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Monday, January 8, 2007
Unlike football, basketball not predictable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So you all knew Calvin Johnson was going to go pro, and there were no surprises Monday, right? Or did some believe he might come back, that him saying several times in the past that he wanted to get his degree, his mom saying education was so important, all meant he was coming back?
No, everybody knew.
I can’t imagine anyone arguing this decision. He’ll get $25 million guaranteed as soon as he signs, and that doesn’t count salaries or certain incentive-based bonuses. A no-brainer.
Basketball, on the other hand, is anything but predictable. Tech needs very badly to beat Duke Wednesday, and will have to do it without two of the five players who started the first third of the season.
Lewis Clinch is, of course, out for the remainder of the season, and waiting to hear if he’s been kicked out of school.
Zach Peacock is almost certain to be suspended for the Duke game after throwing an elbow at Trevor Booker. No question he deserved to be ejected, and few could argue that he deserves the additional penalty of one more game. The wording is pretty clear in the rule book. Paraphrasing, any attempt to hit, whether the attempt connections or not, and you’re out for the rest of that game and one more. That was intentional, no two ways about it.
Booker and Peacock were scrapping a good bit before Zach cracked, and Booker tussled with some other Jackets, too. Some of it was stuff you see in every ACC game, some was not.
But I went too far in a blog Saturday night saying Booker was a dirty player. That was not fair. I’m sorry for that rash pronouncement.
I still don’t get the delay between the elbow being thrown and a whistle being blown. We may never get an explanation on that two-second or so gap.
All the Techsters’ woes make this a good year for Duke to be down, but it’s not like the Blue Devils are terrible. Tech really needs to win that game. Just look at the upcoming schedule, and you’ll see why if you’re not already aware of it.
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