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BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008
The good, bad and ugly of2008
W ith the 2008th
year since the
birth of Christ
coming to a close for this old
world, I thought it would be a
good time for us to look back
on everything that happened in
the sports world this past year.
I am always amazed by these
reviews because it never fails
that I am reminded of an event
that took place that I have
completely forgotten about.
2008 was certainly a roller
coaster year filled with lots
of ups and downs for any fan.
But, to me, it was all too much
like an old Clint Eastwood
movie, “The Good, The Bad
and The Ugly.”
THE GOOD
There are the championships
and one gets decided even
before the New Year is out of
diapers.
The BCS was a mess with
nobody stepping up and claim
ing themselves as the absolute
best. Every team in the nation,
for the most part, had at least
one loss and even most of the
top contenders had two.
The computers decided that
LSU and Ohio State should
play for the title much to the
chagrin of the two teams who
probably were playing the
best football in the nation at
that time: Southern Cal and
Georgia.
I was not one of those that
thought Georgia got robbed.
If you can’t win your own
conference, and two losses to
South Carolina and Tennessee
had sealed that fate, you
shouldn’t play for the National
Championship. LSU embar
rasses OSU again (Florida had
done it the year before) and
wins the title.
A few weeks later, the sur
prising New York Giants com
pleted their year by doing what
no one had been able to do
before: defeat the New England
Patriots. Amidst a controversy
caused by an accusation of
cheating, the Patriots had not
lost a game all year. Very few
gave the Giants any chance.
But baby brother Eli Manning
and a defensive powerhouse
on the verge of retirement,
Michael Strahan, had different
plans. A good defense, which
stifled Tom Brady all night and
a late TD pass from Manning
to Plaxico Burress (remember
that name for later) gave the
Giants the improbable Super
Bowl win.
The Detroit Red Wings won
the Stanley Cup. I thought
I’d include this for the eight
people in Barrow County who
cared.
The greatest three weeks of
the sports year, in my opin
ion, took place again this past
March with March Madness.
The tournament brackets had
plenty of upsets with Davidson
being this year’s Cinderella
team advancing all the way
to the Elite Eight. But in the
end, the Final Four of Kansas,
Memphis, North Carolina, and
UCLA played for all the mar
bles in San Antonio. Kansas,
under the direction of Coach
Bill Self, held off Memphis in
the championship game.
The NBA has lost a lot of
its luster to me and one reason
is that the season is so blasted
long. Basketball is a
winter sport yet, the
way they draw out
the playoffs the sea
son doesn’t end until
June. The Boston
Celtics proved that
great athletes who
forget about playing
for themselves and
play as a team can
prevail.
No one believed
that a team with Paul
Pearce, Ray Allen,
randy
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Gene Upshaw:
Hall of Fame line
man in his own right
but also prominent
as the President of
the Player’s Union
for the NFL.
Bobby Murcer:
how would you
like to take over for
Mickey Mantle but
Murcer did it play
ing great centerfield
for the Yankees.
Jim McKay: the
and Kevin Garnett could be
cohesive together.
There weren’t enough points
to go around to keep all three
happy. These three knew, how
ever, what so many athletes of
today do not — that you play
for the name on the front of the
jersey, not the one on the back.
They beat the Lakers and Kobe
in the finals and that made me
extra happy.
Before you go thinking I’m
a Kobe-basher, let me set the
record straight. I was very
proud of the way that he and
the others selected for the
Redeem Team represented
us in the Olympics. They
methodically and skillfully
dismantled everybody in their
way and cruised to the Gold
Medal.
The Philadelphia Phillies
won the World Series but per
haps the best story from the
past baseball season was the
rise of the Tampa Bay Rays.
With the smallest payroll in
baseball, the Rays beat out the
free-spending Red Sox and
Yankees.
Proves what you can do
when you don’t have a bunch
of prima donnas in the club
house.
Tiger Woods’ miraculous
victory over Rocco Mediate in
the US Open has to be a high
light of any sports year. Like
him or not, and I happen to
think he is the greatest player
to ever strike a golf ball, it was
a gutsy performance.
In spite of severe pain from
a knee that would later require
surgery. Tiger proved that his
mental capabilities might even
be better than his physical
ones. I hope he’s back soon.
It’s been boring without him.
And the biggest Good of the
year: the eight Gold Medals
won by Michael Phelps in the
Summer Olympics.
There is very little that I can
add to what has been recorded
legendary voice of Wide World
of Sports.
It’s a shame that we not
only have the element of illegal
drug use in human sports, but
it even reared its ugly head in
horse racing this year. After
cruising through the first two
races of the Triple Crown, Big
Brown was a woeful last in the
Preakness.
Even though he had suf
fered an injury during train
ing, explaining much about
his performance, it was also
discovered that his trainer had
been using banned substances
to help with the pain.
There is definitely one man
in sports that no one is luke
warm about. You either love or
detest Bob Knight. When he
stepped down from coaching
last year, half the room cheered
and half the room cried.
I, personally, think he brings
what is needed in sports: dis
cipline. I don’t always agree
with his methods but his results
speak for themselves.
THE UGLY
Vick gets sentenced and
begins serving time. Marion
Jones is convicted and she goes
to jail. Roger Clemens sits
before a Senate Subcommittee
saying he “misremembers.”
The only good thing about
those hearings was to look at
Debbie, his wife, sitting behind
him. Oh, how the mighty have
fallen! Finally, the debacle
of Pacman Jones and Plaxico
Burress. On second thought,
they’re not worth wasting good
column space on.
I hope you and yours have
a wonderful and prosperous
2009.
Offseason continued from IB
How much emphasis does Davis put into
weight training? The Wildcat coach says his
players even lift on game days.
“Weight training is a big part of the reason
we have been successful,” the coach said.
“We have talented players as well, but we
also work very hard and that starts in the
weight room.”
Davis said the players have had a strong
first half of the school year in the weight
room and the coach looks for that to contin
ue for the remainder of the 2008-09 school
year.
During the last three years Apalachee has
enjoyed success at the state weight lifting
meet. The team will compete once again in
early March at the area competition followed
by state later in the month.
Honors continued from IB
“I am very proud of them,”
Davis said Sunday. “It is a
good thing for them and a
good thing for our team. It
is also good for our program
as a whole and good for
Apalachee High School. It
is good to open the newspa
per and see Apalachee High
School mentioned with some
of the best football programs
in the state.”
Seven Wildcats were
named to the All-Northeast
Georgia team, published by
the Athens Banner-Herald.
In addition, six AHS players
were recently named to the
All-Region 8-AAAA team.
Gresham was named to the
All-Northeast Georgia team
on defense along with Corey
Love.
Winder-Barrow High
School’s Jonah Huggins
was named All-Northeast
Georgia first-team defense.
Huggins had 74 tackles and
four sacks in 2008.
Making the second-team
All-Northeast Georgia squad
were John Ansley, Christian
Hoard, Jeff Haney and Joey
Gebo.
Winder-Barrow’s Chris
Wragg was named honor
able mention receiver.
Wragg had 400 yards
receiving with three scores
this past season for the
Bulldoggs and head coach
Ben Corley.
Gresham (first team
defense) was named All-
Region along with John
Livesay (Special Teams
Player of the Year) and John
Lee (running back). Haney,
Hoard and Deonte Will were
named second team All-
Region.
“We had a special group
of seniors this year,” Davis
said. “This group believed
in me when they didn’t have
to. I had never been a head
coach when I arrived at
Apalachee four years ago.
They believed in me and
the coaches even after we
went 1-9 our first season. We
then made the playoffs three
years in a row.”
BETHLEHEM
First United Methodist Church
Preschool and Kindergarten*
We offer an affordable program with low
student-teacher ratios serving children ages 2 through 5.
Winder resident Randy
Blalock is a contributing col
umnist for the Barrow Journal.
E-mail comments about this
column to rblalock@ mind-
spring. com.
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THE BAD
Here’s a list of just some of
the prominent sports personali
ties who died this past year:
Sammy Baugh: legendary
quarterback, defensive back
and punter for the Redskins in
the 1940s
Dock Ellis: Pittsburgh Pirate
pitcher who once claimed that
he threw a no-hitter while
under the influence of LSD.
Pete Newell: basketball
coach; developed the “big
man” game into what it is
today
Don Haskins: coach of the
first all-black basketball team
to win the NCAA champion
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