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Alabama went into Athens a decided underdog against #3 ranked Georgia and stunned everyone with a 31-0 blowout in the first half. The defense took the second half off, giving up 30 points — it would have been 31 had Georgia not gone for and missed a 2-point conversion. Thankfully, the offense managed to add another 10 and hold on.
The AP’s Paul Newberry, who either didn’t watch the game or only cared about the outcome rather than the process, saw it much differently than this Alabama fan.
 Forget the blackout. This was an early knockout. Backed by a dominant defense and John Parker Wilson’s accurate passing, No. 8 Alabama raced to a stunning 31-point lead by halftime against self-destructing Georgia and held on to beat the third-ranked Bulldogs 41-30 Saturday night, establishing Nick Saban’s team as a national championship contender in his second season.
[...]
Alabama (5-0, 2-0) is poised to move up at least three or four spots when the new poll comes out Sunday, and the Tide certainly looked as impressive as anyone all year in winning decisively on the road against a team that started the season at the top of the heap.
Wilson went 13-of-16 passing for 205 yards and a touchdown, while Glenn Coffee ran for two scores in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score. Georgia scored two touchdowns in the waning minutes.
Not even the most optimistic Alabama fan could have expected Saban, who won a national championship at LSU, to turn the Tide so quickly. This again looks like a program more in keeping with the tradition of Bear Bryant, not Saban predecessor Mike Shula.
Looking for a motivational edge, Georgia came out wearing black jerseys, and most of its fans at 92,000-seat Sanford Stadium also took part in the “blackout.” But the biggest cheers came from the white-clad Alabamians sprinkled throughout the massive stands.
Georgia showed some disturbing tendencies even while winning its first four games, and those sure came back to bite the Bulldogs. They were flagged twice in the opening half for roughing the passer, crucial but familiar mistakes for a team that already was the most penalized in the SEC. Also, an offensive line featuring two freshman and two sophomores was no match for Alabama’s massive front led by 365-pound Terrence Cody.
Knowshon Moreno got only nine carries for 34 yards, and quarterback Matthew Stafford spent much of the game running for his life as Georgia’s 11-game winning streak ended.
The Bulldogs actually made Alabama a little nervous in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, closing to 31-17 on Prince Miller’s 92-yard punt return. But the Tide calmly wrapped it up on the next possession, driving 51 yards in eight plays for Leigh Tiffin’s second field goal.
Oddly, both Newberry and the ESPN game announcers repeatedly refer to an early pass interference call on Georgia as a critical play in the game. In reality, that “mistake” was absolutely the right move on the part of the Georgia defender, saving a sure touchdown and forcing Alabama to drive fifteen yards to achieve a result they would otherwise have had easily.
I’m obviously thrilled by the outcome. After the season opening win, also in Georgia, against then-highly ranked Clemson, I thought this team had a chance to knock off the Bulldogs. I had no idea, though, that they’d dominate them so thoroughly in the first half.
My only fear is that the second half letdown bodes ill for the team’s ability to focus against some of their lesser opponents in upcoming weeks. In college, which lacks a playoff system, you can’t have a bad week if you want a shot at a national championship.
America’s best sprinter will not run the 200 meters in the Beijing Olympics, another casualty of our stupid selection policy.
 Tyson Gay accelerated through the first curve. Then, he started flying. Not in the figurative sense, but in an all-too-real way — a shocking sprawl to the ground that cost America’s best sprinter an Olympic spot in the 200 meters and made him look like less than a sure thing, health-wise at least, with the Beijing Games five weeks away.
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Had this been gymnastics, or a number of other sports, an injury at trials wouldn’t have ended Gay’s chance to make the Olympics in that specific event. But USA Track and Field plays it straight — top three finishers at trials make the Olympics, no exceptions.
It’s a black-and-white policy that most athletes accept, though it could end up costing the American team as much as Gay in Beijing. Gay is the defending world champion in the 100 and 200 meters.
“I don’t know any other way to do it, but it’s tough,” said Wallace Spearmon, now the favorite in Sunday’s finals. “Either you’re ready on this day or not. You can be the best athlete coming into it, and you could be sitting at home watching it from the house.”
How about a system that combines multiple events? Say, the Olympic Trials, the World Championships, and one or two other major competitions? That way, a poorly timed fall, injury, or illness would be less likely to cost an individual an opportunity for which they’ve spent a lifetime training. And Team USA would be represented by the best athletes.
Rick Gosselin notes that we throw around the phrase “future Hall of Famer” way too easily when talking about NFL greats.
 I’m hearing “first-ballot Hall of Famer” plenty these days with the retirements of Brett Favre, Jonathan Ogden, Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp. I’m hearing “future Hall of Famer” with the retirements of Steve McNair and Bryant Young. The Class of 2013 could be pumped up even further if Junior Seau decides he’s through.
The assumption is that the latest is always the greatest, so let’s rush all these guys into Canton.
 In Favre’s case, I’ll buy it. He retired as the game’s all-time leading passer with more completions, yards and touchdowns than any other quarterback in NFL history. Five years from now when he becomes eligible for Canton, Favre figures to still be atop all the passing lists.
Those are the true first-ballot guys: Favre, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith – players who pushed the bar so high it would take years for anyone to catch them statistically.
All other “first-ballot” candidates are matters of opinion, which makes them all subject to debate.
Strahan retired after 15 seasons with 141½ sacks. First ballot? Ask Chris Doleman his definition of a first-ballot Hall of Fame pass rusher. His statistics are better than Strahan’s across the board, but he can’t even get into the room for discussion by the Hall of Fame selection committee. Here’s a comparison:
| Player |
Seasons |
Games |
Sacks |
FF |
FR |
Int |
| Doleman |
15 |
232 |
150½ |
43 |
23 |
8 |
| Strahan |
15 |
216 |
141½ |
23 |
14 |
4 |
| (FF-Forced fumbles; FR-Fumble recoveries, INT-Interceptions) |
The natural argument would be that Strahan played the strong side, where a player generally has to fight through more traffic to get to the quarterback than a weakside pass rusher like Doleman. But that argument hasn’t helped Kevin Greene. He finished his career with 160 sacks in 228 career games at his strongside linebacker spot and also can’t get into the room for discussion. Both Doleman and Greene enter their fifth year of eligibility in 2009. Both Doleman and Greene deserve discussion before Strahan. Derrick Thomas, Richard Dent and Charles Haley also belong in the queue ahead of Strahan.
Warren Sapp was an all-decade tackle for the 1990s. So was Bryant Young. But so was Cortez Kennedy. Young went to five Pro Bowls, Sapp eight and Kennedy eight. Sapp was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999. So was Kennedy in 1992. Yet Kennedy has never been a finalist in his four years of eligibility.
McNair took a team to the Super Bowl and was an NFL MVP. Ken Anderson also took a team to the Super Bowl and was an NFL MVP. Anderson went to twice as many Pro Bowls (four) than McNair (two). He also threw for more yards (32,838) and more touchdowns (197) than McNair (31,304 and 174). Anderson has been a finalist twice and been rejected twice.
Jonathan Ogden went to 11 Pro Bowls. So did guard Randall McDaniel, who was bounced in his first trip to the finals last February.
Junior Seau went to 12 Pro Bowls in his 18 NFL seasons. Les Richter played nine NFL seasons (1954-62) as a linebacker and went to eight Pro Bowls. He was once traded for 11 players. Yet he’s never been discussed by the Hall of Fame selection committee. Maxie Baughan went to nine Pro Bowls in the 1960s. He also has never been discussed.
The latest doesn’t always translate into the greatest. Labeling any player a “future Hall of Famer” or “first-ballot Hall of Famer” is a disservice to those who have already earned their way into Canton with those designations.
He’s right, of course. Some truly great players are not in the Hall and some of today’s perennial Pro Bowlers will surely fall short.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is by far the most exclusive of those representing the major sports. There are some truly mediocre players in Cooperstown. Basketball’s hall is, frankly, a joke, seeking to include everyone regardless of what level of competition they played at, lumping NBA greats in with women’s hoopstars and international stars. Golf’s hall is simply matter of “qualifying” by winning the requisite number of tournaments and, again, it includes those who excel on the women’s tour.
Canton has gone, in my view, to the opposite extreme. A football team has 22 starters, not counting special teams, compared to nine in baseball and five in basketball. Yet, they let in a maximum of six modern era players each year. Baseball lets in anyone getting votes from 75 percent of the writers, allowing large classes if several greats retire in short order. Class sizes vary from year-to-year but typically three make it and as many as seven have in a single year. Again, in a sport with far fewer players.
Greg Norman and Chris Evert are getting married.
Golfing legend Greg Norman and former tennis star Chris Evert will marry this weekend in the Bahamas, the Australian Associated Press reported Thursday.
The couple, both 53, are to wed Saturday at sunset on a beach in Paradise Island, the AAP said, citing various media reports. The pair announced their engagement last December.
Guests are believed to include former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior, American actor Chevy Chase, tennis great Martina Navratilova and singers Gwen Stefani and Kenny Loggins.
Norman, who has won two British Open titles among scores of other tournaments, and Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam titles, arrived in Paradise Island on Thursday.
Both are well past their heyday but they were indeed legendary figures in their games. Evert was America’s sweetheart for years, although overlapping careers with Billy Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who were arguably more dominant players. She was much more telegenic, however. Norman was one of the great golfers of the 1980s and early 1990s, although he’s probably best remembered for an epic collapse at the Masters.
Norman, Evert to marry in Bahamas (AFP)
Louisville sued Duke for pulling out of a four game football contract after only one game and demanded $450,000 in damages. Duke claimed that, because their team is so bad (13-90 since 1999) any Division I team would meet the contract’s “team of similar stature” clause.
Judge Phillip J. Shepherd of the Franklin County (Ky.) Circuit Court agreed, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
“At oral argument, Duke [with a candor perhaps more attributable to good legal strategy than to institutional modesty] persuasively asserted that this is a threshold that could not be any lower,” Shepherd wrote in a summary judgment issued Thursday, according to the paper. “Duke’s argument on this point cannot be reasonably disputed by Louisville.”
You almost hate to win with that kind of argument.
Tiger Woods shot two eagles in the final six holes to take the lead in the 2008 U.S. Open.
Tiger Woods delivered a performance worthy of prime time Saturday in the U.S. Open. He kept an East Coast television audience and a sellout crowd at Torrey Pines in suspense when his left knee buckled and he nearly dropped to the ground from the sheer pain, limping along with his club as a cane. The drama came on the last six holes, when he turned a five-shot deficit into a one-shot lead.
And the amazing array of shots that put him atop the leaderboard? Pure science-fiction.
“The stuff he does, it’s unreal,” said Rocco Mediate, who watched it all unfold from the group behind.
First came Woods’ 70-foot eagle putt on the 13th to get back in the game. Then it was a chip that he struck too hard, only to bow his head and laugh when it one-hopped into the hole for birdie on the 17th. Woods ended one of his most exciting rounds in a major with a 30-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole for a 1-under 70 and a one-shot lead over Lee Westwood.
It was pure theater at Torrey Pines, leaving 50,000 fans and even his competitors wondering what hit them.
“It’s just the most amazing display of athletic, mental power that there is, there ever was,” said Mediate, who had a three-shot lead early on the back nine until a four-hole meltdown. “Look at him. He hasn’t played in 10 weeks. There’s no surprise to me, but he hasn’t played for 10 weeks! And he comes here. So I’m not surprised. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.”
Simply amazing.
Tiger Woods came into the 2008 U.S. Open not having played competitive golf in months while recovering from major knee surgery. The rest of the field didn’t have a chance.
There was no limping into the weekend for Tiger Woods. In fact, he put on a near record-setting display at the U.S. Open that may have left the rest of the field feeling hobbled. Pouring in birdies from distances great and small, Woods tamed Torrey Pines, shooting 5-under 30 over his final nine holes in the second round Friday to end at 2-under par. That was one stroke behind Stuart Appleby and tied with Rocco Mediate and Robert Karlsson.
Poor guys.
“People always ask me, ‘Who’s the favorite?’” Mediate said. “Well, of course, he’s the favorite. Of course he is. A lot of people said, ‘Well, he’s not going to win because he’s had, whatever, a thousand weeks off. But he’s different. It’s not the same.”
Playing in his first tournament since knee surgery after the Masters, Woods hardly looked like someone rounding back into shape, at least not at the end. He started on the back, and after an up-and-down nine holes, things turned around immediately. He made five birdies and finished one shot off the U.S. Open record for lowest nine-hole score, last accomplished by Vijay Singh in 2003. He finished the day with a 3-under 68.
“I felt if I could play well, could get back to even par, I could get back into the championship,” Woods said. “Then all of the sudden, I started raining ‘em in from everywhere.”
He’s just not like the other golfers. Or any other man to ever play this game. His opponents are resigned to the fact that, if he’s playing anywhere close to his best, he’s simply going to win.
“It’s just a matter of playing golf. He wants to go play golf, we want to go play golf,” Appleby said. “And I’ll be doing my best to accidentally throw a club towards his sore knee. It will be an accident, of course.”
Heh. I’m not sure Tiger couldn’t shoot par hopping on one leg.
But really, how to stop what looks like an unstoppable march toward victory?
Woods is in search of his 14th major win and his first U.S. Open since 2002. His seven closest pursuers (OK, so Appleby isn’t officially a ‘pursuer’) have combined for one: the PGA championship won by Davis Love III more than a decade ago.
He’ll soon be looking for his 15th major, methinks.
Update(Bill Jempty)- I had already written a long piece on how the US Open, when I saw James beat me to it. I’ll share some of my take. While Tiger is one shot out of the lead with 36 holes, I’m not ready to give him this tournament yet.
Only a week ago we had a similar storyline forming at the LPGA. #1 woman golfer Lorena Ochoa looking for her third straight major, was up by one shot going into the weekend. A golf writer I like, blogged that only the weather looked likely to slow Ochoa’s march to victory. Instead, a tour rookie(Who had finished second twice already in 08) named Yani Tseng derailed the Ochoa Grand Slam express. What’s to stop the a similar surprise from happening this weekend?
Second round leader Stuart Appleby has never won a major. The closest he has ever come was Appleby taking part in the 4-way playoff(along with Steve Elkington and Thomas Levet) at the 2002 British Open won by Ernie Els. Other than that Appleby’s only shot legit shot at a major was the 2007 Masters. He led going into the final round before finishing T7th. Appleby has won eight PGA tournaments in his career. An argument can be made for he being the best player on tour without a major championship triumph. Off the course Appleby has a interesting story. Next month will mark 10 years since his wife Renay was killed in a fluke accident while the couple was in London England. After several years spent grieving, Appleby married again and has at least two children with his new wife.
Appleby is a good player, but in spite of his having the lead he is being overshadowed by Tiger at present. The same can be said for the other golfers who are near the top of the leaderboard. Which include former major champions Davis Love III, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, plus more than solid international golfers Miguel Jimenez, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Robert Allenby. All of these players stand within two shots of Tiger and three of Appleby.
Note- I have always liked Rocco Mediate since I watched him in person play in a PGA tournamenet about 20 years ago. Rocco, who is one shot back and tied with Tiger, would be my sentimental favorite. As much as I like Rocco, I know his chances aren’t very good on the weekend even if you took Tiger out of the equation.
I didn’t think Tiger would win this week, and with him standing one shot out of the lead, the chances are strong I’ll be wrong. What I’m trying to say is Tiger isn’t a shoo-in to win the tournament.
So long as he gets paid, Anthony Henry will play wherever the Cowboys need him.
Anthony Henry is the Dallas Cowboys starting cornerback. But he is open to making a switch to safety, which could be a possibility if Pacman Jones is fully reinstated and first-round pick Mike Jenkins emerges.
Henry, a former safety at South Florida, realizes with the added depth at cornerback he could be moved to safety. He believes a move to safety would help prolong his career. “At some point it could happen,” said Henry, who is entering his eighth season. “I am not sure when. If they made the decision, I would be down [with the move]. I think I will make the switch eventually. That’s what I have in my mind and plan on doing at some point. I know it’s something I could learn and play well.”
Henry, who led the Cowboys with six interceptions last season, started at free safety his first three years in college. He has worked some at safety in the dime package where Roy Williams usually lines up to cover the tight ends. It could allow the Cowboys to have four cornerbacks on the field.
“I understand it,” Henry said. “Terence [Newman] got paid, they draft a corner in the first round and bring in Pacman. It does affect me. All I can do is play my best and try to be successful and let things fall where they fall.”
In stark contrast to Greg Ellis, who first resisted the move to linebacker and is now balking at moving to situational status to prolong his career, Henry is a team player who knows where his bread is buttered. Henry will be an outstanding safety, if necessary, and the best ball hawk at that position the Cowboys have had since Darren Woodson retired.
John Smoltz valiantly tried to fight through the pain but he’s now having shoulder surgery that will sideline him the rest of the season and, quite possibly, end his career.
Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz will have season-ending shoulder surgery, but he hopes to return in 2009.
Smoltz and general manager Frank Wren declined comment until the briefing, but the pitcher said on his radio show that he will miss the rest of the season. “I’m having surgery with the hopes of pitching beyond this year,” Smoltz told 790 The Zone. “We’re only kidding ourselves if we try to mess around any longer.”
Still, the decision to have surgery raises serious questions about Smoltz’s future. He turned 41 last month, and it would be highly improbable for a pitcher to come back from a major operation at his age. Smoltz had only returned from the disabled list on Monday, hoping to make it through the rest of the season as a closer after starting five games this season.
His loss was a huge blow to an Atlanta team already dealing with a rash of injuries to its pitching staff. The Braves went into Wednesday’s game 3½ games behind Philadelphia in the NL East. “Not having him at all for the rest of the season is devastating, flat out devastating,” third baseman Chipper Jones said. “Going into this season, I said there’s one guy on this club we cannot do without. That’s John Smoltz.”
The right-hander is the only pitcher in baseball history with 200 wins and 150 saves, and he reached another milestone this season with his 3,000th strikeout.
While on the disabled list, Smoltz changed his pitching motion, going to a three-quarters motion to ease the pain in his shoulder. He came on in the ninth inning of Monday night’s game against Florida with a 4-3 lead but gave up three hits and two runs, blowing his first save chance since 2004.
Manager Bobby Cox said the pitcher was “pretty sore” the following day, and Smoltz apparently decided that it was futile to continue his comeback even though he’s long indicated another surgery would probably end his career. He’s already had four operations on his right elbow, including Tommy John surgery that kept him out for all of 2000.
“I’ve always said that if it gets to that point, I don’t know the value of coming back,” Smoltz said Monday. “At the same time … the right choice will be made. It won’t be made emotionally.”
Truly a shame. Smoltz is a class act and the Braves sure need him.
Flip Saunders led the Detroit Pistons the the Eastern Conference finals three straight years. That’s why they fired him.
 Flip Saunders was fired as the Pistons’ coach Tuesday, four days after Detroit was eliminated from the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. And more changes could be on the way for a team bounced from three straight conference finals.
“Make no mistake, everybody is in play right now,” said Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations. “There are no sacred cows here. You lose that sacred cow status when you lose three straight years.”
Saunders had a year left on a four-year deal he signed in 2005. His ouster comes three years after he took over for Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to two straight NBA finals.
“I think this team became way too content and did not show up with a sense of urgency to get it done,” Dumars said at a news conference. “I can’t sugarcoat it. It is what it is.”
Dumars stopped short of saying he would dismantle the Pistons. “The idea you can make yourself bad and make yourself good again, that’s a farce,” he said. “I have no interest in completely ripping the team down. Will I look to making significant changes? Yeah, you’re damn right I will.”
Bizarre. I don’t have the knowledge of the game to judge whether Saunders get the most out of the talent at hand. But, certainly, the Boston Celtics, to whom the Pistons lost in the finals, were widely considered the most talented team in the NBA. This strikes me as a knee-jerk move.
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