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November 2007
Nice-guy Harrington deserves nicer fate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Surely Joey Harrington isn’t as into sunshine and balloons in private as he is in public. Given that he sits among the NFL leaders in getting smacked around on and off the field as a quarterback, you just know he yells while punching and kicking things when nobody is looking.
Well, he should. Instead, he answered quickly by his Falcons locker in Flowery Branch, “You know, I don’t.” Then Harrington paused, before ending the silence with a chuckle and adding, “I don’t, but other people do.”
People such as his relatives, his friends, anybody who realizes that nobody deserves all of this. Not even Harrington, who hasn’t exactly been a Brett Favre clone during his six seasons in the league. Heading into the Falcons’ game today against the Rams in St. Louis, Harrington’s record is 26-49 as an NFL starter, and his passer rating this season is 79.7 to Favre’s 97.9.
Mediocrity comes to mind, or even something worse. That said, no professional athlete is more eternally pleasant than Harrington, a noted philanthropist, which makes those among the compassionate sigh when they consider this: Harrington has been a human yo-yo during his first season with the 3-8 Falcons. He’s gone from starter to backup to starter to backup to however you describe his current role.
Not only that, Falcons coach Bobby Petrino sliced Harrington so delicately earlier this season that Harrington didn’t even know he was bleeding. It began when Petrino told the media that Harrington was creating a slew of sacks by holding the ball too long. A stunned Harrington, suggesting that he was hearing the news for the first time, used soft tones to disagree with his boss, before he covered his wound and said he’d just try harder.
Then there was that Nashville goofiness, when Harrington was yanked in the fourth quarter of a close game against the Tennessee Titans for Byron Leftwich, the backup turned starter turned backup turned starter turned however you describe his current role.
Another thing: Once, when Harrington went from starter to backup, he didn’t discover as much until he was informed by an AJC reporter.
Remember, too, that Harrington is among the victims of Michael Vick’s dogfighting issues. Harrington was acquired to play behind No. 7, but with Vick heading to prison, Harrington is left to suffer through his own form of incarceration. It’s called trying to make sense out of confusion.
“The thing I’ve realized is that you control the things that you can control,” said Harrington, 29, who has learned as much, partly from a sports psychologist, but mostly through his NFL struggles since the Detroit Lions made Harrington the draft’s No. 3 pick overall in 2002.
Added Harrington, “It sounds really simple and almost too basic, but if I go home and stew on what I think should be happening or focus on something that I can’t control, it takes my focus away from doing my job. It eats at you. It consumes you. And I’ve been through all of this before.”
No way, dude. Maybe Harrington experienced that yo-yo thing after underwhelming stints with the Lions and later the Miami Dolphins. Perhaps he had coaches telling reporters one thing and him another or nothing. But what about that loud and lengthy burst of hypocrisy last month from those at the Georgia Dome? Many who clamored in September and October for Leftwich to replace Harrington were at that November game against Tampa Bay hissing at Leftwich and chanting, “Joey, Joey, Joey.”
Harrington nodded, saying, “You know, we were playing the Falcons on Thanksgiving during my fourth year in Detroit. I’d been struggling, and Jeff Garcia was getting healthy. They started chanting for Jeff, and Jeff went in and played for three or four games. Then in Week 14, we played the Bengals, and Jeff was struggling, and they started chanting for me. I’ve learned how fickle this business can be.”
Something else Harrington has learned, and that is professionalism. “My commitment is to this team, no matter what I may go through personally,” he said, making the compassionate wish to pull for the guy even more.
Permalink | | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
Petrino’s plan not shutting his door
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The sun was shining the other day in Flowery Branch. A cool breeze blew across the field. Bobby Petrino smiled, laughed. Such an idyllic setting for a football team.
It was almost easy to forget the Falcons were 3-8, Petrino’s résumé was on fire and rumors were flowing of his departure again.
He denies he’s leaving. Strongly. Sort of.
Why can’t coaches just say, “I absolutely guarantee I will be back next season”? Then everybody will just leave them alone. And if they don’t come back, well, they’re just Nick Saban.
The problem with Petrino is job history. It suggests he drives a moving van to work. He denied departures before, and then left. He signed a long extension with Louisville and within days had discussions with Auburn and LSU, always in the shadows. He might be the greatest coach in the world. But there comes a point when your word loses credibility.
When asked about possible interest in returning to the college ranks, Petrino said: “My plans are to be here, there’s no question about that. I get asked the same question every day, and that’s my plan. I think I have answered it.”
Let me take this opportunity to thank the Journal-Constitution for employment and to reaffirm my plans are to continue working here. Now, should my phone ring, there is a chance my plans will change.
See how easy that was?
There are a number of reasons why Petrino would leave. There’s really only one why he would stay: ego.
I know, the money. Arthur Blank gave Petrino a five-year, $24 million contract. But if Petrino went back to college, he wouldn’t have to make a lifestyle change. No school could match his $4.8 million salary. (Alabama already has a coach.) But Arkansas has an opening. In big programs, you can slide Cadillacs, country-club memberships and instant endorsement deals under the door. Ancillary income for major college football coaches is off the charts. So this isn’t about finances.
If Petrino stays, it will be because he doesn’t want anybody writing: “He coached one year in the NFL and finished 5-11.”
Years from now, people will see only the record, not the circus that led up to it. While there’s no guarantee Petrino will be a success at the NFL level, no reasonable person could hold him responsible for the Falcons being 3-8. If Lombardi was on the sideline, they would still be 3-8.
Ten days after Petrino left Louisville for his “dream job,” Michael Vick was caught with a fake water bottle with a suspicious odor at the Miami airport. As it turned out, that would be the high point of Vick’s and Petrino’s offseasons.
Petrino never had a chance to work with his starting quarterback. His offensive line wasn’t good in the old blocking scheme, and it was logical to assume it would be undersized and even worse in the new one. The roster included several obvious personnel blunders on both sides of the ball, either from draft day or free agency.
Injury-wise, Petrino should’ve considered it foreshadowing when Rod Coleman suffered a torn quadriceps in April — while on a personal watercraft. The Falcons have placed 13 players on injured reserve this season. Street free agents flock to this team.
Petrino laughed when asked if NFL coaching has met his expectations.
“It’s been a little different than I thought it would be. We had different guys in [offseason workouts]. There’s been a lot of adjustments along the way, but I’ve enjoyed it.”
Enjoy?
“You enjoy the competition. You’ve got to get up every day and determine your own attitude.”
Prozac doesn’t hurt, either.
Petrino has had to put out fires, from dogfighting, to swapping quarterbacks, to having DeAngelo Hall and Alge Crumpler criticize him publicly.
(Comment on the Vick fallout: “I probably underestimated how much tension the deal with Michael caused everybody.”)
He didn’t have to deal with a salary cap or pro-sized egos in college. He didn’t have a demanding high-profile owner to answer to. He was the only demanding high-profile figure in the program.
Why would Bobby Petrino leave?
Are you kidding?
“Given the fact we were 41-9 at Louisville, when jobs open up my name’s gonna be out there,” he said. “I understand that.”
It goes with the plan.
Permalink | Comments (50) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
In the BCS age, Dogs can dream
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
In the curious realm of college football, it’s not enough to be really good. It’s just as important to be really good at the right time.
LSU (in 2003) and Florida (in both 1996 and 2006) won national championships with one loss. Alas, poor Auburn went undefeated in 2004 and couldn’t nose into the title game. In 2002 Georgia lost one game and finished No. 3 in the BCS standings, barely denying Mark Richt’s best team the chance to play for the national championship.
“We could have that year,” Richt said this week, speaking of 2002. “But even if we’d been undefeated, I’m not sure we’d have gotten in the game ahead of Miami and Ohio State [who were likewise unbeaten].”
Now, however, there’s a chance the Bulldogs could play for the national title with two losses. Georgia is No. 4 in the BCS rankings, and two of the teams rated higher play today. If both lose, the Bulldogs could move up to No. 2. Or perhaps not.
LSU enters the SEC championship game having lost twice since Georgia last lost, but that didn’t keep Les Miles — he coaches the Tigers, if only for the moment — from staking a claim, however dubious. “The champions in that position should be allowed every opportunity to play in the most prestigious bowl and certainly be the highest ranked,” Miles said this week, taking a swipe at the Bulldogs, who can’t win their conference.
Should that matter? Said Richt: “The people who run the BCS have had the opportunity to say that you must be a conference champion to play for the national title, and for whatever reason they haven’t said that.”
Nebraska played for the national championship in 2001 despite losing to Colorado 62-36 in its regular-season finale and not even reaching the Big XII title game. Oklahoma stayed No. 1 in the BCS standings despite losing to Kansas State 35-7 in the 2003 Big XII title game. “Every team sets its goal to be conference champions,” Richt said. “That’s something you can control. The national championship you can’t control with certainty.”
Although LSU, it must be noted, could have. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 on two separate occasions but lost in overtime to Kentucky and Arkansas. Richt again: “I always think that if you lose a game, you don’t really have a gripe. If you go undefeated and don’t get in [the championship game], then that’s a shame.”
That high-minded sentiment notwithstanding, we should prepare for all manner of grousing if Missouri and West Virginia both lose. Should No. 7 LSU (provided it beats Tennessee, which it might not) jump all the way to No. 2? What about Oklahoma, which is No. 10 with two losses but would be able to claim a Big XII title and two victories over the current No. 1? What about Kansas, which is No. 5 and will finish with only one loss? And would Ohio State, which lost its next-to-last game, really deserve to be No. 1 not even a month later?
“The system is such that if you lose a game, it had better be early in the year,” said Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, whose Vols were undefeated when they took their national title in 1998. But then, presumably after considering recent events, Fulmer said: “With this crazy year, who knows what’s going to happen?”
Even Loquacious Les seemed at a loss Friday. He wouldn’t address his hot-button Michigan candidacy except to say he’d speak with Wolverine reps after today’s game. (Does that mean if the Tigers should reach the BCS title game, Miles might not be coaching them? And wouldn’t that only enhance their chances?) Of LSU and Georgia and their respective worthiness, he offered only this: “Beyond this game, I may be able to comment a little bit further.”
Until then, we leave the last word to Richt. Will he feel sheepish if Georgia becomes the first two-loss team to play for the national title?
“Heck, no,” he said. “I’d feel blessed.”
Permalink | Comments (88) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Ex-Tech QB sees the folly of playoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Whine, whine, whine, just because nobody really knows who is No. 1 among the big boys of college football. So, with Missouri looking no better than West Virginia or Ohio State, and with Georgia playing as well as anybody, and with Hawaii losing to nobody, that playoff-talk nonsense is going from mono to stereo again.
There is encouraging news, though. The number of folks among the enlightened when it comes to supporting the current Bowl Championship Series over the disaster that would be a playoff system has increased from at least two (me and former University of Georgia official Dick Bestwick) to three.
We welcome into our little club Joe Hamilton, the former quarterback whiz at Georgia Tech. He also played in the NFL and the Arena Football League, which means he has a better perspective than most on the rigors of an extended season. Among other horrors that would surface with a playoff system, ranging from the Mother of All Cheating Scandals to an epidemic of coaches getting fired each year for missing the playoffs or not prospering during them, Hamilton knows you would punt the “student” out of “student-athlete” forever.
Those obsessed with a playoff system couldn’t care less. They cover their ears when hearing the likes of, “Way more guys in college football go into the business world than the NFL.” Those were Hamilton’s words of wisdom. He had plenty while reflecting on his time as a multiple ACC- and national-award winner while leading the Yellow Jackets to a co-conference title in 1998. Even so, the academically capable but athletically focused Hamilton left Tech after four years without a degree.
“I mean, it’s already a challenge trying to balance sports with academics. Now throw in a playoff system, and you’ve just created a whole pot full of mess,” said Hamilton, who eventually returned to Tech for his diploma in August. “All [a playoff system] would do is cause guys to weigh their options even more. That’s more time in weight training, the meeting rooms and practices. Guys would be forced to say, ‘School or playoffs?’ When you get to that point, you won’t be getting the total student-athlete that you want to manage his time on and off the field.
“You also can’t tell me that a coach is still going to be looking out for a player’s best interest academically, not when that coach is close to a national championship and in the lead for his dream job.”
Makes sense. So does the realization that those wanting a playoff system are operating from a land of big lollipops, eternally bright skies and few, if any, controversies. That’s opposed to the truth, such as, what happens when the playoffs explode from eight teams to 32 to whatever, courtesy of inevitable greed? What happens to the many bowls without playoff games? And if they just fold, what happens to the athletics budgets of those teams who would have filled them?
What happens with all that money generated by this system?
“Is it one team take all? Do you spread the wealth around? How do you divide it up in your conference or to teams who never have a chance at making the playoffs?” Hamilton said. “There are so many discussion questions that won’t come up in just a general committee meeting. On the outside, this looks like a great idea. But when you sit down and think about it, it might not be able to get any better than this.”
It can’t. The BCS can use some tweaking every year, but that’s about it. And, yes, we know about the loudest of the knee-jerk comments from those wanting a playoff system at the highest level of college football: They’ve had a playoff system at those other levels for decades.
Hamilton laughed, saying, “How many times do you see a Division II or Division III team mentioned on SportsCenter? The revenue is just not the same. The pressure is not the same. The fan-base scrutiny is not the same. You really can’t compare those two things at all.”
No, you can’t.
Not that the whiners care.
Permalink | Comments (98) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
Weariness with BCS process grows
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
So if I’ve got this straight, Georgia will play in the BCS Figment Of Roy Kramer’s Imagination Championship Game if Oklahoma beats Missouri, Pittsburgh beats West Virginia, Tennessee beats LSU because Les Miles was asked by a flight attendant to turn off his cellphone and the play call in overtime never made it in before departure; Bobby Petrino comes to the realization that nobody is ever going to believe him when he says he’s not going anywhere (does Arkansas count as anywhere?); and my dog throws her paw into the ring for the Georgia Tech job, and she might as well because she has less fleas than Rick Neuheisel.
You know, maybe teams should just start buying BCS votes, just like politicians here. Or, even better, in Thailand.
Word came down Thursday in Bangkok (which is on Ohio State’s schedule next year) that somebody running for office is buying votes with Viagra. The politician wasn’t identified but Sayan Nopcha, a campaigner for a rival party, said: “He is giving out Viagra to gain popularity and votes. I think this is a very bad way of vote-buying.”
Party pooper.
Look, I’m not suggesting it’s time to move to Thailand. But I think they’re on to something. All of these bowls are starting to run together. I’ve been handed one too many free pens, stickers and coupons for free milkshakes from bowl officials. All I’m saying is, the right sponsor gets me to Shreveport.
Les Miles? He can do better. Well, LSU will. The Tigers may be off to the Sugar but Miles’ head is already boarding a flight to Ann Arbor. Or did I miss the strong denials?
LSU plays Tennessee for the SEC title Saturday. The good news is that Phil Fulmer’s mind is on this game. That’s because, well, nobody else wants him.
The Tigers could be distracted. Their quarterback isn’t healthy. Their defense got skunked by Arkansas. Their defensive coordinator may be leaving for Nebraska.
So many reasons to pick an upset. Ain’t happening.
Distractions notwithstanding, LSU is still better. Tigers cover 7-1/2.
Bowl Appetizers
Alternative Conference title: It’s Boston College and Virginia Tech in Jacksonville. And the ACC wonders why it has an identity crisis. The Hokies have been wearing “6:01” T-shirts — not a Biblical reference, but to the time left in the teams’ last meeting when things started to collapse. BC rallied from 0-10 to win 14-10. It made for good theater. But the show’s over. VaTech covers 41/2.
Big Dozen Conference title: Until this year, Missouri was the only campus in the country where the football players were less known than the journalism majors. I knew it wouldn’t last. Neither will Mizzou at No. 1: Oklahoma covers 3.
Alabama: Off. Ah, the slow buildup to the Music City Bowl. Nick Saban compared the down time to the lull before the bombing of Hiroshima.
Pitt at West Virginia: What’s the statute of limitations on coattails? Because I would think at some point somebody will realize that Dave Wannstedt isn’t Jimmy Johnson. Sorry Georgia: West Virginia wins, covers the 28.
NFL Five-Pack
Falcons at Rams: Many were upset because the Dallas-Green Bay game was broadcast only to the 27 subscribers of the NFL Network. Similarly, the Falcons-Rams game can be seen only on SciFi II Channel-Latino, or anybody with a really high pain threshold, or anybody serving 10 to life. Marc Bulger got good news: He has a concussion and can’t play. Falcons win.
Bengals at Steelers: Was the idea of playing underwater last week just to put the Dolphins in their natural habitat? If so, that would explain the Bengals asking that this game be moved to Leavenworth. Steelers cover 7.
Patriots at Ravens: New England is plus-16 in turnovers. Baltimore is minus-11. Should be fun. Improv contest between Brian Billick and Bill Belichick at halftime. Pats cover 20 1/2.
Niners at Panthers: The Falcons think they have problems? Carolina has dropped five straight and is 0-5 at home, including losses to the Texans, Saints and, uh, Falcons. Steve Smith is applying for funding from FEMA. Kittys win, but take SanFran and 3.
Jaguars at Colts: Peyton Manning just realized that if the Colts lose this game, he’ll have the same record as David Garrard. That should do it. Colts cover 6-1/2.
Last week 7-2 straight up, 4-5 against the line.
Totals: 86-47 straight up, 63-63-1 against the line.
Lock of the week: Deadbolt.
Permalink | Comments (58) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Lobbyin’ Les should have given LSU more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Les Miles was lobbying before the season began — he lampooned Southern Cal’s Pac-10 schedule — and here it is almost December and he’s lobbying still. His gripe this time is that LSU might wind up as SEC champion but wind up ranked behind Georgia, which would become a huge consideration if Missouri and West Virginia lose Saturday
Trouble is, Lobbyin’ Les didn’t need to say a word. His Tigers were ranked No. 2 in preseason, and they ascended to No. 1 not once but twice. His Tigers weren’t the same as Tommy Tuberville’s 2004 Auburn Tigers, who could never rise above No. 3 despite winning every week and were thereby shut out of the national championship game. Miles’ Tigers had all the votes they needed.
And they couldn’t hold them. They lost to Kentucky, which finished 3-5 in SEC play, and lost at home to then-unranked Arkansas. You can make the case — doubtless Les will — that both losses came in overtime and were therefore most unfortunate, but you can make a separate case that LSU took the nation’s best collection of talent and didn’t really dominate a worthy opponent since it beat Virginia Tech 48-7. And that was on Sept. 8.
LSU has lost twice since Georgia last lost. LSU was lucky to have beaten Florida and Auburn and Alabama. Its statistics — LSU ranks among the SEC’s top three in eight of the nine most important categories — would indicate a team of exquisite balance. To watch this mighty team play was to wonder if anybody was coaching it.
Maybe Les and his staff were too busy lobbying. Miles has been earmarked for Michigan since the Wolverines lost to Appalachian State, and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini has interviewed with Nebraska. Never mind that Pelini’s defense yielded nearly 1,000 yards in its past two games, or that Miles, who has never lost fewer than two games in a season, would be replacing Lloyd Carr, whose sin was that he could win every game except the one against Ohio State.
If I’m the Buckeyes, I don’t exactly fear an annual matchup of Jim Tressel against Miles. One takes less and does more every single season. The other takes more and does … well, Les.
Permalink | Comments (116) | Categories: Quick Hit
Hawks inconsistent from start to finish
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
That Joe Johnson was not in a good mood the day after the Hawks lost to a 2-10 team really isn’t the problem. That there have been too many reasons on too many days to not be in a very good mood — big problem.
Thirteen games into the season, the Hawks already had lost to a 2-10 team, a 1-8 team and a 0-5 team. They also started an NBA game Wednesday with Mario West and Anthony Johnson, at the risk of completely blotting out the memory of early-season upsets over Dallas and Phoenix.
Now, I’m sure it’s written somewhere that nobody should ever feel sorry for an athlete who makes $13.5 million a year. But I see Joe Johnson sitting in a chair in front of his locker, like a jewel in a landfill, and I’m certain I haven’t witnessed such pathos since watching Charlie Chaplin in “The Tramp.”
“We’re just so inconsistent,” the Hawks’ guard said before Wednesday’s game against Milwaukee. “It’s frustrating. We play the teams that we think we should beat, the teams that supposedly are not so good, and we tend to let our guard down. Then we get hit right in the face.
“It’s been a major concern. Somewhere here soon, we have to find a way to put it together while we’re still in the picture.”
That would be the playoff picture. Exactly where the Hawks project in that picture hinges on their ability to lock in on one personality. They lost Tuesday night to Chicago, which entered the game with the worst record in the Eastern Conference (2-10).
Bad Hawks also have also had home losses to Washington (0-5) and Seattle (1-8).
Good Hawks have beaten Dallas and Phoenix (albeit both were missing key players: Josh Howard and Amare Stoudamire, respectively).
Bad Hawks and Good Hawks both were evident Wednesday against Milwaukee. Coach Mike Woodson was forced to start a patchwork lineup because of injuries to Marvin Williams and Acie Law. Result: They led by 16 in the second quarter. They saw it fizzle to five in the third. They stepped up defensively and won 96-80.
They won. They’re 6-8.
Follow the bouncing ball.
Everybody believed these Hawks would run more. Woodson says that’s not possible because they don’t rebound or defend consistently. So more often than not, they don’t run. They plod. And they keep us guessing.
Johnson: “I’ve tried to say something, and be more of a leader. I don’t know. I just feel like it’s time that we grow up.”
He signed up for a lot of money. He didn’t sign up for this. When Johnson was brought here from Phoenix, he was assured by ownership and general manager Billy Knight that he would be surrounded by talent. He was assured the Hawks would be a legitimate playoff threat, much like the team he came from. But it hasn’t happened.
Johnson saw the problems coming. He vented before the season: “I knew it was a rebuilding situation where they had a lot of young guys. … But at the same time, there were supposed to be some more pieces, some more free agents. They talked about it again this past summer. But as you can see, nothing happened.”
The problems haven’t changed. Al Horford and Law (when healthy) have been nice additions. But the Hawks have too many players who do the same thing and not enough that do specific things that they need — like pass, rebound, defend and maybe kick a little butt.
More from Johnson: “We definitely can use a little help. It’s been tough. And a lot of our guards have been hurt, pretty much the whole year. But right now we’ve just got to fight with what we’ve got. We can’t worry about what we need and what we’ve got to get.”
The issue isn’t talent. It’s the mix. It’s chemistry. It also might be coaching. But if ownership isn’t going to make a move on Woodson or Knight, wouldn’t you think they would look at this roster’s strange mix and realize it’s not working?
Then again, maybe the idea is to only look on certain nights.
It looked great at the end Wednesday. Johnson would like to assume it’s the start of a trend. He knows better.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Jeff Schultz
Gailey’s crying to the bank
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
It’s always sad when one of the decent people of sports gets fired. So, when Georgia Tech shoved Chan Gailey and his devout Christian ways out the door after six years as a solid but unspectacular football coach, it made you flirt with dabbing the corner of your eyes.
Well, until you started to think.
I’m not talking about Gailey’s 0-6 record against Georgia. Or about the maddening habit of his Yellow Jackets losing to inferior competition either before or after significant victories. Or about the inability of his teams to entice Tech fans to remain enthusiastic at home games - you know, even when they bothered to show up.
Four million dollars. That’s how much Gailey is getting not to coach.
FOUR MILLION!
This isn’t 1978, for instance, when Ohio State axed the legendary Woody Hayes after he slugged that Clemson player during a bowl game. Hayes’ salary was $43,000, a measly amount compared to that of today’s coaches, even if you consider inflation, global warming and whatever.
Four million dollars. Guess Gailey is crying all the way to the bank, and he’s likely sobbing by himself.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
Richt doesn’t brag on Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Was this Mark Richt or Georgia’s legendary voice of doom?
Couldn’t tell, because the only thing missing from this unofficial imitation of Larry Munson was the grunting, “Whattayagot, Loran?” and those references to Old Lady Luck.
The Bulldogs are good. They are very good, and with overwhelming youth combined with a slew of talent throughout their roster, they’ll remain this way in football for a while, but probably longer.
Still, there was a pause from the Georgia coach who swore he had a reason for his momentary silence. “I mean, Florida’s just as young, or even younger, than we are, and they’re a heck of a football team,” Richt said. “People are going to be talking about them in the same light, probably, that they’ll be talking about us, and we’ve got to hook up with them every year.
“Tennessee is a relatively young team, and they might win the league. Who knows what lessons they’re learning through all of these tight ballgames and just sticking together, man? There’s a lot of merit to what’s happening to them this year.
“So to think that, you know, Georgia is going on a roll [in the SEC], I wouldn’t predict that at all. I think Georgia is going to be a very formidable opponent, but I don’t think anybody is going to roll in this league on a consistent basis.”
Surely Richt knows the truth, and so should everybody else: This sprint out of nowhere for his Bullpuppies turned Bulldogs has ramifications beyond their 10-2 record and Bowl Championship Series trip to Pasadena, Miami or Phoenix. Since Georgia spent the season going from promising to inconsistent to good to splendid faster than anybody expected (well, except for the guy who counts the most), you can see the Bulldogs becoming as significant each year in the SEC as Steve Spurrier’s Gators. Just don’t say as much to Richt, obsessed with trying to keep those in the Bulldog Nation from barking too loudly over potential instead of reality.
Let ‘em bark, coach. They deserve it after a rare slaying of Florida, comeback thrillers over Alabama and Vanderbilt and the smashing of rivals Auburn and Georgia Tech. More impressive, the Bulldogs did so by using the fifth-highest number (26) of freshmen in the country.
One of those freshmen is Knowshon Moreno, Georgia’s 21st century Herschel, Garrison or Rodney. Then there is rising quarterback Matthew Stafford, and he is just a sophomore. If you add that to recruiting entities ranking Georgia’s upcoming group among the nation’s elite three, let the barking begin, or shall we say continue. It got louder when the Bulldogs threatened never to lose again after beating Florida for only the third time in 18 tries.
“I know people are going to get excited, and they’re going to say these kind of things, but, you know, it’s just such a rough league, such a rugged league, and we’ve got a rugged schedule,” said Richt, whose teams have won 10 or more games five times in seven seasons.
Even so, 85-year-old Munson continued to live inside 47-year-old Richt, with Richt adding, “The East, as you know, is always rough. We go LSU, Alabama, Auburn next year. Plus, Arizona State. I don’t know who decided to [put Arizona State on the schedule], but you just look at that. And Georgia Tech, plus the usual suspects — Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt. I’ve always said that no matter how good you are or think you are, there are always other teams that are just as good.”
Not this good. Not this quickly. Not with a coaching staff that has proved its worth during the past seven years with 36 players chosen in the NFL draft, three SEC East Division titles and a couple of conference championships.
Which brings us to the guy who counts the most in Georgia football, and that is Richt. Despite the Bulldogs’ struggles earlier in the season, he kept telling anybody who’d listen they’d jell. The offensive line with two true freshmen and a redshirt freshman. The three new starters at linebacker. The new set of defensive ends.
The man was prophetic.
“Well [pause], that wasn’t all that big of a deal, really, and I still don’t know how good we are,” said Richt, making the real Munson proud, only without the grunting, and with no Loran Smith in sight.
Permalink | Comments (81) | Categories: Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
Gailey, $4M buyout are Braine’s legacy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The most important thing that happened to me Monday was it rained. To those of the Georgia Tech faith, their football coach was fired.
Georgia Tech cringes at the sound of the word. Fired. The institute took great pride in the fact that in its first 63 years of football no coach was ever fired, but it’s beginning to catch up. Three coaches in 63 years — John Heisman, Bill Alexander and Bobby Dodd — some kind of record for longevity. First one to suffer that humbling fate was Bud Carson, to be followed by Pepper Rodgers, then Bill Lewis and now Chan Gailey. Bill Fulcher left of his own accord. Bill Curry left for, of all places, Alabama. Bobby Ross heeded the sexy summons of the professionals. George O’Leary was on his way to Notre Dame when his own autobiography sidetracked him. Call it what you choose.
Now, Chan Gailey. He gets the $4 million for the four years he won’t coach, enough to find a peaceful retreat in the Bahamas. It’s in the contract Dave Braine, the now departed athletics director, gave him. Gailey has known this sadness before, the gift of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, and he should have known it was coming again. Inevitably, in football coaching, it’s a matter of which comes first, death or firing. He departs as an unsolved mystery. Winning record, some rousing knock-offs, a bowl game every year, if you choose to call spending a muddy day in the Silicon Valley rousing. He and the $4 million deficit can be charged off as a legacy of Braine’s.
Coaches who leave the NFL to go back to coach the college game have a checkered record. Butch Davis flunked out at Cleveland and a place was made for him at North Carolina, where John Bunting had landed after a career in the pros, then himself felt the blade of the Turk. Bobby Ross went to West Point after leaving the NFL, and there threw in the towel, not that any fellow has a built-in chance at Army. Nick Saban went from LSU to the Miami Dolphins, then to Alabama, where the jury is still out. The difference coaches discover is that pros don’t need motivating. Back on campus they do, and the former pro coach isn’t very good at it.
Not that Gailey hadn’t had some practice coddling college kids before, but that was years ago and in bush-league programs. Maybe he just forgot. Fact is, he is not a dynamic personality, but dynamic comes in second if you beat the right opponents. Couldn’t have stood in front of a roomful of Georgia Bulldogs and stirred them into a cascade of woofing, as have Dooley and Richt. I’m not sure he learned the words of “Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech” before he left. And I’ve always said that any student body that sings its beery hearts out about “BUD-weiser! You’ve said it all” isn’t getting the full scope of what old alma mammy is all about.
Sad, really, to see such a nice 55-year-old man brought down, especially since he could have seen it coming since the night Virginia Tech lathered his team before a house of empty seats in the waning moments. I’ve known nice guys who got fired, and I’ve seen desperados hang on in the warm caress of doting alumni who couldn’t have cared if they had kept houses of prostitution in business.
Hiring and firing coaches is not a club I carry in my bag. There are enough bestirred alumni out there to bellow on without me. I do know a thing or two about what I, myself, like in a football coach, and I know where I’d go to hire one. In fact, I’ll name him: Paul Johnson. But he already is spoken for, and I don’t want to weaken our armed forces. As for Chan Gailey, I’d imagine he’ll return to some staff in the NFL and enjoy the rest of his coaching life as a coordinator, which is where he probably belongs. And having said that, I’ll take leave myself for a few days of cogitation on an island of my own choice.
Permalink | Comments (90) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC
The tragic death of Sean Taylor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN:
(Or, 10 things I really don’t want to write a whole column about.)
10: Washington safety Sean Taylor was on his way to becoming one of the NFL’s elite defensive players. Circumstances have yet to come out about his death and what led to the shooting in Miami. But the hope here is that there’s no connection between what happened Monday and Taylor’s oft-troubled past. Too often, an athlete’s unwillingness to change his group of friends and acquaintances as he gets older comes back to hurt him. Case in point: Michael Vick.
9: Florida State safety Anthony Leon, Taylor’s cousin, told the Miami Herald that Taylor had “started to calm down. He’s been trying to stay away from bad company — especially for his daughter’s sake. Sean wasn’t a bad guy at all. He’s got his personality on the football field and off it. All he was trying to do was protect his family. And they shot him.” If all of that is true, this is even more tragic.
8: Reading the Dan Radakovich tealeaves, you can pretty much eliminate any coaching re-tread getting the Georgia Tech job. Or anybody who abhors mixing with boosters. Or is graying at the temples. Or spits in news conferences. Also, it needs to be somebody you can slap on a billboard in Midtown. So whom does that leave?
7: Personal choices, based on a used set of darts: 1) Randy Edsall (Connecticut); 2) Jimbo Fisher (Florida State); 3) Charlie Strong (Florida). Edsall is a proven head coach on the rise. Fisher is a proven offensive coordinator at two major programs (LSU and FSU). Strong is a proven defensive coordinator at two programs (South Carolina and Florida) and is African American - a recruiting and marketing aspect that can’t be understated in a city like Atlanta.
6: The most unusual quote from Radakovich at Monday’s news conference came when he was asked if defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta would be a candidate. Radakovich’s response: “You’ll have to ask him.” I’m not sure what that means. But it can’t be a good sign.
5: Weep not for Chan Gailey. He has over $4 million guaranteed in the next four years and he will have no trouble getting another job as an NFL assistant. A head coaching job in college will be a little more difficult to come by, unless it’s at a smaller school. Major college athletic directors will frown on Gailey for the same reason Radakovich did: He’s hard to sell.
4: It’s borderline absurd that the NHL’s premier goal scorer, Ilya Kovalchuk, ranks seventh in All-Star voting among forwards. But that’s at least partly indicative of the Thrashers’ struggle to recapture the local and national buzz that was lost with last year’s playoff collapse. Buzz equals talk, fans, ticket sales and votes.
3: According to the NFL Network, which is now seen on 12 television sets nationally, the Philadelphia Eagles were asking for three - three! — first-round draft picks for Donovan McNabb at the trade deadline. See, that’s the difference between real life and Fantasy League. In one league I’m in, an owner is offering McNabb “to anyone who wants him for any marginally useful player.”
2: Mike Hampton pulled a hamstring in the Mexican League. It’s pretty brilliant strategy, when you think about it. If he can’t walk, he can’t make it out to the mound. If he can’t make it out to the mound, he can’t throw out his elbow again.
1: Bobby Petrino says he’s not going anywhere. As a rule, that’s always been the first part of the story.
Permalink | Comments (65) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Tech must find its own Richt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Georgia Tech has spent seven years playing kid brother to the hated mutts from Athens, and over that span it has become easy to overlook the level of pride and the depth of resources inherent in the Institute and its football program. The right coach will make us all remember. The right coach will give Mark Richt a run for his money.
Chan Gailey was to Tech as Jim Donnan was to Georgia, a winning coach who was nonetheless unloved by the masses. (Oddly enough, it took the abrasive Donnan five years to get as unpopular as the benign Gailey became in one.) As painful as this is to admit, Michael Adams proved something to me with Donnan’s dismissal, which I then regarded as premature: The incumbent was never going to unite Bulldog Nation, and the president found the man who could and did.
Dan Radakovich’s mission is to find his own Mark Richt. The AD used the buzzwords “energy” and “enthusiasm” often in his media briefing Monday, and those commodities were lacking under Gailey. Tech football had become a joyless thing. People went to games out of a sense of old-gold obligation, not because they couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
As was evident from the increasing number of empty seats at Bobby Dodd Stadium, obligation isn’t enough anymore — not with such competition in the marketplace and so many other available distractions. Gailey admitted as much in his classy farewell address, saying, “It’s a lot different than it was when I started 35 years ago.”
And it is. And the man Tech should hire will, conveniently enough, turn 35 in February.
Some stipulations. Radakovich emphasized that the new coach should “energize and entertain our fan base,” and offensive coaches, simply by nature of their jobs, tend to be more entertaining than defensive men. (Randy Edsall of Connecticut was mostly a defensive coach.) And even though Richt hadn’t been a head coach before Georgia hired him, the bias here still rests with those who have. (One who hasn’t: Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher.)
Paul Johnson of Navy would seem almost an ideal choice. He knows the territory, having won two national championships at Georgia Southern, and he has proved he can win at a school where academics matter, having led the Midshipmen to a fifth consecutive bowl. But his teams run the spread option with a disproportionate emphasis on “run” — 685 rushes this season against 117 passes — and running the ball is seen by many as old-fashioned. (Though not, I should report, by me.)
There’s also this: Johnson is 50. That’s not old by my lights, but the pragmatist in me sees a need for Tech to tap a younger man, someone capable of growing with the program the way Richt, who was 39 when he took the job, has at Georgia.
Chris Hatcher is 34. He has been a head coach since he was 26 and hasn’t yet had a losing season. His career record is 83-16. He led Valdosta State to the Division II national championship in 2004, and this year he cleaned up the mess left by Brian VanGorder at Georgia Southern and went 7-4 to boot. He’s good with the media, and he has showed the ability to recruit in Georgia and Florida.
Hatcher was an All-American quarterback at Valdosta State and he apprenticed at Kentucky under Hal Mumme, tutoring Tim Couch but getting out before the scandal hit.
His Valdosta State teams played the sling-it-around style fans seem to embrace, though it should be noted that Georgia Southern rushed three times as often as it passed this season. (That’s another heartening sign: One-trick ponies get old awfully fast.)
Just as Richt was viewed as the anti-Donnan, Hatcher would be seen by the Tech community as the anti-Gailey. He wouldn’t be stodgy, wouldn’t be taciturn and would, by gosh, be able to develop a quarterback. He’d make Tech football a vibrant thing again, and he’d make the hated mutts sit up and take notice. If any program should know the difference a coach can make, it’s the one in Athens.
Permalink | Comments (58) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Tech needs spark only new coach can offer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
This time of year used to be a bowl scramble. Now, institutes of higher learning — but even higher bowl mandates — have turned into cutthroat job roulette.
We’re not even through November, but already there are openings at Michigan, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Mississippi, Baylor and SMU. A buyout is underway at Colorado State. Exits could be pondered at Auburn and LSU.
At Georgia Tech, things remained quiet Sunday.
It won’t last.
Chan Gailey is scheduled to meet Monday with athletics director Dan Radakovich, at which time his future at Tech will be determined. In the words of associate A.D. Wayne Hogan: “Dan is going through the process that he laid out from day one. He’s never wavered on that. He was always going to wait until the end of the year, evaluate things and go from there.”
Sounds good. But a question: What exactly is left to evaluate?
Radakovich has known this day was coming for weeks, even months.
Make a decision. Move on.
There is only so much to analyze. Whether the plan is to fire Gailey — the odds-on favorite — or to keep him, it doesn’t seem fair to let the man and his coaching staff twist in the employment wind for another 24 hours.
Some assistants left Sunday to recruit. Does that seem right?
Lloyd Carr told his players he was retiring the day after Michigan lost to Ohio State. Nebraska (Bill Callahan) and Mississippi (Ed Orgeron) announced firings Saturday. Dennis Franchione beat everybody to the punch — he announced his resignation one hour after Texas A&M beat Texas. (To his credit, he didn’t leak it in a newsletter.)
There’s a school of thought that Radakovich is balking at firing Gailey because it would be too costly, given Gailey has four years and over $4 million left on his contract. But if you believe that school of thought, change schools.
If Radakovich makes a coaching change, it will be because of money, not in spite of it. Tech is in a financial hole, largely because of the football stadium’s expansion. But the Jackets’ best hope for paying down debt is selling more tickets and personal seat licenses, attracting more sponsors, luring more donations from alumni and boosters.
All of those things are contingent on creating a perception that something better is around the corner. That perception hasn’t existed with Gailey, and it’s not likely to change.
If Gailey is fired, it will be because Radakovich sees a ceiling with his coach, not merely in victories but in marketing. Radakovich wants atmosphere. He wants excitement. He wants anticipation. If he has that with the next coach and the Jackets still win seven games every year, so be it. But he will have given it a shot, and maybe more people will have bought in.
The worst thing about Saturday for a Georgia Tech administrator wasn’t that the Yellow Jackets lost to Georgia for the seventh straight year. What must have made it a truly miserable day for Radakovich was that this was a home game but Bobby Dodd Stadium seemed half-filled with red-clad Bulldog fans.
If Tech fans are excited about Gailey and their program, that doesn’t happen.
College coaches are fired often today. Wins and losses are only part of the reason. Consider what happened last week at North Carolina. First-year coach Butch Davis had his contract extended a year through 2014. He was given a $291,000 raise to $2.1 million. But it wasn’t because the Tar Heels were going to a BCS bowl — they were 3-8 at the time.
Part of the reason was rumors linking Davis to the Arkansas job. But the biggest reason was North Carolina sold out its home games all year. Revenue was up. Interest was up. There was a general perception: Something better was around the corner.
The crowd Saturday at Tech reaffirmed that feeling doesn’t exist on or around campus. It rarely has under Gailey. It doesn’t mean he can’t coach. It doesn’t mean he’s not a good man. It just means it’s not working.
When Radakovich meets with Gailey Monday, that figures to come up. The way this all ends seems predictable. It has been for weeks. But for one more day, everybody waits.
Permalink | Comments (146) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
More than a few coins needed to make change
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
He has never had a losing season. Last year his team even played for the conference championship. But lost to Wake Forest. Then was invited to one of the old socially prominent bowl games. But lost to West Virginia. Just when it seems that one of Chan Gailey’s Georgia Tech teams is poised to make a breakthrough, it seems to find a way to blow a fuse, as of the recent Saturday at home.
For a half, Gailey’s team stared down Georgia eyeball to eyeball. You look for excuses, you begin with this: He lost his quarterback. Taylor Bennett went down at the end of the first half. When he came back he was wilder than a left-hander they call “Rube” or “Boots” in baseball. Along the sideline, Gailey was more vigorously involved than usual carrying his case to the stripe-shirted officials. This, he had come to recognize, was a critical time in his pursuit of coaching football at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
When the man for whom the game site is named was coach, Georgia Tech teams were going to bowl games year after year. Not some nuts and bolts game, like the Emerald or Meineke Car Care. Real bowls, like Sugar, Orange, Cotton or Gator. His teams weren’t losing five or six games a season. That would have closed down shop after Thanksgiving.
Look at Georgia. When Knowshon Moreno was shut down, Thomas Brown broke loose and picked up the slack. Georgia Tech has Tashard Choice, and when Choice was shut down, so was Tech’s offense. Nobody steps forward. Call it recruiting, call it coaching, call it what you will, but I will say this: The hard-line old guard at Georgia Tech is tired of having to address it in any term. The natives are not getting restless, they are restless and weary of subsisting on seasons of five or six losses.
You may recall a previous story in which Dan Radakovich, the athletics director who inherited this situation, was asked about Gailey’s future at Georgia Tech. His answer went something like this: “That’s something we don’t address until after the season.”
Was that sending a message? That after the season Gailey’s status would be reviewed? If not, there is an army of Tech alumni out there who are going to fire up a rebellion. They’re steaming. They’re tired of being fed out the back door. They want to move up front and dine in the drawing room on white tablecloths. They have seen their team lose to Georgia seven years in a row, and that is more than enough to fuel a rebellion. That still isn’t the record for this bitter series. In Bobby Dodd’s heyday, Georgia Tech beat Georgia eight times in a row, and the Bulldogs’ depression reached such depths that it seemed they might never beat Tech again. Vince Dooley came along and began to find a cure for that situation.
Firing a high-paid football coach is not easy, nor is it inexpensive. Whoever would have thought that in virtually the same week you have seen Nebraska, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and even Baylor all cleaning house. At Georgia Tech, it involves far more than simply sweeping out a coach and his staff. It means digging deep into the financial well.
Gailey has four years left on his contract. A buyout would probably cost Georgia Tech around $4 million at the least. We dig back further into Tech’s athletics finances, to the era of Dave Braine as athletics director and George O’Leary as coach. They envisioned a new and expansive stadium, not only that, but luxurious new offices, suites and special seating for alums willing to pay the price. Both Braine and O’Leary are long gone, but not the debt they built up. Some estimates are that Tech still has a debt of $90 million hanging over from that outlandish expansion project. Not verified, but estimated.
There are Tech alumni out there willing to step up and stand for a Gailey buyout, but it can’t be done that way. Then what about the expansion debt? And what about the president, Wayne Clough? He is a campus dictator. Nothing bypasses his desk.
So, as you see, this is not the mere process of firing one football coach and hiring another. Coaches don’t come cheap these days, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Permalink | Comments (93) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC
No SEC title? No problem
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
There was a slight surprise, if not an extreme show of bravado, in Georgia’s team meeting room this week. The Bulldogs’ “Wall of Fame,” which lists the team’s championships by year, had “2007” added below the heading of “SEC East” titles.
That is, of course, not how most will see it.
Tennessee’s earlier thumping of the Dogs, combined with a narrow escape Saturday, fairly well confirmed things. The Volunteers won the SEC East. They will play for the SEC championship. They will have a chance to go to the Sugar Bowl. No matter that some in Athens prefer to recognize Georgia as “co-champions.”
Know what?
It shouldn’t matter.
If ever there was a season for Georgia to let go of its SEC obsession, this is the one. That may sound strange — even borderline sacrilegious — in these parts. But when a team starts 4-2, and has just been stripped of its dignity (to say nothing of a few major organs) in Knoxville, and requires a late field goal to claim victory in Vanderbilt, a BCS bowl game isn’t a mere consolation prize.
A BCS bowl is manna from heaven.
For the seventh time in Mark Richt’s seven seasons, Georgia dumped Georgia Tech on Saturday, 31-17 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. For the third time in Richt’s seven seasons, the Bulldogs will almost certainly go to a BCS game. It won’t be Sugar, but it likely will be Rose, Orange or Fiesta.
Would that have seemed possible after a home loss to South Carolina, or a 35-14 humiliation at Tennessee, which caused normally reserved Richt to become more, shall we say, animated with his players?
“We didn’t think much of anything was possible after leaving Knoxville, as far as goals go,” Richt said. “Eastern Division champions — probably not. The SEC [championship] is out of the question, if you can’t get that. Never would you think of a BCS bowl. Even if we won out, we probably wouldn’t be thinking BCS bowl.”
Rose, Orange or Fiesta. Consolation prize? After the Tennessee game, the Dogs seemed destined for Shreveport — which was to assume they would be bowl-eligible. But they have won six straight — over Vanderbilt, Florida, Troy, Auburn, Kentucky and Tech. There was a time when really only the Troy game looked like a lock.
Put this down as one of Richt’s best coaching jobs. He recognized the need to change how he dealt with players to a degree, and he did. It made the difference.
“Giving up the play-calling this year allowed him to get to know the players a little better,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had a 31-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and threw a 9-yard scoring pass to Mohamed Massaquoi late in the half, putting Georgia ahead to stay at 16-14. “He’s a great motivator. It was exciting, seeing himself let go a little bit.”
Stafford said the Dogs were “fighting for our lives in Tennessee. We got it handed to us in that game. But we came back, and we’ve been playing with some passion and emotion in the last six or seven weeks. That really did turn around our season.
And as the Dogs started winning, weird things started happening around them. Tennessee lost to Alabama, which then lost to everybody else. Florida tumbled. Around the nation, teams started falling, turning the BCS rankings into a continuously mutating blob. Ohio State lost. Boston College lost twice. LSU lost. Then Arizona State, then Oregon.
The Bulldogs? They have climbed in the BCS rankings from 20th to 18th to 10th to ninth to seventh. They’ll likely be at least fifth when the new BCS pecking order comes out Sunday.
Richt held out hopes late Saturday for the SEC title game. He said somebody told him “in the middle of the third quarter” that Kentucky had beaten Tennessee. He considered telling his players immediately, then opted to wait until after the quarter. Fortunately, he checked with somebody first and was told the correct result: The Volunteers won in the fourth overtime.
“So I did go into the tank slightly,” he said. “I guess it put a little damper on everything. But it’s been a wonderful year.”
The focus should be on that last sentence. “Damper” and BCS bowl don’t intersect.
Permalink | Comments (251) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, UGA / SEC
Gailey’s time is up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Chan Gailey needs to go. He has neither upgraded Georgia Tech nor driven it into the ditch, but lateral movement isn’t to be confused with success. He has had six seasons, and after his 76th game the best player on what should be Gailey’s last Tech team could offer no real defense of his coach.
Asked if Gailey deserved to keep his job, Tashard Choice said this: “I don’t know, man. I like coach Gailey; he gave me the chance to play here [after a transfer from Oklahoma]. But that’s up to everyone else.”
A minute later, someone asked if the Jackets would be upset if Gailey didn’t coach them in their latest nondescript bowl. Said Choice: “I don’t know, man. I just play the game of football.”
And there you have it. There are technical defenses to be made for Gailey — no losing seasons, always a bowl invitation — but nary a passionate one. He has energized his constituency only in its raging dislike for his coaching. He has taken Tech to the brink of great achievement only to see it slip back every single time. He has had long enough. He needs to go.
What transpired Saturday was Gailey’s stewardship in miniature. His Jackets played really hard and at times fairly well against Georgia — better than in any of Gailey’s first five losses to the hated mutts, truth to tell — but they wound up losing by two touchdowns. When a play had to be made, they whiffed. Corey Earls dropped a sure touchdown on Tech’s second snap. Morgan Burnett seized a botched Georgia lateral but fumbled within sight of the go-ahead score. This far but no further … haven’t we seen that before?
Well, yeah. We saw it in 2004 when Reggie Ball threw the ball away on fourth down, saw it in 2005 when Ball delivered a killing interception in the red zone, saw it last season when Ball’s fumble became a slow-motion Georgia touchdown. But the unloved Ball had nothing to do with Saturday’s game, and still Tech couldn’t win.
“One inch here and there, one break here and there and the outcome of the game could’ve been different,” said Choice, but the outcome of the Tech-Georgia game has been the same for six seasons now. And a Tech coach who cannot beat Georgia even once cannot reasonably expect to remain Tech’s coach.
“I’m not in charge of that,” said Gailey, speaking of his future. “My job is to do the best job I can do.”
His best, sad to say, hasn’t been good enough. He has upset enough ranked opponents — at least one every season — to give Tech fans hope, but never have gains been fully consolidated. For the sixth season running, a Gailey-coached team has managed at least five losses.
Fifty-three weeks ago, the Jackets were poised to break upward. They should have beaten Georgia in Athens and could have beaten Wake Forest to win the ACC title. Doing one or the other would have given skeptical Tech backers cause to celebrate. Doing neither only made it apparent that nothing really good would happen under this coach, and since rising to 9-2 last season this coach has lost eight of 15 games.
Firing a semi-successful coach is a tricky business. (Ask Ole Miss about dumping David Cutcliffe for Ed Orgeron.) But keeping Gailey another year would excite no Tech fan; on the contrary, it would depress more than a few. And those folks have let Dan Radakovich know exactly what they think of Gailey: There were more Georgia backers at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday than at any time in the last 20 years, and there were, believe it or not, pockets of empty seats at kickoff.
If you’re Radakovich, there’s your answer. Nobody would fault you for changing coaches when all the incumbent has done is extend the status quo. Chan Gailey arrived at Tech in 2001 and inherited a five-loss team. Six years on, five-loss seasons have become a constant. He’s a nice man, but it’s clear he’s not the man Tech requires. He needs to go.
Permalink | Comments (337) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Baseball starts to see hue of issue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
One by one, a who’s who of African-American baseball players filed into a room in New York City to partake in a conference call with the commissioner.
It was a secret meeting.
Well, until now.
“Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter. I mean, they were all there, and it was quite remarkable,” said Bud Selig, over the phone from his Milwaukee office, confirming the unprecedented session earlier this month that recently was discovered by an AJC columnist. “We’re not going to stop until we get this thing done.”
Selig’s reference was to the pitiful number of African-American players in the game despite Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier 60 seasons ago. Only eight percent of the players in the majors last season were African-American, compared with 27 percent in the mid-1970s. Worse, the Braves continued their silly trend of having no more than one African-American on their roster at a given time. Even worse, the Braves joined the Houston Astros as the only teams to begin last season without an African-American player.
The Braves eventually added Willie Harris, the same African-American outfielder from Cairo, Ga., who didn’t make their original 25-man roster despite an impressive spring training.
Something is wrong from Atlanta to Houston to San Diego. Selig knows it, which is why the commissioner whose close friend is Hank Aaron, the African-American slugger of the 1950s through the mid-1970s, decided to call this meeting. Not only did Selig invite all of today’s prominent African-American players to attend, but he requested the presence of Frank Robinson, the first African-American manager and Hall of Famer who is an adviser to the commissioner’s office. They huddled with Jimmie Lee Solomon, another African-American, who is Selig’s executive vice president of baseball operations.
The mission was two-fold: First, to have Selig receive information from the group on what it considered as the reasons for the drop in African-American players. Second, to have the group return at a later date with possible solutions.
Is this posturing by the commissioner, or is he actually swinging for the fences and expecting a grand slam?
“To answer your question, the commissioner is very concerned, and he’s very serious about this, and what he’s trying to do is figure out some way to find a solution to this, which is why he’s reaching out to this group,” said Robinson, from his home in Los Angeles. “There’s just not a simple solution to the problem. But what we have a tendency to do is that when somebody says there is a problem and that it should be taken care of, we have a tendency to ignore it initially. I’m not saying the commissioner ignored it, but that is what has happened to all of us in the game.
“We saw things happening over the years, but we didn’t really pay much attention. But now when you look around on the field, and you see the lack of African-Americans, it’s to the point where it is obvious that something has to be done.”
It’s so obvious that many still don’t get it or just prefer to ignore it.
Take, for instance, that gathering for the game’s front-office types in Orlando earlier this month. They congratulated each other on their idea of diversity throughout baseball. They bragged about the growing dominance of Hispanic players. They cited Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Matsui as Japanese stars evolving into American stars.
Selig listened, while trying not to clench his teeth. “They mentioned Taiwanese players and so and so forth, and I said, ‘Look. We’re more diverse than ever, but I’m a great student of history of this sport in every way, and the legacy of Jackie Robinson, an African-American, is so rich. We should — just because it’s the right thing to do — make sure that legacy endures with as many players as possible.’
“With that in mind — and I know I had a long talk with Hank Aaron about this — you had that group of African-Americans come together in New York, and they’re going to come and see me with their recommendations. I want to build more baseball academies, but I also want to know what they want us to do, and what they are willing to do with us, too.”
Sounds good. It always does. Now let’s see if all of this will help the Braves and other franchises stop flirting with returning to the 19th century.
Permalink | | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Richt’s ascent began vs. Tech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The coaches are a study in contrasting perceptions, and it’s not just because one has had better quarterbacks than the other, or one seems to go only to second-tier bowl games, or one secretly placed an order for black jerseys.
Perceptions of Mark Richt and Chan Gailey, and of their respective programs, have been formed largely because of this game: Georgia vs. Georgia Tech.
Hard to imagine. Tech actually won three straight before Richt came to Athens.
“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” Georgia’s A.J. Bryant said.
He spoke like it was ancient legend.
The Bulldogs have several perceived rival-
ries. They are 4-3 against Auburn and Tennessee under Richt, 5-2 against South Carolina, 3-0 against Alabama. Florida, the win this season notwithstanding, still tilts the other way (2-5).
But against Tech, Richt is 6-0. Against Georgia, Chan Gailey is 0-5.
Keep everything else the same: If Gailey had beaten Georgia at least a couple of times, his job security wouldn’t be nearly so tenuous. If Richt, for all of his accomplishments, had struggled against the Yellow Jackets, his approval rating wouldn’t be nearly so high.
Jim Donnan lost his last three games against Georgia Tech, two of them in Athens. Exit, stage left. (Donnan went 25-8 in the other games those three seasons.)
When Richt arrived in 2001, it didn’t take long to set priorities. The Bulldogs won at Tech 31-17 that year. Then came a 51-7 blowout in Athens. Then 34-17 back on The Flats.
Richt had re-established the pecking order.
“It was a big deal,” he said of the 2001 game. “Georgia had lost three in a row. When we won that first game, that sort of made our season, really. We were 7-3 going into that game, and if we had lost and gone 7-4, and lost to our in-state rival for the fourth year in a row, it would’ve been a lot tougher. Winning that game, especially for that being our first season, made everything OK, so to speak.”
It did more than that. It started a trend that has set a new bar for Georgia coaches.
Richt is the first Bulldogs coach to begin his tenure with six consecutive wins against the Yellow Jackets. Vince Dooley (1964-88) won his first five before losing at Tech 6-0 in 1969. (He more than recovered from that defeat: Dooley went 19-6 in 25 seasons.)
Ray Goff lost his first two, then won five straight. Donnan won two, then lost three. Not good enough.
Richt’s dominance in this rivalry has filtered down to his players. It touches recruiting, alumni, fans.
“It would be a lot different if we had a coach who was like, ‘OK, we’ll win one this year, then you can win the next one, then we’ll win two, then you win two,’ or something like that,” safety Kelin Johnson said. “No. It’s not like that. We want to have power. It says a lot about your program, it says a lot about recruiting. We’re gonna fight for every recruit, we’re gonna fight for every player.”
If Georgia wins today, it will be the fourth straight group of four-year seniors — or three groups of fifth-year seniors — who will have never lost to Tech. What must it feel like on the other campus?
“I can’t imagine, because I’m not in their shoes — and I definitely would not want to be in their shoes,” Johnson said. “If I was a senior over there, I’d probably feel guilty. Like, ‘This is on my watch. It’s up to me.’ I’d probably be down in the dumps about it.”
Some believe Gailey’s future at Tech depends on the result of today’s game. Regardless, there’s little question that Georgia’s direction during Richt’s tenure began with this game.
Permalink | Comments (57) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Tech about No. 4 on Bulldogs’ list
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
While the Yellow Jackets are obsessed with Georgia in football every millisecond of their existence (“Yeah, Georgia is always in the back of your mind,” quarterback Taylor Bennett said), the Bulldogs save their deepest passion for others.
Auburn. Tennessee. Those Gator chomp people, and then Georgia Tech.
So this makes no sense: Georgia goes into Saturday’s game at Bobby Dodd Stadium with a six-game winning streak in the series, and you can make a case that the Bulldogs are the least-motivated party during most years when it comes to wishing to knock the chinstraps off the other guys.
“Every game I play in, I try to play my best, and I don’t look at it as a different feeling, because I’m going to try to hit you hard whoever you play for,” Tech linebacker Philip Wheeler said. “People try to make it sound like that we’re just excited for [Georgia], but I think that everybody on our team is just as excited about the other big games also. It’s the same excitement, and the same enthusiasm, which is very high coming from us.”
With apologies to Wheeler, Tech’s Great Satan really is Georgia. No question about it, which is why the Jackets must sting the Bulldogs this time. That is, if Tech wishes to enhance the quality of life for those into old white and gold from now until the teams’ next meeting in 2008.
Bennett nodded, while admitting that he is so anti-Bulldog that he doesn’t wear red. Added Tech coach Chan Gailey, when asked if he tells his Jackets about the importance of disliking anything in shoulder pads from Athens. “Not if they’re from the state of Georgia, I don’t [have to tell them],” Gailey said. “If they’re from out of state, you have to get those guys to understand a little bit. I think our players have done a good job of conveying the point.”
Whether that suggests this underdog group of Jackets will upset sixth-ranked Georgia is debatable, but this isn’t: Don’t believe the politically correct hype in the air around each Thanksgiving that wants you to believe that the Uga of the moment barks louder when Tech is the opponent.
Losing too often to the big three of Tennessee, Auburn and Florida has gotten Georgia coaches fired. Auburn is the Bulldogs’ oldest rival, and Tennessee is Tennessee. Then there is that squad from Gainesville, and we’re not talking about Georgia. Kelin Johnson mentioned before this year’s Florida game that the Bulldog Nation is significantly more concerned with the Gators than anybody else. “I know people who have their whole week messed up when we lose to them,” said Johnson, Georgia’s strong safety. “It’s like those people can’t even function when they get up in the morning.”
Sounds like Tech fans. Not when it comes to Clemson, the Jackets’ nearest opponent in the ACC, or to Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami or any of the conference’s other elite teams through the years.
For those throughout the Yellow Jacket Nation, it’s always about Georgia. So it makes the Bulldogs’ dominance of Tech during most of this century even more striking. After all, the Jackets obsessed with whipping one opponent each season, and they still haven’t done it as of late. That’s among the reasons why Gailey (0-5 against Georgia) is in trouble on The Flats.
“Man, it’s everywhere. It’s something I have to deal with when it comes to everything I do,” Tech running back Tashard Choice said. “I umpire games with little kids, and they’re always coming up to me and saying, ‘Beat Georgia.’ You hear it at school on campus, and inside the classrooms. Teachers, everybody wants us to win the Georgia game.”
Tech hasn’t done so since 2000, which means Georgia has spent that stretch with more talent, stronger coaching, better luck or a combination of all three.
Now it makes sense.
Permalink | Comments (58) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
Falcons actually did the best they could
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
This one bore all the trappings of a holiday embarrassment. You know, like the time your Uncle Pete had too much sherry and wound up face down in the cranberry sauce. Or, to cite an infamous chapter in franchise annals, the time the Falcons closed a 3-13 season in the chill of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium before an intimate gathering of 7,792.
The date: Dec. 24, 1989. I was among the few on hand that wretched afternoon — indeed, I interviewed every hardy patron sitting in one section of the lower deck, all three of them — and en route to the Dome I had visions of something similar besmirching this Thanksgiving. Which only goes to show: As bad as this season has been, it can’t hold a candle to 1989. Give thanks for small favors.
Not to say this campaign has been chock-full of fun and frolic. It’s never a good sign when your franchise player spends Thanksgiving in prison, and it’s hard to anticipate glad tidings when you’re playing the Super Bowl champs with half your roster hurt and the other half wishing it were. But say this for these Falcons: They gave a decent account of themselves, at least for a while. They made Peyton Manning work to beat them.
He did beat them, of course. (What, you were expecting, “Miracle on Northside Drive?”) But he had to clamber from a 10-0 hole to do it, and when you’re the Falcons and your last 10-point lead came 53 days ago … well, you’re tempted to take a picture of the scoreboard for use in next year’s media guide, the way Division I-AA teams do when facing one of the big boys.
Such a photo, it should be noted, would show a surprisingly full Dome. Attendance was announced as 69,845, and the actual crowd seemed pretty close to that. That means an awful lot of folks left hearth and home to venture downtown for this glaring mismatch. Who knew so many among us had an Uncle Pete to duck out on?
The Falcons gave the paying public as good a show as they’re apt to give. They led by 10 after one quarter and were in decent shape midway through the second. Leading 13-7, they’d forced the Colts to punt for the third time in four possessions. Alas, referee Mike Carey suffered a hallucination. He thought he saw Demorrio Williams run into Hunter Smith. What really happened was that Hunter the Punter gave a little hop and landed atop Williams, which shouldn’t have been a penalty but was adjudged as such.
The Colts took their gift and put the Falcons to bed. Indianapolis led 21-13 at the half but only 31-13 at the end. So now you’re asking: “Is this all we can reasonably ask, that the Falcons be semi-competitive against a really good opponent for a little while?” And the answer is …
Yes. What transpired Thursday night was the depleted 2007 Falcons playing at something approaching maximum capacity. They might win another game — some tepid teams remain on the schedule — but they can’t line up and play against anybody of consequence for long. They’re as lousy as we thought they’d be when Michael Vick was indicted.
“We felt like we had an opportunity to win,” said Bobby Petrino, but coaches always think that way when they’re fiddling with their X’s and O’s. And then the game begins and theory yields to reality, and that’s what keeps happening to the Falcons — an underwhelming team gets overwhelmed by the cold, cold truth.
There aren’t supposed to be any moral victories in the NFL, but the Falcons aren’t capable of much more. They could have lost 45-3 Thursday night, but they did better than that. They actually came closer against the Colts than they had against Tampa Bay five days earlier. Give thanks for small favors.
Permalink | Comments (107) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Mark Bradley
Feds’ doghouse nicer than Gailey’s
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Burrrrrp. ‘Scuse me. The fourth dessert and the seat cushion did it. So now I know what it must feel like to be a young orphan from the Congo who just had his head gnawed off by a raptor while the rest of his poor little body was decomposing from the inside out because he mistook plutonium for a Snickers. At least, so says my dietician, Nick Saban.
Anyway, not to overstate things. But, like, I’m great. After a slow start this fiscal season, the Weekend Predictions Investment Team, Catfish and Such is 14-6-1 against the spread in the last two weeks, providing members with substantial wealth for this holiday season, or maybe to sleep in a government doghouse.
Maybe you missed it. Michael Vick received a bill this week for $928,000, which the U.S. government says is what it cost to take care of 48 rescued doggies.
Question: What Ritz were they staying at?
The feds’ bill comes to $19,333.33 per dog, which I found hard to believe, because room service kibble isn’t that expensive and even special late-night entertainment productions like, “Every Which Way She Barks” and “Best Little Kennel Club in Westminster,” which appear discreetly on your hotel bill, can be bought at a discount as an all-day package.
Or, so I hear.
I’m not about to testify for the defense, but this is no time to trust the same government that charges us $29 for a roll of toilet paper, which as Saban says allows us to relate to anybody who ever lost their job, their wife, their pension and had a piano fall on their head in a span of seven minutes.
Which leads me to Chan Gailey: He still has a job, a wife and a pension. But he might want to look up every once in a while Saturday.
Gailey is 0-5 against Georgia and is facing a coach, Mark Richt, who is 6-0 against Tech. Nothing in recent weeks would lead you to believe a change in fortunes is forthcoming. And I think Dan Radakovich just pushed a large object out the window.
This is a rivalry game. Upsets happen. A narrow point-spread notwithstanding, this one would be a monster.
But: Just. Don’t. See it.
Room service: Send up a lock. Georgia covers 3-1/2.
Rivalry Value Menu
(For a complete meal, add a bad Saban analogy for 99 cents.)
• Iron (Deficiency) Bowl: Alabama loses to Louisiana-Monroe and Nick Saban starts babbling something about coming back from
9/11, Pearl Harbor and alcoholism. Somehow he skipped Alabama coming back from the greatest catastrophe of all: Nick Saban. This would make four straight losses. Wow. He really did take them to another level. Auburn covers 6.
• La-Monroe at La-Lafayette: Unfortunately the WarHawks’ soft non-conference schedule is over. Back to the grind of the Sun Belt. (No pick. Just wanted to get that in.)
• Tennessee at Kentucky: The Vowels have won four straight since losing to Bammy, so the good news for Saban is at least he resurrected one team. Tennessee has dropped Kentucky 22 straight. The Wildcats have gone south (2-4) since a fast start (5-0). But the SEC hasn’t made sense all year so why start now. Cats do Dogs a favor: win and cover 3.
• Florida State at Florida: The Gators have scored 159 points in three games since losing to Georgia. The Seminoles used to score like that. Anybody notice that Jimbo Fisher’s offense is scoring fewer points per game than Jeff Bowden’s? Gators cover 14.
• Old Ms. at Missy State: This is known as “The Egg Bowl” because, and I’m not making this up, everybody thinks the trophy looks more like an egg than a football. Further confirmation that they just don’t get out much in Starkville and “Oxford.” Other Dogs cover 6 1/2.
• Arkansas at LSU: Asked about taking the Michigan job, Les Miles said: “I’m completely focused on this place and this team. I want to stay just where I’m at. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to envision it.” In other words, he’s taking the Michigan job. Tigers win, but take the Piggies and 12.
• Clemson at South Carolina: Steve Spurrier said this week, “Our attitude stinks,” felt bad, then corrected himself a few days later, saying: “I meant to say that our effort level is what stinks.” OK, I’ll bite: What’s the difference? Clemson covers the 2 1/2.
• Duke at North Carolina: This week’s Perception Over Reality Award goes to Butch Davis. The Tar Heels are 3-8, Davis received a $291,000 raise and an extension through 2014. Somebody’s channeling Dave Braine. Carolina covers the 14.
• Miami at Boston College: Used to be known as Catholics vs. Convicts. But if Miami players tried to rob a liquor store now, they’d run into a lamppost. The Hurricanes have been outscored 92-14 in the last two weeks by the state of Virginia. Another big day for the Falcons’ next quarterback, Matt Ryan: Eagles cover 141/2.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Grateful day brings home what matters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Top of the day to ye. Thanksgiving Day is a holiday for everybody, a family day, when all get together around the bountiful table, eat, drink and be grateful. Have you noticed that airlines are busier around Thanksgiving than any other holiday? Thank heaven to be home already and not have to suffer through the clutter that airline travel has become. Sorry, shouldn’t have brought it up. That is the day to be especially thankful, sometimes with a bit of whimsy. So …
I’m thankful that the Dow Jones averages mean more to me than batting averages.
I’m thankful when the dentist tells me this isn’t going to hurt a bit — and it doesn’t.
I’m thankful that I used to be able to go out into the woods and cut our own Christmas tree.
I’m thankful that I grew up when radio stations entertained and didn’t talk your ears off.
I’m still thankful the side I was on won World War II — now if they could just get this mess cleared up.
I’m thankful we have our own well, and it doesn’t know there’s a drought.
I’m thankful when a football player scores a touchdown and acts as if he’s been there before.
I’m thankful when the doorbell rings and it’s our grandkids.
I’m thankful for backroads — “blue highways,” somebody called them — any escape from the interstate race tracks.
I’m not thankful for those things they call “wraps.” (Like eating cardboard, though I’m not an authority on that.)
I’m thankful I grew up having to milk the family cow — now I have a deep appreciation for where milk comes from.
I’m thankful when, on my monthly statement, credit leads debit by a one-sided score.
I’m thankful when the noise in the middle of the night turns out to be the ice-maker. (And if you’ve heard that before, it still goes.)
I’m thankful that when I was young, poetry was poetry, when it rhymed, not some rambling drivel going nowhere.
I’m thankful we still have a dial phone, and it’s always in working order, through sleet and storm or whatever.
I’m thankful I knew the days of Kaltenborn, Heatter, Thomas, Edwards, Blair and their kind, when news was news and not a “show.”
I’m thankful, that as I grow older, I’ve come to realize that cleaning off our roof is a job for somebody else, not me.
I’m thankful that we have our squirrel menace under control. (Applause, applause, for my wife, not my 16-gauge.)
I’m thankful for buttermilk, but don’t try to order it in a New York restaurant.
I’m thankful for my old Royal typewriter, which still gets plenty of use.
I’m thankful I finally quit waiting until tomorrow to stop procrastinating.
I’m thankful for my first good-morning kiss.
I’m thankful, in parting, to be able to offer a solution to Georgia Tech and the Falcons in their football dilemma: Swap coaches, Gailey for Petrino.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Furman Bisher
Tech, UGA fans represent two schools of thought
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Thanksgiving is a grand tradition, and so, in its way, is the annual appearance of our Field Guide to Georgia and Tech fans. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll reach for another slice of pumpkin pie.
Every Georgia fan would love to buy Mark Richt lunch. Many Tech fans would love to buy Chan Gailey out.
Georgia fans were so energized after the Florida game that they broke the chapel bell. Tech fans were so energized after the Virginia Tech game that they flooded Dan Radakovich’s e-mail account.
Georgia fans still revere the old Bulldog Theron Sapp for scoring the touchdown that broke the team’s eight-year Tech drought. Tech fans are pretty sure the old Bulldog Sonny Perdue is behind the real drought.
Georgia fans enjoy making fun of Tech’s worst-in-its-conference graduation rate. Tech fans enjoy making fun of Georgia’s worst-in-its-conference graduation rate.
Some Georgia fans are beginning to forgive Michael Adams. No Tech fan will ever forgive Dave Braine.
Many Georgia fans come to games just to cheer for Knowshon. Some Tech fans choose not to come to games and are known as no-shows.
Georgia fans can’t wait to see Caleb King on the field next season. Tech fans can’t wait to see Paul Johnson on the sideline next season.
Longtime Georgia fans fondly remember the times James Brown showed up at Sanford Stadium and led cheers. Longtime Tech fans want to know whose idea it was to invite Big Boi.
The quote that still frosts Georgia fans: “It wasn’t like they were some big, powerful team.” The quote that still frosts Tech fans: “Come on, dog. It’s a game.”
Georgia fans are thrilled that Richt seems to have shed his inhibitions. Tech fans are appalled that Richt seems to have lost his mind.
The place on campus few Georgia fans deign to visit: Stegeman Coliseum when basketball is being played. The place on campus few Tech fans deign to visit: The upper deck atop the north end zone when football is being played.
The Georgia fan’s low point of 2007: Losing to Spurrier yet again. The Tech fan’s low point of 2007: Realizing Gailey has four years remaining on his contract.
Georgia fans will miss listening to Larry Munson. Tech fans will miss pretending they’d never stoop so low as to listen to Munson.
Georgia fans are enthused about the prospects of playing in another BCS bowl. Tech fans are less enthused about the notion of another bowl played outside the Eastern time zone.
A Sanford Stadium tradition: The pregame trumpet solo. A new Bobby Dodd Stadium tradition: The fourth-quarter booing of the coach’s public-service announcement.
Georgia fans are excited the Bulldogs now have receivers who can catch. Tech fans will be excited when the Jackets find a quarterback who can throw.
Georgia fans are concerned that Uga VI seems to have put on weight. Tech fans are happy the Ramblin’ Wreck is no longer wrecked.
Georgia fans now have to worry about coordinating their attire to fit Richt’s latest whim. Tech fans don’t care what color their team wears, so long as it’s gold.
Georgia fans think Gailey is a great fit for Tech. Tech fans will have a fit if he sticks around another year.
Permalink | Comments (169) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Missing the big one
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Given the season, we should be thankful for so many things, even when it comes to sports. For instance: Just think of all the historically significant events you’ve witnessed as a fan. (Oh, and feel free to share those moments on this Thanksgiving Eve with your blogs).
Anyway, in three decades as a sports journalist, I’ve seen plenty of such moments. They’ve ranged from the overall dominance of Team USA in the ’84 Olympics to Sid Bream’s sprint and slide to Notre Dame’s football team (back when Notre Dame had a football team) stopping Miami’s 36-game winning streak during the regular season to Dominique scoring 57 points at the Omni while His Airness managed 41 to Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig’s endurance record to the Music City Miracle.
It’s just that …
THE BAND WAS ON THE FIELD! — but I wasn’t in the pressbox.
I’m still bummed.
This week marks the 25th anniversary of Cal’s romp through the players and the band members of Stanford for the wackiest ending ever in sports. I could have been there. I should have been there.
Well, you know what they say about hindsight.
Here’s the deal: I was working for the San Francisco Examiner at the time covering the Oakland Raiders. I officially was off that Saturday of the annual Big Game between Cal and Stanford, but my sports editor gave me the option of staying off or writing a side story from the game.
Let’s see, I thought. Should I enjoy any of the wonderful things that the Bay Area has to offer on this sun-splattered Saturday afternoon, or should I forfeit my off day to write about something involving two mediocre football teams?
D’oh!
Permalink | Comments (22) | Categories: Quick Hit
Gailey, Tech AD not using same playbook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
This isn’t to suggest Dan Radakovich and Chan Gailey ever actually pondered a food fight in the Georgia Tech cafeteria. But it certainly looked like a symbolic snapshot on the state of Tech football when the athletics director and coach sat down for lunch Tuesday at adjacent tables at the same time — back to back, a foot apart, looking in opposite directions.
Then again, there’s really not a lot for them to talk about these days. Between Radakovich’s increasingly evasive, if not chilly, comments on Gailey’s future, and the Yellow Jackets’ increasingly suspect performances leading up to this week’s Georgia game, these aren’t great circumstances to bond at the salad bar.
Radakovich is the boss. Gailey is the employee he inherited. It starts there. It always starts there.
College athletics have changed significantly over the past few decades. There’s more television, more opportunities for revenue, increased recruiting pressures and a greater demand to win. Now.
The ripple effect: Because the lines between college and pro sports are blurred, athletics directors are more like owners or general managers. They want to put their own imprint on a program. They want to hire their own guy.
This doesn’t mean Radakovich is either shortsighted or an egomaniacal administrator (or both). But at the very least, he is like anybody else who runs a business: He wants employees who match his level of passion, his energy and his style.
An insurance salesman who rises at 5:30 a.m. tells himself, “Somebody is going to buy something today,” and is in the office by 7 — he will hire clones one day when he’s in charge.
Gailey and Radakovich couldn’t seem more different. One wants to win. The other makes it a mandate. One has desire. The other moves through the day like his hair is on fire.
Both are good men. Both want the same thing. But when Radakovich rises at 5:30, and is sitting in his office at 7, and is trying to figure out how to get people excited about Georgia Tech football, do you really believe he is thinking about Gailey?
Radakovich came from LSU.
He worked with Nick Saban.
He liked Nick Saban.
Why? Because Saban charged into his job daily like Radakovich charged into his.
This is the South. Football’s kind of big. Maybe the success and the visibility of Tech football hasn’t always been there, but Radakovich isn’t going to accept that it can’t always be there. In his mind, things get better or he has failed. He wants the guy who lives in Midtown to walk down the street on a college football Saturday and buy a ticket. He doesn’t want empty seats. He doesn’t want seats filled by opposing fans (which will be a problem this week).
Tech-Georgia hasn’t been competitive. The Bulldogs have won six straight meetings, the past five when it’s Gailey vs. Mark Richt.
The Bulldogs are coming off wins over Florida, Auburn and Kentucky, maintain hopes of an SEC title game and could be headed to the Sugar Bowl. The Jackets are coming off unimpressive performances against conference flotsam Duke and North Carolina and are looking at the Emerald Bowl. Not hard to guess which fan base is jacked up.
Rivalry games define success. But when asked Tuesday about the impact of winning or losing such games, Gailey said: “I don’t know that I have the answer to that question.”
Make no mistake: These losses have been huge. It’s one more thing for Radakovich to think about. It speaks to direction.
At this point you wonder if even an upset Saturday would sway Radakovich to conclude that Gailey is the guy he wants for this program. It wouldn’t seem there are many people on the fence about Gailey. Fans are pretty well entrenched on one side or the other.
Now it’s up to Radakovich. Asked about being left hanging by his boss, Gailey said: “Hey, my job is to do the best I can to win football games, and do what’s right for the kids and right for the program. Anything else I can’t control.”
The coach sets the tone for his program.
The athletics director sets the tone for his coaches.
Right now, there’s little reason to think two-part harmony.
Permalink | Comments (152) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
Glavine greater than sum of his parts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
There’s more to Tom Glavine than a left arm, not that that should come as a surprise to anybody who knows him. It came through in the news conference the other day reintroducing him to an audience with whom he was already familiar. What he did was something I’ve never heard any baseball player do before. He said he wasn’t sure he was worth what the New York Mets were offering.
His projected salary, I should say. It was there. All he had to do was take it, a $13 million option to pitch another season on Long Island.
“I wasn’t sure I was worth 13 million,” Glavine said. “I’m not a No. 1 starter any more. I didn’t have the feeling that I could go out and pitch like a $13 million guy anymore.”
This is utter violation of the athlete’s code. You don’t get such honesty in this day and age of the agent and his pawn. What Glavine was saying, as he took his vows with the Braves again, was that “if it meant going back to New York, I don’t think I’d have pitched again. That would have been it.”
So in the end it was take a $5 million cut in pay to live and pitch where his home and heart are. You never felt that deep down inside he was a real Met. Look at the record. He had two losing seasons before finally breaking even, a man with his job one place and his heart in another, flying family to and fro to have a few hours together.
Glavine hadn’t wanted to leave, but with the Mets’ offer of three years at $10 million a season, he gave the Braves a chance to match it. There was no response. John Schuerholz turned a deaf ear. (Too much shouldn’t be made of Frank Wren’s ascension and the change in general managers, since this is his regime and Schuerholz’s absence at the head table was noticeable. There was a heart-rending reason. Schuerholz’s mother had died that morning.)
What it was like for Glavine in New York was, as he put it, “hard to describe. I still lived here. Our home is here. It was two worlds, one family. It has been a juggling act.”
He had five days after the season ended to declare himself, if he wanted to continue as a Met. “Five days were not enough for me to make up my mind, so I opted out,” he said.
Now there are doubters that Glavine is the answer to what the Braves need, though once pitcher-poor, they now look pitcher-rich with John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, the probability of Mike Hampton’s return, Glavine, and in the deep shadows, Chuck James. When Damian Moss was having the best season of his life here, Glavine was an instrumental factor. He could be of the same tutorial value to James, a sort of carbon copy of Glavine’s style.
I put nothing into Glavine’s rocky wind-up in New York: three blown starts, including one tormented one. His mind was at work on other matters. He knew he was pitching his way out of a Mets uniform, and his head was getting mixed signals.
Now all the disturbing doubts are gone, and here is a man with a freedom of mind. He’s home again. He drives to Turner Field to an old familiar parking space. Walks into home, not the visitors clubhouse, greets old pals and familiar faces. That should add years to his happiness and his ERA.
Yes, the contract is only for one year. With Glavine’s well-ordered lifestyle, his deep faith, and the ease with which he delivers his 82-mph fastball, change of pace and slider, his trim body should be good for two or three more seasons.
Home again. There’s nothing like being home again.
Permalink | Comments (74) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
Vick’s lawyers were no help
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN…
(Or: Things I don’t want to write a whole column about …)
10: There’s usually a financial arrangement when Sun Belt teams play SEC teams. Just wondering: Did Louisiana-Monroe get $500,000 to play Alabama, or was it the other way around?
9: And Nick Saban: Officially a nut job. He said Alabama must rebound from the “catastrophe” of losing to Louisiana-Monroe, just like the U.S. had to rebound from 9-11 and Pearl Harbor. “Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic event. It may be 9-11, which sort of changed the spirit of America relative to catastrophic events. Pearl Harbor kind of got us ready for World War II, or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event.” And no, these aren’t off-the-cuff remarks. They’re well-prepared remarks for the week of the Auburn game.
8: Bottom line: A loss is humiliation. War is catastrophe.
7: Seems to me one of the biggest advantages to making a lot of money is having the means to hire the best attorneys. They would know how to navigate courts, manipulate judges and get me one those Lindsay Lohan, 84-minute sentences. But the guys Michael Vick hired? I wouldn’t trust them to advise me on whether to SuperSize.
6: I’m not absolving Vick of any blame for anything foolish that he’s done. But have we ever seen so many legal missteps for such a high-profile client? It was Lawrence Woodward, Vick’s long-time attorney, who failed to settle HerpesGate quietly, creating one of Vick’s earliest PR disasters. Woodward also kept advising to Vick to fight the dog fighting charges rather than addressing the matter with possibly sympathetic Virginia officials - long before the feds ever got involved. And now, we have Billy Martin …
5: I understand Martin is one of the highest paid defense attorneys in the country. Explains why he dresses well. But he’s done nothing for Vick to this point. He miscalculated the government’s evidence and load of witnesses, and Vick ended up taking a painful plea deal - the case never came close to going to trial. Neither Woodward or Martin presumably ever warned Vick about drug testing, because Vick tested positive for marijuana while awaiting sentencing. And now …
4: Vick checks into jail early Monday, hoping to soften up the judge before sentencing Dec. 10. Question: If this is such a good idea, why wait until now? Vick took the plea deal three months ago. Sentencing guidelines are 12 to 18 months. You don’t need a law degree to ascertain that the sentence probably will be longer than … three months.
3: Such a stark difference in play by the Thrashers. But if they can play this hard with Don Waddell behind the bench, you have to wonder to what extent they laid down for Bob Hartley. Somebody get these guys a mirror.
2: If Evander Holyfield (45) insists on fighting again, he will do so with yet another different promoter. Main Events’ Kathy Duva, who orchestrated Holyfield’s last title shot - a loss to Sultan Ibragimov for the WBO title in Moscow - is out of there. Duva wrote me in an e-mail: “We have mutually agreed to part ways.”
1: The mother of all NFL point spreads could be five weeks away: Miami (0-14) at New England (14-0).
Permalink | Comments (117) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Glavine deserves happy ending
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
I hope this works out. I hope Tom Glavine has as much left in him as the Braves believe. I hope next season will erase much of the foul memory of Glavine working those five years in Flushing, N.Y.
I’m not a fan of the Farewell Tour as a concept - Terry Pendleton, Mike Remlinger and Julio Franco were brought back by the Braves to negligible effect, Alejandro Pena to somewhat more - but if anyone deserves a victory lap it’s Glavine. He was the boyish face of the team that came of age in 1991, and his presence in the organization dates to the long-ago days when Bobby Cox was off managing the Blue Jays. Bringing back Cox has yielded 14 division titles; maybe Glavine can generate one last shout.
But I must say I’m torn about this, torn because I like and admire Glavine as much as any athlete I’ve ever covered, torn also because I’m not sure he’s even a No. 3 starter at this late date. (Glavine himself admitted, “I don’t view myself as a No. 1 guy anymore.”) Mostly I’m torn because his return only underscores how silly it was that this Hall of Fame pitcher and prince of a guy was allowed - nay, impelled - to leave five years ago.
The Braves didn’t need him then, when he was 36 and coming off an 18-win season, but they need him now, when he’s 41 and just posted the second-highest ERA of his past 19 years? They were alarmed by two playoff losses in 2002 but are willing to overlook the three wretched outings that closed his 2007 season? They speak of how much Glavine is - Frank Wren’s words - “loved and still loved,” but where was the love when Glavine and John Schuerholz were getting spitting mad at one another?
Anger drove Glavine away. Yeah, he got big money from his Flushing employer, but money was never the sticking point in those negotiations. Pride was. Glavine wanted the Braves to tell him they loved him, and Schuerholz, for reasons still unclear, never did. So now the Braves love Glavine again, which is nice, but why did they ever stop?
“When I look back, I think, ‘If this conversation or this situation had gone a different way, there might have been a different outcome,’ ” Glavine said Monday, his face still boyish but his hair a 41-year-old’s shade of gray. And then: “But things happen for a reason.”
Maybe they do. Still, it was hard to stomach watching Glavine in his blue-and-orange Siberia, harder still to hear the greeting he received at Turner Field. Greg Maddux, who’d begun as a Cub and who wasn’t the MVP of the only World Series the Braves have won, returned as a Padre last summer to a warm ovation. Glavine would hear boos as he made his pregame walk to the visitors’ bullpen, boos when he was introduced, boos when he came to bat. “For a long time I didn’t understand it,” he said, “but over time I became indifferent to it.”
The best part of his return is that he’ll hear no more boos in Atlanta. He’s no longer a spokesman for the players’ union, a responsibility he bore nobly even though it infuriated so many in this non-union city. “Over 50 percent of people have been divorced,” said Glavine, himself on his second marriage, “and we’ve learned to forgive our exes for a lot of things. But somehow I was never forgiven for being a union rep.”
If he wins 13 games and eats up 200 innings and helps the Braves break their newfound hold on third place, he’ll be not just forgiven but canonized. He’s a starting pitcher, and the Braves wouldn’t have fallen to third place if they’d had more starting pitching. (“More times than not, we’ll be the favorite next season,” said Wren, in a quote you’ll want to clip and save.)
Fans are fickle, nowhere more so than here. Surely some of the same folks who swore they’d never again root for Tom Glavine will be his loudest backers now. I hope this works for many reasons, not least because I enjoy seeing hypocrisy held up to the light.
Permalink | Comments (44) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Mark Bradley
Johnson squeezes drama out of Chase
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Homestead, Fla. — The idea was to create some drama. You call something “The Chase,” it suggests there will be some sense of a race. Or a thrill. Or some doubt.
Jimmie Johnson obliterated the plan.
He reduced Matt Kenseth, Sunday’s race winner, to an afterthought. He had NASCAR chairman Brian France scrambling to answer questions about whether there was a need to restructure the point system (again).
He had Jeff Gordon, one of the most dominant competitors this sport has ever seen, questioning himself and reevaluating his future.
The Chase for the Cup was supposed to create doubt about who would be champion — not doubt inside the cranium of an icon.
“I’m not getting any younger,” Gordon said Sunday. “I put up as good a numbers as I can possibly put up, and it wasn’t enough. That’s tough to take.”
Get used to it.
Gordon had the implausible task of knocking 86 points off of Johnson’s Nextel Cup point lead to win the championship. He fell 77 short. Imagine going from king of a sport to so unbelievably humbled.
Kenseth won Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and it didn’t matter. Gordon ran as aggressively as he had in weeks, finished in fourth, had an average finish of 5.1 in the season’s 10 Chase races, and it wasn’t enough.
Jimmie Johnson obliterated the plan.
He finished seventh in the race, only because the idea was mere survival. Having led the first lap, it would’ve taken a finish of 20th or below to blow this title. Not going to happen.
It would’ve taken a blown engine.
Or an overzealous yahoo ramming him into the wall.
Or a meteor shower.
Instead, we got a relatively uneventful 267 laps around a 1 1/2-mile track, just as Johnson would’ve ordered and NASCAR surely dreaded when it first instituted its quasi-playoff system in 2004. The idea was for the last race to mean something. The idea wasn’t this.
“He’s having a run in the modern era that’s maybe unmatched,” said France, NASCAR’s CEO. “You can put in any format. But when Jimmy Johnson has done what he’s done, [the format] doesn’t matter. He’s at a different level.”
Johnson has won consecutive championships. He’s the 10th driver to do that. Owner Rick Hendrick has offered him and crew chief Chad Knaus “lifetime” contracts. It might not be a bad idea to put in a reincarnation clause.
Four straight wins leading up to Sunday had long since ended the suspense. Johnson won 10 races this season. He had 11 top-five finishes in the final 16 events.
“I can’t really believe it all,” he said.
How does he explain such dominance?
“I’m not really sure I can,’ he said. “But I really don’t care, either.”
He was better. His car was better. His crew was better. And in the end, Gordon said, Johnson took chances that he wouldn’t take, and they paid off.
“Trust me — I know everything that’s in that 48 car and how he’s driving,” Gordon said. “Honestly, I thought as aggressive as they were being, it was going to bite him. I guess I was too confident with the whole consistency thing.”
Gordon said he would “take a 5.1 average [finish] in the Chase for the rest of my career.”
Most would. But Johnson’s average was 5.0.
Driver and crew chief were in sync. Funny. It was in Miami two years ago when the Johnson/Knaus team almost dissolved. A blown tire and a wreck in the season-ending race caused Johnson to drop from second to fifth in the points standings. It capped a series of frustrations that led Johnson and Knaus to blame each other for failing to win a championship.
Johnson the other day recalled that it was the first time Hendrick “called us to the principal’s office.”
When he and Knaus arrived at Hendrick’s office, there were cookies and milk waiting for them.
“I said, ‘If you’re going to act like kids, we’re going to take a break and have milk and cookies,’ ” Hendrick said. “They laughed, and we got it all out on the table.”
Two seasons have followed. Two championships have followed.
NASCAR saw its drama end with cookies and milk.
“South Beach, here we come,” Johnson said, as he ended a post-race news conference.
It was already past 9 p.m. It would be the first time in a while he trailed the crowd.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Auto Racing, Jeff Schultz
Two wins and you’re out is curious strategy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Sunday afternoon I went to a Falcons game. But they didn’t show up. They were scheduled to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who haven’t been having the best of it themselves. This would turn out to be one of most dismal afternoons at the bedside of the Falcons since those dreary afternoons at old Atlanta Stadium. For that matter, even the officiating crew wasn’t having a good day themselves, but you can’t fire the zebras. I’ve never seen as much time spent trying to sort out calls since officials began wearing stripes. It took Walt Coleman and his crew 15 minutes to sort out one confusing play, and they still didn’t get it right.
First, get this: The Falcons had won two games in a row with Joey Harrington at quarterback. I know, the learned exponents of the game had ruled that the two teams they had beaten were “bad teams,” San Francisco and Carolina. I don’t care who you beat in the National Football League, if they’re in the league, you beat them, it counts.
This story all begins when early in the week Bobby Petrino, the Falcons coach, had said if Byron Leftwich was able to stand and take nourishment, Leftwich would be his quarterback this week. A coach is the coach, and this is his team, but what didn’t make sense was that this was a slap in the face of Joey Harrington, who had won two games in a row for him. This was a Bobby Petrino decision, a college coach working his first season in the league. But why?
If there were reasons to bench Harrington, let us know. He is no Michael Vick, true, and I will say as I walked into the Georgia Dome I saw a lot of No. 7 jerseys on the backs of die-hard Vick fans. Had they lost track with time? As for Leftwich, when Jack Del Rio decided he wasn’t the man for quarterbacking the Jaguars, it should have sent a message. I don’t propose to be a sports page coach, but was this unemployed fellow worth a $4 million investment?
This was a turn-the-corner game for the Falcons. They could move up in their division against the Bucs, and they needed to play their best hand. By the end of the second quarter, cries of “Joey! Joey!” were rising from the stands. When Leftwich returned to the field, waves of boos followed him. No coach has ever been influenced by booing, but finally, after it became painfully obvious that this $4 million investment wasn’t working out too well, Petrino finally bent. The thirsting crowd got Joey. Too late, not that Harrington would have made that much difference early on, but what were the grounds for ditching him until given the chance to play his way out? It seemed only fair.
Harrington did produce a touchdown, but it was meaningless. Across the line, there was Jeff Garcia, a journeyman with a knack for leading and being the glue that holds a team together. He has a track record that backs it up. He’s not Hall of Fame stuff. But he’s reliable, efficient, and puts winning numbers on the board. He completed just 10 of 20 passes against the Falcons, but he kept order on the offense, and ran his team like a good engineer. The Bucs saw value in him, which is why he is there.
As the game wound down, and Harrington produced the lone touchdown, Arthur Blank was on the sideline standing with the quality control director, and surely depressed at this dismal scene. His team is in serious trouble. It’s not the absence of Michael Vick — oh, by the way, did you notice that Matt Schaub returned from injury and won a game against New Orleans for the Texans on Sunday? — but it is an accumulation of sad decisions that find these Falcons as deep in disrepute as in the dreariest days of Marion Campbell, Dan Henning, Jerry Glanville and June Jones. And whoever even dreamed that those nightmares might return?
If that isn’t enough, this is a team at the bottom of the curve that will be the main course in the defending NFL champions’ Thanksgiving dinner. They play the Indianapolis Colts with four days of this to dwell upon. There’s no way out of it. They can’t call in sick.
Permalink | Comments (51) | Categories: Furman Bisher
Season on its way to disintegration
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for this strikingly clueless bunch of Falcons, ranging from team officials to coaches to those in shoulder pads, along came Sunday at the Georgia Dome. They all spent four of the ugliest quarters in recent memory discovering that rock bottom actually has a basement.
Silly quarterback play.
Mindless penalties to negate possible huge switches in momentum.
Crazy strategy (pick one, but how about that toss sweep on fourth-and-1 that predictably failed?).
Dropped passes.
Another brutal outing by an invisible offensive line.
Matador defense (I mean, Earnest Graham, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ third-string running back, torched these guys for 102 yards rushing and a touchdown).
Even worse, those who bothered to show up to watch the Falcons’ plunge to 3-7 and counting spent much of the afternoon booing or chanting “Joey, Joey, Joey,” as in the overmatched quarterback who was replaced going into the game by Byron Leftwich, another overmatched quarterback, who was yanked for Harrington, still an overmatched quarterback.
So the present and the future are like this for the Falcons after their self-inflicted thrashing of 31-7 at the mediocre hands of Tampa Bay: Purgatory is wherever the Falcons are now in their 42nd year of existence, and hell is on the way.
“We didn’t come out with the mind-set to play hard for four quarters,” said running back Warrick Dunn, delivering the understatement of the year. Added Leftwich, referring to his wretched performance and that of the entire team, “To be honest with you, I’ve never been involved with something like this.”
Has anybody? You know, even when it comes to this franchise? “Ooh. Ooh,” said former Falcons great Gerald Riggs, easing into a chuckle, while squinting in the home locker room afterward as a local NFL television analyst. “Let’s just say this game took me back a long way. Really, I haven’t seen this type of performance from a Falcons team in a long time.”
Just so you know, during Riggs’ seven years as a prolific runner for the Falcons in the 1980s, they managed an average of five victories per season. That included a 3-12 finish in 1987 under the forgettable Marion Campbell. Riggs laughed, saying, “We were just bad. We didn’t have good choices with players, coaches, anything. We didn’t have the pieces, and I think they have the pieces to do well. My biggest concern with this team is injuries. They’re injuries away, but we were players away. I just think these coaches have to win these players over with what they’ve implemented.”
Not likely. Rightfully or wrongfully, large portions of the Falcons locker room weren’t pleased with either rookie NFL head coach Bobby Petrino or his schemes even before the season, and nothing has changed. Leaders of Iran and Israel communicate better than Falcons players with Petrino. Among other things, a stunned Harrington discovered he probably wasn’t starting this week from an AJC reporter.
Then there is Petrino’s decision-making that often comes straight from his successful years of running the University of Louisville. In other words, he often coaches as if he’s still in college. You have that Steve Spurrier thing, for instance, where college guys love to mix and match their quarterbacks throughout the season and during games. The thing is, NFL coaches don’t do that, but here is Petrino playing musical chairs between Leftwich and Harrington with no end in sight. Here is Petrino also contradicting himself on this cockamamie process.
At the end of last week, Petrino emphatically mentioned that he would decide whether Harrington or Leftwich would start against the Buccaneers. After Leftwich fumbled twice, threw a couple of interceptions, suffered three sacks and was booed out of the game by the Falcons’ increasingly angry home crowd, Petrino quickly said, “The staff made the decision to start [Leftwich].” As for the Falcons’ Thanksgiving Day game on Thursday against the Indianapolis Colts, Petrino said, “I cannot tell you when that decision is going to be made right now.”
There was no mention of Petrino making the decision by himself this time. Sounds like the blame game for the Falcons is in its infant stages, because it sounds like confusion reigns.
Permalink | Comments (143) | Categories: Terence Moore
Dogs do owe Vandy something
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Athens — Go easy on Vanderbilt. The Commodores might have let Tennessee escape Saturday, but it wasn’t so long ago that the same Vandy was poised to send Georgia to 2-3 in conference play. And then the Bulldogs’ Reshad Jones grabbed Cassen Jackson-Garrison inside the 10, and Darryl Gamble stripped the ball, and Dannell Ellerbe fell on it, and five weeks later here Georgia sits, at worst the co-champion of the SEC East.
“It was definitely the play that changed the season,” said tackle Chester Adams, speaking of the fateful Vandy fumble. “Without it, we wouldn’t be here.”
So much has happened lately — the penalized celebration in Jacksonville, the organized Blackout against Auburn, and now Saturday’s workmanlike dismissal of Kentucky — that it’s easy to forget how unsteady this season once was. The Bulldogs lost their first two games against Eastern brethren and were 2 1/2 minutes from being 0-3. And then one play, followed by one clutch drive and one field goal at the horn, lit the fuse that has burned into at least a co-championship and maybe much more.
“The defining moment in this season,” receiver Sean Bailey called it. “Since then, Coach Richt’s motto has been, ‘Just one more time.’ He says it every Monday after practice: ‘Just one more time.’ “
Actually, that’s an old Bulldog saying, borrowed from the late Erk Russell, but we’ve seen these past few weeks that Mark Richt doesn’t mind grabbing ideas from anywhere. But none of it — the celebration and the Blackout, the emergence of Knowshon Moreno and the re-emergence of Georgia’s defense — would have mattered nearly so much had Vandy not put the ball on the ground.
“It’s amazing what’s happened since then,” Richt said. “They were getting ready to finish us off … From that fumble on, it’s been nothing but great for us.”
This marks the fourth time Richt has taken his team to the top of the tougher division in the toughest conference, but for pure improbability nothing — not even Greene-to-Johnson on fourth-and-15 that cold day at Auburn — can match this. The first thing Richt said when he briefed the media Saturday was, “I’m tired.” And then: “I haven’t slept much since the Florida game. I’ve been pretty excited. There’s a lot of adrenaline pumping, and I’ve about run out.”
Six weeks ago people were wondering if Richt had lost it. On Saturday he became the eighth coach in Division I-A history to win 70 games in his first seven years on the job. How’s that for a response? He and his players seized a season going wrong and have hammered it into something unforgettable.
Said Mike Bobo, the offensive coordinator: “You’ve got to keep playing. Everyone [among players] was kind of young, but we kept playing, and we’ve put ourselves in position to win the East.”
Having come so far, the Bulldogs will be disappointed if Tennessee wins again next week and bars Georgia from a Dome date with LSU. It will, however, be a fleeting sense of loss. (“At least we’re co-champions,” Richt said. “It’s awesome.”) This has been a season of recovery and rebirth, as giddy in its careening way as the landmark years 1980 and 2002. This has been the season when Georgia reminded everyone it’s still Georgia.
“Something was missing,” Richt said. “We weren’t playing hard; we weren’t enjoying it. Something had to happen to break the cycle.
That’s why he ordered up the celebration against Florida, and that little ploy left his team and his fan base transfigured. “Energy has been the difference in this season,” he said. “Confidence and energy and maturity all kind of came together.”
The Bulldogs again believe they can beat anyone anywhere, and only five weeks ago they were in imminent danger of losing to Vandy. But Dannell Ellerbe fell on a fumble in Nashville, and Georgia hasn’t fallen since and might not again for a good long while.
Permalink | Comments (55) | Categories: Mark Bradley
Aaron remains the legitimate home-run king
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Moment by moment, with Barry Bonds edging closer to prison grays instead of road grays, he is sprinkling pixie dust on Hank Aaron’s already magical name. Even when Bonds ripped his way this summer past Aaron for most home runs in a career, the world ignored the other guy to hug the people’s choice even tighter.
Said Bud Selig, speaking over the phone from Milwaukee on Friday as baseball commissioner and the people’s choice’s friend of slightly less than forever, “There is no question in my mind that Hank Aaron has become an American icon.”
Not to correct the commissioner, but make that a global icon.
Thanks to the other guy.
Remember how Bonds spent early August at AT&T Park becoming just the secondary act in his own drama after he ripped his record 756th home run to top Aaron’s previous mark? As Bonds watched in awe with everybody else, the primary act was the bigger-than-life appearance of Aaron on the video board to congratulate the other guy for his accomplishment.
Aaron didn’t say much before, during or after Bonds’ home-run chase. That’s because he didn’t have to. Given Aaron’s reputation for classiness compared to however you wish to describe the frequently surly Bonds, all Aaron has to do is smile, wave and nod on occasion these days to remain the legitimate home-run king in the hearts of the masses.
Such is especially the case now, with Bonds facing more issues than whether somebody wishes to sign a 43-year-old slugger who still can swing but has trouble catching, throwing and running for long stretches. For instance: His indictment by the feds on four perjury counts and one count of obstructing justice. The charges were for his 2003 testimony before a grand jury involving the BALCO investigation on illegal steroids.
Now everybody has an opinion on Bonds that they wish to express. Well, nearly everybody. Since Aaron always takes the high road no matter what his destination at the moment, it wasn’t surprising he preferred to discuss other stuff during a recent conversation.
Local politics.
The dilapidated bridge near his southwest Atlanta home.
Anything but the other guy.
“No, I have no comment,” Aaron said with his distinctive chuckle. He wasn’t delivering a hidden statement on his thoughts on Bonds. He was reiterating his desire for a peaceful existence. He is a 73-year-old Hall of Famer who’d rather play with his grandchildren than flirt with controversy by expounding on Bonds’ legal situation before its conclusion.
No question, the highly compassionate Aaron bemoans the fact that Bonds is going through this mess, whether it was self-inflicted or not. That said, the best thing ever to happen to Aaron’s legacy of producing baseball royalty with the common touch was to have the good, the bad and the ugly of Bonds appear in full view during the past few years. The other guy has 762 career home runs compared to the people’s choice’s 755, which means Bonds technically is the all-time home-run leader. It’s just that, unlike Aaron, who slammed his way into legend from the early 1950s to the middle 1970s with adrenaline, the feds say they have proof that Bonds did so during his career with juice. Not apple, orange or cranberry, by the way.
That’s why somebody else prefers not to discuss the other guy. That somebody is Selig, who befriended Aaron when the slugger played for the Braves in Selig’s hometown of Milwaukee.
“I told this to Hank at the World Series this year, and that is that he is the same, nice person that I first met 50 years ago,” said Selig, speaking with emotion from his Milwaukee office. “He broke the most famous record in American sports. He’s done things that are remarkable, and yet, there is something so gracious about him, so decent. He’s just a wonderful human being, and he’s still the same. And, so, without commenting on [the other guy], Hank Aaron has become even more of a legendary figure, and well-deserved. I think that’s all that I have to say.”
Permalink | Comments (31) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Sadly, one team must lose
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Tell you this, Mark “Barnum & Bailey” Richt isn’t the only football coach who brings some trickery to the stadium. Chan Gailey came to Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a few tricks up his sleeve. His quarterback caught a pass for a touchdown. His running back threw a pass for a touchdown.
His backup quarterback, whose game is moving the ball on hoof, threw the first critical touchdown pass of his short career, and in the end, what had been a wild, unruly game between the college teams of two former NFL head coaches came down to a field-goal shootout. Georgia Tech won it, 27-25, over North Carolina. Whew!
Gailey once coached the Dallas Cowboys, and Butch Davis once coached the Cleveland Browns. Neither ever took part in a game like this, and not one of the 45,490 who came to watch could take an easy breath until the last field goal was blocked.
Frankly, neither of the teams gave anything akin to a classic performance. Between them, they fumbled seven times. An amazing statistic is that with all the fur and footballs flying, there wasn’t an interception. One special reason is that Hakeem Nicks, a Tar Heels receiver, caught seven passes for 162 yards, including a touchdown, and Greg Smith answered back for Georgia Tech with six catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
Davis introduced an unsuspected weapon for the Tar Heels. His running back, Greg Little, a freshman from Durham, N.C., had carried the ball only nine times this season. Saturday, he carried the load for the Tar Heels, 24 times for 89 yards. But we pause here to pay tribute to the man who carried the load for the Yellow Jackets. This was Tashard Choice’s day, and any way you slice it, the running back from Riverdale was the difference in this game. He carried the ball 33 times for 142 yards, threw a pass that the quarterback, Taylor Bennett, caught for Tech’s first score, and this for a fellow who has spent as much time under medical care lately as on the practice field.
Trying to capsulize this game is virtually impossible. It was sloppy, spectacular, exciting, dismaying to both sides, and in the end, like a prize fight in which both fighters keep going down and getting back up to fight some more. The Tar Heels trailed most of the day. Twice they were first-and-goal and didn’t score touchdowns. Finally, late in the fourth quarter, after they recovered a Bennett fumble at Tech’s 2-yard line, the backup running back, Anthony Elzy, punched the ball over, and the extra point finally gave them the lead, 25-24.
When Tech maneuvered into scoring position again, the “sure thing” failed. Travis Bell missed a field goal from 33 yards, and you could feel the air go out of Bobby Dodd Stadium and Grant Field both. But Bell would get a second chance, all set up by Choice’s persistent carries. This time, from 27 yards, Bell’s toe was accurate, and the final score was in.
Tough call to send him back out there? “If that’s a tough call, I need to get out. He has kicked too well too long,” Gailey said.
It was a tough one to lose, and Davis said so. “There was not one of them that left anything in the tank,” the Carolina coach said. “I tell you, I’m proud of the way they played.”
It was a shame that either of them had to lose. Not pretty, not something to be framed for posterity, but a good, solid portrait of what college football does best. It is whether you won or lost, and hearts were broken, but they will mend and rise again.
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Johnson learning to be NASCAR star
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Homestead, Fla. — It is one thing to rank among a sport’s elite. It’s another to become so dominant that it moves the sport’s perceived emperor to wave a white hanky at you in mock surrender, as Jeff Gordon did last week in victory lane.
Jimmie Johnson has won four consecutive races. Nothing short of 20 lug nuts popping off his Chevy at the start of today’s Ford 400 could prevent him from winning a second straight Nextel Cup title. He has won 10 more races than Gordon in the past four years. Johnson’s next win will give him 34 in only six seasons, passing “Fireball” Roberts on the all-time list.
There are certain absolutes in auto racing. One is: When you pass a guy named Fireball, you’re doing something right.
But has any sport ever had a more low-profile superstar?
Johnson is already teammates with Gordon, racing’s gold standard of crossover stars. Next year they will be joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Hendrick team.
Gordon and Earnhardt are Madison Avenue. Johnson is somewhere on Bleecker Street, even if he’s better than either one of them.
“I don’t think he obsesses over that at all,” John Lewensten, Johnson’s manager said. “Those things will come. I don’t think Jimmie really views himself as a superstar. He’s just like the guy next door, a good guy to sit back and have a beer with. I’m not sure he realizes where he is statistically or the magnitude of what he’s doing. He’s just worried about winning races.”
It’s not like Johnson is starved for endorsements. Or money. He’s doing fine, just not what you would expect for somebody so dominant, and it’s questionable whether he’ll ever achieve Gordon or Earnhardt status.
Lewensten believes being teammates with those two will help “open doors” for Johnson. But when somebody has 27 victories in four seasons (compared to Gordon’s 17), one would think he could open his own doors.
The whole idea of celebrity doesn’t seem to be high on Johnson’s agenda. It doesn’t make him nervous; it’s just a coat that hangs a little loose.
For the past several weeks, peers have lauded Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe’s team. Gordon made his mock surrender after Johnson’s win in Phoenix last week (enabling Johnson to secure the championship over Gordon today with any finish among the top 18, or top 19 if he leads one lap).
After Johnson won the pole Friday, Ryan Newman said: “He’s on a roll. No, actually, he’s the next step beyond a roll.” Johnson grimaced when asked about the attention.
“There is nothing comfortable about that,” he said. “Even Jeff walking in last week with the flag and all that, I’m like, ‘This is really weird.’ It’s just not something I thrive on or that I expect or that, really, I’ve ever had in my career. Maybe that’s part of it. I’ve had a long, hard road to get to this spot in my career. So it’s not comfortable to be in an area of praise. I’m not complaining. I’ll take it. But I just want to strap my helmet on and go, leave it on the track, come back in and have a good time.”
The biggest winner in this is Rick Hendrick, who, in the incestuous world of NASCAR’s multiteam ownerships, has the Chase’s top two places locked up. “It’s like having two children go against each other in the state championship,” he said. “One is going to go home in the car with a trophy, and one will be all torn up.”
Gordon has only himself to blame. He’s the one who convinced Hendrick to sign Johnson, a fledgling driver in the lesser Busch Series. Gordon was a 50 percent investor. The two share information as teammates. Now Johnson has blown past him.
Gordon doesn’t think Johnson’s success would have been possible without the Hendrick team: “Not to take anything away from Jimmie, but Jimmie wasn’t spectacular. When we hired him, everybody was like, ‘Jimmie Johnson? Why would they hire Jimmie Johnson? He hasn’t set the world on fire in the Busch series.’ But I just saw something in him.”
Now he sees Johnson’s rear bumper, maybe more often than we see the man on a marquee.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Jeff Schultz
Bonds indictment too late for baseball
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Too late, baseball has its asterisk. Nearly four years after he testified before one grand jury, another grand jury has decided Barry Bonds lied. And somewhere Bud Selig is moaning, “Why couldn’t this have happened a year ago?”
Baseball kept waiting for this, waiting and praying an indictment would arrive before Bonds hit Nos. 755 and 756. That would have spared Selig from having to dither about how, or even if, to “celebrate” a record he obviously regarded as bogus. But baseball never gets lucky. As the baseball man Branch Rickey said, “Luck is the residue of design,” and Selig and his craven cronies lack all forethought. Baseball tried to have an outside body do its dirty work, and the trouble with independent contractors is that they hew to their schedule, not yours.
And now, the indictment finally on the books, the legal stuff is almost beside the point. The greater question: What will baseball do? Will it suspend Bonds? (Kind of an empty gesture, given that he’s between teams.) Will it excise his records? (All of them, or just those established after his head so conspicuously expanded?) Will it wait until the trial, assuming there is one, or will it be so desperate to distance itself from Bonds that it’s impelled to do something, anything?
From Page 3 of the indictment: “During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds.” If that’s so, why could baseball never uncover or gain access to such evidence? Why was Bonds allowed to keep hitting his home runs? Did baseball simply not know, or did it not want to know?
This much, and this much only, is clear: Bonds has hit his last home run. He’s 43, and he just played himself out of the one city that didn’t despise him. Even if baseball doesn’t suspend him, what team would want his baggage-laden services? (The general idea is to attract fans, not repel them.)
Bonds has always acted as if he wants nobody to like him, and almost nobody does. He became the home-run king only to find he had no subjects. He didn’t have to bulk up artificially to become a great player — he was great already. But Bonds, driven by disdain, grew too big both figuratively and literally.
Those willing to suspend their disbelief when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged their match race never afforded Bonds the benefit of a single doubt. We all wanted to believe in McGwire and Sosa because they seemed like such nice guys, but the sneering Bonds didn’t pluck a single heartstring. He was always the Bad Guy, and now the Bad Guy is under federal indictment.
This all might seem tragic if it weren’t so utterly apt. Baseball and Bonds deserve one another. The sport that saw a strike wipe out a World Series is the realm of obscene greed. Everybody wants more — owners and players and agents and union chiefs and network executives. Nobody worries about the good of the game, the consequence being that there’s little good left.
Baseball didn’t care about steroids in the McGwire/Sosa summer of 1998 because attendance and ratings were soaring and everybody was getting ever richer. Baseball didn’t care until the sport and its precious numbers became distorted beyond the point of recognition, and by then it was too late. Bonds was bearing down on Hank Aaron and his sport lacked the guts to halt him. He got his record. He’ll probably have to give it back.
Last month the similarly disgraced Marion Jones returned the five medals she won at the 2000 Olympics. At least she got to keep her tainted bounty for seven years. Barry Bonds was indicted exactly 100 days after No. 756 cleared the fence at Pac Bell Park. For his blundering sport, it was 100 days too late.
Permalink | | Categories: Braves / MLB, Mark Bradley
Intense practices help Hawks turn it up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Here’s another sign the Hawks are within a fastbreak of getting it: During the two practices after they hit the snooze button in their home loss on Sunday against a vulnerable Washington bunch, they were forced to wake up by the heavy hand of coach Mike Woodson. “It was like training camp,” said Al Horford, describing the tongue-wagging intensity of those sessions compared to the kinder, gentler one on Thursday at Philips Arena.
Yeah, they’re close to getting it, because after Woodson’s impromptu boot camp, the Hawks did something more impressive during this early season than shocking the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns, both among the NBA mighty.
They spent Wednesday night at Philips Arena flattening the Charlotte Bobcats, among the NBA meek.
Now if the Hawks can do something similar tonight at home against the dreadful Seattle SuperSonics, who have sensational rookie Kevin Durant and nobody else, then maybe this really is a season of renaissance for these guys.
Consider this: Great NBA teams beat everybody. The good ones are less potent. In other words, those dribbling below the level of Michael Jordan’s Bulls or the Kobe-and-Shaq Lakers will send the elite to defeat on occasion while crushing foes with equal or lesser ability more often than not.
Bad teams lose to everybody, particularly to other bad teams. Even so, bad teams discover ways to conquer the good ones and scare the great ones.
That’s because it’s easy for bad teams to get hyped for the good and great ones. It’s even easier for those good and great ones to overlook bad teams.
Just ask the Hawks, among the league’s bad teams for eight seasons. They’ve spent recent years shocking the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat at home and the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers on the road. We’re talking about a Hawks team that hasn’t won more than 35 games in a season in a decade. We’re also talking about a Hawks coach who realizes in his fourth season that he has to keep telling his players what he has told them before: Keep the same intensity no matter what and against no matter who and no matter where.
Which makes you wonder: At 3-4, and with those relentless spurts for the Hawks during their 117-109 victory over Charlotte despite losing two starters to injury in the third quarter, do they finally understand Woodson’s eternal message?
“They better,” said Woodson, nodding from his office toward the locker room, where there was at least one person who understood well. It was Horford, off to a wonderful start in his rookie season after prospering on those University of Florida teams that won back-to-back national championships. Said Horford, “At Florida, we were always on edge, and that’s why I know how teams like Dallas approach a team like the Hawks. Teams like Dallas know that if they slip up, they can get exposed, which is why it’s important for us to be like that and get up for every game.”
Sounds like Woodson, all right, who added, “I think that when you’re not a seasoned team, and you’re a team that’s still learning how to play, other things start to creep in. As a coach, it’s my job to try and prevent that from happening.”
Still, Woodson can only plead. His players have to play, and not just when it comes to the league’s rich and famous.
“Those two games we had against Dallas and Phoenix were kind of an emotional high,” said Woodson, recalling packed houses of wired Hawks fans. Then there was a road game against Boston, where the Celtics were too much with their new Bird, McHale and Parrish called Garnett, Allen and Pierce.
“Then you go and lose a couple of games on the road [at New Jersey and Detroit], and they were playoff teams,” said Woodson, before sighing after recalling the Washington fiasco. “We were very lethargic and thought we were going to turn it on at the end, but it was too late. So we had those two [rough] days [of] practice, not so much to send a message, but to let guys know that we have to take things a little more seriously.”
Message heard.
For the moment.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
Lock your picks on Dogs, Bucs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Notwithstanding this week’s prayer session on the steps of the state Capitol, which admittedly sits several hundred miles away from something called the U.S. Constitution in the National Archives — Church, meet State; State, Church; Perdue, Neptune; Neptune, Perdue — signs of the Apocalypse were most obvious this week in Clayton County (which, for the record, I’ve heard of but have never seen confirming evidence).
So the Clayton County correctional institution is requesting satellite television for its prison. The move for this is not because of educational programming. Rather, Clayton’s warden thinks it would be a good idea if his prisoners — those would be the people who broke various laws — could watch Monday Night Football. See, MNF is now on ESPN and, well, it seems Cellblock Clayton doesn’t have cable.
An actual quotation from Warden Frank Smith: “Although it might seem funny, when you have 90 percent of inmates watching something, it is a management tool for the institution.”
I’m guessing this is where Ron Jaworski and the telestrator come in. Because if anything can serve as a management and rehabilitation tool for the incarcerated, it’s the breakdown of a three-deep zone.
Which leads me to Mark Richt. (Sort of.)
Can’t exactly say he’s been rehabilitated. Possessed, maybe. The Tennessee game knocked something loose, and Capt. Vanilla turned into sort of a peppy version of Darth Richt. A bench-emptying touchdown celebration. Black jerseys. His players: 10 personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the past three games.
Fortunately, they’re not on Monday Night Football in Clayton.
This week it’s Kentucky. The last time the Wildcats beat Georgia in consecutive meetings was in 1949 and 1956. Dogs win and cover 7 1/2.
Back to school
— North Carolina at Georgia Tech: If you’re looking for Chan Gailey, he’ll be the guy on the sideline wearing a sandwich board. On a related note, feel free to picnic on the seat next to you. Nice man. Painful to watch. Jackets win, but take the Heels and 10.
— B.C. at Clemson: The Eagles started 8-0, including a win at Virginia Tech on national TV. Nobody in Boston noticed. Now they’ve lost two straight. Ignorance is bliss. Pitchers and catchers report in three months. Take BC and 7-1/2 — and in a straight upset.
— Miami at Va. Tech: The Hurricanes closed the Orange Bowl with a 48-0 loss to Virginia. First time anybody figured a broken-down stadium was way too nice for the program. Hokies win, but take Miami and 16-1/2.
— Nashville at Knoxville: All Phil Fulmer has to do is win games over Vanderbilt and Kentucky, and Tennessee is back in the SEC title game. Why do I get the feeling of an impending faceplant? But not this week. Vowels win but won’t cover. Hey, 19. We can dance together.
— Roll (Over) Tide: Alabama started last season 6-4. Started this season 6-4. Lost to Mississippi State last year. Lost to Mississippi State this year. Lost to Auburn last year. Probably will lose to Auburn this year. Went to the Independence Bowl last year. Probably going back. But because Nick Saban is such a prize, well, maybe this time they win. Won’t that elevate the program. Until then: 24-1/2 is covered against La.-Monroe.
— Missy State at Arkansas: So I guess Sylvester Croom has made his point in Tuscaloosa. Unfortunately, this is come-down week. Actual factual: Razorbacks are 21-2 in Little Rock since 1998. The 11-1/2 is covered.
Pros and cons
— Bucs at Tweets: A steroids dealer this week claimed to have a strong connection to the Falcons. Significant evidence could move the NFL to remove steroids from its list of performance-enhancing drugs. Tampa is coming off a bye week. Not good. Bucs win, cover 3.
— 9-0 at Buffalo: The Bills have won four straight. Yeah, and they also trailed the Dolphins last week. New England’s had a week off to rest and feed the raptors. Covering 15-1/2 on the road, not such a big deal.
— 0-9 at Philly: The Dolphins are bringing back Ricky Williams. No, no, wait. OK, so time is, like, relative. No, no, wait. OK, so there’s this huge cheeseburger that, like, eats a bus and … No, no, wait. OK, so the cosmos is like … hey, dude, stop sliming the bong. (Eagles cover 10).
— Cowboys and Indians: The Redskins blew a nine-point fourth-quarter lead at home last week. The NASCAR season is winding down. Joe, go home. Big rivalry. Big number (10-1/2). But at home, Dallas covers.
Permalink | Comments (73) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
How to sell ‘Must See GT?’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The belief here is that Chan Gailey has to beat Georgia 10 days hence or lose his job. The Virginia Tech game put everything in sharp relief, and by that I don’t mean the final score — Georgia Tech lost 27-3 without its two best running backs — as much as the setting.
The local school threw every promotional trick into that game: Diana DeGarmo sang the anthem; Big Boi performed at halftime. And yet, on a lovely Thursday night against the nation’s No. 11 team, attendance was 52,202 at a stadium that holds 55,000. The rule of thumb in contemporary athletics is that a coach can survive anything except empty seats.
Dan Radakovich isn’t an old coach. (Dave Braine, who hired Gailey, was an old coach.) Radakovich — who did, to be fully accurate, serve as a student coach while attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania — is one of the neo-ADs. He’s a businessman. He’s trying everything he knows to make Tech profitable, and yet the man in charge of the department’s biggest moneymaker is hugely unpopular with constituents. If you’re Radakovich and you’re looking toward next season, don’t you have to ask yourself, “How do I market Chan Gailey?”
Gailey has neither lost so badly as to make dismissal obvious nor won big enough to make himself indispensable. There’s a case to be made for keeping Gailey, but it’s a technical case — no losing seasons — as opposed to a visceral one. (That’s assuming the Jackets don’t beat Georgia; if they do, the dynamics change.)
The case against him starts with those empty seats on Nov. 1. The case against him is largely economic. And money, when last I heard, talks.
Permalink | Comments (191) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit, Tech / ACC
More talent requires the right coach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The Hawks, at long last, have assembled a handsome roster. At issue is when, or even if, this will become an actual team. At issue is whether this collection of players will ever be more than a collection under a coach whose career record is 72-181.
The Hawks are 3-4 after a difficult early schedule. That’s not terrible, especially not by recent standards, but they should be 4-3. When you can beat two of the NBA’s five best teams in the space of six days, there’s no excuse for losing at home to the 0-5 Wizards, which the Hawks did Sunday.
This club longs to be taken seriously in its hometown, but a serious club consolidates gains. A serious club tends to business, the way the Hawks did Wednesday against Charlotte. But where was that Sunday? How did the team that scored 37 points in the first quarter against the Bobcats manage just 40 in the first half against Washington?
Watching the Hawks manhandle Charlotte left this resounding notion: The locals can put more good players on the floor — and not just starters; subs, too — than at any time since the late ’80s. Billy Knight hasn’t always (or even often) drafted the right man at the right time, but he has accumulated enough good men to stretch this season beyond the 82nd game. And then you look to the sideline and you see …
Mike Woodson.
Is he the guy you trust with this dearly acquired talent?
Building a roster is only half the battle, the lesser half. With the advent of Al Horford and Acie Law IV, the Hawks now have capable players at every position, not just three of the five. And already we see Woodson letting Law start games but not finish them. (Gee, he seemed to do OK in the last few minutes at Texas A&M.) And Wednesday the coach chose to start the healed Zaza Pachulia over Horford, who has been mostly terrific. (Having Zaza at center is one of the reasons the Hawks became the Hawks; having Horford start is one of the ways they’ll graduate to something better.)
The Hawks keep saying they want to run, and they have the requisite speed. Yet they entered Wednesday’s game 24th among the 30 NBA teams in scoring. Do they go out and just forget? Or is the idea of a man who played under Bobby Knight and who apprenticed under Larry Brown teaching the joys of the fast break contradictory on its face?
“This team is up-tempo,” said Josh Smith, who scored 15 points and blocked five shots before tweaking a quad in the third quarter. “If we play like we did tonight, we can play with anybody.”
That’s the key — the inherent “if.” Asked how the team that ran so hard and passed so expertly (29 assists on 46 baskets!) Wednesday could have done none of the above Sunday, Joe Johnson said, “It’s kind of like we’re ‘sometimes.’ “
And that has to stop. If the Hawks are to make something of themselves, a mesh must be found and a method ingrained. In seasons past we shrugged off lousy efforts because the Hawks were, as a matter of a fact, lousy. They should be beyond that now, and we should accept no excuses. They’ve had long enough to set things right.
That said, the pairing of these energetic Hawks with the dour Woodson seems a lingering mismatch. Young guys cannot be overcoached. They must be allowed to play, and to play through inevitable mistakes. No more Tyronn Lue as default fourth-quarter point guard. No more grind-it-out. No more sometimes.
Let’s be fair. John Wooden couldn’t have won with the crew Mike Woodson was handed in 2004, but there comes a time with nearly every expansion team — essentially, that’s what the Hawks were — when the coach who suffered through the losing yields to someone who isn’t seen as damaged goods. (Local example: Curt Fraser fired, Bob Hartley hired.)
It didn’t really matter who guided the Hawks the past few years, but it matters now. Having finally drafted the right men, why hand them to the wrong coach?
Permalink | Comments (56) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Mark Bradley
Falcons fumble on QB decision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
After two straight wins, Joey Harrington learned Wednesday that he is pretty much held in the same regard by Bobby Petrino as if he had lost two straight.
Now, maybe this isn’t a great surprise. After all, just because the Falcons have won consecutive games over mediocre teams doesn’t necessarily mean they have developed offensive chemistry. And they’re still 3-6. And they still have to improve to be just average.
Improbable playoff scenarios notwithstanding, it’s Petrino’s job to find the best long-term solution at quarterback. That solution is Byron Leftwich, who almost certainly will be here next season, not Harrington, who almost certainly will not.
But really. Did the poor guy have to find out that he had no future here in a news conference? The Falcons didn’t cut Harrington on Wednesday, they just pushed him out of a plane without a parachute.
Harrington had a puzzled look on his face when told by a reporter that Petrino said Leftwich would start when healthy again, which could be Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay.
Attempting, but failing miserably, at political correctness, Harrington responded: “Um, that message has not been conveyed to me. That wasn’t my understanding coming into today. But like I said, I’m not going to create a fuss.”
Except, later: “Do I think I’ve earned [the starting job]? As of late, yeah, I do.”
Now, there’s probably shared blame for this situation. But this much is certain: As much as Petrino may be a terrific X-and-O coach, his communication skills are still lacking. In fact, for as many meetings as this franchise holds between owner, general manager, coaches, players, board of directors, marketing, public relations, gardener, pillow-fluffer and the guy who wraps the colored cellophane around the toothpicks in the cafeteria, it seems communication could be better with two Dixie Cups and a piece of a string.
Here’s an abbreviated recap of events Wednesday in Flowery Branch:
• The team scheduled Harrington for a formal news conference in the media room after practice. Leftwich was available in the locker room. Such scheduling generally indicates a pecking order.
• Following practice, Petrino said Leftwich looked better than he expected but that he wanted to wait and see how much Leftwich’s oft-injured ankle reacted to the work before committing to a starter Sunday. He then said, when asked about potentially making a change after two straight wins: “Sure, it’s something to worry about, but to be honest with you, we made the decision a while ago that Byron was the starter and Joey was the backup. So right now it’s just a health issue.”
• These comments were never relayed to Harrington, either by the coach or team officials, before Harrington’s press conference. Maybe Petrino didn’t feel clarification was necessary after he declared Leftwich the starter a few weeks ago. Or maybe he didn’t care. More than likely: It was a little of both.
Harrington clearly was deluded into thinking he had earned something, and nobody told him otherwise. So here comes this poor schlep into the media room, and he gets blindsided.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “I was told before practice it was business as usual.”
You know what’s scary? This is business as usual.
Either somebody’s not talking or somebody’s not listening. But if the Falcons are really going to turn things around, whether this season or next, all parties need to reach some clarity about where things are and where they’re going. Who’s going to be signed in free agency (was Ovie Mughelli a consensus signing)? Who needs to be brought in as a stop-gap (the whole Leftwich non-signing/signing thing remains a mystery)? What’s the plan at kicker (again)?
Leftwich, of course, was borderline giddy Wednesday. He knows Petrino reaffirmed him as No. 1, despite little playing time, relatively minimal practice and no training camp with the team.
“It just shows he has confidence in me, [despite] knowing me for such a short time,” he said. “As a player you love that.”
Harrington was here for offseason workouts. Also mini-camps, training camp and exhibitions. Petrino knows all he needs to know about him.
If Harrington didn’t realize that before, he learned it after walking into a media scrum — and somebody slid open the airplane door.
Permalink | Comments (220) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Herschel takes Spurrier’s bait
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Another round of hugs from Herschel to Knowshon had to wait. First, Mr. Walker, as in “He’s running over people!” and as in the most passionate former Georgia player you’ll ever meet, had to get something off his considerable chest.
It involved Walker’s version of Steve Spurrier sucker-punching everybody in the Bulldog Nation. “Did you hear about this?” Walker said over the phone, still smoldering over Spurrier’s critique of the entire Georgia team rushing onto the field en masse last month in Jacksonville. To the dismay of Spurrier and those into professionalism, coach Mark Richt ordered his Bulldogs to get an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty while celebrating their first touchdown during what became a victory over Spurrier’s old Florida team.
Anyway, Spurrier took a break from his current role as South Carolina coach to become as equally unprofessional. He said he would have sent one of his third-stringers into that Dog pile to create a fight. As a result, Spurrier said the Gators would have prospered in the long run since the SEC would have delivered a slew of suspensions to Georgia players.
“Well, you know, is that not insulting? That’s totally insulting for a coach of his stature to say something so stupid,” said Walker, getting angrier by the syllable. “So my question I say to him is, if he’s got that much guts, why don’t he step in a ring against me? You don’t say something that silly, because you’re going to get somebody hurt. Georgia was punished, because that’s a penalty. They didn’t go out to hurt anyone. [Spurrier] talks about hurting somebody. How much guts do you have? Step in a ring with me, and then we’ll see.”
A slightly calmer Walker was at the Florida game, but he left long before halftime to catch a flight to Southern California. He was off to de- velop a reality television show (“I can’t tell you about it yet”) with Hollywood types. Until then, the Wrightsville native will continue to run his profitable food-service business of more than a decade from two cities. There is Dallas, his hometown since his Cowboys days of the latter 1980s, and there is Savannah, where he located with the mind-set of hiring Georgia folks, with Bulldog connections or otherwise.
The man bleeds red and black, which is why he bemoans the fact that his eternal traveling often keeps him from between the hedges. “I really have a chance to attend more away games than home games,” said Walker, who witnessed Georgia’s victory at Alabama this season in addition to parts of that Florida game. Even so, he will be in Athens on Saturday for the Kentucky game, and he plans to be at Bobby Dodd Stadium the week after that. So Walker will have more live chances to study Moreno, the twirling running back sensation for the Bulldogs who is creating nearly as much of a buzz around Georgia as a freshman as You Know Who did.
“I tell you what. He runs extremely, extremely hard for a guy his size,” Walker said of the 5-foot-11, 207-pounder from Belford, N.J. “I knew a little bit about him when they redshirted him, and I told a lot of people, wait until they see this guy play, because he’ll get a chance to make it to that next level. I mean, don’t the guy for Dallas right now [Marion Barber] and Knowshon look like the same guy?”
Yep. Barber also is an accomplished spinner during runs.
If nothing else, Moreno is as efficient on the collegiate level as Garrison Hearst, Rodney Hampton, Tim Worley and all of those other Georgia backs after the post-Herschel era in the 1980s. “When I came to Georgia, USC had its stable of running backs, but Georgia has taken that over,” Walker said. “One thing you gotta be able to do at Georgia is catch the ball. Not only do they always have one great back who can do those types of things, they usually have two or three, like Moreno and Thomas Brown now.”
The Bulldogs also have Matthew Stafford, their sophomore quarterback who is improving and impressing. “Being in Dallas, where he’s from, I’ve seen him grow up, watching him play in high school, and he’ll get even better than he is now,” Walker said. “That’s why, even though people said I was crazy, I picked Georgia at the beginning of the year to go to the SEC championship game.”
Then again, Walker is a little biased, and he knows it. He laughed, adding, “If you’re a true Georgia guy like I am, it really don’t matter if they ever do something bad. It still looks good to you.”
Permalink | Comments (403) | Categories: Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
Furry pastime reveals Cox’s ‘soft heart’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
He is not to be confused with the Bobby Cox who leads all major league managers in losing confrontations with umpires, ejection being the ultimate outcome. No, not at all. This the Bobby Cox with a heart. And it all seems to have begun years ago, just as World War II was closing down and the troops were coming home. A troop train paused in Selma, Calif. — Selma is about 15 miles south of Fresno, and trains rarely did more than pause — and an English bulldog jumped off. The train pulled out, soldier and dog were parted forever, but something good would come of that.
Bobby’s father brought the bulldog home, and boy and dog became instant pals. Bobby gave him the name “Teddy,” and Teddy took to his new duty with bulldog tenacity.
“He became our guard dog,” Bobby said. “Nobody could get near our house without Teddy knowing it.”
The Coxes knew the life of “Okies.” They could have identified with “Grapes of Wrath.” Things had gone bad around Tulsa, where Bobby was born, so the family packed up and headed west, as in Steinbeck fiction, only this was real. They found this place called Selma, a mere farming village, and settled there when Bobby was but a child. For all his disputations with umpires, Bobby Cox is a soft and gentle man when it comes to four-legged animals.
“He would bring every homeless dog and cat home with him if he could,” Pam, his wife, said. “We were at an animal shelter awhile back and there was a little bulldog that got his attention. He was going to take him with us. Maybe it was the name, ‘Yogi.’ But I said, ‘You can’t take all of them home with you, honey.’ “
Where this story gots its impetus was one late night a few years ago when Bobby and Rosa, his all-time favorite, a female of Oriental vintage, showed up at Town & Country Clinic in Marietta, presided over by Dr. Michael Good. (How appropriate a name.) Rosa had an eye problem, which the good Dr. Good treated, and this set off an affiliation that has led to many good things in the lives of animals in need of love and care. Bobby didn’t realize it, but he had walked into a whole new mission in life.
Dr. Good has a fetish — find a place for every homeless animal in the land. That comes to something like 18 million, so I’ve read, a rather daunting mission. Pretty soon Bobby and Pam were into events with catchy names dedicated to creating homes and raising money for animals roaming aimlessly about the country. This year it’s “Bobby Cox’s Paws Because,” and it takes place Saturday night in the 755 Club at Turner Field. On the side, there will be a so-called “casino,” and that will be known as “Bets for Pets.”
Clever, wot?
First off, the Coxes staged their fund-raiser on their farm up near Adairsville, and they called it “Bark in the Park.” At another one, Charley Pride came to sing and entertain. Another old baseball guy, in case you didn’t know that Charley once was an outfielder in the minor leagues. Another contributor this year, for “Paws Because” will be a name of familiarity. Even Barry Bonds has autographed a ball for auction. No great sacrifice, but consider that it’s Barry Bonds. The Coxes appreciate that.
Another “item” up for auction is the “Manage-a-Game” feature. Win that bid and you get to “manage” the Braves in a spring training game, with, of course, the able assistance of Bobby himself. Whatever fine the “manager” may draw in case he/she assails the umpire is on him/her. Saturday night, several Braves will be at the 755 Club in support of the boss, bridegroom Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann, for sure.
“What I’ve discovered is that baseball players are big animal lovers,” Dr. Good said. “Bobby’s soft heart for them has led to all this. Our goal this year is 3,000 adoptions. We’d like to free the animal shelters of all their inmates. What we have learned is that all people who have pets live seven years longer than ones who don’t.” Better rush to get in line.
It behooves me to bring this up, but can you imagine how much happier the Falcons might have been if Michael Vick had discovered the other side of dogs? And wouldn’t it be nice if umpires gave Bobby Cox some extra leash for the love he and Pam give dogs? Just a thought or two to encourage proper love for animals, and in passing, should anyone be desperate for a very intelligent cat, his name is Norman. On second thought, thanks, Norman, for my extra seven years.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
Dunn does Falcons proud
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN…
10: I don’t know why any Falcon fan would make a big deal about Bobby Petrino considering removing Joey Harrington as a starter despite two straight wins. The last guy to win two straight isn’t even on the team anymore.
9: Going to Flowery Branch Wednesday and my first stop is Warrick Dunn’s locker. The way I see it, the dude owes me some money.
8: Wrote a column two weeks ago about what a shame it was that such a great player and person possibly would be ending his career this way, with a bad season on a bad team. Dunn even joked about his seemingly endless march to 10,000 career yards. In two games since, he has rushed for 189 and two touchdowns in two wins. I figure Petrino starts moving me around the locker room this week.
7: My two Fantasy League teams are 8-2 and 9-1. Just in case Petrino wants me to move into Rich McKay’s office.
6: Playboy.com is conducting its second “Sexiest Sportscasters” poll. The 12 candidates include Shana Hiatt (NBC), who I include because, well, just because. Playboy’s “Sexiest Columnists” poll will be held BCS bowl week.
5: ESPN is well-represented on the poll. Mike Golic didn’t make the cut, which is not to say he hasn’t made news. On ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” radio show the other morning, Golic admitted during an awkward exchange with a caller that he took steroids to help recover from an injury during his playing days. His partner, Mike Greenberg, quickly moved the conversation along. (You can find a link here: http://deadspin.com/sports/steroids/apparently-they-didnt-want-to-make-golic-angry-321671.php.) Now, word comes that ESPN reportedly has removed the steroids clip from the podcast. Sweet. But, yes, they still have Erin Andrews.
4: ESPN doesn’t do everything wrong. Former player Tim Legler has a piece on the web site on the great starts from point guards Chris Paul (New Orleans) and Deron Williams (Utah). Then again, Hawks fans may just want to Google Erin instead.
3: Segue: Bruce Springsteen plays Philips Arena April 25. No word yet on whether “Radio Nowhere” will coincide with “Playoff Nowhere.”
2: Something to think about: When point spreads are made, the home team generally get three points. This week. Notre Dame is a 5 1/2-point favorite over Duke. The game is in South Bend. Simple math: If the game was in Durham, it would be Duke by one-half. Just one more thing for Charlie Weis to put on his resume.
1: Juanita Jordan, Michael’s ex-wife, reportedly will receive $168 million in her divorce settlement. Meanwhile, their son, Jeff, is a walk-on player at Illinois. Assuming he never gets picked up on scholarship, she’s paying.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Bulldogs need not fear LSU in title game
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Immediately after Georgia’s breakthrough in Jacksonville, a best-case scenario took root. Let Tennessee win the East, went the thinking, and get pounded in the SEC championship game by LSU. That would put the Tigers in the BCS title game and the Bulldogs, assuming they finished 10-2, in the Sugar Bowl.
Nice plan.
Needs revision.
There’s no longer cause to believe Georgia would get pounded by anyone anywhere. Would the Bulldogs be favored against LSU on Dec. 1? No. Were they favored against LSU in the same game in 2005? No. Georgia won by 20 points then. Georgia might well win again now.
Imagine the pressure that would fall on LSU, being ranked No. 1 but again having to play Georgia in a building named the Georgia Dome. Imagine the glee with which Mark Richt, who’s having the happiest season of his life, would embrace being the underdog but having a decided fan advantage in what’s supposed to be a neutral site. Imagine the enthusiasm his Bulldogs, who scored an aggregate 87 points against Auburn and Florida, would bring to such an appointment.
LSU manifestly isn’t unbeatable. It lost to Kentucky. (Georgia will not lose to Kentucky on Saturday.) The road to ruin is paved with comparative scores, but these are irresistible: The Tigers beat Florida and Auburn in Baton Rouge by a total of 10 points; Georgia beat the same teams, with only one of the games being staged in Athens, by 37 points.
The Tigers have had the nation’s best collection of talent for three seasons now, and they didn’t win a national championship or even an SEC title in 2005 or 2006. There’s massive weight on Les Miles to do as Nick Saban did, and there are moments when Miles makes you wonder if he knows what he’s doing. Like last season at Auburn, when his team didn’t throw the ball in the end zone on its final possession. Like this year against Auburn, when LSU allowed the clock to tick down to 0:01 before posting the winning points. (Don’t tell me Les planned it that way with a chronometer; he seemed as stunned as everyone else in the aftermath.)
If Georgia lacks a Glenn Dorsey, LSU lacks a Knowshon Moreno and a Matthew Stafford. The two Bulldogs are on the fast track to national celebrity, and their partnership could be the school’s most distinguished since Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi. Eric Zeier and Garrison Hearst amassed huge numbers, but their teams never won even a division title. Herschel Walker needed Buck Belue to complete the occasional pass — in the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame, he completed exactly one pass — but their burden wasn’t equally apportioned.
Moreno and Stafford are forging a beautiful symbiosis. Stafford is throwing less to greater effect. Moreno is finding holes because defenses can’t jam the line for fear Stafford will throw long. That the Bulldogs beat Florida and Auburn for the first time in the same season since 1982 was startling; that their raging offense manhandled two ferocious defenses was astonishing. (Only in 1942, the Sinkwich/Trippi championship season, had Georgia scored more than 87 points in those two games, beating Florida 75-0 but losing to Auburn 27-13.)
If you’re LSU and you’re fully expected to win the national championship, would you want to play the hottest team in the country 75 miles from its campus? If you’re LSU, wouldn’t you be rooting hard for Tennessee to beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky and spare you that assignment?
No self-respecting Georgia fan should be pulling for the Vols. If the Bulldogs reach the SEC title game, they won’t embarrass themselves. Heck, they might even leave with a third SEC championship in six seasons, and wouldn’t that be something given the way this all began?
What was it Steve Spurrier said after South Carolina beat Georgia nine weeks ago? “It wasn’t like they were some big, powerful team.” Maybe the Bulldogs weren’t then, but they are now. They don’t need to duck LSU. LSU might need to duck them.
Permalink | Comments (384) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Vintage Dunn gets workhorse job done
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Charlotte — Long before Alge Crumpler spent the waning seconds on Sunday sealing a Falcons victory with a catch-and-run sprint of 30 yards through the Carolina Panthers defense, there was Warrick Dunn.
For the good of the Falcons, along with mom, apple pie and the American flag, there always was Warrick Dunn.
You can’t just like this guy. You have to love him. Not only do you have his slew of humanitarian awards for his housing program for single mothers and other initiatives from the heart, you have his ability to keep leaping out of nowhere to stiff-arm time. He does so by ignoring his 32-year-old legs to become his vintage self, and we’re referring to the Dunn of old who consistently ranked among the NFL’s most complete players as a prolific runner, receiver and blocker.
So this was vintage Dunn at Bank of America Stadium. What better way to celebrate Veterans Day than to have one of the most impressive human beings in sports history show 73,340 witnesses that age is just a number in his world.
“He’s not that big of a guy, so, yeah, it’s special what he’s doing when you see him taking all those hits from the big guys,” rookie wide receiver Laurent Robinson said of the Falcons’ 5-foot-9, 187-pound miracle.
Added owner Arthur Blank, delivering more truisms about Dunn from the locker room of the 20-13 winners, “As a person, he always amazes me, but at his age, to be performing the way he does on the field really [is amazing]. Whenever he has to step up, he always steps up. I’m sure Warrick has lost a step. It’s just hard for me to see it.”
Nobody sees it. The Panthers didn’t, not with Dunn grinding his way to 89 yards rushing and a touchdown. He also caught three passes for 51 yards and blocked with efficiency. He could do nothing less than become the Falcons’ offense for a bunch that still hasn’t a clue of how to run coach Bobby Petrino’s power spread scheme without sputtering for long stretches.
The Falcons scored on the game’s opening drive, and Dunn punctuated it by racing 30 yards to the end one. Once, he kept churning and stretching after a catch to add five, six, maybe eight yards to what became a play of 35 yards. He also did a Knowshon Moreno twirl on a couple of runs to make the Panthers dizzy.
“I guess sometimes when I’m watching film, I’m kind of surprised at some of the moves that I’ve made,” said Dunn, in his typically humble tone. He set the stage for his Carolina performance by looking a decade younger against San Francisco the week before. That’s when he rushed for 100 yards in a game for the first time this season. Said Dunn, “I constantly challenge myself day in and day out to just go hard and leave it on the field. That’s pretty much what I try to do, and whatever happens after that, to me, it just comes naturally. It’s nothing that I’m planning to do. It just happens.”
It just happens for a supposedly old guy who underwent shoulder and back surgery before the season. It just happens for a supposedly old guy who is working behind a ghastly offensive line. It just happens for a supposedly old guy who is forced to carry more times per game (27 against the 49ers, 26 against the Panthers, as opposed to an average of 13 carries per game during the previous seven games) these days to compensate for injured backup Jerious Norwood. It just happens for a supposedly old guy who is 58 yards rushing from 10,000 for his career, which is close to Hall of Fame territory.
Just so you know, Dunn can reach that milestone Sunday at the Georgia Dome against the Buccaneers, his team prior to joining the Falcons in 2002. He remembers more about his Tampa days than his pretty touchdown run Sunday.
“I think it was a draw play, and I just tried to read the blocks,” Dunn said, shrugging. “I have no idea what happened after that. I was just running, and the next thing I saw was [wide receiver] Roddy [White] and defensive backs. So I cut off Roddy and ran to the end zone.”
Now Dunn will keep running toward Canton, ancient feet and all.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
On big downs, Stafford shines
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Athens — He’d thrown an interception. Auburn had taken the lead. The early mojo from those black jerseys was in danger of plunging into a black hole, never to return. And was Matthew Stafford worried?
Nope. “I was ready to go again,” he said. And the interception? A bad throw? A poor read? Nope. “Corner just made a great play.”
“When we came back on the field, Matthew was very spirited,” Sean Bailey said. “He said, ‘We’ve got to get it done now. We need to get the momentum back.’ “
On first down, Knowshon Moreno lost three yards. On second down, Stafford and Bailey changed the game. The receiver ran down the right sideline. The quarterback pumped to his left. “It was similar to the pass to Michael Johnson,” said Mark Richt, speaking of the historic 70X Takeoff on fourth-and-15 at Auburn that cold day in 2002. And this pass wound up beating the Tigers, same as that one had.
Stafford threw. Bailey caught. The 45-yard gain put Georgia in position to snatch back the lead, and from there the Bulldogs would keep scoring until all the drama had been drained from the latest installment of the South’s most dramatic rivalry. And the pass served as a reminder that, for all the acclaim flowing Moreno’s way, this remains Matthew Stafford’s team.
Something remarkable had happened this past month: The most heralded and scrutinized Bulldog since Herschel Walker had been relegated to a co-starring role. Since Stafford enrolled in January 2006, he has been the focal point of every discussion concerning Georgia football. (And one or two about how best to enjoy race day at Talladega.) But Moreno had been the star in Jacksonville, and if you listened, you could hear Bulldog fans suggesting he, not Stafford, will be Georgia’s next Heisman winner.
“[Moreno] has taken the burden off our offense,” said Mike Bobo, the coordinator. “If you ask a quarterback to throw it every down, you’re not going to be very successful.”
Truth to tell, Stafford still isn’t an every-down quarterback. He doesn’t lead the SEC in passing efficiency or yards per game, and he’d completed only 56.1 percent of his passes before Saturday. (Auburn’s Brandon Cox had completed 60.9 percent.) What Stafford is, however, is a big-down quarterback. When it gets late and gets tight, he throws the ball as well as a ball can be thrown.
Said Bailey: “He’s a gamer. When it’s a big-time play, he’s puts it on the money.”
Said Stafford: “I’ve been having some success late in games, late in halves. I had some success in those situations in high school. I love that situation.”
And that was the difference Saturday. Auburn had Cox, who can’t throw any ball with much authority — he had four interceptions Saturday, same as last season — and Georgia had Stafford. The Tigers entered with the nation’s 10th-best defense against the pass; they exited having been undressed by Stafford and his receivers on three long completions.
“Sometimes you have to drop back and launch it,” said Richt, who ordered up the 45-yarder to Bailey. And then, of Stafford: “[Moreno] has taken some pressure off Matthew. It’s evened out the load. … He’s understanding that he doesn’t have to be the hero, and that’s a good thing.”
Moreno’s ascent means Georgia doesn’t have to travel on Stafford’s arm, but that limb is still an imposing vehicle — a Hummer of an arm. The yield Saturday was a coordinator’s dream — 180 yards rushing and 237 yards passing, with more than twice as many rushes as passes — and 45 points against an opponent that hadn’t surrendered 40 in a game since 2001.
This suddenly heady season has a ways to go, but in the sophomore Stafford and the redshirt freshman Moreno, the Bulldogs have the makings of a dream backfield, a Matt Leinart/Reggie Bush type of tandem. Either Stafford or Moreno might win a Heisman down the road. Together they might well win a national championship.
Permalink | Comments (102) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Tech beat Duke. So what.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Durham, N.C. — They didn’t lose to a team that has dropped 24 straight and 61 of its past 64 in the conference.
They didn’t blow out a team that had dropped its previous three games by a combined 85 points.
They were just … there.
If you want to know why Georgia Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich would struggle finalizing a decision on Chan Gailey’s future, it’s because of games like Saturday. The Yellow Jackets were alternately dreadful and passable. They turned over the ball twice in their first four possessions. They let a punt get blocked, and they dropped passes.
They won by the deceivingly high score of 41-24 only because of a touchdown with five minutes left. And mostly because the opponent was Duke, which exists only to challenge its own historic runs of futility.
The best thing Gailey has going for him is Tashard Choice, who is as gutsy as he is talented. Choice, returning from a one-game absence, ran on a bad hamstring but finished with 170 yards and two touchdowns. He aggravated the injury on the end of a 48-yard run late in the first quarter but returned in the second, thereby setting him apart from most mortals.
But even in victory, Gailey acknowledged this wasn’t a work of art: “We gave up too many dumb scores. We gave up a blocked punt, which we hadn’t done in a while. It’s a mental lapse. We gave up an interception. We gave up a fumble for a touchdown. Those are things that you can’t do on a regular basis and win games.”
Tech is a pedestrian 3-4 in the ACC going into next week’s conference finale against North Carolina. Then comes Georgia (which has owned Gailey). Then comes the annual At-Least-We’re-In-A-Bowl-Game Bowl.
Gailey has four years left on his contract. What he doesn’t have is a vote of confidence. He apparently isn’t going to get one.
This was Radakovich as he watched the final few minutes of Saturday’s game: “Chan is our head football coach. The season isn’t complete. We have a tough game next week, followed up by our rivalry game with Georgia. I know Chan and his staff are working hard.”
This was Radakovich when asked if the fact he hasn’t made a public guarantee of Gailey returning next season means there is a decision to make: “There could be. I don’t know yet.”
This was Radakovich when asked his thoughts on the Jackets’ season: “It’s been a season. There are positives and negatives.”
The Jackets won a game they were supposed to, but we’ve learned not to assume anything with this team. Consider: Prior to the Duke game, they had been a point-spread favorite in five other games this season (excluding 1-AA Samford). The opponents: Boston College, Virginia, Maryland, Army and Virginia Tech.
They beat Army.
They lost the other four.
Duke is a team to make a statement against. Tech and Gailey failed to do that.
This wasn’t 2003, when the Jackets helped the Blue Devils end a 30-game conference-losing streak. But neither was it last week, when Duke lost to Clemson by 37.
You know what it was for a while? In doubt.
Gailey isn’t feeling the love these days. He even was booed last week during a taped message to fans about the dangers of drinking and driving. It’s not easy to get booed during a PSA. It was like when local lunatics booed the president of the Humane Society during the Michael Vick/ESPN town hall meeting.
There are Gailey defenders, and there should be. He is a decent coach and a good man. But the significance of the oft-used feather in his hat — five seasons, five bowl games — is overstated. Teams play 11- or 12-game seasons. With an ACC schedule and usual soft nonconference schedules, a football team doesn’t need to be a wrecking ball to make it into the sea of bowl games.
We thought the tide might be rising. Tech had one of its best recruiting classes ever. Then came the lopsided win over Notre Dame (33-3). Then Samford (69-14).
But an ugly loss to Boston College followed. And here we are again.
They beat Duke. So what.
Permalink | Comments (86) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
In the end, one team’s perfect night
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The Friday night lights of Panther Stadium pierced the darkening sky, and arriving cars moved along in orderly manner, their signal lights a-twinkle. Into this hostile scene, Fayette County High School had come to play the biggest game of its life, the somewhat facetiously titled “Fayette County Bowl.” The Tigers were unbeaten in nine games. On the negative side, they had never beaten Starr’s Mill, somewhat of an upstart in the high school realm.
Fayette County already had its place in the playoffs. Even lose to Starr’s Mill, the Tigers were still region champions and safely home. Beat Fayette County and the Panthers could make a place for themselves in the playoffs. So the scene was set, the concrete stands on the home side and the bleachers across the way stuffed to capacity. A pall of smoke from the hamburger cookers drifted across the field. All the ceremony aside, the game was on.
These are fragile times in the lives of teenagers. Most of them are playing their last game of football, and some who will only stand on the sideline are wearing the uniform for the last time. This is where it all begins, the grass-roots of the game. And all could say, “I played on the team.”
The home team burst onto the field just like the Falcons, through a cloud of smoke and the “boom” of a cannon. From the moment of kickoff, Fayette County had a hill to climb. On the first play from scrimmage, Parker DuPont (surely to become a diplomat or a financier), the Panthers’ graduating running star, broke loose on a gallop deep into Tiger territory. A field goal was wide, but a few minutes later the Panthers were back again, and this time Spencer Penson scored.
Then the Fayette safetyman slipped, and the Panthers recovered a punt in scoring position. And they scored; but wait a minute! There’s a flag, and instead of 14-0, the home team was backed up, to the chagrin of Mike Earwood, the coach, who let the rather portly referee know of his chagrin. Fate took a hand, Fayette fumbled, Starr’s Mill recovered and was rewarded with a second score. While nothing seemed to go right for Fayette, the Tigers did eventually make it into the end zone and the half ended 14-7.
This has been an atypical season for Starr’s Mill, once a persistent contender. The region record book is dotted with the name of a star of those days, Reuben Houston, who had his chances at Georgia Tech, then ran afoul of the law, failed a tryout in the NFL and has drifted into oblivion. This season the Panthers’ record slipped to 5-4 coming into the finale. Meanwhile, Starr’s Mill has built a remarkable educational community, and the halftime dance performers were a testimonial to it, though the young women’s bare shoulders must have been seriously chilled.
In the second half, Fayette County’s struggle continued. Earlier in the game, for instance, ball on the Panthers’ 2-yard line, Brandon Boykin, the quarterback, fleeing pursuers, eventually became a victim. From second-and-goal, the Tigers were third-and-38! Deep depression set in in the Fayette County coordinator’s booth next door.
But, the Tigers would finally get it right. Boykin cranked up the offense for another score. Then they took the lead and cemented it 28-14 after Barrick Little intercepted a pass in the waning moments and returned it for a touchdown. Tommy Webb, the Fayette County coach, could finally draw an easy breath after an evening of teetering in the wind.
“Brandon,” he said later, referring to Boykin, “sometimes tries to do too much, as he did in the first half, but once you rein him in, he can carry an offense. This was the first time we have ever gone 10-0, the first time we have ever beaten Starr’s Mill, so this was a big game of us.”
Boykin is headed for Georgia as a defensive back. He is representative of present-day athletes. Speed is relative, of course, but it seems that the lads of these times have discovered another gear. Fayette County is top of the heap this time, but there’s an atmosphere about Starr’s Mill that promises a return to glory. Matt Sweatt, the captain, is indicative of the spirit. Formerly the quarterback, he came down injured, and upon return found Miles Jaye carrying on in his place. He could back up the line, he said, and he did to the end, and the team moved on. Such is the definition of “team.”
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Furman Bisher, High School
Hewitt’s team a study in mediocrity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The eighth season of Paul Hewitt’s tenure began with a homecourt loss to an opponent that lives on Tobacco Road but had never beaten an ACC team. Three years and seven months after it played for the national championship, Georgia Tech has fallen so far that it can lose to Uncle Greensboro and have it not seem surprising.
“That line is being blurred, major and mid-major,” Hewitt said, but another line has become clear. The program that, in 2004 and for parts of 2005, seemed primed to join the nation’s elite is now just another mediocrity. There’s nothing special about the Jackets, nothing to separate them from a smallish team representing the North Division of the Southern Conference.
Truth to tell, UNC Greensboro seemed nearly as talented and much better-schooled. Tech defended poorly — the Spartans made 49.1 percent of their shots — and had little notion of how to run an offense. Too many vital possessions died when the wrong man took the wrong shot at the wrong time. If that sounds familiar … well, it’s because it has happened way too often since the glory run to the Final Four.
Hewitt arrived here preaching effort and defense, and in March 2004 his team personified that ideal. Pretty much everything since has been a diminishing return. Effort and defense are no longer constants, and the offense here has never been a work of art. What does that leave? Special teams? The bullpen?
Hewitt is a fine fellow who is an outstanding representative of the Institute, but it has become apparent that Tech ran out of ideas not long after its return from San Antonio. The Jackets sign talented players and don’t maximize resources. They couldn’t win an NCAA tournament game with Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young, both one-and-done, and now they’re starting over yet again. But what does it say when the only Jacket who can put the ball in the basket is Anthony Morrow, who enrolled in August 2004?
Hewitt is right about the narrowing gap between majors and mid-majors — ask Michigan State, which lost to Grand Valley State in a game that didn’t count, and Kentucky, which lost to Gardner-Webb in a game that did — but that’s no excuse for Tech trotting out a product like the one on display Friday. Up by four points at the half, the Jackets trailed by 12 with two minutes to play. They got behind and stayed there because they couldn’t score and didn’t defend, and that’s as comprehensive a failing as it gets.
We ask again: What does a game like this say about Tech? Here was Hewitt: “I’m sure we’ve all been looking at scores across the country, but that doesn’t make it any easier or lessen my disappointment. I’m concerned that I couldn’t get my message [of urgency] across; I could care less what people across the country think about our team.”
And then he lobbied for the expansion of the NCAA tournament. (In a way, his tangent made sense. A bigger field could well be the only way Tech gets in.) But there can be no deflecting this point: For all the goodwill directed his way, Hewitt isn’t performing at a level any higher than Chan Gailey, who has never had a losing season and who has a winning record in ACC play, but who probably needs to win his next three games to save his job.
Hewitt has had two losing seasons. Hewitt is 10 games under .500 in conference games. Hewitt has won one NCAA tournament game since 2004. Hewitt has now lost to a team that entered 0-24 against ACC opposition.
“That doesn’t sound very good,” said Greensboro coach Mike Dement, hearing the number read by his publicist. But 1-24 was sweet music to Dement and his team, and never has 0-1 sounded worse to Paul Hewitt.
Permalink | Comments (58) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Jackets fan base irascible
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Just like that, with the Georgia Tech football team edging closer by the millisecond to New Year’s Eve in Boise, Idaho, the Yellow Jacket Nation is a snarling, cranky, angry bunch.
You can blame it on Tech’s return to mediocrity for no good reason. Not only did the Jackets reach the ACC championship game last year, they entered this season with so many encouraging parts on offense, defense and special teams that nothing seemed impossible.
Well, except this: Losses to inferior Virginia and Maryland teams, along with the Jackets getting blasted at home on national television by Boston College and Virginia Tech. Now the Humanitarian Bowl is on the horizon for an underachieving bunch that is 5-4 overall, 2-4 in the ACC and producer of testy Tech folks everywhere.
They grouse over the regression of Tech quarterbacks since the days of Joe Hamilton, George O’Leary and Ralph Friedgen. They wonder why the Jackets can’t keep the Bulldogs from barking and winning. Mostly, they begin to discuss coach Chan Gailey by saying, “He’s a nice guy, but …”
I see them. I hear them.
So what about Bill Curry? After all, he’s the ultimate Tech man as a former player and head coach in football, a recent finalist for the athletics director’s job and an accomplished deep thinker. He’s also an ESPN college football analyst who lives in Buckhead, a likely epicenter for the Yellow Jacket Nation.
“Well,” Curry said, chuckling, before chuckling some more. “They call me, because many of them know my phone number. A lot of them are lettermen, and they still see me as the guy to call. I listen to them, and then I say, ‘Look. All we can do is back our program, and if we’ve got things that we want to say, we need to go say them to the coaching staff — face to face.’ I just believe that with all my heart.”
Added Curry, “There are certain expectations at Georgia Tech that all coaches are expected to meet. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Robert E. Lee Dodd or the rest of them. I don’t know about before him, but you’ve got to graduate your guys. It’s hard. It’s grueling. You’ve got to do it, and you’ve got to win.
“The tradition at Georgia Tech isn’t the same as at Oklahoma, but since Bobby Ross showed you can win it all [in 1990], the expectations went up.”
In case you’re wondering, Curry isn’t among those with “things” he wants to say to his good friend, Gailey, or to any Tech assistant. “I’m not close enough, nor should I venture into that territory, because I essentially never get to watch [the Jackets] play since I’m working [for ESPN] while they’re playing,” said Curry, who nevertheless did see last week’s Virginia Tech fiasco. The Jackets lost by 24 points at home to a team they beat by 11 on the road last season.
Remember, too, that the Yellow Jacket Nation hissed after Gailey won seven games during each of his opening four years on campus. Then came last season’s 9-2 start before a fifth straight loss to Georgia. Then, the Jackets dropped the ACC championship game to Wake Forest and the Gator Bowl to West Virginia.
Now this. To which Curry laughed, not because he doesn’t care, but because he remembered. “Look, we hit ground zero in 1980, and in my first two years we were 2-19-1,” said Curry, recalling talk of turning Tech football into something equivalent to an Ivy League program. Such discussions ended through the visionary efforts of Tech President Joseph Petit and athletics director Homer Rice.
There was something else, too. “Andy Young walked into my office and said, ‘I’m going to help you,’ and this was before he even thought about running for mayor,” Curry said. “It was legal then. He came, and every year, he’d say, ‘Give me my list,’ and he would call recruits. Maynard Jackson helped when he was mayor. Everybody kind of pitched in. All of that went into creating what has been a highly successful athletics program at one of the great academic institutions in the world. It’s right smack in one of the great cities, and it’s at a place where you ought to be able to win.”
No question there. Thus the epidemic of white-and-gold flavored grumbling, with no end in sight.
Permalink | Comments (97) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
Predictions: A Dog day to remember
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
This week’s money-back-guaranteed predictions (look for details in possible lost-in-the-mail future mailings) immediately follows this update from England, because, like, I really don’t care what color jerseys Georgia wears Saturday and this is so much better:
They are not talking about Georgia-Auburn in Nottingham, England, this week, which is not to say they are not barking like dogs.
A stripper dressed as a policewoman reportedly walked into a classroom of teenagers, performed the dance of your everyday independent contractor, told a 16-year-old birthday boy to drop to all fours like a dog, then spanked him for “not doing his homework.”
For the record, I never did my homework.
But was I rewarded?
No.
Government schools.
Anyway, the boy’s mother now says she actually meant to send him a “GorillaGram.” It’s so easy these days to mix up “gorilla” with “dirty, dirty, nasty, hot copper …”
Um, sorry. Where was I?
(Don’t worry: Georgia-Auburn just around the corner!)
There’s more to the story, but I’m going to stop, because I hear editors making those chainsaw sounds. Also, it’s all about online hits and, unfortunately, I haven’t found the video to post on ajc.com, despite several hours of research, which of course will be expensed. (Accounting dept.: I had three meals Thursday at the “After Hours Entertainment” all-day breakfast bar.)
Which leads me to yet another historic meeting between Georgia and Auburn. Keep your pants on, but it’s a big game, so big that the Dogs may wear black jerseys (gasp!). I’m not really sure how the teams match up in attire. But it’s safe to say this game will still come down to which one punches the other in the mouth. So, like, who cares about fashion?
Georgia went to Auburn last year and won. The Tigers think they’re getting revenge. Must’ve been a mix-up.
Bark like a dog. Georgia wins (and covers the 1).
College Six Pack
(Drank one)
ACC Hell Bowl: Duke, which has lost 23 straight ACC games, this week partnered with Children’s Hospital. My God, haven’t the kids suffered enough? Chan Gailey (2-4 going on Boise) may be in trouble. Lose this, remove all doubt. Jackets win, but take Duke and 13 1/2.
Florida at South Carolina: As it turns out, South Carolina with Steve Spurrier is, well, just South Carolina with Steve Spurrier. The Gamecocks started 6-1. Lose to Florida and Clemson and they’ll finish with five straight losses. Is it still admissions’ fault? Gators cover 6 1/2.
Kentucky at Vanderbilt: It would bother most schools to lose their basketball opener to Gardner-Webb. Fortunately, Kentucky’s a football school. And somewhere, drinks are on Tubby. Cats cover 3 1/2.
Arkansas at Tennessee: Darren McFadden ran for 321 yards last week. Any chance he can make a right on his next carry and head to Flowery Branch? Piggies win a pick ‘em.
FSU at Va. Tech: The Seminoles are coming off an upset of Boston College. The Hokies smacked the lesser Tech on national TV. The ACC will focus on these happy thoughts, not a Virginia-Wake title game.
NFL Six Pack
(Drank two)
Tweets at Panthers: It has been 11 months since the Falcons won consecutive games, and since anybody last saw Rich McKay in this country. On a related note, some soccer team in Bolivia just spent $17 million on a free-agent midfielder. Another loss (but take the 4).
Bills at Dolphins: Don Shula says New England’s perfect record is tainted. Please excuse him. Somebody took the last green Jell-O at the Daisy Hill Home for the Bored and Miserable. Meanwhile, there’s nothing tainted about the Fish being halfway to 0-16. Buff covers 3.
Cowboys at Giants: Actual factual: New York’s won six straight, but over teams with a combined record of 13-36. Dallas’ only loss came to New England, which doesn’t really count. By the way, didn’t Wade Phillips used to coach here? Pokes cover 1 1/2.
PhoneyNiners at Seahawks: SanFran just lost to the Falcons. What’s the spread in this one? Ah, forget it. Seattle covers.
Shams at Saints: St. Louis is tied with Miami for the draft lead at 0-8, and Georgia Frontiere celebrated the only way she knows how: two martinis, new shoes and stealing change from the homeless. N’Orleans covers 11 1/2.
DISPOSABLE INCOME REPORT
Last week: 6-5 straight up, 4-6-1 against the line.
The depressing bottom: 62-41 straight up, 45-52-6 against the line.
Promises: Promises.
Falcons police blotter: Charges were dropped against Jonathan Babineaux, raising the team’s record to 1-1 in felony dog cases and keeping alive wild-card hopes.
Permalink | Comments (60) | Categories: Jeff Schultz
Georgia-Auburn: Best series in South, if not the world
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
This will be my 20th Georgia-Auburn game, and I’ve come to believe this is the best series in the South if not the whole wide world. Alabama-Auburn? Too much hate. The World’s Largest Outdoor Whatever? Too much alcohol. Georgia-Auburn is pure football, home-and-home, with a chill in the air and invariably something on the line.
Georgia-Auburn is great because, almost alone among football rivalries, the road team stands just as good a chance (if not better). Georgia-Auburn is great because of the schools’ shared history. (Dooley went to Auburn but coached Georgia; Dye was the other way around.) Georgia-Auburn is great because the games themselves tend to be classics. (Not many Georgia-Florida games over the last 25 years have had memorable finishes.)
Georgia-Auburn had Michael Johnson’s catch and Devin Aromashodu’s fumble. Georgia-Auburn had Auburn fumbling on the goal line in 1992 and Georgia getting stopped on the goal line nine years later. Georgia-Auburn had four overtimes in 1996 — I was 10 feet from Corey Allen when he caught the tying touchdown pass on the last play of regulation — and another OT in 2000.
And it has had, as all rivalries must, its weirdness. James Jackson missed the 1986 game because of his grandmother’s funeral and Georgia upset Auburn with its second-string quarterback. (That was the infamous hose game.) Terry Bowden went for it on fourth-and-short in 1995 and essentially ended Ray Goff’s tenure at Georgia. Kevin Ramsey misdirected his defense in 1999 and Auburn took a 31-0 halftime lead in Athens. Last year Tra Battle intercepted three first-half passes — Brandon Cox managed four completions all told, two of those for minus-yardage — and the previously reeling Bulldogs took a 30-7 halftime lead in Auburn.
But the Georgia-Auburn game I remember most is my first one. It was 1983. Auburn was No. 3, Georgia was No. 4. Georgia had lost Herschel to the USFL, and Bo Jackson had become the nation’s best back. Auburn won 13-7 between the hedges to clinch the SEC and the Sugar Bowl, but the thing that stood out for me was Doug Smith overwhelming Guy McIntyre on the line of scrimmage. Three months later, that nugget helped me get this job.
Feburary 1984: I’d come down from Lexington, Ky., for an interview with the AJC. I had an audience with the editor. Jim Minter asked if I knew anything about college football. (Mr. Minter was a huge Georgia fan and had a wide-angle photo of Sanford Stadium behind his desk.) I said I thought I did. He asked if I could name all the starting quarterbacks in the SEC. I knew I couldn’t — I’d have gotten nine, but Ole Miss would have stumped the band — so I tried to change the subject.
I pointed to the picture. “I can tell you why your team lost to Auburn — because your best offensive lineman got whipped by their best defensive lineman.”
Mr. Minter thought for a minute before saying, “Still nearly won, though.”
Taking my vocational life in my hands, I said, “Yeah, but you didn’t really deserve to.”
And here Mr. Minter, who almost never smiled, actually smiled. “When you’re a fan,” he said, “you don’t care if you deserve to.”
We both laughed. I got the job. Twenty-three years later, I still credit the Georgia-Auburn game.
Permalink | Comments (108) | Categories: Quick Hit, UGA / SEC
Law has long way to go before flying
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The Hawks gained a measure of stability Wednesday night. After starting three different point guards in the first three games, coach Mike Woodson decided to come back for a second time with Acie Law IV. So much for seniority.
As for going against Jason Kidd and Steve Nash in consecutive games — well, you just hoped that the kid wouldn’t need to be peeled off the court by the end of the night, looking like the remains of Ed Gray.
“He’s definitely going to have to grow up quick for us to be a great basketball team,” the Hawks’ Joe Johnson said of Law. “We’ve got to play like veterans, and it’s hard for a rookie to do that.”
Four games and two starts in, Law looks like a rookie. No great surprise. But he is far closer to forecasting hope than disaster, and for this franchise, that counts for a lot.
The Hawks faced the Phoenix Almost-Suns at Philips Arena. They benefited from the absence of Amare Stoudemire (knee). They benefited from terrific outings by Marvin Williams, Josh Smith and Josh Childress. It didn’t matter that Joe Johnson struggled, nor that Law isn’t nearly ready to run an NBA offense. They beat the Suns 105-96. Law survived, and without a medic.
“Those guys are great,” he said.
And this: “I actually thought I did as pretty good job on Nash, and he still had 34 [points] and 11 [assists].”
Nash made seven three-pointers. Every Hawk took turns being humiliated, so don’t pin that on Law.
“He’s learning on the fly,” Woodson said. “He has a long way to go, but I feel comfortable having him out there, him being able to make plays not only for himself but for his teammates. Eventually we’re going to see a true point guard.”
That’s the idea, anyway.
There are growing pains with young teams, no matter the talent. There will be growing pains with the Hawks, especially, because at this time a year ago, their starting point guard was in College Station, Texas, preparing for a non-conference game against Prairie View A&M.
The Hawks’ black hole at position No. 1 has been debated ad nauseam. Law believes he can make people forget about Hawks draft decisions like passing on Chris Paul (almost). But he admits this is a different world. At Texas A&M, he was the team’s best player and leading scorer. Generally that enhances a player’s reputation. But because Law is a point guard, some wondered if he could he make players around him better at the NBA level.
Law’s development will be the difference between whether this team makes the playoffs or not. Without a competent point guard, a basketball team is like a nice house without running water or power. It looks nice, but it lacks functionality.
Law looked good in the opener against Dallas. But at Detroit, Woodson had him on the bench in crunch time, preferring Tyronn Lue. He’s concerned about Law developing bad habits, and then losing confidence. “I saw that happen with Childress and Josh Smith,” he said. “We just threw them out there and they weren’t ready to play. They hit the wall.”
Law has recognized his mistakes. At Detroit, he passed up feeding the ball to Johnson, believing he didn’t have a good angle to make the pass. Johnson thought otherwise and had an irritated look on his face when he walked to the bench for a timeout. Law took notice.
“I missed him,” he said. “Obviously, he thought he was open. I told him, ‘Man, I’m a rookie. I’m going to make mistakes. I’ll miss you a few times, but stick with me.’ “
Law’s first start came in New Jersey. After the game, Woodson looked at the box score and saw Law with zero assists and Kidd with 12. “I kind of slowed his progress a little bit in Detroit [by not playing him down the stretch],” Woodson said. “But I told him after the [New Jersey] game, ‘You can’t play 25, 26 minutes and not have an assist, and when your counterpart has 12.’ “
Law played another 24 minutes Wednesday. Total: One assist. So we’re not talking Magic yet.
“This is only gonna make me better,” he said. “It’s been tough. I’m making a lot of mistakes, but I’m getting better.”
Permalink | Comments (56) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Jeff Schultz
Glavine’s the answer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
The most overlooked statistic in baseball is innings pitched.
Well, at least among starters.
If a starter is throwing a lot of innings, that means he is remaining effective for long stretches during games. It means he is durable. It means his bullpen is getting more rest. It also means his team has more chances to win, period.
That said, the return of Tom Glavine to the Braves next season makes sense for so many reasons, but none tops this:
Innings pitched.
It was nice that Glavine had an ERA under 4.00 during much of last season with the New York Mets to secure 13 victories. This was nicer: 200 1/3 innings pitched from his 41-year-old arm.
Only John Smoltz and Tim Hudson threw for 200 or more innings for the Braves last season. Now imagine three Braves starters doing as much. It happened before.
During the golden era of Cy Glavine, Cy Smoltz and Cy Maddux, they regularly threw more than 200 innings per season, which ranked among the biggest reasons for their success and that of the team.
Glavine, by the way, has thrown 200 or more innings 10 times in the last 12 seasons.
Yeah, bring him back.
Permalink | Comments (63) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
Falcons’ McKay suddenly disappears
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
No doubt, Rich McKay has done some nice things for the Falcons. He acquired the potent likes of Michael Boley, Rod Coleman and John Abraham, for instance. He added effective leaders such as Lawyer Milloy and Joe Horn. It’s just that he also botched the team’s kicking situation before each of the past two seasons, formed a dysfunctional offensive line and assembled a flawed group of quarterbacks.
That’s for starters.
Given the Falcons’ ongoing plunge under McKay since they reached the NFC championship game four seasons ago with 20 of those 22 starters coming from McKay’s predecessor, we have questions. We’d like answers from McKay, especially since he is the Falcons’ president and general manager. Instead, we’ve seen the face of King Tut more in recent days than that of McKay, who is theoretically more accessible to the public than a 3,300-year-old mummy.
Theoretically.
Ever since McKay spoke openly and boldly in January about that water-bottle mess at Miami International Airport involving Michael Vick, McKay has become the incredibly vanishing man. Throw in No. 7’s dogfighting issues, the sniping throughout the locker room directed toward the college coach that he hired for the pro game, and a nasty start in the sorry NFC South, and only victories for the Falcons are becoming more invisible than McKay.
So what’s up with this? Can’t tell you, because the supposedly media-savvy NFL executive when he joined the Falcons from Tampa four seasons ago rarely has returned phone calls to reporters for months. When you do see McKay around the Falcons’ practice facility or at the Georgia Dome, don’t blink. He’ll disappear in a flash. If you didn’t know better, you’d get the impression he can’t stand the heat from the inferno around Flowery Branch. It’s an inferno that is torching the Falcons’ chances for decency in the short and long runs. It’s an inferno that he helped spark.
This makes no sense. We’re talking about the Falcons sliding and McKay hiding through it all. He remains so popular in west central Florida that you get the feeling that one of those bridges from Tampa to Pinellas County will bear his name someday. That’s because his father, John McKay, was the Buccaneers’ cherished first coach, and because Rich McKay did the impossible. Under his guidance, the Bucs went from sorry during the 10 years before he became general manager (.270 winning percentage, 10 straight seasons of double-digit losses) to significant during his nine years (nearly a .600 winning percentage, 41 Pro Bowl selections in a six-year stretch and the foundation for a Super Bowl winner).
“I mean, they still talk about Richie around here, and he’s well-liked, and they respect the guy highly as somebody who was a mainstay of their football team,” said Wayne Fontes, the former NFL head coach who lives in the Tampa area. When John McKay left his legendary stint at Southern Cal for the expansion Buccaneers, Fontes was one of McKay’s assistant coaches with the Trojans who came along.
Added Fontes, reflecting on the 48-year-old McKay, “Other than the first five or six years, I’ve known Richie all of his life. As a little kid, he was very competitive, and he was a win-at-all-cost type of young man, and he was really respected at his age by his peers.
And, of course, he grew up, and that’s when he became well-liked here around Tampa with his dad.
“The thing about Rich McKay is that he’s a winner. He’s been a winner all of his life, and remember: All good things take time, which means Atlanta will be fine. In Tampa, people liked him in that building process, because he was very easy to talk to.”
Not in Atlanta. Here’s another difference between the McKay of the Buccaneers and the McKay of the Falcons: No Tony Dungy, the brilliant coach that he hired for the Buccaneers who continues to do great things in Indianapolis. And, no Jerry Angelo or Tim Ruskell. They were McKay’s top assistants in Tampa. Angelo departed to build a Super Bowl team as a general manager in Chicago, and Ruskell departed to build a Super Bowl team as a general manager in Seattle.
That left McKay. Maybe he misses those guys. Wish we could ask him.
Permalink | Comments (54) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
As usual, Curry does credit to task
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
When last I saw Bill Curry on Sunday night, he was on my television screen, broadcasting from Robertson Stadium in Houston. University of Houston was playing SMU, and he was analyzing. He got to bed at 12:30, arose at 3:30 and caught a plane to Atlanta, where at noon he would be the speaker at the weekly Touchdown Club luncheon.
The Touchdown Club is an American original, like a Rockwell painting or the disc jockey. A lot of such organizations have fallen victim to the intrusion of pro football or other community influences. But the Touchdown Club of Atlanta forges on, and it may be the oldest surviving function of its kind. My memory tells me it chugged into action in 1938, but I might be off a year or so. It has remained true down the line, to college and high school football, with hardly a burp in its mission. It turns to the sideline, the broadcast booth and the press box, mainly, for its headliners each week.
This time, it was Curry, and for him, it was like trying to squeeze toothpaste back into the tube. He was tired. It showed on his face, but not in the volume of his message. The gallery at Fox Sports Grill was primed for him, and he delivered. As a kid, Curry told them, he had plans to be a pitcher for the New York Yankees. Football changed all that, and while he was a solid center at Georgia Tech, he was never a headliner. Centers rarely are. NFL teams had 20 draft choices in those times, and when the Green Bay Packers came to No. 20, Vince Lombardi is said to have told his drafting delegate, “Make it something good and funny.”
Or at least that’s what Curry said. He was their No. 20.
“Instead of pitching for the Yankees, I wound up pitching between my legs to Bart Starr and Zeke Bratkowski and Johnny Unitas,” he said.
He put in eight seasons between the Packers and Colts, and added a couple in the twilight of his time in Houston and Los Angeles, and in the course of it, was elected president of the players union, a capacity he did not relish. As a center, he said, “You learn how to snap the ball and be run over slowly.”
He coached, put in some miserable times at the old school (see below), some high times at Alabama — where he was a target of abuse because he wasn’t Bear Bryant — and Kentucky, and there the bus stopped. What coaches with a command of the language can do after that is turn to the broadcast both, with the title of “analyst.” It requires resilience and honorable perspective, for all analysts would rather be coaching, and it isn’t easy to sit high above the roiling action, grit your teeth and not say, “That’s not the way I’d have done it.”
In the midst of those miserable times, he pulled off the upset of the ages. It was a tie. Notre Dame came to Grant Field in 1980 ranked No. 1 in the land and had to kick a field goal in the gloaming to settle for a 3-3 score. Then he won an SEC championship at Alabama, and a Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award at Kentucky, and there one of his players was shot dead on the porch of the place where the player lived, and I don’t know if it was ever solved, but he gave up coaching not long afterward.
What the Touchdown Club does is bring in such coaches as Paul Johnson, Pat Sullivan, Mark Richt, Chan Gailey and George O’Leary, as in this season, and the members get a closeness to the men they see only on the sideline otherwise. Another feature is the designation of the high school team and lineman and back of the week, and a coach of the week, on this occasion, Tommy Webb. Tommy has coached Fayette County High out of the doldrums up to a glowing level, and plays Starrs Mill on Friday night in what might be loosely designated the “Fayette County Bowl” game.
Not that this is the mission of the speaker — mainly he’s there to be looked at and be funny — but seldom, if ever, will the TD Club have been sent away with a more inspirational message ringing in their ears than Curry’s. All he needs is a team.
Permalink | Comments (31) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC
The Lack of the Irish
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN…
10: Just one question, in view of the possibility that the Thrashers’ Don Waddell would make his Bobby Cox-like transition down to the bench permanent: Is there a John Schuerholz equivalent in the NHL to replace him as general manager?
9: I’m just waiting for the days when Tom Brady has to avoid a pass rush — as well as Godzilla, a swarm of locusts and some burning bushes, super-imposed by TV techno-geeks — to throw a pass. I mean, I think we’re almost there …
8: It’s bad enough outlets like ESPN skew news coverage to enhance their broadcast properties and artificially inflate ratings. But it’s mind-boggling and nauseating that a network would artificially pump crowd noise into a broadcast feed, as CBS may have done during the Patriots-Colts game Sunday. I mean, isn’t the game big enough? Do you really need to enhance the noise in a sold-out dome stadium?
7: Background: The Patriots complained that the Colts artificially pumped noise into the RCA Dome to make it difficult on their offense. The Colts have since been cleared — it was typical Bill Belichick paranoia. But a skipping sound from tape feedback during the CBS broadcast indicated the network did something to enhance the broadcast for viewers. Networks have admitted this in past, even inserting chirping bird sounds during golf broadcasts. CBS has denied comment beyond the NFL statement, which was that the unusual noise was “tape feedback in the CBS production truck.”
6: You know what would be really cool? If CBS could, like, impose Godzilla or a swarm of locusts on the field! Then Tom Brady would have to fight through the pass rush AND MONSTERS. Of course, he’d still find Randy Moss in the end zone. But think of the ratings!
5: On a related note, I’m working with AJC.com to have a laugh track inserted on blogs that don’t quite work.
4: Never has their been less pressure on a 2-6 NFL head coach. Aside from the Falcons’ personnel problems, Bobby Petrino has nothing to live up to from the previous regime in the second half of the season. Jim Mora went 2-6 (2005) and 2-7 (2006) down the stretch the last two seasons.
3: Nothing against Georgia, which has managed to climb back into the BCS picture. But if the Bulldogs, with losses to South Carolina and Tennessee, and a last-second win over Vanderbilt, is the 10th best team in the country, we might as well be throwing darts in BCS bowl match-ups. One more reason to dump the BCS.
2: Please, no more complaints from Notre Dame/Charlie Weis apologists that, “We just don’t have any players.” Hey, it’s Notre Dame. You’re not giving scholarships to Fred from the bowling alley. You shouldn’t be 1-8. You shouldn’t lose five straight at home. And you certainly shouldn’t lose to Navy for the first time in 44 years. Or is the excuse going to be now that Navy has recruiting advantages?
1: Locally, the biggest ripple effect from the Lack of the Irish: Chan Gailey can’t use that opening win as a reason to keep his job.
Permalink | Comments (41) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
GM Waddell doing just fine behind bench
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
There’s powerful local precedent: An Atlanta general manager once fired the guy below him and took the job himself and, after relinquishing the GM position, won 14 division titles. Not that Don Waddell is swayed by the example of Bobby Cox and the Braves.
“No, no,” Waddell said Monday. “I’m not giving up the seat I sit in.”
He meant the GM’s chair. But the more Waddell talked, the more apparent it became that he doesn’t plan to quit either job any time soon. The Thrashers are 5-3 since he stepped in as coach after canning Bob Hartley, and he doesn’t act like a man who’s overwhelmed by the dual responsibilities. Indeed, Waddell said, “When I was doing this [in the minor leagues more than a decade ago], I always thought my strength was as a bench coach.”
This marks the second time Waddell has done the interim-coach-permanent-GM thing with the Thrashers, and the results have been even better than the first, which wasn’t so bad [4-5-1 after dismissing Curt Fraser on Dec. 26, 2002]. The difference is that Waddell was actively pursuing a new coach back then. He isn’t now. “I’ve not asked permission to speak to anyone,” he said. “We’re not on the fast track.”
Why rush to change what’s finally working? The Thrashers just concluded a seven-game road trip in which they could, Waddell conceded, “have buried ourselves. If we’d have been 2-12, there’s no coming back from that.” Instead they won four times and are within telescopic sight of .500. Having started the season 0-6, this constitutes definite progress.
Another heartening development: Ilya Kovalchuk is again ascendant. Coming off a tepid-by-his-standards season (only 76 points in 2006-2007, down 22 from 2005-2006), he managed four points in the Thrashers’ first six games. He has 15 in eight games under Waddell, and he’s coming off consecutive hat tricks. This isn’t to say Kovalchuk was dogging it under Hartley — on the contrary, he was one of the deposed coach’s last defenders — but he and Waddell have a deeper bond.
“That’s the reason why I’m here,” said Kovalchuk, speaking of Waddell. “He brought me to this country and drafted me No. 1. When he’s behind the bench, it’s a little bit special for me.”
“It goes back to the first time he was in town [for an interview before the 2001 draft],” Waddell said. “I basically kidnapped him. He had his agent with him and I had one of our PR guys, and they went to the bathroom and I said, ‘You take the agent; I’ll take Kovy.’ I’ve watched him grow up, not just as a player but as a person.”
For whatever reason, Hartley didn’t choose to play Kovalchuk on the same line as Marian Hossa, the Thrashers’ second-best player. Waddell has deployed the two in tandem with center Todd White, and the result has been that the team has found its lost offense.
The Thrashers scored nine goals in their first six games; they’ve managed 28 in the past eight. Waddell has those numbers written on a stat sheet in his office. He’d been doing some back-of-the-envelope figuring before Monday’s practice, and he liked what he found.
“As we continue through this thing, we can’t hire a [permanent] coach just for the sake of hiring a coach,” Waddell said, and if the Thrashers keep winning with him calling out line changes, why hire anyone at all?
True, there’s only one other coach/GM (Jacques Martin of Florida) in the 30-team NHL, but Waddell is getting more from Kovalchuk than Hartley was, and this franchise revolves around the left winger. A coach who can maximize Kovalchuk’s abundant gifts is worth keeping even if he’s not a coach by trade.
Reading from another set of handwritten numbers, Waddell said: “In the first six games, Kovy played an average of 20 minutes and 19 seconds. In the last eight he’s played an average of 22 minutes and 34 seconds.”
Smart coaching, a visitor suggested.
“Smart GM’ing,” Waddell said, and then he laughed.
Permalink | Comments (34) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Thrashers / NHL
Veterans look inward, set powerful example
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
This was a start. And, no, this isn’t referring to the Falcons interrupting their free fall in the NFC South on Sunday at the Georgia Dome by surviving the San Francisco 49ers, the only thing uglier during the afternoon than Bobby Petrino’s offensive play-calling.
Anyway, that start for the Falcons goes back to last week in Seattle, where strong safety Lawyer Milloy returned to his hometown and roamed the campus of his alma mater for answers.
There are questions everywhere when you’re part of a 1-6 team, and you’re supposedly among the leaders in the locker room. There also is self-doubt, even for an accomplished player such as Milloy, in his 12th NFL season.
So Milloy took that trip to the University of Washington after a long session at his house with somebody.
Himself.
“I looked in the mirror over the bye week, and then I went to my college, just to see some of the traditions from my roots, and I came back refreshed to the point where I felt like the days [during practice last week] were going by faster because I was into it,” said Milloy, who shared his thoughts with defensive end John Abraham, Milloy’s locker neighbor at the Falcons’ headquarters in Flowery Branch. The way Milloy remembered it, Abraham’s face brightened before saying, “Me, too, man,” and then Abraham spoke of how he spent the previous week gathering energy in his home state of South Carolina.
Mostly, Milloy and Abraham discussed something else. “We actually talk about it almost every day,” said Abraham, in his eighth NFL season, before revealing the “it” that dominates their conversations. Added Abraham, “It’s about showing heart. Showing that you can win. I think the last few games, we haven’t been showing that, and I’ve talked to Joe [Horn], and I’ve talked to Milloy, the leaders of the team. I tell them that we’ve got to do this. If we’re going to win games, it’s got to be us. We can’t rely on a lot of the younger guys to make the plays. It’s on us to do it.”
So they did it against the 49ers. As a result, they often saved the Falcons from their head coach.
For instance: With the Falcons ahead just 14-13 deep in the third quarter, what remained of the sparse gathering cleared their throats for another series of boos. This time, Petrino ignored Ovie Mughelli, the Falcons’ $18 million fullback at 254 pounds, and called Joey Harrington’s number for a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1 from the San Francisco 31.
The boos grew louder when the 49ers stuffed Harrington for no gain. It’s just that, a few plays later, Abraham turned those boos into cheers after he stripped 49ers quarterback Alex Smith of the ball for a fumble recovery that contributed to a Falcons field goal.
Then came the 49ers’ charge downfield in the fourth quarter that had Smith throwing a short pass to Vernon Davis from the Falcons’ 10-yard line. There was Davis, sprinting for the leading touchdown, but Falcons free safety Chris Crocker tackled him a yard from the end zone. Crocker is a veteran in his fifth season, by the way. It was third down, and with the 49ers’ Michael Robinson trying to race for the goal line on the left side, Milloy was there to smack him 3 yards back.
The 49ers settled for a field goal, but they trailed just 17-16. Which meant the Falcons needed to convert on third-and-1 from their 33 on the next drive. Which meant they needed Mughelli again. Which meant it wasn’t good that Harrington threw an incomplete pass at somebody’s feet after Petrino put the guy in the shotgun.
The veterans reigned again, though, with Milloy hurrying Smith into an incompletion on third-and-7, and with Keith Brooking blasting Smith for an 8-yard sack near the end, and with DeAngelo Hall helping to seal the game with an interception.
Abraham nodded, saying, “We’re the older guys, and as much as we try to act like everybody’s a man, and the younger guys are, but they know who’s been putting up the numbers over time. So they’re going to look up to you.”
The younger guys will, but only if the older guys continue as effective guys.
Permalink | Comments (46) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
Richt’s growth as coach keeps Dogs among elite
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Athens — Mark Richt proved he could win fast and win big, and the question you ask of someone who wins fast and big is: Can he keep winning with the next bunch of players? Richt did, winning the 2005 SEC title without most of the key guys from 2002. That done, there’s only question left for the firmly established coach: What happens when the roll becomes a slog?
Bad things inevitably happen even to the best programs, but what makes a program special is the capacity to absorb a blow and hit back harder. Florida had to fire Ron Zook for that to happen. Tennessee is still trying to regain the ground lost since 2001. And Georgia, which had little go wrong over four blissful years, has run into a series of ruts these last two seasons.
A year ago the Bulldogs were 6-4 and no cinch to win again. They’d lost four of five games. They had Auburn and Georgia Tech remaining. And then Richt won one of the two or three biggest games he’ll ever win, toppling the No. 5 Tigers on the road by 22 points.
Because those Bulldogs didn’t lose another, it was convenient to believe that Georgia was Georgia again. It wasn’t quite. The 2007 edition was overvalued early. Too many people focused on last season’s finish and not the rampant youth of this roster. Lo and behold, the Bulldogs lost two of their first four conference games and were pronounced dead in the SEC East.
The division was all but conceded to Florida, last year’s champ, or the upstarts South Carolina and Kentucky. But here it is November and the Bulldogs sit ahead of all three, not fully in control of their destiny but still with a shot to play in the Georgia Dome come Dec. 1. And the reason they are where they are is their coach.
It wouldn’t be enough in 2007 for Richt to coach the way he did in 2001. “The bar [in the SEC] has been raised,” he said, and he had to get even better or see his team slip. He has gotten even better. He ceded play-calling duties to Mike Bobo, and the effect is that the head coach now sees the bigger picture, not just down and distance.
The much-discussed celebration in Jacksonville probably wouldn’t have been ordered up a year ago. “He would have been more focused on the game plan,” said receiver Sean Bailey. “This way, he can be creative and think of something that will fire the team up.”
Whatever you thought of the method, you cannot deny that Richt’s penalized ploy had the desired effect. It changed the dynamics of a series that, from a Bulldog perspective, sorely needed changing. And that game changed a season, same as the Auburn game changed the last one.
“We’re coming to Game 10,” Richt said Saturday after his team fought through the inevitable post-Gators letdown to dispatch a pretty good Troy team. “And to still have almost all your goals in front of you, that’s a great thing.”
It is. It’s also the mark of an elite program to be in championship contention with a team not nearly its best. These Bulldogs don’t do anything particularly well — they don’t rank among the SEC’s top three in any significant offensive or defensive category — but they’ve been coached to something approximating capacity.
Yes, that’s testimony to Richt’s assistants, but mainly it’s another validation of Richt. He flouted personal tendencies with the orchestrated celebration, and that’s a sign of a coach working at his job. He took a risk. He accepted the consequences. He won another huge game.
And now he has more huge games to play. Sure, the Bulldogs could lose to Auburn next Saturday, but the important thing is that Georgia is, after a one-year hiatus, again playing games of importance in the nation’s best conference. “If we take care of business at home,” Richt said, “we’re going to end up having a tremendous year.”
If there were any remaining questions about Richt, they’ve all been answered. He stamped himself as a great coach five years ago, and he’s even greater now.
Permalink | Comments (118) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
This Tech script could finish off Gailey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Georgia Tech has trouble, and that starts with T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Phootball. (Apology to “Music Man” and Meredith Willson. But there’s relief in sight. With any kind of execution — not that kind — the Yellow Jackets can turn the corner into an even .500 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But the damage has been done, severely punctuated Thursday night in defeat by Virginia Tech, mysteriously projected as the underdog, even with Georgia Tech’s two leading running backs out of it.
If Georgia Tech has delivered anything akin to an upset this season, it was the Clemson game, though that was a rather sluggish success. Notre Dame was startling at the time, then it developed that the Irish were in an historic plunge.
Now, look at the bright side: The two lowliest of ACC teams are left on Tech’s schedule, Duke and North Carolina. Even the conference record. Get one of those invites to another twiddling bowl game named for pizza or nuts or car repair. The natives are getting more restless, though I consider booing an act of cowardice. Their fever rose sharply Thursday night when, even before the first snap, quarterback Taylor Bennett called time-out. That’s a bad sign. (Where, oh where, has the Bennett of Gator Bowl promise gone? Of course, the answer may be found in Detroit, where Calvin Johnson now performs.)
It got worse as the evening dragged on to the humbling sight of the Hokies pulling their punches, letting the clock run down with the ball four yards away from another touchdown.
By that time, there weren’t enough of those of the Tech devotion left in Bobby Dodd Stadium to raise a whimper. The glare of the stadium lights on all those vacated seats was blinding.
The trouble is, this is the way Chan Gailey’s seasons have gone, almost in methodical monotony — 7-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 then a breakthrough 9-5 and a division title last season, ending in defeat by Wake Forest. Through it all, there was the eternal promise and inevitable relapse of Reggie Ball. George Godsey was the last effective quarterback developed at Tech, and he dated to George O’Leary’s time.
Chan Gailey has never been able to coach his way into the hearts of the Tech colony that gathers in the West Stands. Peaking on occasion, then just as suddenly, collapse. He has never been able to beat Georgia. Beating Tech is not that urgent in Athens any more. Florida is first on the list of villains. Old Tech grads and the young still hold the Bulldogs first on their hate list. Haven’t been able to celebrate since 2000, with O’Leary. Then he bailed out. Tech coaches used to stay forever. From 1904 to 1966, Georgia Tech had three coaches, since then eight.
A rumor broke the other day that Gailey would be fired after this season. There followed a rather heated exchange between Gailey and an interviewer on Tech’s “flagship” radio station. Later, when Dan Radakovich was interviewed, the athletics director responded, “We don’t make such decisions until after the season.” A rather limp vote of confidence, at best.
Meanwhile, Tech has made a move toward wooing the younger audience, “branding,” they call it. The premise is to appeal to the 25-to-40-year-old set, though a creditable survey will determine that those grayer in the thatch and more inclined to be entertained on a less thunderous scale have been the backbone of Tech contributors over the years. (And that the most appealing kind of “branding” is known as winning.) They got their eyes opened Thursday night when Big Boi, of a group called “Outkast,” turned the halftime show into a field of hip-hop — at, I might say, a cost of $43,000. And then, there is the game interruptions by a guy doing a county-fair-type Q&A on the open screen with some fan for a prize, and occasionally revealing what is known as the “official Georgia Tech burrito,” while the athletes stand around waiting to run the next play.
A newly employed young woman, with a Cal-Berkeley background, is the said perpetrator of all this. All of which has little to do with the course of Georgia Tech football, and Chan Gailey’s future. It is not right bright at the moment, but then comes the transfusion that will follow dates with Duke and North Carolina, projected to be followed by the depression that accompanies another match with Georgia. This time, though, the Bulldogs bring their game to Atlanta. Probably the most critical game in Chan Gailey’s tenure.
Permalink | Comments (120) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC
Sanest Falcon runs into Cuckoo’s Nest
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
It has been over a year since Warrick Dunn last ran for 100 yards (18 games). He has had more surgeries (two) than touchdowns (one) since January. His protracted career climb to 10,000 yards? Even he jokes, “I’m approaching it. I’ve been approaching it since Week 1.”
Now, if we were to compile a list of what has gone wrong with the Falcons this season, Dunn would be way down the list. He may not even make Page 1.
But it speaks to the altered state of things that when the Falcons prepared this week for their game against San Francisco, Dunn went through some drills as a third-string quarterback. If nothing else, the Falcons are, at 1-6, the land of opportunity.
“I did it in high school,” said Dunn, an option quarterback in Baton Rouge. “One game my senior year, I had five carries, three touchdowns and 200 yards in the first half. My coach told me at halftime to just pitch the ball. I have the film if you want to break it down.”
Dunn running the option. And you wondered what Bobby Petrino’s last thought might be before he found himself sitting in a rec room with Cheswick and Martini.
The Falcons have nine games left.
The first seven have only seemed to take a millennium.
If you’re a respected NFL running back, 11 years into a career, what are you thinking?
Dunn will leave the game ranking among some statistical greats. He will leave as one of the best ambassadors the NFL has ever had, or ever will have.
But right now Dunn is playing for the league’s punchline. The Falcons need a makeover at best, a wrecking ball at worst. Making things more ominous for a player, the head coach has no allegiances to anybody, let alone a 5-9, 32-year-old running back who can see the finish line.
Dunn acknowledges this year might be it for him. Regardless, it’s not the exit he would have written.
“There have been times this season when I’ve thought, ‘This is my 11th year, and this is what I have to deal with?’?” he admitted. “You think about all of the years I played. You hate to go out this way, but there’s so much going on here. That’s the frustrating thing. We all expected it to be a lot better. When you’re a veteran and you haven’t won a Super Bowl or accomplished certain things, you realize you only have so much time left.”
Technically, Dunn has a year left on his contract worth $4 million. But if you worked for a fledgling dot-com, think of that contract as stock options. Just paper.
If Petrino returns next season, he’ll flush this roster. He already has dumped defensive tackle Grady Jackson, who hardly was the worst player on the team.
Stick around for the rest of the endangered list: Dunn, Joe Horn, Keith Brooking, Wayne Gandy, Lawyer Milloy, secretaries, landscapers, the cafeteria lady.
DeAngelo Hall has talked his way out of town. Alge Crumpler may have limped his way out.
Dunn hasn’t had a three-digit rushing game since Game 5 last season (146 against the New York Giants). He has only 292 yards in seven games this season. But it’s not like this offensive line has plowed earth for him, or anyone.
Of needing only 247 yards to hit 10,000 in his career, he said: “Honestly, I thought I’d be closer or would’ve passed it by now.”
His final chapter may read like this: Surgery for a torn rotator cuff in January. Painful rehab followed. Jogging led to back pain, which led to more surgery in July, this to shave a disc and remove bone particles. So much for training camp.
Dunn lost his conditioning, his timing and his best chance to acclimate to a new coach and offense. Only now is he starting to feel good physically. Mentally? Forget about it.
He went through 2003, when Michael Vick broke his leg and the team imploded. Dunn missed the last five games with a foot injury. He figured that would be the worst season of his career. Oops.
“That was bad, but this is the worst now,” he said. “It’s like a bad Hollywood script. Or a bad dream.”
Except there’s no waking up from this. And he deserves a better ending.
Permalink | Comments (60) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Hawks impress but need more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
You could tell in so many ways Friday night before an absolutely delirious gathering at Philips Arena that these aren’t the same old Hawks.
First, they won.
Let that sink in, and it gets better: They accomplished such a rare feat in recent years on opening night with a 101-94 victory over a standout Dallas Mavericks bunch. Not only that, much of the stuffed house spent the game’s stretch drive delivering a loud and spontaneous collection of dancing, shouting and cheering.
Actually, when it came to the Hawks, all of that was secondary to this: They looked interesting. They looked enthused. They looked improved.
They looked good.
The only thing more impressive than the Hawks’ energy throughout the evening was their refusal to collapse after several late runs from their typically explosive visitors who regularly travel deep into the NBA playoffs. “Our team is growing up,” beamed Hawks coach Mike Woodson, telling the truth in the aftermath. Rookies Acie Law and Al Horford often played as splendid complements to Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, the Hawks’ youthful veterans.
Woodson added that this was a team victory, with nice efforts from Marvin Williams and definitely Tyronn Lue, who contributed so many clutch shots near the end that the crowd wildly chanted “Lue, Lue, Lue” during one of his trips to the foul line.
That’s all splendid, but the Hawks can’t get around this: They could have gotten Chris Paul before he became a certified star for the New Orleans Hornets, but they didn’t. They could have gotten Deron Williams before he became a rising star for the Utah Jazz, but they didn’t. They could have gotten Mike Conley Jr. before he became a rising and certified star in waiting for the Memphis Grizzlies, but they didn’t.
Instead, with the Hawks preparing earlier in the night to spend a dandy time against the Mavericks and threatening to become relevant for the first time in years, their starting point guard was Anthony Johnson, not exactly a clone of Paul, Williams or Conley.
Johnson is what he is, and that is a serviceable backup in his 11th NBA season after stops in Sacramento, Orlando, Cleveland, New Jersey, Indiana and multiple ones in Atlanta. In fact, how many times has Johnson been the starting point guard on opening night for one of your teams? He paused, while thinking. “This is my first time. Yeah,” Johnson said, before taking the court against the Mavericks in search of trying to become the spark that turns the Hawks into an up-tempo inferno featuring all of that youth and athleticism.
Well, at least that was Johnson’s designated mission in the short run. We’re talking about the very short run. As for the long run, it came less than four minutes into the game. The long run even has a name for the Hawks, and it is Acie Law IV, the accomplished shooting guard from Texas A&M that the point-guard challenged Hawks drafted anyway this summer. He entered this one when Johnson misfired after hoisting an off-balance shot from the lane and traveled soon afterward.
In came Law, who instantly impressed.
That is until he instantly accumulated two fouls in three minutes for an early exit until the second quarter. Before that, he fed Marvin Williams with a nice assist in the lane, drove fearlessly to the basket into Dirk Nowitzki territory to draw a foul and barked commands like a veteran. They were wonderful signs of things to come for Law and the Hawks.
It’s all encouraging. And remember: Hawks officials are promising a renaissance this season with new uniforms and a new attitude. The thing is, unless Law or somebody else is for real at the point, the Hawks will have an old problem - no adequate and consistent guy at the point, which wouldn’t be good. Not when the NBA has evolved from a league of the dominant center to that of the prominent point guard.
If you don’t have a Steve Nash or a Tony Parker or a Jason Kidd or a Chauncey Billups or a (ahem) a Paul, Williams or Conley, you better have an overwhelming force such as a LeBron James or a Kobe Bryant to compensate.
Joe Johnson is the Hawks’ LeBron and Kobe in spurts. That means he needs help, so this was a start. A spectacular start.
Permalink | Comments (85) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
Gailey or not, the better squad won
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
I know what you want. You want me to rip Chan Gailey for losing by 24 points in a game he was favored to win. You want me to demand that he be fired on the spot. You want — drum roll here — accountability.
But sometimes the other team is just better. Sometimes the oddsmakers have it wrong. (Did the guys in Vegas not get wind of Tashard Choice’s injury? Do they not get ajc.com out there?) And sometimes a head coach is let down by those who work for him.
I know how Georgia Tech people think. They believe Jon Tenuta is the man who has propped up Gailey these past six years, and in large measure, he has. The Jackets’ offense has never been a thriving enterprise, and Tenuta’s defense has been seen as the program’s shining light. But there are some games when Georgia Tech really needs to win 9-7, and last night’s was one. It wound up 27-3 instead.
Virginia Tech entered with the 11th-best offense in the 12-team ACC. It exited having amassed 481 yards, its biggest yield of the season. (Bigger than against Duke. Bigger than against William & Mary.) It managed this because Tenuta’s plan is based on the blitz, which has its rewards — statistically Georgia Tech has the conference’s top defense — but also carries a massive and constant risk.
The Jackets sacked Sean Glennon six times, which is a lot, but it was what happened when they didn’t sack him that turned this game into a wipeout. When you blitz, you leave your defensive backs on the proverbial island. When you blitz and don’t reach the quarterback, you’d better hope your secondary can cover. Tech’s cannot. It happened against Boston College and Matt Ryan — the visitors had 527 yards that night — and now it happened against the underwhelming Glennon, who ranked below Taylor Bennett in pass efficiency.
Here’s what happened when the Jackets didn’t wrestle Glennon to the ground: He completed 22 of 32 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns. He was 18-of-22 in the first half, when the Hokies built a working lead, and it must be noted that this is the same Glennon who passed for 96 yards and threw three interceptions in Virginia Tech’s collapse against Georgia last December.
Another defensive coordinator might have dialed back his blitzes and employed a soft zone and put the burden of proof on Glennon. As ever, Tenuta put the burden on his men. And they buckled under the strain.
This wasn’t a night to be brave/foolish. It was a night to be conservative and hope for the best. The Jackets weren’t going to score many points without Choice and Rashaun Grant — Taylor Bennett threw four interceptions, Josh Nesbitt a fifth — and a more basic defensive scheme might have kept the Hokies similarly bottled up. Tenuta doesn’t believe in basic defense. He believes in the blitz.
I know what you want. You want another rip of Gailey, who often seems the least popular man on his own campus. (When a taped Gailey don’t-drink-and-drive message was played on the matrix board in the fourth quarter, a volley of boos rang out.) But the head coach has always left the defense to his defensive coordinator, and many Tech fans will tell you that Tenuta is the only reason Gailey still has a job. But Tenuta isn’t perfect. Sometimes his stuff doesn’t work, either.
Said Gailey: “We gave up some big plays. Other than that, we played good [defensively]. But you can’t say ‘other than that’ — those count.”
My problem with Gailey isn’t so much scheme as consistency. Georgia Tech can vary from week to week, even from half to half, in its mind-set. That wasn’t the issue Thursday night. The Jackets played hard enough with limited resources. They just didn’t think well enough. I’m not going to call Gailey the greatest coach in the history of toe-meeting-leather, but this loss was beyond his control. His heralded and high-salaried assistant didn’t give Chan a fighting chance.
Permalink | Comments (291) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Predictions: Falcons not worth watching anyway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
After weeks of negotiations with various humanitarian organizations, the Falcons on Thursday were given clearance to hold televised public stonings at halftime of their remaining games in the Georgia Dome as an attempt to increase attendance, so long as the first and second halves of games remained blacked out.
The team won’t disclose highlights of Sunday’s halftime festivities. But given the nostalgic feelings created by a 1-6 start, it likely will keep targets within the family. On a related note, Jeff George said this week he would like to return to football.
On Sunday, the day of rest, the Falcons snooze with San Francisco. Two teams with a combined record of 3-11 somehow could not persuade residents to purchase the final 3,000 tickets, even with the lure of free water.
The game is blacked out, and that would be the good news. Team officials delayed the announcement for as long as possible Thursday, apparently forgetting that as marketing problems go, 3,000 unsold tickets isn’t nearly as big as 20,000 unused tickets being swapped for maybe a sandwich outside the gates.
In the first in a series of distractions to avoid discussing football matters over the next nine weeks, officials revealed the Georgia Dome will be given a new color scheme. Bobby Petrino declined to comment on the painting plans, other than to say Rich McKay will be given a tarp and a roll of masking tape, but not the roller.
Which leads me to … You know what? I can’t do this. Falcons-49ers: It’s just too big. So first …
To the second-biggest game of the week! Indianapolis and New England play for possible home-field advantage in the AFC title game and the eventual right to dismember anybody from the NFC. The Colts are the defending Super Bowl champions. And undefeated. And at home. And five-point dogs.
OK, I get the whole New England is Godzilla thing. Tom Brady has 30 touchdowns. Bill Belichick has no soul. A perfect coach-quarterback marriage. But the other team ain’t bad and certainly has a better defense. Going against the grain here (again). Take the 5. And Colts in an upset.
Back To School
(Buy any two picks and win a copy of the “Halloween XII: South Bend.” In the most implausible sequel yet, Notre Dame starts 1-7 and hopes to avoid being beat up some more by Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford. Double your laughter: Come early and see highlights of Prairie View starting 5-2.)
Troy at Georgia: The Bulldogs sandwiched “Homecoming” against Troy between Florida and Auburn, which caused one Troy player, Marcus Richardson, to say this week he felt “disrespected,” momentarily forgetting he played for Troy. The good news for Richardson is Georgia scheduled Vanderbilt for “Homecoming” last year and, well, that didn’t turn out so good. So there’s hope. Or not. Dogs cover 16 1/2.
Saban Bowl: Nick-o-cchio faces LSU for the first time since returning to the SEC with a different blinded fan base. Accordingly, 6,000 Tigers fans making the trip to Tuscaloosa will be frisked at the border for weapons. Expect them to pick up rocks on the other side, which is fine because, like, they’ll blend. LSU covers 7.
Vanderbilt at Florida: The Gators are coming off a loss to Georgia. I think I may have typed that sentence once before, but it was in a prior life. Florida actually has lost three out of four since beating Mississippi by, well, only six. Guess somebody rerouted the parade. They’ll win, but they ain’t covering 15 1/2.
Pigs and Poultry: Speaking of faceplants, Steve Spurrier has gone from potential SEC title game to potential Shreveport. Blake Mitchell starts at QB again by default. Spurrier: “He’s looked about the same for three years.” Inspiring. Arkansas covers 41/2.
FSU at Boston College: B.C. officials were hoping the Red Sox parade would be routed through Chestnut Hill, just to get some foot traffic. Eagles over Noles, cover 6 1/2.
Pros, Cons
49ers at Falcons: Free psych evaluations to the first 10,000 fans. Yes, and your rabbit friend, Harvey, too. The teams invite all to picnic in either end zone. You’re safe there. Birds win, 9-3.
Jaguars at Saints: Grady Jackson was having a hard time finding his way around Jacksonville. So the coaching staff left a trail of cheeseburgers. (Thank you. Tip your waitress.) Saints cover 3.
Cowboys at Eagles: Dallas just gave Tony Romo, who has never won a playoff game, a six-year, $67.5 million contract. Methinks somebody tugged a little too hard during Jerry Jones’ last facelift. Upset watch: Take the gift three and Eagles straight up.
Packers at Chiefs: Brett Favre must be back on Vicodin because there’s no other explanation for the Packers being 6-1 behind that offensive line. Market correction: Chiefs over Cheese (and 2 is covered).
Broncos at Lions: Jon Kitna was criticized for dressing up as a naked man for Halloween, mimicking assistant coach Joe Cullen, who misinterpreted the whole Value Menu thing and once drove naked through Wendy’s. But Kitna figured it was a more believable costume than his first choice, which was to dress up as a starting quarterback. Take Broncos (and 3) in a road upset.
TOTEBOARD
Last week: 6-4 straight up, 4-6 against the line.
Bottom line: 56-36 straight up, 41-46-5 against the line.
Comeback: Just around the bend.
Permalink | Comments (61) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Hawks future looks bright
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Michael Gearon Jr. has a new agenda. After four years of talking up the Hawks when nobody else was talking about them at all, he’s trying to temper expectations. He won’t predict a playoff spot. Over lunch at his favored Blue Ridge Grill, he barely mentions the P-word at all. Instead he says this:
“I have high hopes but realistic expectations. We have a phenomenal nucleus that’s complementary to each other. We have very high hopes, but realistically we’re still in the early stages.”
A lifelong Atlantan, Gearon remembers well what happened the one and only time the Hawks promised they’d make the playoffs. They didn’t come close, and the man who issued the guarantee — coach Lon Kruger — got fired the day after Christmas.
Gearon and the other members of Atlanta Spirit made their bid to buy the team a year later, and ever since the investors have had little but grief in the way of a return.
That is, however, subject to immediate change. The Hawks look pretty good. (We’ll say it again for emphasis, more slowly this time: The … Hawks … look … pretty … good.) They have a chance to reach the postseason for the first time since 1999. Given the wobbly state of the Atlanta sports scene, they have a chance to become the city’s team of choice for the first time since the late ’80s.
Please understand: A chance isn’t the same as an assurance. Gearon again: “I don’t like guarantees. What I will say is that I’ll be disappointed if I don’t see us getting better. Our goal is to be one of the most competitive teams in the East over the next five to seven years.”
Given that the Hawks have scarcely registered on the NBA scene for the better part of the last decade, this would constitute a brassy upgrade, but not an entirely fanciful one. Few clubs have collected as many good young players, and even if Billy Knight hasn’t always drafted the absolute right man at the absolute right moment, he has built a roster of handsome pieces. At issue now: Can this assembled talent evolve into an actual team?
“If we can’t turn talent into a team,” Gearon says, “we have a problem.”
That’s why the June draft seemed to stand as a line of demarcation. Rather than simply picking more wings, Knight took gifted players who, wonder of wonders, fill the positions at which the Hawks have long been deficient. Al Horford is a power forward who can play center. (Of Horford, teammate Josh Smith says: “He’s a rebounding machine.”) Acie Law IV has taken to point guard even more quickly than the Hawks had hoped. Look for one if not both to be starting by New Year’s.
But don’t be shocked if the season’s first impression seems to augur more of the same. The Hawks’ first five games are against Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey, Phoenix and Boston. “A brutal first two weeks,” Gearon calls it, and that’s one of the reasons he’s careful not to oversell his product. No sense setting everyone up to be let down.
He prefers the longer view. What Gearon calls “the core of the team — Joe [Johnson], Marvin [Williams], the two Joshes [Smith and Childress] and Al and Acie — are an average of 22 years old.”
There’s finally enough skill at all five positions to believe this franchise’s misery is coming to its end. There’s also this: Luck, never to be underestimated, seems to have turned. The Hawks could have wound up without a first-round pick in June, but the lottery handed them two choices among the first 11. And it didn’t, significantly, afford them the No. 1 pick overall. If it had, they’d have done as Portland did: They’d have drafted Greg Oden, who’ll miss the season due to knee surgery.
“And what would people be saying then?” Gearon says, laughing. ” ‘The Hawks are under a black cloud.’ “
The gloom appears to have lifted. Here come the new Hawks, and here, wonder of wonders, comes the sun.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Mark Bradley
NBA questions and answers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Audience participation time. I ask the questions. Feel free to answer any or all.
1.How many games will the Hawks win?
2.Will they make the playoffs?
3.Will either Al Horford or Acie Law IV be starting by season’s end?
4.Will Kobe Bryant get traded?
5.Will the Celtics win the East? If not, who will?
6.Will the Mavericks win the West?
7.If the Hawks get off to a bad start, will Mike Woodson be fired?
8.Who’ll play more minutes this season — Greg Oden or Speedy Claxton?
And now, because I’m generous that way, here are my answers, at least one of which might turn out to be correct.
1.and 2.They’ll go 46-36, which will earn them the East’s sixth seed.
3.Law will start before Horford, but both will be starting by January.
4.No. He’ll stay with the Lakers and lead the league in scoring and whining. He couldn’t play with Shaq, and now he realizes he can’t win without him. Fitting, no?
5.No. Too many egos, not enough championship know-how. I like the Bulls, who are much younger and much more cohesive.
6.Yes. Because it’s simply too boring to pick San Antonio again.
7.No, because ownership realizes the schedule is front-loaded — it will be no shock if the Hawks don’t lose a lot early — and that nothing would be gained by dumping Woodson after a month having gone this long with him already. Put another way, ownership views Woodson differently than it did Bob Hartley.
8.A tough one, given that Oden won’t play any at all. So I’ll go with Speedy, who should have two or three quarters in him before he hurts himself again.
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