Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Sports Central XL was able to score quite a coup last week when Dacula coach Kevin Maloof appeared on the Wednesday night webcast about 24 hours after he revealed to his team that he would be stepping down at the end of the season. Maloof doted on his players, as one would expect a coach to do, but Maloof also turned serious and discussed how coaches are, in his opinion some of the most important folks in any high school and are thus compensated as such. He also floated that perhaps coaches and teachers in general are underpaid for what they do for the young adults they are influencing, coaching and teaching. Lastly Maloof revealed that he would in fact be taking a “solid” year away from any sort of coaching to be with his family and to also not force Dacula’s new coach to look over his shoulder at the shadow that Maloof no doubt cast as Gwinnett County’s longest-tenured coach. While he sprinkled in the typical coachspeak in regards to “we will take the games one at a time” when asked about how the team, currently in a position to make the playoffs, might feel the extra pressure with the coach stepping away after the year, he did offer some honesty. That is rare these days to hear a coach actually talk about something without giving a stock and boring answer. Here is hoping that Coach Maloof, after his year off, decides to get back into the coaching game and here is hoping that he continues to be honest when answering questions. A refreshing change is always nice every now and then.
Most sports fans watch television for an unbiased report on the game but the true fans will listen to the radio often-times to hear the “hometown calls” of a homer play-by-play man. While most fans find their own “homer” play-by-play make endearing, for whatever reason Dan Kamal of 680 The Fan’s Thrashers coverage just doesn’t resonate. For some reason, listening to Steve Holman is nice as he has an “us against the world” mentality that I can get behind; Kamal is just different for some reason. Perhaps it is his apparent (to me) lack of a go-to call. Perhaps it is his use of pop culture references in his calls which puts the shelf-life of the call at about 19 days. Or perhaps it is that his goal calls are just too Kenny Mayne sans the comedy that Mayne used to supply when he called highlights on SportsCenter. I want to get behind the Thrashers, but I cannot listen to them on the radio because the play-by-play man simply doesn’t do it for me.
I am not certain if Bill Simmons of ESPN.com was watching the same postseason baseball coverage that I was, but I thought that TBS’s coverage was WAY better than Fox. In a recent column on ESPN.com Simmons took Ernie Johnson to the woodshed, saying at one point, “I don't blame him for being overmatched as a play-by-play guy this postseason; I blame TBS for being the latest television network to think that, just because somebody is excellent on television, this automatically means they will be a good play-by-play guy. Actually, the opposite is true: No matter how talented and/or prepared they are, you can't pick up the rhythm of announcing football, basketball, baseball, hockey or soccer overnight.” I must say that I disagree with Simmons, by far my favorite writer at ESPN.com. Ernie Johnson was superb throughout the season, calling Braves games with former Braves pitcher John Smoltz and his was a voice that I could get behind. Like Simmons, I like EJ when he plays ringmaster on TNT’s NBA coverage, but I thought he really got to shine this season calling a few Braves games. Maybe Simmons just didn’t think EJ could range out to calling games for a network instead of a team. Whatever the reason, I will have to disagree with The Sports Guy. In fact, I wish TBS had the World Series instead of Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and Fox. Last time I checked, Tim, I UNDERSTAND THE GAME OF BASEBALL. THAT’S WHY I AM WATCHING. Honestly, the ONLY people staying up until 2 AM are the REAL baseball fans, not the casual channel-flipper. You don’t need to explain how a double-switch works in the seventh inning of a game played in San Francisco because that puts the time of the game around 11:50 PM which means I am one of seven people left watching. WE KNOW WHAT A DOUBLE-SWITCH IS.
Hey, did anyone catch new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley comparing his team to the Germans from World War II? Huh? Wait, what? He likened his team to the Germans and how they handled the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach, in that neither unit had leadership or knew what to do when a difficult surprise occurred. I am no coach and I majored in journalism not PR, but I am pretty sure you NEVER compare your team to the Germans from World War II. Poor Derek Dooley. First the guy nearly blows the UAB game because he cannot count. Then he DOES blow the LSU upset because he cannot count. Now he compares his team to history’s greatest monsters after getting blown out against Georgia and Alabama. Maybe he should just stop talking for a little while. I guess when you put on the Tennessee orange and white you just start acting like a crazy person (See: Kiffin, Lane)?
Finally Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Friday Night Game of the Week last week was Grady edging out St. Pius. For the first time all season, the GPB game of the week featured instant replay as well as a sideline reporter. Both features were well received and will likely be incorporated into future broadcasts, especially with the playoffs gearing up in two weeks.
Can you believe he said that?
But as for (Urban) Meyer, I really would like to see a copy of his discipline guidelines. Is buying a stolen laptop worse than a player texting a death threat to a former girlfriend?
That was the AJC’s Jeff Schultz pondering why Cam Newton is an Auburn Tiger and Chris “Time To Die” Rainey might just be playing this weekend against Georgia. Schultz is absolutely correct in assuming that Rainey will play because he is the closest thing to Percy Harvin that Meyer has on the roster. He needs SOMEONE to help out Brantley as the Gators look to snap a three-game losing streak. I guess Meyer just texted Rainey: Time to Play
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