AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > April > 28
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Anderson inspired by family’s success
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Flowery Branch — It was a celebration for an athlete, a celebration for family and friends, and yes, a celebration for the senses.
A cellphone rings in a hotel penthouse in Little Rock, Ark. Many in the room can’t hear it. Jamaal Anderson answers, smiles and listens.
He turns to his mother and, in sign language, relays: “It’s the Falcons.”
Karen Anderson turns to her husband, Glenn. She signs, “It’s the Falcons.”
Word spreads on the top floor of the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Ark. Some hear the NFL commissioner make the ensuing announcement on television. Others read the closed captioning. Soon, there is a convergence of all forms of celebration by 150 relatives and friends — one-third of whom are deaf.
Some yell. Some sign. Many laugh, or cry, or both.
“It was unreal — the whole top floor exploded,” Karen Anderson said later by phone. “It was phenomenal. Everybody was here. We had everybody. A mixture of black people, white people, purple, gray. We had people with disabilities. We had jocks. We had all cultures, all people. This means so much for everybody.”
This is the NFL draft. It would be foolish to declare early how this turns out. These are young people making big money for the first time in their life. These are young athletes with that most uncertain of qualities called “potential.” These are young people — period.
But know this: If Jamaal Anderson does not make the Falcons look very good, it won’t be for some of the pitfalls that derail so many players. It won’t be because of cockiness or a poor work ethic or a lack of perspective.
When a kid labors about whether to turn pro and make millions of dollars, or go back to school — that’s a good sign.
When an athlete shows the mental toughness and athletic ability to make such an atypical position change from flanker (his primary position in high school) to defensive end (at Arkansas), it bodes well for what’s to come.
When a young man grows up under the same roof as a man, his father, who proves to be the ultimate example of resolve and determination, he won’t allow himself to quit. Ever.
Glenn Anderson, Jamaal’s father, has a Ph.D. from NYU. He’s also deaf — the first deaf African-American to earn a doctorate. He teaches at Arkansas and works at the university’s Research and Training Center for the deaf and hard of hearing.
It follows that Glenn Anderson has been an inspiration not only to his own family but the deaf community. He lost his hearing at the age of 6 when he was given an experimental medication for pneumonia. But that didn’t stop him succeeding in school and becoming a high school basketball star in Chicago.
We need not wonder where Jamaal gets his work ethic. We need not wonder how a defensive end, who early in the season graded out as a second-rounder, saw his draft stock rocket late in the coming months.
Anderson was not the Falcons’ first choice for their first pick. But Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams, LSU free safety LaRon Landry, Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson — they were all gone by the time the Falcons’ turn came at No. 8.
The Calvin Johnson rumors? A pipe dream, created by those blind to the obvious holes on this roster. “We knew how important the draft was,” president and general manager Rich McKay said. “It wasn’t one where we were going to mortgage the future for [with a trade].”
But they should be happy with who they got. Anderson is a rarity, a defensive end (to replace Patrick Kerney) who can both bring pressure from the left side and defend the run.
“That’s what excited us so much about him,” coach Bobby Petrino said.
It was Petrino who phoned Anderson of his impending selection Saturday. Anderson’s response: “Are you really picking me?”
So much for ego.
Word spread. The room erupted. Karen Anderson had spoken for weeks about the possibility of her son playing in Atlanta. Among her close friends here: Diane Johnson, the mother of the Hawks’ Joe Johnson.
Glenn Anderson also celebrated, with friends in the room and in cyberspace.
“The deaf community knew what was going on,” Karen said. “His BlackBerry was vibrating all day.”
A celebration to hear, to see, to feel. We can’t know what happens next. But some signs can’t be ignored.
Permalink | Comments (57) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Aaron doesn’t owe Bonds a thing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
This column probably could say all that need be said with one sentence: Henry Aaron is in no way obligated to join in the choir of authentication of Barry Bonds, should Bonds hit his 756th home run — you’ll note I didn’t use the term “break Aaron’s home run record” — send him a nice message and keep on selling those cars.
This subject is brought about by a column that came out of Detroit the other day. “Hank Aaron is a coward,” it was written. The theme was that Aaron owes it to Bonds to be there when Bonds passes Aaron in the home run book. That it is his duty. That he owes it to baseball. And that by not doing so, he gives a cowardly impression.
Aaron did what he did with what nature gave him. He was as natural a hitter as ever lived. “I don’t try to hit home runs,” he said, while we were putting together his book — cleverly titled “Aaron” — “I just try to hit the ball and if it leaves the park, fine.”
As he approached Babe Ruth’s record of 714, he did admit that he was swinging for the fences. “I wasn’t trying to hit singles,” he said.
Bonds is carrying more baggage — make that garbage — than a city dump. They say he has never failed a drug test, but when has he had one? What about the close ties he has to those shady characters working with steriods in the San Francisco area? At least one convicted and served time. Something has bothered me a great deal since the day that Gary Sheffield joined the Braves, just passing through. “I spent the off-season training with Barry Bonds,” he said at his press conference.
From Florida to California to spend training time with Barry Bonds? Is Bonds some kind of training guru? Never did make sense, but he was never called on it.
Aaron once admitted he had tinkered with an “outside substance.” He took one “greenie” one time and that was enough.
“I tried those things one time in my life. One pill,” he said. “We were playing in St. Louis, and you know how hot it gets there. I thought just one pill might pep me up one hot afternoon. I went out for batting practice. I started feeling so bad I thought I was having a heart attack.”
In the heat of the record pursuit, Aaron sufffered through some harsh personal times. He never spoke of it until he neared the end of the book, the “hate” mail he was getting, “threatening me, my family and warning me not to hit any more home runs.” Even his daughter, a student at Fisk University in Tennessee, was the target of threatening mail. On top of all that, he went through the agony of a divorce. Only time he was unburdened was when he stood at the plate with a bat in his hands.
The proposal that he should honor Bonds by appearing when Bonds celebrates his personal moment has received no wave of support. Even the man for whom Aaron hit his last home run, Bud Selig, then owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, now the commissioner, apparently isn’t making plans to be there. Why celebrate a moment created under false pretenses? Besides, remember, Bowie Kuhn never showed up when Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record in Atlanta. Nor did Willie Mays show up when Aaron broke Mays’ personal home run record.
Through it all, Aaron weathered the storm gracefully. And some of the cross-examining he went through defied reason. Amid the hundreds of questions tossed his way, he had to field one from some bloke that hit the wall. “What have you done for baseball?” the guy asked.
Aaron looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“When Babe Ruth hit his home runs he saved baseball. He gave it a new face. What have you done?”
Aaron pondered briefly, then said, “Maybe what I’ve done is create some new fans for baseball. At first, there was a lot of mail from older people who didn’t want me to break Babe Ruth’s record. The younger generation then began to come to my support. I think they wanted to relate to me, to have the record set in their time. That’s about all I can say I’ve done for baseball, I guess.”
Wherever, whenever Bonds hits his tainted home run, I trust that Henry Aaron will be doing business as usual, in his office, not at the ballpark. What’s cowardly about that? Send him a telegram. Collect.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
