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Friday, June 2, 2006
Cox, not GM, is irreplaceable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Bobby Cox, 65, is the best manager in baseball. John Schuerholz, 65, is the best GM. Each has done such surpassing work as to render himself indispensable. Today’s topic, then, is the baseball equivalent of the old who-wins-if-Superman-and-The-Incredible-Hulk-get-into-a-fight brainteaser. To wit: Of the Braves’ two irreplaceable men, which will be harder to replace?
Answer: Cox.
And it’s not because he was himself the general himself before returning to the clubhouse (at Stan Kasten’s request) in June 1990. In four years as an executive, Cox did well in energizing the Braves’ farm system and accumulating young pitchers, but it wasn’t until Schuerholz arrived in October 1990 that this organization became a first-class entity. Cox the GM had become reluctant to make moves — trading Steve Bedrosian for Ozzie Virgil and signing the vertiginous Nick Esasky had left scars — and a more confident hand was needed. And Schuerholz, as we know, is blatantly self-assured.
Schuerholz made the personnel moves in his first offseason — acquiring Terry Pendleton, Sid Bream and Rafael Belliard — that changed the face of the Braves. The whole operation was crying for someone to make a public commitment to excellence, and the suspendered Schuerholz did it. He was the catalyst when all this began, and he has continued to stock and re-stock all the division winners in the decade-and-a-half since. The great run would never have commenced without Schuerholz’s vision, but it couldn’t have endured without Cox’s day-to-day stewardship. Everything around him changes, but he remains constant. He inspires a loyalty among his coaches and players that is utterly foreign in this big-money me-first realm of contemporary professional sports. It’s amazing to see, year upon year, new Braves walk into this clubhouse and, in a matter of days, become absolute Cox acolytes.
Largely because of creeping budgetary restraints, the quality of personnel Schuerholz has provided has vacillated in recent seasons. For a decade the Braves spent big and won with starting pitching, but in 2002 they were buoyed by a lockdown bullpen and in 2003 they were carried by an unusually robust offense. In 2004 they won without much of a team at all. Usually they’ve finished first because of veterans, but last year they finished first with a raft of rookies.
Two years ago Marty Brennaman, the Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds, hauled out the famous quote — originally voiced by Frank Howard about Bear Bryant and repeated by Bum Phillips about Don Shula — and applied it to Cox: “He can take his’n and beat your’n.” And that’s the point. Maybe one or two other GMs could have stitched together comparable rosters for the price Schuerholz has paid these last five years. No other manager could have won division titles with them.
Think about this: The last 15 times Bobby Cox has left spring training with a team and completed a season with it, that team has finished first. (This includes the 1985 Toronto Blue Jays.) Maybe 10 of those times he has had the most talent in his division, but at least five times he hasn’t. Didn’t matter. He won anyway. He might well win again with this bunch, which lacks a closer and a first baseman and a leadoff hitter. He has that effect.
Understand: This isn’t an attempt to drive a wedge between Cox and Schuerholz, who like and respect one another and who have always worked together — invoking the Schuerholz word — seamlessly. They’re both great at what they do, and they’ll both be missed hugely whenever they choose to leave. And admittedly the matter of which will be missed more is a close call. Close, but clear.
One is the best GM of his era. The other is the best manager ever. The Braves might get ridiculously lucky and find another John Schuerholz. They’ll never find another Bobby Cox.
Permalink | Comments (70) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Mark Bradley
St. Simons likes Georgia-Florida in Jax
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
St. Simons Island — Once every year for many a football season, this seacoast region takes on a bordertown mentality. It’s the weekend of the Georgia-Florida game, played across the state line in Jacksonville, which has sinfully, but cheerfully, assumed the reputation as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” Until lately.
Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia, has taken the stand that that liquid terminology should be shorn. It’s just not nice to be so willingly associated with public drinking, and associated debauchery. Think of something of picnic quality, for instance, “The World’s Largest Outdoor Lemonade Party,” or iced tea, though definitely not the Long Island type.
This area, specifically St. Simons, Sea Island, Jekyll Island and Brunswick, form the staging area from which Georgia Bulldog partisans launch their surge, cross the Florida line and establish their base in Alltel Stadium, once known as Gator Bowl. Some suspect that this may be Adams’ prelude to returning the game to the two campuses. Actually, the Jacksonville arrangement doesn’t come up for re-negotiation until after the 2010 game, which puts a stretch on Adams’ tenure in Athens.
Vance Leavy publishes “Bulldawg Illustrated,” the unofficial voice of all things Bulldog, based on St. Simons. He gets to the point: “That’s never going to happen. President Adams takes a good stand. The premise is good. But what’s the difference between what goes on at the home games and in Jacksonville?” he said. “Moving the game back to the campuses won’t change any of that.”
He makes another point, more vital to Glynn County and the surroundings. “This is south Georgia’s homecoming game. It’s a boom for Glynn County economics. It’s like having a World’s Fair every year, it’s bigger than the Fourth of July.”
So this part of the Georgia world gladly crosses the state line into “enemy” territory, and leaves the policing to the police. Even if Adams should be successful in shedding “the largest outdoor cocktail party” from association with the game — which is highly unlikely — the party will go on, and coastal Georgia happily accepts its role in it. This is where the Bulldogs prime for it, where they stock up, where they come to party, and you’d be surprised to know how many settle in hereabouts and take in the game by television, never getting a glimpse of Jacksonville.
Stan Robinson, located in his popular establishment, Brogan’s, has a solution. “Start beating Florida. That will change everything. Three times we’ve lost and still played for the SEC championship. That’s good, but we’ve lost out on playing for the national championship. You beat Tennessee three times in Knoxville, you ought to be able to beat Florida on neutral ground.”
Among other things, he said, “several businesses down here would go bankrupt if they didn’t have that weekend.” It’s like a land rush, running from Wednesday till Sunday, and in some cases, a full week.
Vince Dooley has sort of tap-danced acround the subject through the years. Mark Richt doesn’t lean in the back-to-the-campus direction, I’m told, nor does Damon Evans, the incumbent athletics director. A similar situation has been on-going for years in the Southwest, where Oklahoma has been crossing the state line to play Texas in “The Red River Shootout.” The Sooners accept the trip to Dallas with no complaints. It’s the Longhorns, who had been on a losing streak until last season who are having alternative thoughts. Now, so the story goes, with its newly expanded stadium in Austin, Texans are the ones who are talking “back to the campus.”
One further thought: In eschewing “the largest outdoor cocktail party” association, would Dr. Adams also recommend that beer commercials be eliminated from college sports television? Hyprocrisy, where are thy sting?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Furman Bisher, UGA / SEC
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