AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > October > 25
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Buzz missing for Georgia-Florida
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Athens — It turns out there is an upside to losing to Vanderbilt. There is an upside to finding Colorado’s pulse and spreading hope in Starkville.
There is an upside to an illogical quarterback rotation going from Joe to Matthew to the other Joe back to the first Joe and back to Matthew. (Greene-Shockley was so much simpler.)
Because when it seems so obvious that Georgia can’t beat Florida this week, nobody sits back and laments that Georgia can’t beat Florida any week. Feel better now?
Question: Has there ever been such a lack of buzz for a game in Jacksonville?
The biggest story line this week hasn’t been about the fact that the Gators have won 14 of 16 since 1990, when Steve Spurrier took over and Athens fell like Pompeii. Rather, this week has been highlighted by the ill-fated attempt of two school presidents to remove any association this game might possibly have with drinking and debauchery, as evidenced by the fact that everybody in Jacksonville looks like an olive swimming in a martini glass.
Had expectations been met this season, Georgia would be 8-0 going into this game with a chance to lock down another SEC title-game appearance. But the Bulldogs are 6-2, with one less division loss than Kentucky.
Nobody is talking about Florida or rankings or the BCS. They’re thinking, “Oh, yea, Chick-fil-A.” Fear the nugget.
Coach Mark Richt started a news conference this week with: “It is nice to be here the week after a victory.” Rich Brooks may sue for copyright.
When a football team has played at least five bad games consecutively, logic dictates it’s not underachieving. It’s merely ‘chieving. But even between all of the woe-is-us ramblings this week, Richt said this team should be better. You decide if that’s a good thing.
“I definitely know we’re not playing up to our potential,” he said. “But potential just means you haven’t done anything yet.
“It’s been more of a consistency thing than anything else. At times you can take any one of our receivers and say, ‘Wow, look at that play.’ Or a safety makes a tackle, or a linebacker. But it hasn’t been there on a consistent basis to be a legitimate contender in this league. Statistically we’re not out of the race by any means. But this week is pivotal.”
Well, not really. For Georgia to become relevant again in the SEC East, Florida and Tennessee would have to collapse. That isn’t likely.
But think of how this is setting up: After all of those years of Spurrier spilling grape juice on the nice clean rug, imagine the irony if the Bulldogs dump on Florida’s season. Michael Adams might even host a cocktail party.
Said Richt, “We’ve gone into every game since I’ve been here believing we can win, and I don’t think that’s gonna change.”
In truth, Georgia’s best hope rests with quarterback Matthew Stafford. He has both the arm and the needed ignorance. His talent this season has been punctured by freshman mistakes and by Richt’s weekly changes at the position. Had Stafford been starting from the outset this season, his development probably would be further along by now. That said, he obviously has the ability and performed in a pressure situation at South Carolina early this season.
Stafford also has the lack of history on his side. It’s good to be a dumb freshman sometimes. To Stafford, Florida might as well be South Carolina. The other day, he was asked when he first became aware that Florida had won 14 of the past 16 meetings with Georgia.
“Just now,” he said.
So you never heard anything about Florida’s dominance in this rivalry?
“Not really.”
Can that help?
“Sure it can. We talk about that stuff all the time. It doesn’t matter what happened last year.”
Or this year? Don’t tell that to oddsmakers. Florida is on the fat side of a 14-point spread. That would explain the lack of buildup, and maybe the reason to drink.
Permalink | Comments (124) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, UGA / SEC
Stern force-feeds NBA players
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
When it comes to how an NBA basketball should feel, whose opinion should you value more – David Stern, the sneaker-sized commissioner who never played in the league, or Shaquille O’Neal and the majority of his peers who dribbled their way to stardom?
This is a tough one, but …
I’ll take the players.
In case you haven’t heard, the NBA has decided to switch the material of its game balls for the first time in 35 years and for only the second time in 60 years. Why? Well, each of the old leather balls was different, and Stern likes to say that the new balls will be exactly alike due to their microfiber composition.
To which O’Neal and his peers respond with a collective, “So what?”
Then there is Stern boasting about how the new balls will give players a better grip and feel. The players say the new ball actually is more slippery than the old ball, especially when you begin to sweat.
It doesn’t matter what the players say or think, though. Stern said the NBA will use the new balls this season regardless.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
