public is just twisted, because we all love train wreck TV. Just another reason I’ll wait to watch until 24 returns to watch anything on TV (besides sporting events and the Food Network, of course).
— I can’t stop thinking about the differences in coaching that were on display during these Jan. 1 bowls (I lied, I’m not done with it). How could any team expect to show up after a month and a half layoff and not bring something new to the table? Don’t you learn from your mistakes Lloyd Carr? Did you think USC tossed the Ohio State game tape in the trash and decided to guess what you were going to do? Just like training techniques, coaching has to be something that evolves with the times, something that adapts to the personnel and something that is tailored to a specific opponent. Lloyd Carr’s arrogance (“We’re going to run the ball, I don’t care how many people they have stacked on the line to stop us.”) has resulted in yet another west coast/big game debacle. I’m going to be one grumpy joker for the foreseeable future based on what transpired in Pasadena last night.
— What do I do now that my fantasy team is shot, at least through All-Star Weekend (Chris Paul and Yao Ming are down and Nenad Krstic is done for the year)? I waived Krstic and picked up Chris Duhon, to help ease the loss of Paul for a few weeks. But I still feel like I need to make some more moves to energize my crew –- I’m 4-5 with an outbreak of outrageous injuries and bad luck (I inadvertently kept Kevin Martin on my bench the first two weeks of the season, losing all of his best early games). Since I’m a fantasy league rookie, I’m relying on one of you vets for some advice.
— How many do you think Allen Iverson is going to put on the 76ers tonight in Denver? I’m guessing at least 40!
— If Florida knocks off Ohio State and Boise State ends up being the only undefeated team in the country, who says the (whatever their mascot is) shouldn’t be touted as the “true” national champs?
— Now that he’s out for about a month, how much are you missing Josh Smith (on-court warts and all)?
— Nick Saban’s a scoundrel, whether he leaves the Miami Dolphins for Alabama or not. He left Michigan State hanging and LSU in much the same way (swearing he wasn’t leaving when it was clear that he was), but at least he left both of those places on a winning note. His professional coaching tail will be between his legs if he runs from South Beach after a 6-10 season. The Crimson Tide and Saban seem to deserve each other.
And finally, in case you have to make a flying trip any time soon, remember to carry your bag on with you. I broke from a season-long tradition over the weekend and checked a bag to both Houston and San Antonio. Big mistake. Huge. It took me over an hour in Houston to get from the plane, get my bag, get my rental car and then get to my hotel -– AT THE AIRPORT! In San Antonio there were already hundreds of bags surrounding all the carousels (courtesy of the nasty weather in Denver and supposedly in the Southeast), so we ended up having to wait 90 minutes for the bags to finally come out. CARRY ON BABY, CARRY ON!
