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2B ♦ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1,2006 "*•" •? ■■ ■ ■- .'?'. ~r . r :T..::^..y -,y jjanpl Shown are the Westfield Hornets for 2006. Andruw ribbed, but breaks slump ATLANTA - It might not have been the most graceful home run of Andruw Jones’ career. Okay, strike that. It wasn’t the most graceful home run of Andruw Jones’ career. The Atlanta center fielder has just hit his second homer of the night Tuesday and was on his NOTEBOOK BRANDON LARRABEE Morris News Service way to first base when he stutter-stepped, tripped and had to catch himself with his hands before finishing his run around the bases. Not surprisingly, Jones endured some ribbing after the stumble, and seemed a bit tired of talking about it Wednesday. “It really doesn’t matter,” said Jones, pointing out that the important thing was he hit a home run. “(If) you fall SERSEY From page iB Titans have? The week before they lost to Denver 35-10. Michael Vick didn’t have to pass even though Titan comerback Adam “Pacman” Jones didn’t play. Jones was sitting out a suspension as punishment for a public intoxication and disorderly conduct arrest. Evidently, he packed too much brew into his frame. Sitting out an exhibi tion game and avoiding an unnecessary injury must have been a disappointment to the defender. Far be it for a coach to suspend a player for a game that counted. I’m sure Jones learned his lesson. Don’t drink and stagger. Based on the injury reports, all preseason games accom plish are adding star players to the injured reserve list. Oh, they also pad the cof fers of greedy owners who would rather sacrifice first team players to the God of Gold rather than provide their fans with much needed regular season victories. Oh, I forgot. That’s why teams have reserves. I accidentally watched one play of a preseason game. Falcons backup quarterback Matt Schaub ran for his life HAMRICK From page iB who is the best,” said Rhett Simmons, NWTF special events coordinator. CLEATS Bill Hinds Dist by Universal Press Syndicate - A \ l--i‘ Hornets ‘O6 down, you fall down.” And while the slugger was finished laughing about it, he said he didn’t care if others kept getting a chuckle. “If they want to laugh their whole life about it, they can,” he said. As Jones was answering some questions from report ers about the incident, sec ond baseman Marcus Giles stepped in to try to save his teammate. Giles said that he, too, had once tripped while heading around the bases during his high school days. But Giles said his was a bit worse because his stumble hap pened after he realized he missed first base. “At least he was before first (when he tripped) and he just kept running,” Giles said. “I had to stop, go back, touch first and then continue to run. Besides being notable for his foot foul-up, Jones’ knock and threw the ball out of bounds. The Falcons could win every preseason game and it wouldn’t prove a thing to me. They had a good preseason last year and finished 8-8 in 2005. I don’t expect them to get any better this year. Well, maybe 9-7. Pro coaches don’t want their star players hurt. They put the starters in long enough to take some hits, try some live-action, and then get them out before anything bad happens to them. Why do fans insist on pay ing to atterid games that mean nothing and prove less? Oh, I forget. Ignorance feeds greed. Owners don’t make enough off of billion dollar TV contracts to afford big screens in their skyboxes. The fans don’t have any thing better to do. They might have to hold meaning ful conversations with their kids about public drunken ness and the dangers of bad barley. I was lucky. I was able to ignore the exhibition games and focus on a meaningful sporting event - the Little League World Series. By the time you read this, the team from Columbus and the one from some place I can’t pro- Proceeds from the Turkey Shoot go to help Wheelin’ Sportsmen NWTF provide people with disabilities opportunities to learn and enjoy outdoor sports such as hunting, fishing and shoot gave him his I,oooth career RBI. The center-fielder has now hit three home runs in his last two games after going l-for-27 before that. “I’m just feeling good at the plate right now,” Jones said. “I’m just trying to con tinue to do what I need to be doing.” BONDS GET TWO. TOO: Another guy had two home runs Tuesday night at Turner Field. Heard of this Barry Bonds guy? The prolific and controver sial San Francisco slugger smacked his 18th and 19th of the year or, more significant ly, his 726th and 727th of his career, putting him 28 shy of the Braves’ Hank Aaron for the all-time home-run title. In all, Bond has 39 of his career blasts against Atlanta, good for eighth among all major-league clubs. Thirteen of those homers have come in the 38 games the Giants have played at Turner Field. nounce or spell, Japan, will have faced off in the champi onship game (and of course Columbus won). I wonder if the results will make any newspaper other than the one in Columbus. Not if there’s another NFL exhibition game on Sunday TV But that’s another story. Right now, I’m saying that the Falcons won’t be any better this year than last. I’m not convinced that the Atlanta coaches know what to do with Michael Vick. That’s because they didn’t ask me. Make him a receiv er and put Matt Schaub at quarterback. If a backup is good enough to refuse a first-round draft pick for, he’s good enough to start. Vick is good for last min ute heroics. I want a Falcons team that will have the game in hand before the final two minutes. Vick can run, but he hasn’t convinced me he can run a team. But the Falcons are sold on their marques player. Put him on the field and give him a chance to handle the ball on every offensive play and that will put fans in the seats. Vick won’t last the first half of the season. He’ll get hurt and Schaub will get his chance. If that happens Atlanta will finish at least 10-6 and make the playoffs. ing. For more information about the 13th annual Turkey Shoot or the NWTF in general, visit www.nwtf. org or call 1-800-THE NWTF. SPORTS BANG From page iB “We’ll probably do a couple of things they haven’t seen before. “Playing early, there might be more big plays. The execution may not be as good as you would expect it to be later on. It’s going to be interesting and exciting.” As for What the Eagle staff should know about the Bears, the quarterback, Martez King, is back after starting as a sophomore and the backfield is experienced with Eric O’Neal and Lydel Jones. “They always have some big guys,” said Nix. “They have a lot of big linemen back. They have a good nucleus of people return ing. “On either side of the ball, offense or defense, we have to control the line of scrimmage. Hopefully we’ll have better per centages in doing that than them.” “The biggest strength for them in the last 10 years has been speed,” said Johnson. “Their team speed is just phenomenal. Their kids are so quick that even if they take a wrong step, they can overcome it. The slower kid can’t take that step and overcome it.” Nix knew going into the season he would have young, developing front lines. He said these kids are good players, but haven’t had the chance to play. “Experience is a key commodity in this game of football,” said Nix. “We did OK (in the scrimmage against Perry). We didn’t do everything right, but the guys adjusted well. Perry did a lot of stuff, stunted a good bit, and we picked it up well.” “We hope we can get after it and block them some,” said Johnson.* “Even though they had some kids who graduated, they seem to put another kid in who was just waiting his turn. They looked as strong to me against Periy as they do always.” The quarterback position for Northside is one of those questions only games will resolve. Marques Ivory, the projected starter as a junior, was unable to play in the scrim mage, but the Eagles got good play from last year’s starter, senior Jacobi Rodrigues, as well as sophomore Joe Scott. Johnson knows that whoever is playing quarterback for the Eagles, the offense will be the same. He said each one has different strengths that will impact the type of plays they see, but it would only change about five to 10 percent of what Northside does overall. “They have great (defensive) players back,” said Johnson. “Their speed is just phenomenal. Kevin Kinsler does a good job, and they just fly to the football. In the last few years Northside’s defense has just been phenomenal. This group doesn’t look any different than any of the rest of them.” The Northside scrimmage allowed stand out senior linebacker Deonta Jordan to make his debut as a fullback. REMEMBER From page iB other scrimmages in the area. Scott said it was bet ter to play that caliber an opponent, because they could have played a weaker school, made the exact same DONATE TO GOODWILL. ♦ A wvw.goodwillworks.org Building lives, families, and Deer hunt season for archers begins Sept. 9 Special to the Journal Deer hunting season dates for the various types of deer hunting are as follows: ■ Archery (either sex): Sept. 9 - Oct. 13 (state wide) ■ Extended Archery (either sex): Jan. 2-31, 2007 (only in Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett & Rockdale coun ties). ■ Primitive weapons (either sex): Oct. 14-20 (statewide) ■ Firearms (Northern Zone): Oct. 21- Jan. 1, 2007 ■ Firearms (Southern Zone): Oct. 21- Jan. 15, 2007 Over one million acres of public land on more than Submitted mistakes they did against the Eagles, and still win by 30 points or so. “We will continue to play them,” he said. “It does us no good to play somebody (in the preseason) we’re a lot better than.” That same thinking carries over into the sea HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL 90 state-operated wildlife management areas and other state land is open for hunting. Information about these WMAs and other public lands is available at www. gohuntgeorgia.com. Various WMAs offer spe cial hunts throughout the season, including primi tive weapons hunts, ladies only hunts and adult/child hunts. For dates and locations of special hunts, check the 2006-2007 Georgia Hunting Seasons and Regulations guide available on the WRD website and at all WRD offices and license agents. For more information on deer or other hunting seasons, visit www.gohunt georgia.com. "This group here Is hoping to turn the tide a little bit. They've had our number." - Houston County head football coach Doug Johnson That was a slot left open by last year’s senior graduation. Nix said it’s their hope that Jordan can be more than just a fill-in on offense in addition to full-time duties on defense. Heat is still a factor in September, and that could limit Jordan’s offensive duties. Ultimately, Nix feels Jordan can be a great asset both running the ball and blocking. Johnson and the Bears had several issues to settle in the preseason, and found some good answers in the scrimmage with Jones County. The coach said, though, this team needs a real game after weeks of practice. “All the kids who will be playing high school football this weekend are ready to get rolling,” said Johnson. “You make your biggest improvement between the first and second game. When you scrimmage your self, you have an idea of what you think you look like, but you really don’t know until you play somebody. We’ll know real quick (against the Eagles) where we’re at.” “I’m just glad football season’s here again,” said Nix. “Everybody’s worked hard. All the schools in the state are excited. Everybody has high goals. Nobody’s won a game, and nobody’s lost a game. After this weekend, half the teams in the state are going to have a loss and half are going to have a win.” The overall series between these schools hasn’t gone well for Houston County despite a number of close games. Last year’s wasn’t close, though, a shutout win for the Eagles. “This group here is hoping to turn the tide a little bit,” said Johnson. “They’ve had our number. Northside not being a legion game, it’s still an important game for us and them.” But for the Bears side, Johnson wants his team to start a roll towards the six-game region schedule with a win over the Eagles. For Northside, this is just part one of a two week rivalry journey as next week’s game is against Warner Robins High. FOUR QUARTERS FUR CHRIS: The Northside football program is still paying homage to Chris Johnson, a former member of the Eagle defensive line. Nix said he is still in the recovery stage in his bout with leuke mia that began more than a year ago. To help the Johnson family in alleviating the hardship, the Four Quarters for Chris bucket campaign will take place at the Northside-Houston game. The buckets will be at the stadium, and attendees are asked to donate whatever change or dollars they can spare. son opener tonight on the road. “We want to win as many as possible,” said Scott. The Panthers are faced with a sub-region alignment in 4- AAA that gives them five sub-region games plus a playoff at the end of the regular season.