AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > November > 17
Thursday, November 17, 2005
College picks: Mediocrity won’t beat Canes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
In his four seasons as coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Modest Football Expectations, Chan Gailey will have gone 4-4, 4-4, 4-4 and — I’m going to live dangerously here and project — 4-4 in the ACC.
This scientifically improbable run of so-so-ness moved athletics director Dave Braine to reward Gailey in a way generally unforeseen in competitive athletics, at least here on Earth. With a five-year contract extension.
The deal actually had been in the works for weeks by Braine, and is expected to be made into a pilot for a new Jefferson-Pilot reality show, scheduled to debut next fall: “Congratulations! The Glass Is Half Full!�
Braine had planned to launch the show in September by rewarding Terrell Owens with a five-year contract extension and a $20 million signing bonus. But the shock value was considered insufficient.
“We expect Dave’s catch phrase, ‘You’ve Got A New Deal!’ to become as familiar as Donald Trump saying, ‘You’re fired!’ â€? voices told Weekend Predictions. “But, ‘You’re Fired’ is such a downer. We’re all about sunshine. Do you like our new stadium expansion? The seats are so clean. Never been used. Could I interest you in a bon-bon? Some ABBA, perhaps?â€?
In future episodes, Braine is expected to give five-year extensions to Dan Kolb, the executive director of FEMA and the cast of any show produced by MTV.
“We have also been in discussions with government officials on giving President Bush a new five-year extension,� voices said. “Our faculty athletics rep, George O’Leary, has found a loophole in the Constitution. Really. Say, have you seen my pet rabbit? Goes about 6-foot-3.�
This week, the Rambling Wreckage goes to Miami. The line is 17 1/2. If Tech pulls an upset, there will be another TV pilot in the works.
In Fantasyland.
Canes win and cover.
Bonus six-pack
Cats and Dogs: Georgia gets a third chance to lock up the SEC East. Funny. Nobody seems that excited about it anymore. And about the Auburn game: There’s way too much attention being paid to the offense and botching a two-point decision when the game came down to letting the Tigers drive down the field in the final minute. You’re looking at the wrong side of the ball, folks. Didn’t think Doggies could cover 27, then I remembered last year (Georgia 62, Rich Brooks 17). Doggies cover.
Clemson at South Carolina: The last time these two met, they brawled after the game, ending Lou Holtz’s career on a wonderfully awful note. This week, Steve Spurrier’s post-Florida high was punctured by the ever-present Lou Holtz Sack of Reality: 11 NCAA violations leading to three years probation. The good news is, it doesn’t affect Lou’s retirement fund. Or conscience. Take Gamecocks and 2 1/2 — and in a straight upset.
Iron [Deficiency] Bowl: Alabama is so beat up that Mike Shula decided to have his players practice without pads the week of the Auburn game. That’s believed to be a felony in Tuscaloosa, at least the kind that are actually prosecuted. The over/under on “The Bear wouldn’t have done that!� shouts this week: 137 million. Auburn covers 7.
VaTech at Virginia: The Hokies have had a week off since getting smacked by Miami. Hope Al Groh wasn’t counting on a long winning streak. VaTech covers 7.
LSU at Mississippi: Guess wins over Memphis, The Citadel and Kentucky haven’t fired up the troops in Oxford. Four players quit this week, bringing the number of exits to 12 since summer. Coach Ed Orgeron questioned their talent level. Problem: He brought in 7 of the 12. Oops. LSU covers 17.
Vandy at Tennessee: The Vowels dumped Memphis by four points last week. Dave Braine rewarded Phil Fulmer with a five-year extension. Tennessee wins, but take Vandy and the 12.
Kiss the accountant
(Nailed the South Carolina upset. Wasn’t really serious about anything else, but then you knew that.)
Last week: 5-3 straight up, 3-4-1 against the line.
Fiscal season: 60-16 straight up 45-29-2 against the line.
Permalink | Comments (101) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Braine on the defensive, and for good reason
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
If Dave Braine on Thursday looked like a man who had yelled, “Timber!” only to realize too late that the tree was falling the wrong way, it’s understandable.
Braine is expected to retire in the next year or two. That’s assuming he doesn’t enter a witness protection program before then.
“Nobody enjoys being beat up,” Georgia Tech’s athletics director said Thursday. “You’d have to be a glutton for punishment. But you have to stand up for what you believe, and if you can’t do that you don’t have any business being in this business. You’re not going to make everybody happy.”
True. But what were the odds of complete alienation?
Braine started the week by announcing that football coach Chan Gailey is being awarded a new five-year contract. Everyone waited for the punch line.
You could argue that the timing couldn’t be worse, given that the Jackets had just been whacked by Virginia and seemed headed for another obscure postseason bowl. But Braine probably figured it was better to announce the decision now than wait until after the Miami and Georgia games. Relatively speaking, Bee Nation is singing “Kumbaya” right now.
If Braine didn’t lose everybody with the show of support for Gailey, he took care of the rest by publicly stating the Jackets “will never” win nine or 10 games consistently. Now, most people could analyze Tech and the ACC and logically deduce that. But as an AD, you just don’t say that. It undermines everything a coach or a player works for. I’ve never ever heard general managers of expansion teams state, “We’ve got no chance.”
How do you feel if you’re a season-ticket holder — or a donor who helped pay for a certain stadium expansion? If Braine’s goal was to help Gailey, he made it worse. What’s an opposing recruiter going to do with that quote?
(I’m still trying to figure that whole thing about Gailey having the third-hardest job in college football behind coaches at Notre Dame and Army. I always figured Prairie View was pretty tough. Kentucky. Vanderbilt. Rice. Isn’t Notre Dame the school with a TV network and automatic recruits? When did that become the hardest job? And why Army, but not Navy?)
Of course, it gets worse.
A Fulton County judge forced the Jackets to reinstate Reuben Houston, the defensive back facing felony charges of conspiring to possess and distribute 100 pounds of marijuana. Reinstatement isn’t a story line that would fly even on “Law and Order.” Or in the SEC.
Then came Thursday. Probation. Tech knew it was coming, but it turned out to be even worse than Braine expected. They were hit with “lack of institutional control,” the NCAA equivalent of a four-letter word. Suddenly, Tech, which had never been on probation, was being described with the same phrase that was slapped on SMU.
The Jackets must vacate all records for games involving 17 athletes in four sports (including 11 in football) over a six-year span. They also will lose six football scholarships each of the next two years.
The NCAA investigating committee was chaired by an Alabama law professor. I figure he knows an infraction when he sees one.
Braine and school President Wayne Clough believe the punishment is excessive. Tech may appeal. I have no idea why. If seven-win seasons are suddenly the standard, is losing six scholarships that big of a deal?
Braine has been spinning ever since the Gailey contract. This week, he acknowledged the growing legion of his Braine-haters, and he punctuated his remarks Thursday with: “This won’t help any.”
He also vowed to make it to the weekend without another news conference.
“The most important thing is when I go home, I feel good,” he said. “All of us have done a very good job, and we’re a very good program. We’re not mediocre, we don’t want to be mediocre, we don’t strive for mediocrity, and anybody who thinks that is wrong.”
That’s it, Dave. Keep telling yourself the tree fell the other way. It won’t hurt as much.
Permalink | Comments (74) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
At least Andruw didn’t lose to Art Carney
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Once upon a time, I got really upset over an award. It was in 1975. I was in college. We had an Oscar-watching assembly at my apartment — we were all big movie buffs back in the day — and the Best Actor category came up. Jack Nicholson was nominated for “Chinatown,” Al Pacino for “The Godfather, Part II,” Dustin Hoffman for “Lenny.”
Three great movies. Three great performances by the greatest actors of the age.
Art Carney won.
No, not for “The Honeymooners.” For “The Late Show,” a small movie by a good director (Robert Benton), the charms of which still elude me.
On that March night in 1975, this was my measured response.
“Art CARNEY?????!!!!!”
I offered this opinion at great volume more than once. Indeed, it became a catch-phrase among my jerk friends for the next 10 years. Whenever one of our sparkling conversations lagged, one wiseguy could be counted on to look at me and, apropos of nothing, say, “Art CARNEY?????!!!!!”
Not willing to give my jerk friends more ammo, I learned then and there not to worry about awards. (They’re arbitrary things, reasonable people can differ reasonably, et cetera.) But I must admit that, 30 years later, I’m surprised — and a tad disappointed — that Andruw Jones didn’t win the NL MVP.
Andruw Jones won the Hank Aaron Award as the National League’s best hitter. He won another Gold Glove for his defense. His team finished first. He led the league in RBI, generally considered the most telling measure of “value.” So how did he finish second to Albert Pujols for MVP?
Don’t get me wrong. Pujols is the best player in baseball right now, but the MVP isn’t — or isn’t supposed to be — a gauge of pure talent or of a body of work. It’s supposed to go to the most valuable player of a given season. Great as Pujols is, he didn’t mean as much to the 2005 Cardinals as Jones did to the 2005 Braves. If I still cared about such things, I’d be really steamed right now.
(By the way, Johnny Depp got robbed a couple of years ago. He was WAY better in “Pirates of the Caribbean” than the overrated Sean Penn was in the overrated “Mystic River.”)
Permalink | Comments (38) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
