AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > September > 24
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Flyspeck burg aptly named
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Starkville, Miss. — There’s really no way to describe this place. How do you describe nothing? Think of it like this: Alongside this far-flung outpost, Auburn, Ala., seems as big and bustling as New York, N.Y.
In a way, it’s nice that Mississippi State plays football. Without the mid-sized stadium rising above this low-slung burg, you’d miss Starkville altogether and go motoring off into Arkansas. With gas the price it is, who can afford such an overshot?
Other means of transport are problematic. You can’t fly into Starkville itself. You have to land at the ambitiously named Golden Triangle Regional Airport, which sits 20 miles east on Highway 82 and is no beehive of activity itself. The Georgia cheerleaders arrived on a 50-seat plane Friday night, and one among their number was heard to ask, “Where are the other terminals?”
And someone said: “There are no other terminals.”
Georgia doesn’t play here often — Saturday marked only its fifth visit ever — and for that everyone can be most grateful. It’s a long haul to a flyspeck town to face a program so devoid of glamour that its signature is the cowbell. If you’re a Georgia fan and you made the trek, you deserve a big wet kiss from the beauteous UGA VI. (Who, owing to “travel difficulties,” didn’t make it himself. Smart dog.)
Even State fans didn’t seem to hold much hope for this game against the nation’s No. 7 team. The stadium, which seats only 55,082, was conspicuously unpacked. (Attendance was announced as 49,903.) To be fair, remnants of Rita had spawned tornado watches in the area, but the first 2 1/2 quarters were played in nothing more than a brisk breeze. Then it rained. Then it stopped. Then it rained again.
The whole night had a weird feel to it. The isolated setting made this seem less an ESPN showcase than a high school game played under Friday night lights in the middle of absolutely nowhere. And the game itself was nothing special, either.
Georgia did as Georgia usually does against an overmatched opponent: It played well enough to get ahead but not so well it could put State away. It passed more often than it ran — will there ever again be a game where these Bulldogs just try to pound somebody? — and D.J. Shockley was good enough to throw for 312 yards but not so good he could produce more than two touchdowns. Two missed field goals and three Red Zone fizzles kept the score theoretically close. It was 14-3 at the half and 23-10 at the end, and never was there a doubt that Georgia was the superior side.
After four games, there is some question as to how good Georgia really is. The Boise State rout seems now to say more about Boise than about the Bulldogs, who a week later couldn’t put away a South Carolina crew that Alabama subsequently thrashed. The temptation is great to suggest the Bulldogs are wildly overrated, but if they win in Knoxville two weeks hence — and they could — we’ll all feel silly for yielding to it.
The cold truth is that Georgia has played four games against teams it should have beaten and has, to its credit, beaten all four. In a time when Louisville, touted as a BCS team, can be humbled by South Florida, holding serve is impressive in itself. By making it through September, Georgia has positioned itself to play for the SEC East title and a BCS berth. In its first month without David Greene and David Pollack and Thomas Davis and Brian VanGorder, Georgia has kept it going.
And if there was no majesty in this dismissal of middling Mississippi State, there was at least this sweet reward: When their business was finished, the Georgia Bulldogs got to leave. The stark reality of Starkville always looks nicest when viewed via the rear-view mirror.
Permalink | Comments (111) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
A glaring difference between Techs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Blacksburg, Va. – It was obvious early and often on Saturday at Lane Stadium that Georgia Tech isn’t close to the level of that other Tech from the ACC or of anybody else in college football that considers itself among the elite. The Yellow Jackets are what they are, which is a team only flirting with goodness. And, no, this revelation had nothing to do with Reggie Ball spending the orange-flavored evening failing to handle his quadruple battle.
Reggie Ball didn’t cause his team to have that blocked field goal returned for a 78-yard touchdown. Reggie Ball wasn’t much of a contributor to those nine penalties, most of them either putting Georgia Tech in horrible situations or Virginia Tech in wonderful ones. Reggie Ball had little to do with an offensive line that couldn’t stop mostly a four-man rush, which kept smacking the Georgia Tech quarterback against the stadium floor.
The Georgia Tech quarterback was Reggie Ball, by the way. Or whatever was left of the poor guy. “I’m healthy, and I’m not sick,” he said later with a smile, referring to his recovery from viral meningitis. That was opposed to the bruises he had physically and mentally after Virginia Tech’s 51-7 blowout. According to Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, “Oh, we’ve got multiple issues in this ball game that have not shown in other ballgames.” Then, after Gailey sifted through the carnage some more, he added with emotion, “In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that’s who we are.”
This is who the Jackets are. Among other things, their absolutely thorough lashing by a quality opponent tells us that their upset at Auburn to start the season was a fluke or one of those cases in sports where one team just has another team’s number. After all, Georgia Tech also beat Auburn two years ago. What the Jackets have done beyond Auburn in recent years is mostly tease. They didn’t have time to tease against a Virginia Tech team that overpowered the Jackets in every aspect of the game — with lots of help, of course, from those on Georgia Tech not named Reggie Ball.
Even so, if the Jackets expected to avoid such ugliness, they also needed Ball to prosper inside of a rocking and rolling place during what technically was a fairly significant game between ACC opponents from the same division.
There was that eternal noise from virtually 65,000 folks with orange shirts that proclaimed, “Who needs a Benz when you’ve got a Beamer (as in Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer)?” There were those relentless Hokies, ranked fourth in the country to the Jackets’ 15th. There was that other Vick at quarterback for Virginia Tech instead of the Falcons. There also was Ball trying to shake the possible aftereffects of spending two days in the hospital last weekend after falling ill.
Not good for Ball, especially after a bunch of his near interceptions evolved into a couple of definite ones on consecutive drives in the third quarter. Both interceptions gave Virginia Tech touchdowns. Prior to those picks, Ball spent the early part of the quarter helping wide receiver Calvin Johnson evolve into Houdini again. First, he delivered a perfectly crafted pass of 59 yards to Johnson deep into Virginia Tech territory. Later, from the Hokies’ 11, he floated a pass to the corner of the end zone that Johnson drifted under and caught.
It’s just that the other Vick (Marcus, not Michael) kept looking ready to follow his brother from this campus to the NFL. He didn’t flash Michael’s legs (seven carries for zero yards), but he was in Michael’s vicinity or beyond with his arm. He completed several pretty passes (13 of 18 for 223 yards and a touchdown) while guiding the Hokies’ with composure.
Those two interceptions notwithstanding, the Ball of late in the game was better than the earlier version. Still, there was the first quarter, when his throwing pushed Georgia Tech inside the Hokies’ red zone after Virginia Tech took a 7-0 lead. Then came that blocked field goal that evolved into a touchdown along the way to Georgia Tech’s worst rout in three years.
“How close are we to becoming Virginia Tech?” said a wide-eyed Johnson, repeating my question. He chuckled, saying, “I think that, well, uh. Hmmm. I don’t know how to answer that question.”
Johnson just did.
Permalink | Comments (90) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
‘Classics’ prosper as a package deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
According to a Web site that tracks football teams at historically black colleges, there are 43 games this season with the word “Classic” in the title. We’re talking “Atlanta” Classic, “Orange Blossom” Classic, “Bayou” Classic and, I believe, the “We’re Leaving The Farm To Your Brother But At Least We’re Going to Name Next Tuesday’s Game After You” Classic.
Some call this tradition. I call it presumptuous.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff got drilled 41-10 the other day. But afterward players could say with smugness, “We played a classic.” That would be the Arkansas Classic (an oxymoron if there ever was one).
“It’s not about the game, it’s about the entertainment,” said John Grant, the executive director of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta.
“This is more about the socialization, the camaraderie, the bands. When you go to other games, you see people rushing to concessions at halftime. Here, you see them making a mad dash to their seats. It’s not about coming to see the highest level of sports. For us, the football is secondary. The sport for us is the competition between the bands.”
On Saturday at the Georgia Dome, Florida A&M defeated Tennessee State, 12-7. I don’t know why I just wrote that. I guess it comes from a history of writing stories that come attached to box scores. Besides, how do you assign a point value to the FAMU band’s rendition of “Good Times”?
Actually, there was something cool about Saturday’s 17th Atlanta Classic. (The name on the football field actually utilized Roman numerals. That, I won’t do.) The crowd was announced at 56,297. Many drove from Nashville or Tallahassee to watch a pair of 1-2 football teams.
A Tennessee State official cracked before game, “There are going to be people here who won’t walk across the street to watch us play in Nashville.”
Why? Part of the story stems from black college football’s early survival. Rival schools would play an annual game at a neutral site, preferably in a city where fans would desire to spend a few days and, it follows, money.
Now, “Classics” are sort of the norm. Consider the two teams in the Georgia Dome on Saturday. Each will play 11 games this season, but only four at home. The rest are either on the road or in neutral sites. Try selling that to Georgia. But historically black colleges don’t have SEC television contracts.
Florida A&M has only 2,500 season-ticket holders. And yet: “People envy us,” said assistant athletics director Alvin Hollins. “We’ll put 70,000 people in Orlando [for the Florida Classic], then we go to the I-AA playoffs and play Georgia Southern and people are like, ‘We don’t care about the playoffs.’ “
It’s not about the football. In Florida A&M’s case, that’s not a bad thing these days. The Rattlers self-reported some 200 rules violations to the NCAA, which is sort of like saying, “I can’t possibly lie my way out of this one.”
It is about the band, which come to think of it, isn’t much better. (Oh, they’re entertaining. Nobody left their seat for Rattlers-Tigers Tuba Wars. Come to think of it, there were more people in the Dome and seated at halftime than at any point in the game.)
But last week, even some FAMU band members broke the rules. They scuffled with the Howard football team as they left the field. The marching band refused to yield. Maybe it’s time for Don McLean to rewrite, “American Pie.” (Kids: Ask your parents.)
In these times of bad BCS matchups and otherwise obscure bowl games, these Classics are thriving. They are what bowl games used to be — a reward for players and a party weekend for everybody else.
“The bands say, ‘People come to see us,’ ” Hollins said. “The coaches say, ‘OK, have a concert and charge $35. See how many people show up.’ “
Just call it a package deal. And it still sells.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Other
NFL game predictions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Question: When did “tweak” become a medical term?
Was it about the time a used car became “certified pre-owned,” mass firings became “restructuring,” and dumping well-paid star players became a “youth movement”?
Unless I’m mistaken, a “tweaked” hamstring used to be pulled. But it sounds cuter, even harmless. It sounds like a Looney Toons character (“And now for another episode of Tweaked and Sylvester!!!”)
Falcons quarterback Michael Vick will start today in Buffalo. Pick a euphemism — his hamstring hurts. That can be a problem when you are a running quarterback who hasn’t mastered the passing game.
As of yet, no part of this team has looked good enough that it can compensate for a half-Vick offense. Maybe that changes today. But that’s not the way to bet.
The line is close: 2 1/2. The game will be close.
But Bills win. Bills cover.
Consider it a part of the “maturing process.”
FOUR BAGS
New England at Pittsburgh: History tells us the Steelers win this game in September and lose it in January. But when Bill Belichick starts sounding like Chicken Little (“The first thing we’re going to have to do is just find a way to stay competitive [with them]”), I get suspicious. Give me the Pats and three.
Prima Donna Bowl: On the first day God created the Heavens and the Earth. On the second day, He put Randy Moss and Terrell Owens down on Earth, reasoning it was far from the Heavens and would keep His own neighborhood a lot more peaceful. In the undercard to Moss-Owens, Philly covers 8 1/2 against Oakland.
THREE BAGS
Tampa Bay at Green Bay: Something for Brett Favre to think about after the Packers lose today: Since 1990, only three out of 74 teams have started the season 0-3 and made the playoffs. I’ll have that 0-4 stat ready before the Carolina game. Bucs win on the road, but take Pack with the 3 1/2.
N.Y. Giants at San Diego: I would say Chargers fans want to flog Eli Manning for refusing to play for the team after being drafted. But when it’s 74 with a breeze every day, you don’t really get all that upset about anything. Eli, welcome to comeuppance week: Chargers smack Giants, cover the 5 1/2.
Carolina at Miami: The Dolphins opened the season by pounding Denver, then did something Nick Saban just didn’t see coming: They turned back into the Dolphins. It might be a while before the next mutation. Another home ‘dog goes down — Panthers cover the trey.
TWO BAGS
New Orleans at Minnesota: The Vikings are 0-2, which just goes to show that Randy Moss was the emotional glue that held the team together. (Pause for effect.) OK, some positive karma: Vikes cover four.
Cleveland at Indianapolis: Trent Dilfer threw three more touchdown passes than Peyton Manning last week. What a mismatch this is! Market Correction Week: Colts cover 13 1/2.
Cincinnati at Chicago: You know all of those 2-0 teams that go on to finish 6-10? The Bengals won’t be one of them. Take Cincy, punt the three.
Kansas City at Denver: The Broncos’ offense has scored only two touchdowns — both by a fullback. And I thought my Fantasy League team was bad. I like Chiefs with the three and in a straight-up upset.
Jacksonville at NY Jets: Jags QB Byron Leftwich may play despite a groin injury. Football, I mean. Whatever the over/under is, go low. Jets cover the 2 1/2. Final score: 5-2.
Comedy Central
Nostalgia Bowl: The 49ers and Cowboys used to be the standard for excellence. Now they are to the NFL what the Chef Boy R Dee is to pasta. Dallas gets extra punchline points for its four-minute collapse Monday night against the Skins. Dallas wins but take SanFran at home with the 6 1/2.
Arizona at Seattle: I thought the Cardinals would be the NFC’s surprise team this season. Now they’re 0-2. I’m gone. So now watch ‘em take off. Seahawks cover 6 1/2.
Tennessee at St. Louis: This is a Super Bowl rematch. Also, Steve McNair is 15-4 in his last 19 starts vs. NFC teams. Neither one means I thing, but I thought the research would impress you. Rams cover 6 1/2.
HOW I’M DOING
(You seem like the forgiving sort.) Last week: I forgot. Fine! (Loser.) 7-9 straight up, 6-9-1 against the line. Toteboard: 17-14 handshakes, 14-16-1 against the line.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Murphy writes prescription that could heal pro athletics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Not that it should come as such a surprise that Dale Murphy has surfaced as an author, but it seems that his text has, apparently, been somewhat misinterpreted. “The Scouting Report” is the title, directed mainly at professional athletes and those athletes who have their eyes aimed at playing professionally.
“It’s not about being a team leader. That’s just not my personality. It’s aimed at things that I wish I had known when I became a professional player,” Muphy said from his home in Utah. “In athletics terms, this is a scouting report for your career, balancing your career, your marriage and your family.”
There’s a shortage of that among professional athletes, not to mention several of those on the college level, judging by police dockets across the country. What Murphy projects is a recipe for setting your course on the straight and narrow and keeping it there. His is the written word, composed mainly for athletes, not the reading public. He’s not aiming for the New York Times best seller list.
“I lived many years in professional sports and came out in one piece,” he wrote to his audience of athletes, “still happily married, the father of eight great kids. When the time comes and you are standing in my shoes — retired — I want you to feel the same contentment.”
That’s the theme, not training clubhouse spokesmen. I’m not sure that such unsolicited advice delivered to teammates is always warmly received. Henry Aaron never logged a lot of hours on the clubhouse podium. That was not his style. He lived a long and successful career as a teammate, but going his own way, not directing traffic.
When Murphy was a developing Brave, he recalls, the players he looked up to were Phil Niekro, Gary Mathews, and during one spring training, Tom Paciorek, the outfielder now heard in our area broadcasting Braves games. When Murphy needed to locate an agent, it was Niekro he turned to, but other than that, it wasn’t often that he sought advice in the clubhouse.
Murphy didn’t grow up a Mormon. He was converted, mainly through his relationship with another Braves minor league teammate, Barry Bonnell, later a Braves contemporary. That faith became the backbone of his life, even to the point that after his career as a player was done, he served as the head of a mission in Massachusetts. You’ll be impressed by the cast of stars that recommend his point of view as expressed in the book, Bobby Bowden, Cal Ripken, Steve Young, Jason Kidd among them.
One athlete that Murphy holds high in his heart and esteem is Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinal who turned his back on a big contract to join the Army Rangers, then lost his life in Afghanistan. “No fanfare, no one patting him on the back, a noble man who who slipped away in virtual anonymity.”
There are so few.
“The Scouting Report,” is full of a lot of good old earthy sayings, and familiar cliches, all appropriately applied. Nancy Murphy was particularly active in producing the text, Dale will hastily tell you. It is she who was the centerpiece of the household and was often called upon to perform both parental roles.
“I’d be gone to the ballpark by the time the kids got home from school. They’d be in bed when I got home from the game. They’d be gone to school by the time I got up the next morning,” Murphy said. “It was Nancy who was my anchor. No matter how I excelled on the field, she was the real hero.”
It’s a wise man who puts his wife on a pedestal.
Success didn’t come like a genie out of a bottle to Murphy. His first season in Little League he made only one hit. He stumbled twice with the Braves, as a catcher and first baseman, before Bobby Cox directed him to center field.
“Now my career has come and gone. I retired in 1993. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he wrote. “I believe that we are given experiences to share, taught lessons so we will teach others. That is the reason for this book.”
And the reason for this column.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
