AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > September > 22 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USStill got the T-shirt from Tech’s last win at Va.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Let’s look at it this way, not as a column but a letter to dear friends. There’s just too much out there today to settle on one thing.
So, Dear Y’all:
• A lot of you weren’t around when Scott Sisson of Georgia Tech kicked the field goal that beat Virginia in 1990. Charlottesville was alive with football fervor that day, Virginia ranked No. 1 for the third consecutive week — in the only season the Cavaliers have ever been ranked that high. The day was simply lush with sunshine and anticipation. Rich Murray, the UVA press guy, presented us with T-shirts that read, “I Was There When The Press Box Overflowed, Nov. 3, 1990,” and I still have mine. Sleep in it sometimes. Sweet memory.
• Alabama has come alive with anticipation of a revival of the old days when championships flowed into Tuscaloosa like a leaky beer tap. What I like most about it is that Wallace Wade finally is remembered as the man who started it all back in 1925. He was a genuinely fine man who took time for young fellows who needed his counsel. Most of all, he should be saluted as the only coach who both played in the Rose Bowl (a guard at Brown in 1916 with the great Fritz Pollard), then later took two teams to Pasadena as coach, Alabama and Duke.
• So Larry Munson takes a day off, and the Bulldog Nation goes into a state of mourning. Doesn’t everybody take a holiday now and then? Well, let me tell you how it is, as one who grew up deep in rurality and lived by the radio. Yeah, television is great, but there’s nothing like the friendship you develop under the influence of a radio voice. Take Pete Van Wieren and Skip Caray with the Braves. Radio voices are like next-door neighbors. They speak, they’re talking to you. It’s personal. Television can never have that kind of private connection, especially with all those busybodies butting in from the sideline. Hope you enjoyed Scott Howard, now that you know why all the fuss about Larry Munson’s day off.
• Tommy Barnes had been lingering on the brink for months, and now he’s gone, and with him goes an era of amateur golf. He was included in the foursome of Bobby Jones’ last round before surgery felled Jones. He was one of the protectors of old East Lake, helped keep it afloat until Tom Cousins could move in. He was the amateur’s amateur, as Stan Awtrey depicted him in his lovely story this week. But lest it be forgotten, for one day he was a pro. After finishing the Masters in 1950, he was talked into taking the job as head pro at a club in Miami. He never reported for work. When morning came, a light flashed on in his head. He didn’t want to be a pro. He called his would-be employers and bailed out. The purity of golf prevailed. He was the most enjoyable man I ever played golf with, only one who kept talking on his own swing.
• This won’t take long. I see that the Giants have fired Barry Bonds, though it may be viewed differently in some corners. Thing is, he is gone for now, and may it turn out to be that he is gone from baseball forever.
• Well, I guess the Braves’ race is over, though chances of playing a hand in the postseason were already pretty slim. When they lost to Milwaukee with Tim Hudson, the last train left the station. They just about had to sweep the Brewers, then the Phillies to set them up for the final series with Houston with any chance at all. They’ll watch from the sideline while the Mets and Phillies slug it out among themselves. Braves probably had no hope of passing the Padres, anyway. They’ve had to survive some strange player moves this season, but one glowing one was the farewell to Bob Wickman. They still hold on to one all-time record: Managerial ejections, something Bobby Cox is not proud of, but he wouldn’t take any of them back. That may be the longest losing streak in baseball.
(signed) Yours truly, Me
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Comments
By Rmwreck
September 22, 2007 9:55 PM | Link to this
Furman, thanks for the great article. I remember when Sisson kicked the field goal - what a football game and season!
By Big Al
September 23, 2007 9:31 AM | Link to this
I agree with you about the Giants finally firing Barry Bonds. He would have been gone five years ago if it had not been for the chemical enhancement.
You are probably wrong about him being gone for good. Unfortunately he will probably be picked up by an American League team as a designated hitter. Then ESPN can continue to fill us full of Barry Bond bull.