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Thursday, October 25, 2007
Bulldogs could use a good excuse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Before unveiling this week’s Stunning Money Back Guaranteed Willie Martinez-Crafted Georgia-Florida Upset And Booze-Free Experience — how many lies can you spot in that sentence? — we have a small business update for you:
A group of enterprising students in Oklahoma have started “The Excused Absence Network.” For $25 you can buy an official-looking note to get out of school or work or, I suppose, annual meetings and potential humiliating experiences with your conference rival.
These notes can be made to look like they came from a doctor or lawyer or jury summons, and I would assume are discounted if bought in bulk. Say, for a roster of 90.
“Millions of Americans work dead-end jobs, and sometimes they just need a day off,” co-founder John Liddell said. “People are going to lie anyway.”
Which leads me to this week’s Georgia-Florida game.
Florida has no chance.
OK. I’m lying. But I’ve got this really cool note that states: “I hereby crown Willie Martinez as the supreme being of all defensive coordinators, with an easy grace, impish grin and Patton-like forethought. Signed, The Wizard.”
Really, I’m sure Georgia has played defense at some point. But I’m only 48 years old and I just can’t remember back that far.
The Dogs can score on Florida. Won’t matter. Their defense can’t stop a ping-pong ball, let alone a team averaging more than 40 points per game. Tim Tebow has a passer rating of 177.5, which, in layman’s terms, means chicks dig him.
The line says Florida by 9. I’m assuming you’re used to this by now.
The Gators have won 15 of the past 17 meetings. Feel a cold coming on?
Florida. Again. But take the Dogs and 9.
Pros and Cons
Falcons: Bobby Petrino took advantage of the bye week to make another move, cutting general manager Rich McKay. Petrino declined to comment on the move beyond a brief statement, which was the same statement he released for the Grady Jackson release, which was: “This is a football decision.” On a related note, McKay attended a race for geldings at Santa Anita.
Lunch at Patriots: New England has won seven games by an average score of 40-17. Some wise guy noted this week that the last time Tom Brady faced Washington, he threw three interceptions and the Patriots lost. Yes, well, should this game also take place in an alternate universe, then I guess there’s something to worry about. Otherwise: Pats cover 16.
Texans at Chargers: An aside to Schaub-aholics: In the last five games, your boy has two touchdowns, four interceptions, seven fumbles and 10 sacks. So, at least the Falcons have that going for them. Displaced Bolts cover.
Colts at Panthers: Carolina coach John Fox won’t say whether David Carr or Vinny Testaverde is starting. Like it matters. Punt the 6 1/2, Colts cover.
Dolphins-Giants (Lon-don): Zach Thomas got a concussion in a car accident and will not play. Now, if the rest of the Dolphins can get hit on the head and wake up as somebody else, then they’ve got a shot. Otherwise, they’re toast. Oh-and-16 still alive! Giants cover 9 1/2.
Packers at Broncos: Brett Favre threw eight TD passes in the first four games, but one in two since. For the record, I really don’t care about him personally. But he’s killing my Fantasy League team. Broncos cover 3.
Semi-Pros
Mortal at Tennessee: Steve Spurrier lost to Vanderbilt. His offense didn’t score a touchdown for the first time in 19 games. He can’t even look at himself in the mirror. OK, that one I made up. South Carolina’s getting three in Knoxville. Won’t even need ‘em. Upset watch: Roosters over Vowels.
Old Ms. at Auburn: I realize Al Borges has this great rep as an offensive coordinator. But did you know that other than the New Mexico State game, Auburn has scored only one third-quarter touchdown, after coaches generally make halftime adjustments? Fortunately, when you’re playing against the worst defense in the conference, you don’t need to adjust. You just need to breathe. Tigers cover the 17.
Missy State at Kentucky: There have been 566 points scored in Kentucky’s eight games this season (nearly 71 per game). I’m not sure how that factors into bowl projections, but safe to say Rich Brooks’ days as a defensive coordinator are over. Onward: ‘Cats cover 13 1/2.
Duke at FSU: The Blue Devils are 0-4 in conference but figure this is the most winnable game on the schedule. Seriously: Flawed State is 1-3 (4-3) and the next four weeks read: Boston College, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Florida. Lose to Duke and Bobby Bowden might just want to forget that whole I’ll-outlast-JoePa thing. ‘Noles win but take Duke and 17.
Almost perfect
Last week: 7-3 straight up, 6-3-1 against the line.
Bottom line: 50-32 straight up, 37-40-5 against the line.
W.P. Bookclub: Buy three selections and win a copy of DeAngelo Hall’s autobiography, “Never An Unspoken Thought.”
Permalink | Comments (125) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Falcons becoming Petrino’s team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
This much seems clear: The head coach plans to be here for the long haul, and he’s consolidating his power with every week. No longer the team Michael Vick left or the team Rich McKay assembled, this is becoming Bobby Petrino’s team.
The Falcons cut Grady Jackson for no compelling reason other than to show there are no indispensables on a 1-6 club, least of all a 34-year-old tackle who weighs upwards of 350 pounds. On cue, DeAngelo Hall ripped Petrino, same as Alge Crumpler had ripped him earlier. “They can cut me, too,” Hall harrumphed, and if I were him I wouldn’t give anybody any ideas. I get the feeling Petrino isn’t a man to cross. I also get the feeling he’s the man who matters most in Flowery Branch.
When was the last time McKay was quoted on anything? When have we seen or heard so little from the usually out-front (and player-friendly) Arthur Blank? There seems a concerted effort that management speak with one voice, and that voice is now the head coach’s.
Petrino doesn’t care about being anyone’s pal. He’s here to coach football. If certain Falcons can’t handle that, they need to go work somewhere else. More from Hall: “It’s kind of hard for other guys to play 100 percent … knowing that everybody’s not on board, from the front office on down.”
And that’s the point: The belief here is that Petrino essentially is the front office. Would McKay have handed Ovie Mughelli the fattest contract awarded a fullback had Petrino not demanded it? Would the Falcons have signed Byron Leftwich without a push from Petrino?
The belief here is that Hall and his fellow dissidents will be playing elsewhere next season. And Petrino won’t be coaching at Auburn or at LSU or at any other rumored bail-out destination; he’ll be coaching the Falcons, and they’ll be more to his liking.
Permalink | Comments (264) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Mark Bradley
Red Sox get used to role of favorite
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Boston — Three years ago, they wondered if they would ever win another World Series. Now, it seems like they can’t do anything do anything wrong. They have made the unlikely evolution from a 86-year losers to lovable self-proclaimed “idiots” to postseason bullies.
The Boston Red Sox came into this World Series as heavy favorites over the Colorado Rockies. It’s a tag Boston manager Terry Francona didn’t want to hear about the past few days, if only because he learned first-hand in 2004 about improbable postseason results.
But after one game, has any World Series looked like more of a slam dunk?
The Red Sox won 13-1.
At last count.
“I don’t think I paid any attention [to projections] before, and I probably won’t now,” Francona said after the game.
Hard to believe, but Boston trailed Cleveland 3-1 in the ALCS. Since then, the Red Sox have won four straight by a combined score of 43-6. There comes a point when you expect this. They opened the Series by validating all of the mismatch projections that Francona and some of his players have tried to smother.
“I don’t care about the perception,” he said the other day. “Just to make this really clear, if I were betting on it, I would care. I’m not.”
Certainly seems like it would’ve been a safe investment. Boston just destroyed a Colorado team that had won 10 straight and 21 out of 22.
“It can change in a heartbeat,” Kevin Youkilis said.
Yes. Assuming the Rockies still have one.
Every player in the Sox lineup reached base at least once. All but one scored. All but one drove in a run. It was a well-balanced assault.
Josh Beckett, the starting pitcher, did something that hadn’t been done in a World Series game since Sandy Koufax in 1963: He struck out the first four batters. He allowed one run in seven innings and struck out nine, and this postseason now reads like a Koufax Hall of Fame induction speech: 4-0 with a 1.20 earned run average, 35 strikeouts, two walks.
This counts as only one game. The Rockies can keep telling themselves that. But right now Boston’s not looking real beatable. Or even touchable.
One team is a centerpiece, the other background noise. The Red Sox have the stars and the glitz. Their payroll ($143 million) nearly triples that of the Rockies ($54.4 million). The starting pitching seems laughingly tilted: Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Jeff Francis, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Fogg (or: Who, What, Where).
Game 1 pitching summary: Perception equaled reality.
Three of the first four Boston batters hit, then scored. Francis lasted only four innings, and then was carried back to the clubhouse by medics. He allowed six runs on 10 hits. He threw 103 pitches, which isn’t easy to do in only four innings.
It was 3-0 after the first, 6-1 after the fourth and 13-1 after the fifth (a seven-run inning that included three straight bases-loaded walks).
The Boston Globe broke down how the teams matched up in Wednesday’s newspaper. The Rockies were given the advantage in four of 10 categories. But two of those were “intangibles” and “karma.” I’m guessing karma didn’t make the trip.
“One of the strengths of this team is our confidence hasn’t been shaken by the results of a game,” said manager Clint Hurdle. But the Rockies will have to be twisted steel to not be shaken by this.
Maybe it was the layoff. The Rockies swept Philadelphia and Arizona in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They were off for eight days. Maybe they liked it so much that they decided to stretch it to nine.
The Rockies had claimed they were loose, thanks to playing a couple of “simulated” games. Those games must have been played on Xbox.
Relative to the Red Sox, most consider the Rockies are nameless, faceless and so far hopeless. Is that unfair? Possibly. But Colorado looked overmatched from the outset.
And the Red Sox? They looked like favorites.
It’s a new suit. But they wear it well.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
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