Thisweek's TheFletch

Do me a favor....enjoy reading this!

What an amazing finish to the Georgia Public Broadcasting Friday Night Game of the Week between Marist and Southwest DeKalb on the GPB webcast. In case you missed it, War Eagle junior Austin Hardin nailed a 59-yard field with just three seconds remaining to help send Marist to 2-1 on the season. The kicker, who also plays on defense, was drilling field goals from sixty during the halftime warm-ups but the pressurized situation of a game-winning kick made the feat even more impressive. Honestly the kick would have been good from sixty-five the way Hardin booted it. Score Atlanta as well as the AJC covered the story very well but to see the pure joy on the kicker’s young face as well as the faces of his teammates was truly something that I was proud to be a part of as I called the game for GPB along with Bob Houghton. If you missed the kick, you can catch the entire game on replay on gpb.org/sports or visit the link on gaprepnews.com.

Hardin’s long kick wasn’t the only outstanding Georgia prep performance broadcast to the world last Friday. Isaiah Crowell of Carver-Columbus rushed for 185 yards and scored three touchdowns in Carver’s win over LaGrange on ESPN2. Crowell utterly dominated in the contest to the extent that the AJC and the GHSF Daily to openly wondered if the race for player of the year in Georgia is over. Crowell has played well as Carver is undefeated and has knocked off three-time defending-champion Buford, thanks in large part to Crowell. Having played just four games, Crowell is nearly at 1000 yards according to GHSF Daily and the article predicted that the Carver back could be the first wire-to-wire choice since 2004 when LaGrange’s Tray Blackmon won. Crowell has been dominant but I must throw the name of Brian Randolph into the conversation. The Kell two-way standout has seemingly scored the game-winning touchdown in each of his team’s first four games. Randolph will no doubt play in the defensive secondary at Tennessee but he has been lighting it up from the offensive backfield his senior season after missing some time last year due to injuries. Randolph is healthy again and he is reminding everyone why, as a sophomore, he was tabbed as one to keep an eye on in the 2011 signing class.

Speaking of high school football, Georgia Public Broadcasting will be teaming up with the Valdosta Daily Times on Saturday, October 2 for a special webcast of the Valdosta Wildcats/ML King Lions game at Hallford Stadium. Earlier this season the Valdosta newspaper carried the GPB webcast of the Lowndes/McEachern game and it was such a success with over 2000 chat hits that the Valdosta Daily Times has partnered with GPB for this special Saturday webcast. The game will feature several members of the Score 44 including Jay Rome and Malcolm Mitchell of Valdosta and Demarco Robinson of ML King. There are also several other players that may make future Score 44 lists so be sure and log on Saturday, October 2, starting at 7 p.m.

A lot of work goes on before a football webcast on GPB or a radio broadcast on 790 The Zone or 680 The Fan. The announcers will usually speak with the coaches, and at GPB we acquire a two-deep and interview the coaches on GPB Sports Central XL. We also read up on every game the two teams have played over the course of the season and we study up on the season statistics. I would assume the same process is done for NFL and college games, but sometimes it is hard to tell on some secondary games. As I watched the Georgia/Arkansas game last week it seemed as though the ESPN announcing crew decided that it would only discuss AJ Green’s absence and the fact that Ryan Mallet had never won an SEC road game. The crew harped on these points over and over and over and over and over… to the point that I wanted to vomit. After every completion, a shot of AJ Green; after every incompletion, a shot of AJ Green. Then when Arkansas was on the field, “Ryan Mallet has never won a big SEC road game,” was said so many times I felt sorry for the kid. The game had so many angles that could have been explored such as Petrino’s first trip back to Georgia since his Falcons departure, Arkansas coming in ranked, Arkansas’ improved defense, Georgia’s freshman QB in his first home SEC game, but for whatever reason, the crew and the producers engaged in lazy journalism and just talked about two players. I have worked on numerous play-by-play crews and none have been as lazy as that telecast was last Saturday. I would have been embarrassed to come into a game with only two storylines. Pick it up guys, we are three weeks into the season.

As football is starting to dominate the airwaves, baseball is coming down the homestretch, and I was surprised at 680 The Fan’s approach to the “Braves vs. high school football” decision. As I left Hallford Stadium after the exciting finish, I was surprised to hear a promo for 680’s high school football coverage airing on the two Fan sister stations instead of 680 itself. I understand that the station spent a bunch of money on the rights to the Braves broadcasts, but the game was over and the postgame was over, so why run even more postgame with the Braves Wrap-up call-in show? Why not slide over to high school football which is on everyone’s mind at 10:45 on a Friday night? As much as I love Sports Central and Sports Central XL contributor Tommy Palmer and his Friday Night show, which airs on 790 The Zone, I really enjoyed hearing about the metro-area games on 680’s old wrap-up show. There was a large round-table with multiple voices weighing in on the night’s action with local callers describing the games. Most of Palmer’s reports are from games outside of the metro-area. While that is great to hear about those games, sometimes I just want to hear people talk about the Atlanta games. I just wish 680 would consider bringing back the prep round-up show and stick the SECOND Braves post-game show on one of the sister stations. We don’t need THAT much Braves dissection.

Can you believe he said that?
“The most overrated QB in the history of the NFL? Brett Favre…OK, how about Matt Cassel?” That was Will The Thrill of 790 The Zone, as the assistant producer was given a quick minute of airtime last Sunday on the Ford Football Show, part of the Zone’s Falcons coverage. Will, who helps out with the production of Score Atlanta Sports Sunday wasn’t quite ready for his on-air time with Steak and John Michaels and he was subsequently given a hard time. In his defense though, he has driven home some valid points in the past and deserves a bit more air-time, as long as he is prepared for it in the future.