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Saturday, August 20, 2005
Weis refuses to let Irish be mediocre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
South Bend, Ind. â€â€? The first thing you notice about Charlie Weis is not only is he evolving into the next Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz before the Fighting Irish’s eyes, but nobody fibbed about his unyielding ways. Once football camp starts, he becomes more rigid than one of these legendary statues around the Notre Dame campus.
Weis does smile, though. It’s just that they are quick ones. They appear only long enough for this pleasantly cocky coach in his first season with the Irish to make a point. For instance: When the subject is Notre Dame’s slide toward mediocrity, accelerated by the underwhelming coaching and recruiting of Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham, Weis’ point is along the lines of, “Believe me, pal. I know something that you don’t, but keep watching. Greatness is about to happen.”
My words, not his.
As for Weis’ words, listen to what he says about resurrecting Notre Dame’s mostly dormant recruiting in the South. (Just so you know, the Irish once grabbed national championships with those such as South Carolina’s Tony Rice. They currently have Buford running sensation Darius Walker, but mostly because he was ignored by the University of Georgia.)
So will Weis seek to battle his counterparts on the Bulldogs for the prize talent around the state of Georgia? He flashed that quick smile, took a swig from his water bottle outside of Notre Dame’s new Taj Mahal of a football building worth $25 million and said in a hurry, “Absolutely.” Then came another quick smile and another swig, before Weis added, “I have a few guys in particular, which I’m not telling you who they are, that I’m hoping like [heck] to get.”
The quick smile became a long one, before Weis added, “See, in recruiting, you can’t be afraid of losing. If you’re going to go against the big boys of the SEC, for instance, and if you don’t get [some of those prize recruits], you don’t get them. Just to assume that they’re going to Georgia, that’s a loser’s mentality.”
Speaking of which, any derivative of the word “lose” is foreign to Weis, fresh from helping the New England Patriots win three of the past four NFL world championships as Bill Belichick’s offensive coordinator. He also got a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants under Bill Parcells. And, yes, he chats often with the two Bills about coaching stuff.
As for Notre Dame stuff, he already huddles with Ara and Lou, owners of three of the Irish’s 11 national championships. “I just ask questions of them and listen,” said Weis, who had a long breakfast last week with Holtz. “Whenever they have a thought about something, I want them to feel free to give me their opinions without holding back and without sugarcoating it.”
Translated: Weis is conjuring up the ghosts. Rockne. Leahy. The Four Horsemen. The Gipper. The nearly century-old legacy that includes those national titles, seven Heisman Trophy winners, the Rocket and the Victory March.
Since Weis is a 1978 Notre Dame graduate, he embraces the ghosts. Willingham and Davie were scared of them. “The old philosophy was kind of like, ‘Let’s start our own legacy,’ whereas Coach Weis wants us to create our own legacy while honoring the past,” said offensive lineman Dan Stevenson, among those whose eyes nearly leaped from their sockets after the start of camp.
First, Weis showed the movie “Rudy” to the team. Afterward, he said he couldn’t imagine what the real Rudy experienced, so he pointed to the real Rudy sauntering into the room amidst gasps.
“We didn’t have many of the former players come back in the past,” said wide receiver Maurice Stovall, recalling how Weis also used Joe Montana, Joe Theisman, Tim Brown and Chris Zorich as honorary coaches in the spring game. “It’s helping us focus more, and it’s helping us remember how grateful we should be to be at Notre Dame, and that it’s important for us to bring back the tradition.”
This is just as important: Notre Dame suddenly has a slew of dandy assistant coaches (compared with those of Davie and Willingham), including three former head coaches. It’s the Irish’s current one that has everybody’s attention.
“He’s so brutally honest at times that it can catch you off guard,” said Brady Quinn, the junior quarterback, threatening to turn potential into reality through Weis’ offensive genius. “The best thing about his honesty is that it’s fair. He doesn’t play favorites. He’s even more intense now than he was in the spring, and I’m sure that he will become even more so when we start playing the season.”
Even so, Weis does smile (sort of), which Quinn saw on this day, when the team stretched before practice. “I didn’t know if it meant it was going to be a good day or a bad day,” Quinn said, laughing.
It meant it was going to be a Weis day at Notre Dame. Or else.
Permalink | Comments (44) | Categories: Other, Tech / ACC, Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
For Devine a day of surprise, frustration
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Well, look at it this way: The Kansas City Royals have lost 19 straight. This was only three for the Braves.
Yeah, but it was the way it was lost. This was the third in a row to one of those teams from that “weak” West Division that some of the Braves are hoping they’ll draw in the postseason playoffs, so I read in the paper. It took ‘em 13 innings to lose to San Diego, but that isn’t the saddest part.
You probably hadn’t even heard of Joey Devine before. He was the pitcher the Braves chose first in the draft. It’s not that long a trip from N.C. State University to the National League, even if you detour through Pearl, Miss., but with Joey, it was so sudden. He had just gotten in from the Braves’ farm at Pearl and drawn a crowd at his locker, which didn’t even have his name tag yet.
Frank Wren, John Schuerholz’s assistant, brought Leo Mazzone over to meet him. “This is Leo Mazzone, the pitching coach,” Frank said.
“I’m Joey Devine,” Joey said, as if Leo didn’t already know. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“When did you pitch last?” Leo asked.
“Two days ago.”
“Be ready,” Leo said, and as it turned out, he wasn’t kidding.
By the time it was done, Devine had absorbed a full dose of that old introductory phrase, “Welcome to the big leagues, kid.” He had heard boos. He had failed to get a bunt down and it was turned into a double play. He had served up a bases-loaded homer to a guy whose name begins with an “X,” Xavier Nady. That turned a 13-inning marathon into a loss, and the losing pitcher was Devine.
To err is human, to forgive is divine, so the old axiom goes, though not as Joey spells it. That’s the message that goes out to the lusty patrons of Turner Field. How more horrible a way for a 21-year-old lad to break into the big leagues, and on top of that, to hear boos. Shame on you, people.
There were highly paid senior Braves who had their chances to end the agony earlier. Horacio Ramirez, rescued from the bullpen and returned to the rotation, gave his employers eight solid innings. Rafael Furcal had given the Braves a 2-1 lead with a home run that struck the netting on the fair pole. Then an uncelebrated catcher named Miguel Olivo delivered a home run that tied the game, and from the seventh to the 13th inning, the score sat there, 2-2. Then the “X” factor struck.
By that time, Bobby Cox had just about ransacked his bullpen. He had a couple of options, including the roundly jeered Dan Kolb with his obese ERA, but he played the Devine hunch. The holidaying Andruw Jones had come close to pulling it out in the 10th when he pinch-hit, swung mightily and gave it a charge, arousing one brief moment of hope, which died in the glove of Brian Giles. Ryan Langerhans, in relief for Andruw, had his shot in the 11th with the other two members of the all-rookie outfield on base, Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson, and sadly raised a soft fly to right.
Then the 13th, two men on, an intentional walk, followed by an unintentional one, and the boos, when Nady struck. This was a game of a thousand plots, all heartbreakers for the Braves, who are beginning to show some chinks in their armor, some weariness under the heavy load of caring for a lead under constant challenge.
While the tenderfoot Devine was suffering defeat, the victory went to an old warhorse who has hung his clothes in the Braves clubhouse at least twice. Rudy Seanez, a man of many surgeries, the Padres winner, is now pitching for the 26th team in his career, approaching 20 seasons, pockmarked by injury. Two extremes, a kid suffering his first indignity, and an old warrior trudging ahead like a guy on a treadmill of a career.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
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