Note: This appears in this week's Score Atlanta. Pick up a copy at any metro area Kroger, Quik Trip or Blockbuster or visit www.scoreatl.com
A legend retires and maybe another one should as well. The Atlanta sports landscape lost a legend this past week when Furman Bisher retired from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Bisher had been an AJC sports columnist since 1950 and had been writing since 1938. Over his time with the AJC, Bisher saw the Milwaukee Braves move to Atlanta, the 1996 Summer Olympics and a magical Super Bowl run by the Falcons, not to mention countless Masters tournaments. Bisher’s style will be missed as Atlanta will have to adjust to no longer being able to read our own sports time capsule. Seemingly each day a different AJC sports writer spoke highly of Bisher, and if you’ve won the respect of your co-workers, you are truly special. One of the biggest thrills of my sports writing career was when I received an email from Mr. Bisher saying that he was looking forward to a story I was working on for that week’s Score Atlanta, where I interviewed the newly promoted Braves GM Frank Wren. Mr. Bisher, you will be missed and I hope you have a happy retirement.
From one legend who has retired to one that should. Archie Manning appeared on CBS’s Alabama/Ole Miss halftime show over the weekend. I understand that Manning was a famous QB at Ole Miss and two of his sons played for the Rebels (Cooper and No.1 overall pick Eli) with another son playing for Tennessee (you maybe have heard of Peyton), but does Archie still need to be on the SEC broadcasts? I read last week where he is the president of the College Football Hall of Fame, soon to be moving to Atlanta, but I don’t think he is as good as, say, Tony Barnhart. Why isn’t the AJC’s Mr. College Football the permanent third man at the studio table with Spencer Tillman and Tim Brando? Barnhart seemingly knows everyone in college football and provides great insight in both his newspaper and on-line work and in his time on Sports Radio 790 The Zone. Barnhart, who has his own show on the CBS College Sports Network should be added fulltime to the CBS game of the week halftime show.
The NFLPA has now come out against Rush Limbaugh and his investment partners as the conservative talk show host attempts to purchase the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh worked briefly for ESPN but quit over comments he made over Donovan McNabb. Limbaugh claimed that the NFL wanted a black quarterback to be successful and perhaps McNabb didn’t deserve the kudos that the media had been heaping upon him. NFLPA spokesman DeMaurice Smith told reporters via an email, “Our sport does exactly that [gives all of us reason to cheer] when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred." The Rev. Al Sharpton also came out against Limbaugh’s bid to acquire the team. Limbaugh is in a group that includes St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts. I can understand that the NFLPA spokesman does not like that several years ago Limbaugh took a shot at McNabb, but to exclude a guy that likely only has a small portion of an ownership stake for that reason is hypocritical. Serena Williams has a small stake in the Miami Dolphins and she threatened a lineswoman at this year’s US Open. And that was not the first incident for Ms. Williams. I just don’t remember Mr. Smith’s outcry over Serena’s partial purchase of the Dolphins.
Finally, ML King High School takes on Stephenson High School in a game that will pit two teams ranked in the top ten for Class AAAAA and will likely decide the region championship. This game is so important that ESPNU will broadcast it as its weekly high school game. The tilt will feature some of the nation’s top talent including ML King running back Mack Brown. The Florida Gator pledge has even given the ESPNU announcers a major storyline: he guaranteed a victory over Stephenson. I find this interesting because Brown has been hampered all season by hamstring injuries (first his left, then his right) which has caused him to completely miss one game as well as parts of others. Brown is coming off of a 100-yard game including the game winning touchdown against Newton, but his totals are well short of the 3000 yards and 30 touchdowns he predicted in the preseason. Through six games, Brown is hovering around 600 yards. As good as Brown is, perhaps he needs to stop with all of the predicting. Making the bold promises is fine as long as you back them up. So far this season, Brown hasn’t backed them up and if he thinks that Urban Meyer is going to stand for it next season, he’s got something coming to him. Focus on winning the game Mack and try to get healthy so you can help your team come playoff time.
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