AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > October > 13
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Weekend picks: Take reality over AJC.com poll
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Hoping to do for college football what eBay did for flea markets and MTV did for cheap alternatives to a frontal lobotomy, the folks at AJC.com News, Catfish and Such have come up with a poll.
Not just any poll. YOUR poll.
Yes, because we just don’t have enough polls in college football, now even you can vote for your favorite top 25 teams every week. (Voting runs from Sunday through 10 a.m. Tuesday, giving you ample time to do research. Or drink.)
As far as I can tell, you can vote for anybody. No matter the conference. No matter the record. No matter the relevance. I mean, just punch in “Georgia, 1980” — we’ll take it. (Reminds me of the Steven Wright joke: Said he saw a restaurant sign that read, “Breakfast Any Time.” So he ordered French toast during the Renaissance.)
Logic doesn’t apply at the AJC Readers poll. We just wanted to fit in with the rest.
Now here’s a shocker: This week, Georgia is No. 1!
Our voters and assorted meat-by products this week dropped USC to No. 2 because, I think, the Trojans have won only 27 straight games, toppled six countries and are now recognized on the New York Stock Exchange.
Understand, the previous week was also a good one for the Bulldogs. They had a bye. Naturally, they moved up to No. 2.
They made out a lot better than Alabama, which fell from fifth to sixth during its bye week.
Virginia Tech is thoroughly confused. It jumped from seventh to second, then dropped two spots in the last two weeks … after winning two games by 44 points. But the Hokies aren’t complaining because they have enough to deal with, just living in Blacksburg.
The good news is, we still cost only 50 cents more than Creative Loafing and they don’t even have a poll. But they do have those cool ads near the back, like, “Divorcee with monkey seeking …”
Where was I? Oh yeah, the real No. 1 team, USC visits Notre Dame. The Irish are 4-1. Fans haven’t been this excited since Lou Holtz arrived. And then left. They see upset. I see numbskulls.
The line is 12. The Trojans cover. Then drop to No. 3.
A MEAT AND SIX
Dogs at Just A Smart School Again: I’m so glad things are back to normal at Vanderbilt because fans were starting to get obnoxious. Both of them sent me e-mails. The Commodores started 4-0, then forget to look both ways before crossing Middle Tennessee State. Then came the LSU carnage. Georgia will be happy to learn this is Vandy’s homecoming game. Like, aren’t you supposed to beat up on homecoming opponents? Doggies cover 16.
Tech at Duke: Lose this game and this is what Chan Gailey will hear at the airport before the flight home: “I’m sorry sir, but there must be some mistake. Your ticket says ‘coach.’” How do you lose to N.C. State? And get shut out for 2 1/2 quarters. At home. Boise or Bust! Jackets cover the 20 1/2.
Bammy at Old. Ms.: Even Mike DuBose is praising Alabama’s recovery, but then he brought a lot to Tuscaloosa himself: NCAA police, sexual harassment and a three-win season. But fear not. DuBose has landed on his hooves. He’s the defensive coordinator at Millsaps. Actually, he works in the cafeteria. He just uses the defensive coordinator thing as a pickup line. Tide covers 12 1/2.
Miami at Holy Temple: It’s the day after Yom Kippur. I’m feeling a pull from the Chosen Peeps. Canes win but take Temple Beth Owls and 41.
Cry Wolfs at LSU: Just to bring you up to date on the altered state of things in the SEC: Florida couldn’t carry Prairie View’s moo strap and Alabama won’t lose a game for the next 137 years. I love SEC fans. They’re like an acid trip, only less predictable. Well, here’s something you wouldn’t guess. Take Florida and six. In fact, here’s this week’s out-on-a-limb pick: Gators in straight upset.
Auburn at Arkansas: After beating Louisiana Monroe, one Arkansas player gushed, “Confidence is high right now.” Teams seldom get so euphoric when they end three-game losing streaks by beating Louisiana Monroe. Enough about the state of things in Little Rock. Auburn covers 7 1/2.
KEEPING TRACK, SORT OF
(Coming off a hot week. You may bow now.)
Straight up: 6-0 last week, 31-7 overall.
Contra el numero: 5-1 last week, 22-16 for the fiscal year.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Hawks appear to be big only on duplication
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
This is the first and last time the imperial Yankees will be likened to the no-profile Hawks, but there’s a point — trust me! — herein. The Yankees paid $200 million to assemble a lineup of cleanup hitters, and when it came time for somebody to produce a mere single there was nobody capable. The Hawks spent $150 million less to fashion a roster of swingmen, and barely two weeks into training camp they’re trying to work out who swings where.
And maybe they will. Maybe Mike Woodson will fulfill Billy Knight’s apparent vision of having five 6-foot-8 guys on the floor and Knight will, as owner Michael Gearon Jr. has suggested, be credited with revolutionizing the game. It’s more likely that, the longer and harder the Hawks look, the sooner they’ll realize that basketball positions were created for a reason. Not all players need to be doing the same thing at the same time.
The Hawks spent $70 million for a point guard who hasn’t really been a point guard. Through two exhibitions, Joe Johnson has 10 turnovers against 11 assists. The Hawks used their highest draft pick in three decades on a player who didn’t start for his collegiate team. In 47 preseason minutes, Marvin Williams has made three baskets. These newcomers augment a squad that already included Al Harrington, Josh Childress and Josh Smith, each of similar size.
Question: Did the Hawks simply buy more of what they already had? Woodson, the coach, believes not. He sees differences in each man. The Hawks regard Harrington as a low-post scorer, Smith as a rebounder, Williams as a shooter, Childress as a slasher and Johnson as a distributor. At the same time, Woodson also said, “We’ve got to get better bigs.�
In hoops argot, “bigsâ€? are centers. As much as the Hawks would like to pretend such creatures are extinct — Woodson: “There are few dominant centers in the Eastâ€? — a rather famous one plays in their division. Who among Hawks can guard Shaquille O’Neal?
If defense didn’t matter, a team could get away with putting its five best talents on the floor and letting them slash and shoot away. Woodson, as we know, is a defensive coach. He ended practice Thursday by telling his men their average yield in those two exhibitions was 104 points, a figure that needs to lessen by 11 if they’re to amount to anything. “We’re not going to be Phoenix and outscore people,� he said. “Somewhere along the line we’ve got to make a stand about defense.�
Yes, it’s early, and no, nobody’s expecting the Hawks, who lost 69 games last season, to make the playoffs anytime soon. (Nobody except Woodson, who sets that as this season’s goal.) Still, building a team isn’t the same as collecting able bodies. The Hawks are exponentially more gifted than they’ve been this millennium, but it’s hard to envision a big-time team emerging from this talent base. For the Hawks to break upward, a couple of these callow swingmen will need to be traded for another serviceable ballhandler and a stronger center than Zaza Pachulia.
“That can happen,� Woodson said. “You never know. When you’re building a team, you keep adding pieces. And then you’ve got to start weighing your options: Can a young guy get you [in trade] a bigger, better player?�
Down the line, maybe so. The Hawks haven’t gone far enough down that line to determine which of the many swingers are bona fide keepers. But there is such a thing in sports as having too much of something — the exception is pitching — and the moment will come when they choose diversification over the current flurry of duplication.
Permalink | Comments (41) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Mark Bradley
Baseball boots it again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Nothing in sports is more entertaining than watching Major League Baseball try to explain itself. The latest example was when Doug Eddings, the plate umpire who turned a simple strikeout into a major incident, met the media Wednesday night. Accompanied by his crew chief and his supervisor — and you thought only high-profile defendants came with a team of representatives — Eddings sought to deflect the blame and naturally only made himself and his silly sport look sillier.
Eddings’ bizarre contention: He looked to Josh Paul, the Angels’ catcher, to see how he, the plate umpire, should react. “I’m watching Josh Paul, seeing what he’s going to do,” Eddings told reporters, and this made no sense whatsoever. A player’s response should influence an umpire’s call? (If so, then the Astros’ Luke Scott should have continued around the bases after his near-miss liner sliced foul against the Braves in the epic Game 4. Maybe some ump would have seen that “response” as cause to signal a game-winning home run.)
And if that was indeed the case — that Eddings took his lead from Paul — then he blew it on both fronts. Paul reacted as if he’d caught the ball before it hit the dirt, which replays show he indisputably did. (The umps, naturally, quibbled and said you could see the ball change directions on the tape. Sure it did. It was going toward the plate and then it hit Paul’s mitt, whereupon it stopped. There’s your change of direction.)
Paul rolled the ball to the mound and made for the dugout. So did the rest of the Angels. So, for a moment, did A.J. Pierzynski, the whiffer in question. Then Pierzynski, figuring what the heck, ran toward first base. And Eddings, to the utter amazement of everyone (Pierzynski surely included), called him safe. After already calling him out.
Baseball being baseball, it sought to defend the indefensible. Rather than saying what it should have said — “Folks, we blew it” — it tried to cloud the issue and argue that Eddings’ clenched-fist signal of “out” wasn’t really what it seemed. And once again baseball came off looking like baseball, which is to say it has no idea how to handle anything.
Permalink | Comments (64) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
