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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > June
June 2008
Swimmer’s splash could erode stereotypes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cullen Jones is black. Cullen Jones is a swimmer.
Notwithstanding observations from the noted late anthropologist, Al Campanis, who believed African Americans made lousy swimmers because, “they don’t have the buoyancy,” there remains a sad and wide chasm between race and sport in the pool.
Jones is one of the fastest swimmers in the U.S. But his skin tone continues to alter perceptions. He could walk into a room wearing USA gear but most would presume him to be a sprinter, a point guard, a soccer player — yes, even a chess player — before they would guess a water sport.
“Ask the concierge downstairs,” Jones said at a recent USOC media summit in Chicago. “He guessed everything. He said, ‘You’re a chess player, aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, ultimate backgammon, actually.’ They never guess swimming. They guess everything under the sun.”
They won’t have to guess this week. Jones will stand out from most among the 800 swimmers in the starting blocks at the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Omaha. He is the only African American currently on the U.S. national swim team. Should Jones succeed at the trials, he’ll become a U.S. Olympic rarity. Former Georgia star Maritza Correia made the 2004 women’s team in Athens. Anthony Ervin, whose father is of African American and Native American descent, competed for the U.S. men in Sydney in 2000.
At the U.S. Olympic level, that’s it.
Jones doesn’t mind race being spotlighted whenever he’s on the starting block. He embraces the role. He’s a centerpiece of USA Swimming’s “Make A Splash” initiative, which aims to educate minorities on the sport and make it more accessible to inner-city youth.
USA Swimming has 252,000 members who swim competitively. Less than two percent are black. African American children are nearly three times more likely to die from drowning than non-blacks. Nearly 60 percent of African American children (ages 6 to 16) can’t swim (almost twice as many as whites).
Jones is a fitting spokesperson for the program. He nearly drowned when he was 5.
He was born in the Bronx and raised in New Jersey. He hadn’t had a swim lesson when he convinced his parents to let him go down an inner tube water slide in Pennsylvania. The ride was fun. The landing at the bottom war was near-tragedy. The tube flipped upside down. Jones held on and flipped with it under water. He passed out and CPR was required to revive him.
“I don’t remember panicking too much,” he said. “But I do remember being unconscious.”
He also remembers asking his parents, “What can I go on next?”
He had found a home in the water. So his parents got him lessons. He got good. He started winning races. His father, Ronald Jones, who played basketball at a small college in the Bronx, tried to push his son into hoops, but Cullen kept coming back to the pool.
“By the time I was 12 years old, my father kind of let it go,” he said.
If he had known where this was going, Ronald Jones never would have had an issue. Cullen became a standout at North Carolina State and the first African American male swimmer to share a world record (400 freestyle relay).
Ronald Jones never got to see any of that. He died of lung cancer in 2000, when Cullen was 16. Cullen has a tattoo that reads, “Jones 41” (his former uniform number). He writes “41” with his autograph. “I always wanted my dad to be a part of my career,” he said.
An Olympic berth would be an appropriate next step, and one more chance to erode stereotypes.
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Anderson: Right choice for wrong reasons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes, the right choice can be made for all the wrong reasons.
Meet John Anderson: Right choice. Wrong reasons.
He was hired in part because he comes cheap. He was hired in part because he was desperate for an NHL job after spending an eternity in the minor leagues. He was hired in part because a few months back he actually said, “Don Waddell has done a good job,” and that alone puts somebody on a short list.
He was hired in part because it’s very easy for the Thrashers to stand John Anderson on a podium, give an impressive PowerPoint illustrating his championships in the minors and make a case that he deserves this chance — even if we’ve come to learn success in the minors doesn’t project a coach’s NHL greatness any more than it projects the next Curt Fraser. (Gentle reminder: Fraser’s last four seasons in the minors: 192 wins, four playoff berths, two finals appearances.)
John Anderson: Excellent minor-league coach.
John Anderson: Best NHL option? Unlikely. Look around. John Tortorella won a Stanley Cup in Tampa. Mike Sullivan, Tortorella’s former assistant, did a commendable job when he ran Boston. Ron Wilson has an impressive resume but wouldn’t even look in this direction before taking the Toronto job — and he lives in Hilton Head. Todd McLellan, a hot assistant in Detroit, took San Jose’s offer and wouldn’t even interview here. Pat Quinn, Marc Crawford, Joel Quenneville — not so bad.
So why was Anderson the choice for the Thrashers?
Ask yourself this: If you owned this team, does committing significant money and autonomy for a new head coach make sense right now? Nobody knows about the roster. Nobody knows about the general manager. Nobody knows how many people will pay to watch this product next season. Or worse, we do know.
The Atlanta Spirit will pay $1.2 million to Bob Hartley next season not to coach, after paying him not to coach all but six games this past season. The franchise is bleeding financially. It may get worse, on and off the ice.
An expensive, proven coach isn’t real high on the agenda right now.
Brad McCrimmon, an assistant under Hartley and a candidate to replace him, was never treated fairly by this team. He seemed on deck for a promotion after Hartley’s firing last October. He was the popular choice of players (and most believe the team started 11-4 after Hartley’s firing because they expected McCrimmon to take over). But Waddell stayed behind the bench. The team nosedived. Marian Hossa had long since decided not to re-sign, making his trading a foregone conclusion. And then, finally, in February, McCrimmon was offered the job. Big wow.
When the offer finally was made, it came with minimal financial guarantees for next season, should he have been sacrificed this summer. No wonder McCrimmon said no. In the end, he wasn’t really passing on a career break. He was passing on a chance to be a scapegoat. It never figured Waddell would offer him the job again.
Anderson has been a minor-league lifer. He admitted on a conference call Friday that he was so overwhelmed when Waddell offered the job Thursday night that he went back to his hotel room and, “I cried.”
“It was absolutely worth the wait,” he said.
He hasn’t been to the film room yet.
The Thrashers’ issues go far beyond coaching. A team doesn’t fail to win one playoff game in its existence, just because the guy behind the bench doesn’t know how to match lines. It’s the pieces. It’s the structure. It’s the direction.
Anderson says he wants to make the rink “a great place to be, a happy place to be.”
It’s a nice thought. If the Thrashers win, they’ll be happy. Win, and they’ll look like visionaries for hiring a 51-year-old who had coached 13 years in the minors with nary an offer to be even an NHL assistant. But that’s way down the road, and vision has not been commonplace around here.
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Waddell skates, minuses pile up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It has been 10 years almost to the day since Don Waddell was hired as the Thrashers’ general manager. If we learned anything about the man, it’s that his proclamations ring as hollow as some of his draft picks.
As Waddell said after landing in Atlanta, fresh off a Stanley Cup in his one season as an assistant in Detroit: “Right off the bat, our players have to understand what our commitment is to winning. By the time we start this thing in 1999, expansion is gone. We’ll be a first-year team that’s expected to win. Expansion is not a reason for losing.”
It was a nice pep talk. Unfortunately, it didn’t come with a guarantee or a freshness date.
The Thrashers’ 10th draft under Waddell is Friday night. Expansion is long gone, but they continue to compile reasons for losing. Waddell hasn’t accumulated a solid core of players to build around, developed young talent, guessed correctly in free agency, grown the fan base or created an identity for the franchise, other than league punching bag.
The result is seven non-playoff seasons (and no wins) in eight years. If reports of the general manager’s death have been exaggerated, the skeletons surrounding Waddell haven’t. Relative to others in the profession, he is Lazarus.
Why mention this now? Because there never has been a more important draft or offseason in team history. Because this is not a destination coveted by NHL players. Because you couldn’t give away a pair of season tickets with a new set of pots on QVC. And because Ilya Kovalchuk is checking his watch.
In six seasons, Kovalchuk has scored more goals (254) than any other player and ranks eighth in points (466). He will be an unrestricted free agent in two years. Then he’ll likely be somebody else’s treasure.
Kovalchuk would never say this. But it’s clear his frustration with the franchise grew last season. He’s tired of the losing, tired of the failed promises and, much like the departed Marian Hossa, money’s not really the issue because any team will pay him.
If the Thrashers retain any hope of keeping Kovalchuk, they will have to wow him this season. That means it’s less about draft picks who won’t play in the NHL for two or three years, if ever, than it is about actual roster players. This period, beginning with pre-draft trades, is when a team is formed.
But, realistically, how much progress should anybody expect, given the backdrop? Unstable ownership (which influences players and agents), a general manager with tenuous job security, a team with no coach in mid-June — it doesn’t foretell greatness.
“Ilya wants to win,” said Jay Grossman, Kovalchuk’s agent.
And this is when Grossman begins to choose his words carefully. Feel free to read between the lines.
“He’s going to play hard for the Atlanta Thrashers for two years, and then we’ll address his situation,” Grossman said. “He has a commitment to live up to, and he’ll live up to that commitment.”
As to whether improvement this season would significantly impact Kovalchuk’s decision to re-sign, Grossman said: “Obviously the organization needs to pick a coach, get other players and do the things they need to do to get to a level of winning. But that’s not Ilya’s job. Ilya’s job is to play. He’s committed. He’s grown a lot since you first covered him when he came into the league at 18. But clearly when you’re committed and you have special talent, you want to win.”
Waddell fired coach Bob Hartley eight months ago. He has yet to hire a replacement. A draft Friday night and no coach yet — it’s deja blew-it all over again. In 1999, he didn’t hire a coach before the team’s first amateur draft and expansion draft. So much for working in concert with a coach and a system.
Asked in ‘99 why he hadn’t hired a coach, Waddell’s response was: “What do I need a coach for? I don’t even have any players.”
Bottom line: It was his team then. It’s his team now. It’s his mess. We’ve just stopped listening to the promises.
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The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10.Amy Winehouse passed out and was hospitalized Monday. See, that’s what happens when you win a Grammy. Amy Winehouse used to pass out three times a week, but nobody considered it newsworthy before.
9.Three hours after the first game of a West Coast road trip, and after a win, the New York Mets announced the firing of manager Willie Randolph with a press release at 12:15 a.m. in Anaheim - 3:15 a.m. Eastern time. I have seen cowardly, low-class and spineless moves by teams before. But this sets a new standard.
8.This is how big a mess the Mets made of this: Had they fired Randolph before the trip, or last week, or last month, nobody would’ve had an issue. Instead, they’ve cast themselves as clowns and turned their fired manager into a sympathetic figure.
7.Three days until Don Waddell’s 10th draft. Never thought I would run out of fingers.
6.Just got off the elliptical machine at the Y. Flipped channels. Saw Billy Ray Cyrus on the Today Show rip “Vanity Fair” magazine for running photos of his 15-year-old daughter, wrapped in a bedsheet. Does Billy Ray Cyrus work for the Mets?
5.Excuse me. Who signed the deal with the magazine? Who let his daughter pose? Who approved the photos? Daddy had nothing do with this? If you want to judge for yourself, Cyrus’s interview will re-air at 3:15 a.m.
4.I’m not saying there wasn’t an argument to keep Mike Woodson. I’m just saying there seemed far more reasons to make a change. Regardless of whether this was entirely Rick Sund’s decision - and odds are against it - he just hitched his future to Woodson. Consequently, Sund’s honeymoon period didn’t make it to game one.
3.They teach you how to accentuate the positive in PR school, which explains why the press release announcing Woodson’s re-signing references the Hawks’ seven-game playoff series against the Celtics but not Woodson’s career coaching record (106-222).
2.The U.S. Open playoff round was great theater Monday - for the 17 people who didn’t have to go back to work. The USGA’s tiebreaker rule is lame. Imagine a World Series game being tied after nine innings and Bud Selig deciding to play nine more the next day.
1.Come to think of it, don’t say anything to Bud Selig.
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Rivers’ role can’t be overlooked
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Twenty years ago, Doc Rivers wasn’t closing in on a championship. Instead, he was sitting on the Hawks’ bench, disconsolate, head in hands, eyes looking down. It was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals - a night remembered for things far more grand than Rivers’ sixth foul.
“Nobody remembers that Doc fouled out toward the end of that game,” Dominique Wilkins said Monday. “He took it hard. He was emotional. He looked like he was ready to cry. I went over to him and told him, ‘Don’t worry. I got it from here.’ And then the great shootout began.”
The shootout, one of those remember-when moments for the NBA, saw Wilkins score 47 points but fail to will the Hawks into the Eastern Conference finals. Atlanta lost to Boston 118-116, Larry Bird scoring 20 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter. But something was lost that night.
“Doc had 16 points and 18 assists in that game,” Wilkins said. “Bird and I had such a great shootout, people didn’t see that Doc orchestrated that run for us. Nobody talks about that.”
We won’t see Rivers rubbing his eyes tonight, unless there’s champagne in them. The Celtics, with a 3-2 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, can close out a championship, this time with Rivers on their bench, this time in a suit.
It would punctuate a remarkable turnaround for the ex-Hawk, who a year ago seemed like the official “Kick Me” sign for Boston sports fans. The Celtics had gone 59-107 in consecutive seasons.
Fans were split: Half wanted Rivers fired. The other half wanted him shot out of a cannon.
“I’m proud of him,” said Wilkins, who spoke to his former teammate last week. “I’m sure he’s going to win a title, because there’s no way L.A. can beat them two times in Boston. I think it’s ending in Game 6.”
The NBA is known as a players’ league. It follows that Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will be central in the afterglow, should Boston win tonight.
Something is wrong with that.
Before this postseason began, Rivers had never won a playoff series as a coach. Phil Jackson had won nine championships. But in this series, Rivers has outcoached him. It’s not even close. He has gotten more out of his players. The Celtics’ stars have sacrificed their individual games. They have been the more physical team. They have played harder and smarter for longer periods. All of that stems from coaching.
“It is a players’ league to a certain extent, but you have to have great coaching to have any success,” Wilkins said. “A lot of coaches have been given talent and couldn’t win. Doc got those guys to buy into something. He created something.”
The Celtics won 66 games during the regular season. They were stretched to seven games by the Hawks. But there’s a tendency to talk more about those three losses than how the Boston players reacted when they had to win. Those must-win games weren’t close. Does the coach get any credit for that?
The Celtics are older. But they have looked better as the long grind of these playoffs has gone on. Allen looked spent in round one. He might be the Finals MVP. Does the coach get any credit for that?
“Doc was a coach even when he was a player,” Wilkins said. “When he saw something he didn’t like, he wasn’t afraid to get in your face. I’m sure he’s the same way now.”
Twenty years ago, Wilkins tried to calm Rivers. Tonight, nobody will try to calm him.
“First time in the finals - I know Doc, his emotions are through the roof right now,” Wilkins said.
No consoling necessary this time. Twenty years later, nobody should overlook Rivers’ role.
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Georgia’s Perno deserves curtain call
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In seven seasons as Georgia’s football coach, Mark Richt has won two SEC championships, gone to seven bowls, three BCS bowls and finished as high as No. 2 or 3 in the nation (depending on your poll of choice).
In seven seasons as Georgia’s baseball coach, David Perno has won two SEC championships, gone to four NCAA tournaments, three College World Series and finished as high as No. 3 in the nation.
Mark Richt: Athens icon.
David Perno: Athens resident.
Now, I’m not suggesting the “ping” sounds of college baseball should suddenly dominate the sports landscape. I’m guessing Uga has never so much as sniffed a tree by Foley Field, a significant waddle from Sanford Stadium.
But even given baseball’s relative peasant status in college athletics — two words: Omaha, Nebraska — Perno merits something more than a hug from Georgia.
Like maybe some new batting cages.
Stadium renovations.
A raise.
A paperweight.
“Sure, we need all of those things,” he said with a laugh. “I probably need to force things a little more. It’s just not who I am. But no matter what we have, we’ve shown we can be successful. Anybody who was here for our games against Georgia Tech in the regional or the super regional, they saw that we’ve got something special going on.”
Perno played on Georgia’s national title team in 1990. He was an assistant under Ron Polk in 2001, when Georgia went back to Omaha. But when Polk left after that season, the program wasn’t considered a national power. Coaches weren’t falling over themselves for the job. They were barely answering the phone.
“Honestly, I was probably the seventh or eighth choice,” Perno said.
He wasn’t far off. At least three coaches turned it down. Dooley brought in a second-tier group of five candidates. That included Perno, but most figured it was a favor to Dooley’s son, Derek (Perno’s best friend). Dooley, concerned Perno was only 33, had already told him not to get his hopes up.
“He called me in and said, ‘I’ve got to go in a different direction. You’re just too young,’ ” Perno said. “I politely reminded him I was about the same age he was when he got his break. But I remember walking out of his office and he stopped me and said, ‘Just because I’m going in this direction now doesn’t mean things can’t change.’ So he gave me a little bit of hope.”
A few weeks later, on the night of July 20, Perno’s phone rang. It was Dooley.
“His first words to me when he offered me the job were, ‘If I’m going to take a risk, I’m going to take it with you.’ “
Perno’s salary is believed to rank in the bottom third of the SEC. He didn’t break down numbers, but said: “We’re probably middle to bottom tier, after you go through facility, budgets, salaries and in-house resources. We probably have six or seven coaches in our league making over a half-million dollars. But I wouldn’t change places with anybody. If you’re the best in the SEC, you must be doing something right.”
The Dogs just had six players drafted, two in the first round. Their 20-9-1 record in the SEC this season was an all-time school best. The risk paid off.
Asked if somebody at the school just started taking baseball seriously, Perno smiled and said, “Yeah. I did.
“Did I think we would jump on it this early? No. But I always felt we could do this eventually. Being a part of that ‘90 team and knowing Georgia is a great state for amateur baseball, we just needed to have the vision, the direction and the passion to get it done.”
This makes three College World Series in the past five years. If this were football, somebody would be planning a parade route.
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Georgia St. off to a good start with hiring of Curry
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nobody asked about his offense. Nobody asked about his defense. Nobody asked Bill Curry about his coaching staff, what he looks for in a quarterback, whether a zone-blitz is too much too soon, does he think Georgia State can be the next Appalachian State and, while we’re at it, where the heck is Hofstra?
But there he was Thursday, commanding the room. He was less football coach than inspirational speaker. He told stories. He talked about bringing together young men from different backgrounds, uniting them for a common goal on Decatur Street. By the time he stopped to take a breath, you were ready to either run through a wall for him or vote him into office.
Georgia State made the right choice in hiring Curry as its first football coach. That doesn’t mean the school will win a lot of games in 2010 or 2011 or any time soon. It remains to be seen how easily a 65-year-old — 67 for opening kickoff — who has been sitting in a broadcast booth for most of the past dozen years can re-acclimate himself to the sideline and recruiting.
But what Georgia State needed most is what Curry can provide: energy, tempered by a steady hand. He is a well-polished, Pepsodent-smiling, picture-posing, baby-kissing, rejuvenated football man. He’ll lead pep rallies, dazzle boosters and schmooze donors, and all before lunch.
The Panthers needed a salesman. They needed a face familiar to most people in this city, even if most of the 18-year-olds Curry recruits will need to Google his name for some clue on his background.
Mary McElroy, the athletics director, knew visibility was important. She offered the job to Dan Reeves first, as expected. He turned it down, as expected. Reeves, a consultant, suggested she hire a college coach and gave her a list of names.
“Bill wasn’t on it,” he said.
That wasn’t a slap. He just didn’t know Curry was interested. The thought hadn’t even occurred to Curry until McElroy asked him two weeks ago. And then: “There was a pause on the phone — about 10 seconds,” she said.
Curry: “I just sat there. It must’ve been 20 seconds.”
Take the average. The point is the same.
Curry hadn’t thought about coaching in at least four years (the last time he was approached about a job). He hadn’t formulated a game plan since 1996 (at Kentucky). The only job he had pursued: Georgia Tech athletics director, and that didn’t end well.
Like Reeves, he expected only to give McElroy a list of candidates. Unlike Reeves, she asked the question and his heart started pounding.
“I literally started thinking about blocking sleds again,” he said. He thought about it. He phoned Reeves, who asked, “Is this something that excites you?” Curry, surprising himself, said yes.
“They don’t have a transfusion to get coaching out of your blood,” Reeves said Thursday. “Age doesn’t have anything to do with it. One of the best coaches on my staff in Atlanta was Marvin Bass, and he was 82.”
It’s logical to presume this is just a stopover for Curry before slipping into administration on campus. McElroy admitted the subject came up in their talks. But Curry’s take now: “I thought I would have those thoughts. But now I’m just thinking about coaching as long as I can go.”
Earlier, he had stood at a podium, surrounded by students, officials and media. He offered an explanation for people’s passion for football: the huddle.
“In that huddle is black America; in that huddle is white America,” he said. “And liberal and conservative and Jew and gentile and atheist and Muslim and Christian and agnostic. I can go to South Central Los Angeles and the hills of Eastern Kentucky and bring [recruits] together. They’ve been raised to hate each other. But when they put the blue jersey on, they realize their sweat smells the same and their blood is red.”
This is how you script a beginning.
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The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10: We start this week’s Countdown with something other than a laugh. Ken Stabler, the former NFL quarterback and Alabama icon, was arrested this past weekend for DUI and reckless driving. For those keeping score, this makes three DUIs since 1995. There comes a point in when even a loveable, drunk redneck from Alabama morphs into a pathetic loser. Stabler has blown past that point.
9: Not funny. Not cute. Did you read the story in Monday’s AJC about the creature, with multiple DUI convictions, who drove her pickup truck into a house in Powder Springs, killing a sleeping teenage boy? Before the Alabama courts do anything, they should make Stabler sit down with that boy’s parents and explain to them why he feels the need to get hammered before climbing behind the wheel.
8: Stabler does radio commentary on Alabama games. Or at least used to. Hopefully. Because if the school and its radio affiliate don’t fire Stabler, they’re either dumber or drunker than he is.
7: He is 62 going on 12. He was arrested for drunk driving in 2001 but pled to a slap on the wrist. He was arrested in 1995 and pled no contest. The man swims in whiskey. He’s proud of it. He once explained his divorces this way: “All I wanna do is drive around in my truck and drink Jack Daniels … and they just don’t understand.” Wrong, Dunderhead. It’s you who doesn’t get it.
6: Transition. The Chicago Bears released Cedric Benson after consecutive DUIs on water (boat) and land (car). Also not funny. But this is: In a statement after the driving DUI, Benson basically admitted guilt (“I apologize for making the poor decision to drink and drive …”) but suggested he would fight charges (“Though my local attorneys will continue to work hard to prove my innocence …”). Oy.
5: Hawks general manager Rick Sund has been on the job for two weeks and he still hasn’t made a decision on Mike Woodson - at least not publicly. Regardless of whether you think Woodson should be dumped or re-signed, is it right to keep somebody twisting in the wind for that long?
4: Ron Wilson, who lives in Hilton Head and knows Don Waddell from USA Hockey, showed little interest in the Thrashers job. What does that tell you?
3: The teams with the top three payrolls in baseball (Yankees, Mets, Tigers) have a combined record of 88-101. The teams with the bottom three payrolls (Marlins, Rays, A’s) are a combined 105-84.
2: What is it about hot Florida high school teachers having flings with 16-year-old students? And why was I born in California?
1: If it makes Chipper Jones feel any better, Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, and the Boston Red Sox didn’t make the playoffs, either.
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Injuries sinking the Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Frank Wren’s first season as general manager, the Braves have seen 14 players go on the disabled list 16 times for a total of 481 man games. These are considered extraordinary totals in early June, especially given the fact Mike Hampton still has time for another comeback.
“We felt like, coming out of spring training, we were a very good club,” Wren said Sunday. “But by the end of the first week, we were already taking on water.”
Yes, well, sticking with the whole water theme, the Braves’ life signs lately have been limited to air bubbles.
They lost to Philadelphia, 6-3, Sunday. They were swept in a home series for the first time, unlike on the road, where they now head for 10 games and realize losing sweeps are commonplace.
They are 6-1/2 games out of first. They were only a game out until losing 10 of 15. That whole thing about skating through a period of injuries? Gone. Turns out, Hades is a pretty short flight.
“I think it caught up with us,” Mark Teixeira said. “I’m not going to use it as an excuse, and I don’t think anybody in here will. But when you’re missing key guys like Chipper [Jones] and [Mark] Kotsay and Matt Diaz and John Smoltz, and our bullpen is banged up, it’s going to catch up with you sooner or later.”
The trade deadline is July 31. Sorry, but Wren doesn’t have nearly that long to wait before making a move.
The roster Wren brought to spring training was deep and enabled the Braves to withstand a normal number of injuries. The problem is the team passed normal a month ago, morphed into a cartoon and drove straight into a wall.
At various times this season, the Braves have lost nine members of the pitching staff, including their best starter (Smoltz, for the season) and their best reliever (Rafael Soriano, for 45 games). The 14 players on the disabled list — eight currently — tie for the most in the majors.
To give you some idea the extent of the injuries, consider this: Their total man games lost of 481 projects to 1,218 over a full season. That’s nearly 300 more than last season (920).
It has gotten so bad that the Braves can’t even hold Chipper Jones Bat Day without it turning into pathos. Jones was scratched from Sunday’s lineup because of a quad strain. The marketing department should’ve stuck with something safer, like Mike Hampton MRI Day.
Injuries and sports are frequent dance partners but Wren admits he hasn’t quite experienced anything like this. “I’ve had long meetings in the training room every day. That’s not where I want to have my meetings,” he said. “I’ve had more injury rehab calls this year from minor-league managers than I care to remember.”
The Braves are back to .500 (26-26). Even before Sunday’s loss — which saw the Braves strand 10 baserunners and reliever Blaine Boyer get whacked for three runs in one-third of an inning — Wren knew the team was living a charmed existence.
“I feel good that we’re still above .500,” he said. “When you look up and see eight, nine, 10 guys on the disabled list, that’s a lot of scrambling to do to keep a club on the field. So far, we’ve been able to keep our head above the water. But we’re getting to the point of the season where keeping your head above water is not quite enough. You’ve got to swim.”
He wouldn’t say whether he felt the team had to acquire a starter. Or a reliever. Or anybody who remembers how hit with runners in scoring position (team average: .259). General managers, as a rule, don’t like to tip their hand.
“You never want to make a move with the other club thinking you’re desperate,” Wren said.
They don’t have to think it. The DL is public, and everybody can see the bubbles.
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Difficult times for Evander Holyfield
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first question could have been about the reports of foreclosure, or the unpaid child support, or the defaulted loan for landscaping. But the seeming implausibility of all that and, yes, admittedly a close relationship with Evander Holyfield, prompted me to go in another direction Friday.
First question: Are you OK?
“I’m fine,” he said. “Everything’s great. “The thing, I just don’t want to react to all of this stuff because, in the end, people will believe what they want to believe. I realize the situation I’m in. But the whole thing is, I’m not broke — I’m just not liquid.”
Holyfield will be the first to tell you: He is a flawed man. That puts him in the majority. For as long as has been disciplined in his professional life, he has strayed personally. He is proud and he is stubborn, traits that have worked for him in the ring and against him out of it.
Sometimes he listens to the right people. Too often he listens to the wrong ones.
But now there are money issues — significant but not the type that project him living on the curb outside of his Fayette County mansion. Holyfield finds himself being characterized as just another boxing cartoon. It is one thing to be lampooned for an unlikely pursuit of heavyweight titles at the age of 45. It’s another to be characterized as reckless, irresponsible or, worst of all, a bad father.
“I do feel kind of sad because things have always been positive, and now everybody wants to jump on me like I’m the worse person in the world and I went out and blew all my money,” he said.
“When things first hit the paper, people started calling me. But I can’t talk about everything and, like I said, people will believe what they want to believe. But everything will turn out OK.”
The numbers are staggering. He has grossed over $248 million in his career in ring purses. During one six-fight stretch (1996-99), he earned $107 million. What happens to that kind of money?
He denied his dream home would be foreclosed on, saying only: “Everything is all right with the house now.” He will never move. He considers that home part of his legacy. But it’s a drain. When he built it, he told me it cost $1.2 million a year just to live in — as in water, power and lawn edging. That was in 1997.
There have been three marriages, including a costly divorce from his second wife, Janice. They were married for those aforementioned six fights and $107 million. They didn’t have a prenuptial agreement because Holyfield proposed and married on a whim, flying home one weekend in the middle of training in Houston for a fight against Mike Tyson. When Holyfield’s attorneys and financial advisers found out about it, they flipped.
Holyfield has 11 children, two with his third wife, Candi. It’s believed his child support payments run at least $500,000 annually. But his children have always been important to him. It follows that any suggestions to the contrary cut deep. It was the only time we spoke Friday when he got emotional.
“I have always taken care of my children,” he said. “It’s just one of the mothers who’s saying something because she thinks it will embarrass me.”
There also have been losses in failed business ventures, particularly a gospel television station. The flip side: a significant income drop. He has fought only six times in the past 56 months. The last significant payday: $5 million in 2003 for a loss to James Toney.
There may not be another big payday. But Holyfield reiterated that’s not why he is fighting. He is competing for titles, not paychecks. He could not get a big-money fight now, regardless.
“This [money problems] isn’t the reason I’m fighting,” he said. “I’ve been telling people that my goal was to be undisputed champion. I told them in 1992. I told them in 1996, after I beat Tyson. People ask, ‘Why fight? Why, why, why?’ But that’s always been me. That’s what made me and allowed me to be my very best. I always set goals. This is my goal. I haven’t changed. My character hasn’t changed.”
The financial picture has changed, he admits. Just not to the degree people believe.
“This is not a situation,” he said, “where Evander did something so wrong, he’s going away and he’s not coming back.”
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Never count John Smoltz out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He dressed out in full uniform for the news conference, when slacks and Izod might have seemed a more accurate foreshadowing for his career. Then again, can you ever really know with John Smoltz?
There have been other surgeries. There have been other comebacks. There was the time he missed an entire season, bottomed out emotionally after a start in his return in 2001, and using his words, “I ripped the jersey off my back and said, ‘I quit.’ “
He didn’t. Instead, he transitioned into one of the most dominating closers the game has ever known.
We got over that shock just in time for him to transition back to being the Braves’ most effective starter.
John Smoltz didn’t say the words “I’m retiring” Wednesday. If you believe this time between news conference and surgery amounts to little more than window-dressing, you’re missing the point.
The man’s career has been a series of medical precedents. What’s one more?
Smoltz acknowledged: “I can’t compete against my body anymore.”
He also reminded us: “One thing I know is of all the challenges I’ve had in my career, a lot of them aren’t really believable. I’ve never seen anything I couldn’t accomplish.
“I’ve learned a few lessons from being hard-headed.”
He said this with a sense of peace. The Smoltz we witnessed Wednesday was not the one who has been venting frustrations at reporters when asked for medical updates. At this point, there’s a feeling of resignation. Surgery next week will either end his career or give us another reason to rub our eyes.
John Smoltz could come back as a left-handed, knuckleballing setup man, and I wouldn’t be surprised.
“I said I would retire if the desire is gone,” he said. “I’m not there yet. I’m not there emotionally. Physically, it’s to be determined. No one wants to have surgery. But I look forward to the challenge.”
Chipper Jones called the news “devastating.” He said, “Just the mere speculation that he would be able to come back and close for us kind of kept everybody going.”
There is a point when all great athletes attain special status. The statistics may not sing like before. The limbs may not function in concert as in early years. But there becomes a feeling of, “At least he’s there.”
Smoltz can’t be replaced this season. He can’t be replaced, ever. (He certainly can’t be replaced by Manny Acosta, who allowed a pair of two-run homers in the ninth inning Wednesday. Maybe somebody should check out Acosta’s shoulder, too.)
If this is the end, baseball will have lost one of its premier big-game pitchers. Atlanta will have lost one of the biggest “gamers” in any sport in the city’s history. Nobody has quite grabbed the moment like him.
When Smoltz goes into the Hall of Fame, people will see the numbers: 200 wins; 150 saves; 3,000 strikeouts; eight All-Star Games; one Cy Young. But they won’t know what set him apart. They won’t know about the five surgeries (at least). They won’t know about the times he changed his delivery in hopes of just trying to function.
They won’t know about March. Smoltz, who has had little sleep in months because of pain and uncertainty, tried to re-invent spring training. He rarely pitched, working instead on a side field in hopes of saving arm strength. It seemed to work. He opened the season on the disabled list, but then went 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA in four starts.
But the shoulder, now 41 like the rest of Smoltz, throbbed. He never threw between starts. He was “mentally drained.” Rehab assignments in the minors accomplished little. He returned as a closer Monday, only to get shelled. If that message wasn’t loud enough, the pain he felt an hour after the game was.
Maybe this is the end. But right now it’s just another maybe.
“Sooner or later our bodies are going to shut down,” Tom Glavine said. “But if there’s any way John thinks he can put that off, he’s going to do it.”
Assume it’s over at your own risk.
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The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10: I am not making this up: Big Brown, the horse, has been signed to a marketing deal on the chance he wins the Belmont, complete with his own Triple Crown logo. I also believe this means he will sign only Upper Deck cards and, yes, is dating Lindsay Lohan.
9: Travis Henry was released by the Denver Broncos because of his lack of commitment. Henry has nine kids by nine women in four states. So I guess this makes Mike Shanahan at least the 10th to fall for the, “Yes, I really, really love you,” line.
8: What’s the horse equivalent of, “Yes, I really, really love you”? Or when Big Brown starts hitting the singles barns after the Belmont, will he use the standard line with the fillies, “Yeah, I won a race with a cracked hoof. They wanted to shoot me. I said no”?
7: Don’t mind telling you - I’m meeting with Rick Sund Wednesday morning, and I’m a little nervous. It’s been so long since I’ve spoken to a Hawks’ general manager, I’m not sure what to ask.
6: News: MMA mutant Kimbo Slice used to be a street fighter and worked security in the porn industry. Question: Is that supposed to make him unusual for MMA?
5: The SEC announced a record $127.2 million from TV deals, bowls and championships. The conference’s 12 non-profits immediately announced plans to add practice fields, weight rooms and rotate months in a book-of-the-month club.
4: Kevin White left Notre Dame for the athletic director’s job at Duke, which means now he’ll answer to only Mike Krzyzewski.
3: There is a point at which a troubled athlete loses the benefit of the doubt. When Odell Thurman misses offseason works, his agent cites the grandmother’s death as an excuse and Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis responds, “His grandmother’s been buried for quite a while,” you know he’s lost that benefit.
2: It’s rarely worth mentioning attendance figures any more because they’re so often skewed by ticket giveaways and Pinocchios in the marketing department. But this is worth noting: According to an NHL memo obtained by the Toronto Star, the Thrashers’ ticket revenue this season averaged $550,000 per game. Only three teams - Phoenix ($450,000), Chicago and Florida ($500,000 per game) averaged less.
1: If this closer thing doesn’t work out, does John Smoltz come back as a middle reliever?
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Jackets have one more chance to brag
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — If the inferiority complex on North Avenue seems slightly more pronounced of late, is it any wonder?
In March, Georgia Tech watched as the Georgia basketball team, which otherwise was barely treading water in the misery pool, won the transplanted SEC tournament at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The absurdity of this football off-season already has juxtaposed questions about Paul Johnson’s offense with the Bulldogs morphing into some fire-breathing, Skoal-spitting creature that ate Tokyo.
Baseball? Now baseball?
“Frankly,” Tech Associate Athletic Director Wayne Hogan said Sunday, “it was kind of nice being here ourselves the last couple of days.”
Yeah, well, so much for warm and fuzzy. After winning two NCAA regional games in relative peace, free of all things Bulldog, the Yellow Jackets lost a chance for some semblance of bragging rights.
For the first time in three days, they shared a field with Georgia. They lost, 8-0. This came shortly after the Bulldogs won earlier in the day, 14-3. Which came not long after Georgia nearly was bounced as regional hosts in two games.
Another one-day sweep.
Was Sundiata Gaines somewhere in the stadium?
Tech was shut out in a tournament game for the first time since 1988. That really isn’t so bad, considering it also was the first time the Jackets were blanked by Georgia since 1969 — after 126 meetings.
Nothing like a little historical pick-me-up before Monday night’s decisive game.
“I would love to win [Monday] and be the team that puts Georgia out of the tournament,” Tech outfielder Charlie Blackmon said. “It’s always a big game when we play them. But the implications are even bigger now because somebody’s going home.”
If you’re Georgia Tech, this would not be a good time to follow trends. The Jackets have faced Georgia seven times in tournament competition and lost five of them. The Bulldogs, after getting drubbed by Lipscomb in the regional opener, and falling behind against Louisville, look like a top seed again. (Their two-game totals Sunday: 22 runs, 33 hits).
The Jackets were shut out on four hits Sunday by a pitcher, Nick Montgomery, who had Tommy John surgery and is Georgia’s fourth starter — except for the fact he has beaten Tech twice this season.
“[Gordon] Beckham’s home run [against Louisville] totally changed the whole course of the tournament for them,” Tech coach Danny Hall said. “It energized them. They’ve got the momentum now.”
And Tech?
“There definitely would be some irony if we could win here,” Hall said.
Hate to put so much on one college baseball game. But Tech may want to grab some glory while it can. It’s only June, and the calendar already tilts significantly to the east.
In Athens, Mark Richt’s biggest concern is managing expectations. On North Avenue, Johnson is just hoping the fumble problems in spring were an aberration.
The Jackets could have made this easy. Win Sunday and rest until the super regional. Suddenly, they are second citizens again.
“It is different having to come here — the bar is raised a little,” Hogan said. “Any time you have to go to the other school and play one of these things, it makes it more interesting.”
Should Tech win tonight on Georgia’s field, Hogan said, “It would add some icing to the cake.”
Problem is, Tech hasn’t quite loaded up on sweet ironies of late. And bragging rights may be in the distant future.
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