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Thursday, March 8, 2007
Al Thornton’s a bear!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mario West returned to practice yesterday after missing Tuesday with flu-like symptoms so that apparently takes care of that. Don’t have anything new otherwise on the Yellow Jackets so I’m gonna chat a little about the first game at the ACC tournament.
Al Thornton’s a bear!
OK, that about sums it up. Well, not really. I don’t think the foul that sent him to the line for the game-winning free throw should have been called with 1.5 seconds left in the game, and perhaps not with 18 minutes left in the game. There was some contact, but he may have initiated it, and the contact wasn’t that substantial either.
Still, that cat can do it. He can shoot, drive, rebound, defend a little. He creates space for himself inside when he needs it and, as we saw, can draw a foul not and then. He’s scored 157 points in FSU’s last six games - or since Tech held him to 16. He would have been my vote for ACC POY even before this, but now, jeez, is it any wonder Paul Hewitt said he’s one of the very best players he’s seen in his seven years in the ACC.
And to think, Thornton hasn’t always been a star.
He was a stud at Perry (Ga.) High, to be sure, and named MVP of the Georgia and Georgia-Tennessee high school all star games. But his academics were shaky, he wasn’t recruited heavily, took a while to qualify, and did not enroll at FSU until Jan. 2003, about seven months after graduating from high school.
He redshirted, was 10th on the team in scoring as a redshirt freshman (3.2 ppg) with an average of 1.8 rebounds, went up to 9.1/4.4 as a sophomore, 16.1 and 6.9 last year and (in ACC games) 23.5 and 8.8 this year.
Folks, that is progress, and proof that not all NBA-caliber talent is stamped straight out of high school. And he’s humble as heck.
So in the past five games, he’s averaging 28 points and 11 rebounds including a 45-point game last weekend against Miami, which as I write is smoking the ACC’s hottest team, Maryland, in the second half. (This conference is so wild.)
Does Tech have a player on its roster capable of this kind of story, someone relatively benign or under the radar out of high school (for whatever reason) who has the tools to really blossom? Aminu (different kind of player, but meets some of the early career criteria)?
P.S.
Regarding our lost dog … after searching and searching in the neighborhood on foot, by bike (about 15 miles worth of back-and-forth on all streets in many directions) and car, knocking on the doors of homes and businesses, posting flyers, visiting the Humane Society and Fulton County Animal control, my son and I went out after dinner to put up more fliers.
The first one Patrick put up, a guy says, “Hey, I work right down the street at Key Lime Pie,” a local salon in Virginia-Highlands, “and we found a dog that looks like that last night around 9.”
So Patrick and I go to Key Lime, and my son puts a flier on the counter and asks a couple of young ladies, “Have you seen a dog that looks like this?”
Bless them, they got so excited they nearly cried.
Turns out Rupert was discovered out back of the place about 20 minutes after we’d noticed him missing. The young ladies that found him called the 800 number on his tag. Those folks said the dog had not been reported missing, although it seems to me like they should have been able to look up the number on the tag and tell the caller the phone number for the owner.
So they re-named Rupert, opting to call him Franklin, and took him with them for pizza. The Rupester was a model guest, I’m told, happy as could be, and spent the night with one Rae Lynn at her home in East Cobb County, some 20 miles from home.
Anyway, at about the time we were accounting for Rupert’s whereabouts at Key Lime, Rae Lynn’s mother made a connection through his tags (the rabies tag, I think), tracing the dog’s original owner (we adopted him six weeks ago from a lady who takes in strays, throwaways, etc.). That lady, Liz, called our house.
So even if we hadn’t made the Key Lime breakthrough, Rupert was going to be re-connected with his family.
Anyway, Ray Lynn’s mother brought the dog from East Cobb to Virginia-Highlands last night, and while waiting, I took my son home so he could take his shower.
When we got the call, my twin daughters Tori and Roni wanted to claim Rupert with me, even in their pajamas. So they put on Crocs, and away we went.
The Rupester acted like he’d never been gone, happy as ever.
Rae Lynn and the Key Lime Elves — as their manager referred to the young ladies who showered Rupert with love and attention — asked that we bring the bowser by for an occasional visit. That will not be a problem, as the kids’ bus stop is about 100 yards away.
A lot of people prayed for Rupert. My youngest daughter, Roni, said she prayed six times and, “God was my target, instead of saying Lord.”
Sometimes, there are happy endings.
Thanks for the concern from those who offered it,
Matt
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