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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Falcons show smudges at the edges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The world was coming to an end. You could tell by the tone of the voices. You could tell by the volume of distress that gushed out of the airwaves. It was like an overwhelming surge of gloom. There was no way back. The Falcons had not only lost four games in a row, their quarterback had had a brain cramp and employed one of the fingers he uses to throw passes to tell the fans to kiss his posterior. Once they cheered him vociferously. Now they booed him. How dare they!
In the swirling scene of this mirage — it couldn’t be real — stood the stalwart, sartorially proper figure of Arthur Blank. He owns the team. Bought it five years ago, never expecting to face such a roiling resurgence as this. You’d never have seen such an uprising as this at Home Depot, where his team never lost a game. Look at his old partner, Bernie Marcus. He took his money and gave the city an aquarium, and you’d never hear any such revolt as this from happy fish, floating around in their luxurious glass house.
Remember what a gregarious arrival Blank made? This was to be the team of the people. He moved in with an impressive flourish, his new style of management polished to a glistening shine. He made his presence felt. He was visible everywhere, on the screen in the Georgia Dome admonishing his employees to make the fans feel like this was home, as if they were in their own parlor. It was an impressive show of a compassionate management. That was before the bargain ticket prices had been raised. That would come later.
The message came on strong later when the new training complex opened at Flowery Branch. There’s a message board out there on which is written, “If you are not here to win a championship, you are in the wrong place.”
There’s another that reads, “There is no finish line,” whatever that means. You’re never through till the job is done, or something like that, I’d guess.
There’s another code name that I’ve really never come close to getting: “The Closer.” That’s a term of affection for the Bossman, I read. Surely not an applicant for a place in the Braves bullpen.
All of this was supposed to amalgamate into the finished product that Arthur Blank envisioned, a football team emerging from years in a doldrum into one to be feared. It all was being skillfully crafted by a man whose enterprise had been a glorious success in merchandising.
Selling football is another form of merchandising, but the results are more sudden. You ride the crest when you win, but losing is not to be tolerated. Fans had sloshed patiently through dreary years because they expected little else. But when they expect winning, with this vast investment in a $130 million quarterback and an expensive supporting cast — you know, “If you’re not here to win a championship, etc.” — patience runs thin.
The new owner fires the old coach, abruptly. He brings in a new one with an established name and an NFL pedigree, Jim Mora, who refuses to be “junior.” OK, have it his way, but it did become confusing last week when one Jim Mora approved of the label of “coach-killer” for Michael Vick. That’s when the younger Jim would have been more comfortable being known, at least, as “Jimmy.”
Anyway, here they are. Right back in the old Falcons slough. Losers again. Warrick Dunn, strangely, has lost his effectiveness carrying the ball. Vick, with his “cannon of an arm,” is throwing cannon shots that receivers can’t handle. (Not to forgive Roddy White for that changeup he booted Sunday.) Then exit stage left, Vick with the middle finger in the air, bush league stuff for a professional. Not once, but twice. Then a hastily prepared apology, a dead giveaway by the hand of a “ghost writer.”
It shouldn’t mean that the season is out of control, but this whole debacle does address itself, not to Arthur Blank — who should remove himself from the sideline — but to the guys who deal with the nuts and bolts of such an operation:
Rich McKay, who came here after the coach had already been hired; and Jim Mora, like it or not, upon whom it is now incumbent that, no matter how rough the water gets, he can handle the storm. This, I’d guess, is last call.
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Regrets? Too many to mention
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN
10: Sunday is give-a-finger-to-the-Falcons day. Feel free to flip off the TV.
9: Really, I don’t believe Michael Vick is a bad person, in the all-fans-can-just-kiss-my-butt sense. I do believe he wants to win. I do believe he can win. He has proven that. But receivers’ drops, pass protection problems and questionable play-calling notwithstanding, the kid still acts like a kid sometimes. He needs to grow up.
8: Quarterbacks are leaders. Maybe it’s something they say. Maybe it’s the way they act. That’s not the way to act.
7: And finally, to fans: Buying a ticket gives you the right to be as much of a drunk idiot as you want to be.
6: After only four months of marriage, was there something Pam Anderson and Kid Rock actually found out about each other that they didn’t already know? I mean, did Kid Rock wake up one morning and think, “My God! She’s a geranium!” Did Pammy expect that somebody named Kid Rock might be a poet, a nuclear physicist, or possibly have political ambitions? Or did he just leave the toilet seat up?
5: Career-decision of the day: Burger-flipper or Alabama coach. Hmmm.
4: Among the names that have been thrown against the wall as Mike Shula’s replacement: Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, Jim Grobe. Are you kidding me? The Alabama program has been little more than a punching bag for a long time. It’s in the bottom half of the SEC. It’s in the bottom half of the state of Alabama. Maybe the program can do better than a Lesser Shula - but not by much.
3: Michael Irvin cracks a joke about Tony Romo being such a great athlete that he must, in so many words, have slave blood in him. I know. Locker room humor. I get that. But here’s the question: Why is it Michael Irvin keeps his ESPN job when you know — I mean, KNOW — that any white guy saying that would’ve been tossed out? And do you know who would’ve been the first guy calling for the white broadcaster’s firing? Michael Irvin.
2: You, the Georgia Tech fan: Starting 9-2 easily exceeded your expectations. So here’s the question: If the Jackets lose to Wake in the ACC title game after losing to Georgia, how do you feel about this season - regardless of whatever second-tier bowl you end up in?
1: You, the Georgia Tech fan: Put the finger away.
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