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Thursday, December 29, 2005
Jackets mired in muddy mediocrity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
San Francisco — The field was mostly fit for mud wrestling. You also knew this wasn’t, oh, say, the Rose Bowl since both teams were required to operate from the same sideline. In fact, under this makeshift configuration of the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark, the Georgia Tech bench was just in front of the wall that Barry Bonds often clears to reach McCovey Cove.
How do you say rinky dink, as in something called the Emerald Bowl, as in why is the ACC even sending one of its members to this thing?
If all of that wasn’t enough to make the Yellow Jackets feel a little inadequate Thursday afternoon during their latest postseason experience, they spent the early part of the first half getting absolutely torched by Utah’s backup quarterback making only his second start. The Utes led 20-zip after Brett Ratliff threw all three of his touchdown passes within the game’s first 16 minutes to Travis LaTendresse, owner of a ridiculous seven catches for 108 yards at that point.
Suddenly, there were two choices for the Jackets before the sparse crowd of 25,742 that nevertheless was red (as in Utah) and loud (as in relatively speaking): They could continue to get pounded as much as their quarterback Reggie Ball did by a pack of Utes after his first interception. Or they could ignore all of the game’s previous ugliness to show the grit of those Jackets teams with two consecutive blowout victories in the bowls before this one.
So much for grit. Try groans (as in what those in the Jacket Nation should be doing right now over the Tech’s latest dance with mediocrity for a season).
“As a whole, we were pretty consistent most of the year defensively, and I think a couple of games we did play up to our potential,” said Tech safety Chris Reis, referring to the Jackets’ shocking victories on the road over Auburn and Miami. Then again, maybe those were just a couple of shocking flukes for a highly inconsistent bunch that finished 7-5.
When this one was mercifully over, Tech’s 38-10 beating was its worst in a bowl game in terms of margin of defeat since, well, ever. And the Jackets have played in bowl games since they actually did go to the Rose following the 1929 season. That’s 34 bowls overall, which means you have to wonder if Tech was ready to play against what was an average Utah team that improved to 7-5.
Senior Tech linebacker Gerris Wilkinson thought and thought, before saying, “Man, it might have been a factor when we first found out about [playing in the Emerald Bowl], but you have to be able to let that go as a team, and that’s when the leaders on the team have to get everybody focused. I guess we didn’t do a good job of it.”
No, they didn’t. Not Tech’s leaders, and certainly not Tech’s coaching staff that just finished its fourth consecutive season with seven victories under Chan Gailey.
Did I say something about mediocrity, and how can somebody from the Mountain West Conference do all of this against supposedly a decent bunch from the ACC? Not only did Ratliff finish with outrageous numbers (completing 30 of 41 passes for 381 yards and four touchdowns), but Quinton Ganther rushed for 120 yards while LaTendresse ended with 16 catches for 214 yards and four of the easiest touchdown catches that you’ll ever see.
Tech entered the game as one of college football’s premier defenses in every category from rushing to passing efficiency to interceptions. So, given the statistical evidence from Utah, it looks as if the Jackets sort of quit after the rout gained momentum. “I don’t think our guys ever quit,” Gailey said. “They never feel like they’re not going to pull the game out. But quit is a pretty strong word.”
Strong but accurate, especially since this wasn’t the same Utah monster of Urban Meyer from last year. Still, the Jackets played as if these Utes had fangs.
This time, Wilkinson sighed, but not just because of recent history. “We’ve been close at times and far at times, and that’s been the problem ever since I’ve been here at Tech. We just can’t play consistently an entire season.”
Exhibit A: This season.
Permalink | Comments (424) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
Thriving bowl game should stay ‘Peachy’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
So they want to take the “Peach” out of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, eh? So why? They might as well take the air out of the football. Peach is the game’s symbol, and the fuzzy little fruit whose namesake came so close to extinction so many times deserves more for toughing it out. How do they replace it, with a cackling hen or the portrait of a sandwich, even one that I savor so much?
Perhaps “Peach Bowl” shouldn’t have been its birth name, in the first place, but this is the “Peach State,” though South Carolina may produced more peaches. It would be like taking the “Sugar” out of the Sugar Bowl, or the “Orange” out of the Orange Bowl. Surely no one has considered plastering a corporate name on the Rose, grandaddy of all bowls. I know, Chick-fil-A and the Cathy family have put $22 million into this project, but they came on after it was already standing on its own. And besides, they still get top billing.
Let me take you back to the roots of this game. It was created by the Lions Clubs of Georgia for their charity, Lighthouse for the Blind. They were amateurs, well-intended, but out of their league. There was internal bickering, charges of conflict of interest against some executives, sad management and foul weather, as if somebody up there kept trying to send a message.
The first two games were played in slop at Grant Field, then the weather gods let it all fly when Arizona State played North Carolina in the third game. Rain, sleet and snow all in night. Then, in all their ingenuity, the Lions decided to move to Atlanta Stadium, pulling out of Grant Field at the same time Georgia Tech was putting in artificial turf. The change of venue changed nothing. Foul weather followed, and ironically, so did the Georgia Tech team, but instead of being able to play on their own carpet at Grant Field, they lost in more slop to Ole Miss.
The Peach Bowl had attracted teams from the Big Ten, the Southwest Conference, the SEC and ACC, of course, even pulled in Army one year, but the amateurs had to throw in towel, at which time the Chamber of Commerce moved in, brought in professionals and the Peach Bowl came to life in 1986. These people had no intention of allowing Atlanta’s one attempt at this bowling business to fall on its face. The Lions have long been out of it and for all their good intentions, the Lighthouse for the Blind had little to show for it.
All of this, you see, under the name of Peach Bowl, which, after all it’s endured, should have the privilege of sharing in its ongoing success. Sound, broad-based civic leadership, under the hand of Gary Stokan. The financial infusion of Truett Cathy and Chick-fil-A. Now ardently pursued by prime time television. And, of course, the game is now foul weather-proofed, played in guaranteed 70-degree temperature.
All this took place when the game moved into Georgia Dome after 25 years camping out. So the game has grown, with all these modern inconveniences, and prospered, and no reason the Peach, which suffered through those dismal years, should not be allowed to move along and share the luxuries with Chick-fil-A. Why should it ever have been considered otherwise?
The bowl venture has been a fractious one for a number of corporations that took a fling leap into sports poorly equipped. Whatever became of the Continental Tire Bowl, Carquest, Weiser Lock, Diamond Walnut, all the way back to the Copper and the You-Name-It. The Peach Bowl was created with all good intentions and a worthy beneficiary, and Chick-fil-A came on with a worthy mission of its own. But don’t dump poor old “Peach” after all it went through and the bruises bore.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Lehtonen starts again, groin willing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Kari Lehtonen, possessor of the most overanalyzed groin and core muscle group in Thrashers history, rises from Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory Friday night.
He will be in a uniform, on the ice and in net. Now there’s a confluence you don’t see every day. He hasn’t played since the first period of the Thrashers’ first game 12 weeks ago, before day-to-day turned into let’s-see-who’s-hot-in-the-East-Coast-League.
“I feel like a little boy getting candy or something,” Lehtonen said Thursday.
Not quite how Boris Karloff greeted life. But stick around. Because if Lehtonen doubles over again, there will be no shortage of loud, freakish groans emanating from Thrasherville.
“Every day we see him go down,” coach Bob Hartley said, “there’s going to be fears in our mind.”
Comfortable yet?
Lehtonen is a goalie. At least, that’s the rumor. It has been assumed the Thrashers’ postseason hopes rest largely on his groin, and assorted appendages. That the team has climbed back to .500 (NHL version) at 16-16-6 without him is either a positive omen or the tease before the collapse. We’re about to find out.
Muscle tissue aside, it’s hard to imagine a kid acting cooler in a pressure situation. The 22-year-old has played only 20 minutes, but an NHL franchise is relying on him for a playoff berth, and Finland is relying on him to lead the Olympic hockey team to a medal in Turin. Lehtonen became Finland’s starter by default when Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff pulled out of the Games.
But Lehtonen shrugs when asked about expectations. “It’s been like that the last five or 10 years,” he said. “The expectations are what keeps me going.”
Poorly conditioned body parts notwithstanding. Lehtonen suffered an injury in the groin area in training camp and then crumbled in the opener at Florida after a collision. He knows it’s his own fault. He should have reported to camp resembling something closer to a professional athlete. If he didn’t know, his coach reminded him.
“I was unbelievably ticked,” said Hartley, except he didn’t really say “ticked.”
“I thought coming from the Finnish army, he could at least do five pushups.”
You’ve heard of “Body by Jake”? Teammate Andy Sutton had another description for Lehtonen: “Body by neglect.”
He has an underdeveloped upper body and a soft belly. Goaltenders aren’t required to look like, well, Jake. But it would nice if their shape was closer to a “V” than a beer bottle.
“I don’t know if I should blame myself or my family for giving me these genes,” Lehtonen said. He was joking. He knew the answer.
“I’ve been young and dumb,” he said. “I thought everything would be so easy. I’ve always been a goalie and I kinda thought, I don’t have to work that hard. Then I realized these guys are pretty good.”
Groin and lower abdominal injuries are slow to heal, assuming they ever do. It follows that as much flexing and strengthening exercises as Lehtonen has done these past several weeks, there are no assurances he won’t have a recurrence with his first kick save.
But he does have everything else going for him: positioning, instinct, reflexes, attitude. “He has the right mentality to be a goalie,” Hartley said.
The way Lehtonen views things, he has overcome the worst: the waiting. “It was tough for the first couple of weeks. But then I realized I have to look at the big picture.”
Put five goalies in a locker room — as the Thrashers have this season — and it’s easy to tell which ones were part of the original plan. Their leg pads, glove and blocker all match, trimmed in team colors. The mask also is dipped in team colors, possibly with a local theme. Everybody else looks like they were dressed for another city in another league.
Lehtonen’s gear matches. His mask is Thrasher blue. On either side are slim blonde women dressed in shorts and thigh-high boots. OK, not quite the hockey theme.
“It’s from the Final Fantasy [video] game,” he said. “I’ve never played it. But I saw a couple of commercials about the game and just thought it looked awesome.”
There is one problem with the equipment. It all looks just a little too new.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
Jim, meet Achilles
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
From the moment Jim Mora chose to belittle the history of his franchise, you could feel this coming. November had just arrived and the Falcons were 5-2 and riding high and Mora, in seeking to defend his team’s indefensible “policy” of muting its offensive linemen, dismissed the honorable likes of Jeff Van Note and Mike Kenn by saying, in essence, those guys couldn’t have been all that great if they weren’t part of consecutive winning seasons.
Ahem.
Here we are, January fast approaching, and Mora’s team needs to upset Carolina to secure the second consecutive winning season that he made sound like a fait accompli. The man who seemed to have all the answers has been stumped repeatedly in the second half of 2005. Even worse, Mora has been revealed as a bit of a brat.
In the grand scheme, this comeuppance could be good for Young Jim. He was so successful as a rookie head coach that he seemed to lose contact with reality. The cold truth is that there a lot of smart guys coaching NFL teams, and just because you work really hard and consider yourself quite clever doesn’t mean your team is going to win the Super Bowl, or even break .500, every single year.
Almost two months after trashing the Falcons of old, Mora presides over a team that has lost five of seven games and has fallen from the playoff mix. Hubris doesn’t play so well in pro football. The old saw still cuts deep: Pride really does goeth before a fall.
Permalink | Comments (60) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
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