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Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Auburn can make SEC run, take BCS shot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
It’s important to have the team, sure, but in college football it’s also essential to have the schedule. Having reached the first checkpoint of the SEC season, it’s becoming clear which schools have which. Herewith, our field guide to the One True League in the One True Sport:
Hasn’t the team or the schedule: Alabama. Another soft (and unimpressive) opening will yield to cold reality. The Tide could be somewhat better than it is and still not win in Gainesville, Fla. (Sept. 30) or Knoxville (Oct. 21) or Baton Rouge, La. (Nov. 11). And ‘Bama, which hasn’t beaten Auburn the past four seasons, is destined to lose one for the thumb.
Has the schedule but not the team: Tennessee. With two more points Saturday night, the Vols would have been in shape to win the East even with a loss at Georgia next month. Their tough games after that — Alabama and LSU — are both in Knoxville, and a split of those could have allowed Tennessee to take its division with two conference losses. Losing to Florida means the Vols are apt to finish 5-3 in the league, meaning: Hello, Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Has the team but not the schedule: LSU. The second-best team in the conference will have no place to play come Dec. 2. The annual Auburn-LSU collision has become to the West what Florida-Tennessee was to the East — an elimination game. Unless you think Auburn will somehow lose twice, LSU is hereby barred from finishing first. Note to Les Miles: Throw the ball into the end zone next time.
A little shy on both schedule and team: Georgia. Because South Carolina has been exposed as the worst 2-1 team in the land, the Bulldogs will enter October virtually untested. That’s good for the record, bad for getting a read on just how good you really are (or aren’t). Georgia should beat Tennessee in Athens on Oct. 7 and be 8-0 when it heads to Jacksonville, but better Georgia teams — in 2002 and again in 2005 — were likewise pristine before being undone by lesser Florida assemblages than this. A visit to Auburn comes two weeks later. As happened last season, Georgia will go from undefeated to twice-beaten quicker than you can say, “Aromashodu.”
Has the team to override the schedule: Florida. Beating Tennessee clears the way to the Georgia Dome for the best bunch of Gators since Steve Spurrier exited. Florida could win the East with two losses provided it beats Georgia and the Bulldogs lose to Auburn. No SEC team faces a more difficult four-game span than the Gators — starting Sept. 30, they play Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia — but the one-point win in Knoxville leaves wiggle room.
Has the schedule and the team: Auburn. With their next glamour games — Florida and Georgia — well-spaced and at home, the Tigers are positioned to play not just for the SEC title but for the national championship. Auburn is inexplicably No. 3 in the coaches’ poll, trailing Ohio State and Southern Cal, but surely no bloc of voters and no database would dare leave an unbeaten SEC champion behind an unbeaten USC this December. (The Trojans’ biggest remaining games are against California, which laid an egg in Knoxville, and Notre Dame, which lost to Michigan by 26 points.)
Either Auburn gets the chance it was denied in 2004, or Tommy Tuberville sics the noxious booster Bobby Lowder on everyone and everything associated with the BCS. You’ll recall that Terry Bowden ran afoul of Lowder a year after coaching Auburn to the 1997 SEC title game. You’ll also note that Bowden hasn’t coached again, not even for his dad. And his dad could use the help.
Permalink | Comments (98) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Much ground to cover
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
See Michael run. See Michael run and run and run. See Warrick run. See Jerious run.
I went to a Falcons game the other day and a track meet broke out. The Falcons offense gained 382 yards, only 76 by air, which would naturally bring to mind all the jawing that came up as last season wound down to a sorry end. Should Michael Vick continue to be a freelance quarterback, or should he become like those old high top-shoes quarterbacks who dropped back, surveyed the field and delivered the pitch? Which would be like restricting Andruw Jones to bunting.
In a sense, Michael Vick is public property, belonging to anyone who owns a slice of Atlanta. And a richly rewarded piece of property he is. (What was it, $130 million that Arthur Blank budgeted him for? I have trouble following these sporting investments of people like Arthur Blank and George Steinbrenner.) Anyway, every citizen with a ticket to the Dome, and thousands without, feels it’s his/her right and privilege to an opinion about whether Vick should confine himself to the passing game and run only when desperate. Or otherwise.
In the final stages of the season past, his running dwindled down to a precious few yards. In fact, in the last game against Carolina, he had only one carry, and whatever it was, it was for zero yards. Now, is this a switch-a-roo? When Mike wants to, Mike runs. “It all depends on Mike,” the headline said.
It’s stuff lifted from college playbooks. Nothing fancy. Nothing new. Vick and Dunn line up in shotgun formation, Vick takes the snap, he gives it to Dunn, then takes it back and takes off, or leaves it in Dunn’s hands. The old fake-a-roo. Vick accumulated most of his yardage against Tampa Bay off that fake, and only one time did the defense nail him. Ronde Barber waited in place for him and threw him for a loss, but the next time Vick ran it again, they bit and he turned in another gain.
Fourteen times Vick kept it and hoofed it for 127 yards, beginning with the first play from scrimmage. Somehow, it seemed he was running for a lot more than that, but, of course, he’s not always moving forward. He’s in and out of traffic like a sports car darting between 18-wheelers. He completed 10 passes for just 97 yards. It seemed more than that, but then you factor in those 83 penalty yards and that cuts into the total.
Then you consider the score. All those yards, 306 on the ground — that breaks a Falcons record that has stood since 1972, before the Buccaneers had even been created. All those yards, you’d think, should have produced more points. Mainly, what it did was give Monte Kiffin, the Bucs’ Einstein of defense, a furrowed brow and a hurting.
“We look at it one play at a time,” Vick said, not necessarily contributing to the vernacular of sport. “It just shows you we can do it all [when you confuse a Monte Kiffin that bad].”
Having delivered his edict, Vick stepped away from the podium and was embraced by Blank, who is an affectionate boss. So, too, did Dunn get a hug after his appearance. You will see an awful lot of the owner in Falcons pictures, gathering up television time. This is along the order of Jerry Jones, which is contra to the man who preceded him as owner of the Cowboys. Clint Murchison, who could have bought and sold Jones, was a background guy. Rarely ever in camera range. Tex Schramm and Tom Landry were the faces of the Cowboys of those times.
The Falcons’ new uniforms? Well, I’ve seen worse, that undocumented shade of Oregon green, for instance. Most addling because the Tampa Bay players in white looked like the home team and I kept confusing numbers. And why all the talk about a new stadium, by the way? It boggles me. I consider the Georgia Dome the “new” stadium. There are surely no better sight lines in the NFL, and especially the view from the press box. Try that thing in St. Louis or Detroit. Since I don’t expect to be around for the next new one, that’s for another generation.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Falcons / NFL
Much ground to cover
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
See Michael run. See Michael run and run and run. See Warrick run. See Jerious run.
I went to a Falcons game the other day and a track meet broke out. The Falcons offense gained 382 yards, only 76 by air, which would naturally bring to mind all the jawing that came up as last season wound down to a sorry end. Should Michael Vick continue to be a freelance quarterback, or should he become like those old high top-shoes quarterbacks who dropped back, surveyed the field and delivered the pitch? Which would be like restricting Andruw Jones to bunting.
In a sense, Michael Vick is public property, belonging to anyone who owns a slice of Atlanta. And a richly rewarded piece of property he is. (What was it, $130 million that Arthur Blank budgeted him for? I have trouble following these sporting investments of people like Arthur Blank and George Steinbrenner.) Anyway, every citizen with a ticket to the Dome, and thousands without, feels it’s his/her right and privilege to an opinion about whether Vick should confine himself to the passing game and run only when desperate. Or otherwise.
In the final stages of the season past, his running dwindled down to a precious few yards. In fact, in the last game against Carolina, he had only one carry, and whatever it was, it was for zero yards. Now, is this a switch-a-roo? When Mike wants to, Mike runs. “It all depends on Mike,” the headline said.
It’s stuff lifted from college playbooks. Nothing fancy. Nothing new. Vick and Dunn line up in shotgun formation, Vick takes the snap, he gives it to Dunn, then takes it back and takes off, or leaves it in Dunn’s hands. The old fake-a-roo. Vick accumulated most of his yardage against Tampa Bay off that fake, and only one time did the defense nail him. Ronde Barber waited in place for him and threw him for a loss, but the next time Vick ran it again, they bit and he turned in another gain.
Fourteen times Vick kept it and hoofed it for 127 yards, beginning with the first play from scrimmage. Somehow, it seemed he was running for a lot more than that, but, of course, he’s not always moving forward. He’s in and out of traffic like a sports car darting between 18-wheelers. He completed 10 passes for just 97 yards. It seemed more than that, but then you factor in those 83 penalty yards and that cuts into the total.
Then you consider the score. All those yards, 306 on the ground — that breaks a Falcons record that has stood since 1972, before the Buccaneers had even been created. All those yards, you’d think, should have produced more points. Mainly, what it did was give Monte Kiffin, the Bucs’ Einstein of defense, a furrowed brow and a hurting.
“We look at it one play at a time,” Vick said, not necessarily contributing to the vernacular of sport. “It just shows you we can do it all [when you confuse a Monte Kiffin that bad].”
Having delivered his edict, Vick stepped away from the podium and was embraced by Blank, who is an affectionate boss. So, too, did Dunn get a hug after his appearance. You will see an awful lot of the owner in Falcons pictures, gathering up television time. This is along the order of Jerry Jones, which is contra to the man who preceded him as owner of the Cowboys. Clint Murchison, who could have bought and sold Jones, was a background guy. Rarely ever in camera range. Tex Schramm and Tom Landry were the faces of the Cowboys of those times.
The Falcons’ new uniforms? Well, I’ve seen worse, that undocumented shade of Oregon green, for instance. Most addling because the Tampa Bay players in white looked like the home team and I kept confusing numbers. And why all the talk about a new stadium, by the way? It boggles me. I consider the Georgia Dome the “new” stadium. There are surely no better sight lines in the NFL, and especially the view from the press box. Try that thing in St. Louis or Detroit. Since I don’t expect to be around for the next new one, that’s for another generation.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Furman Bisher
Tuesday Countdown: ESPN blind to LaRoche facts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: I liked ESPN a lot better when it revolutionized coverage of the NCAA tournament, gave us highlights of every game and didn’t mutate into 24 hours of screaming and mindless debates.
9: I’m now going to give you a little peak behind the scenes in the ESPN world, in light of Adam LaRoche’s irritation about the way the sports channel portrayed his use of medication for A.D.D. File it under, “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
8: A week ago, I was contacted by ESPN, asking if I would appear on “Outside The Lines,” to comment on how I felt about players being allowed to use drugs that are on the baseball’s banned list, and how things like Ritalin fit into the category of performance-enhancing drugs. Initially, I balked.
7: I was told the story was linked to LaRoche’s admitted use of medication and the impact on his statistics. The first thing I did was contact our Braves writer, David O’Brien, to confirm the veracity of all I had been told by ESPN. In short, David relayed what LaRoche had said previously: That he couldn’t be certain how much his improvement at the plate could be attributed to medication or the simple fact that he was now playing every day. The two started at the same time.
6: Some background: LaRoche was diagnosed with A.D.D. in high school. He tried Ritalin one year in winter ball and hated it. It made him jittery. He only started using it during this season because he found his mind drifting to thoughts of hunting while he was playing first base. So he decided to try medication again, but this time in smaller doses.
5: So, back to ESPN. Before scheduling me to appear, a producer said he had to know what my opinion was. I told him that I thought throwing prescription medication like Ritalin into the same category as performance-enhancing drugs like steroids and HGH was lame, especially if an athlete has a medical condition - like A.D.D.
4: The next day, I received an e-mail saying my appearance wasn’t needed.
3: OK, full disclosure: I didn’t watch the special the other day so I can’t sit here and bash the entire production. But judging from media accounts and LaRoche’s reaction, it appeared to pin LaRoche’s statistical rise exclusively to Ritalin. It should be noted that the player had agreed to be interviewed with ESPN weeks ago only because he wanted to get out the message of kids living with attention deficit disorder.
2: None of this is to suggest that adults - including athletes - aren’t obtaining prescription medication on false pretenses. We’ve all heard the stories. It’s also probable that Ritalin and the like is helping baseball players who believe they’ve lost an edge since the league banned amphetamines. But to penalize an athlete who has been diagnosed with a condition and is taking prescription medication - which may or may not have anything to do with his batting average going up 20 points - borders on absurd.
1: A.D.D. is a medical condition. Medication corrects that condition, just as glasses correct blurry vision. I suppose a case could be made that glasses and contact lenses are performance-enhancing. Maybe we should ban them, too.
Permalink | Comments (47) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
