Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: Pointers for the New Prez on a National Priority, Sports

The world changes
this week — may we all hope for the better — when Barack Obama is sworn in as
the 44th President of the United States. As if the new leader of the free world
doesn’t have enough already on his plate (economy in the gutter, unrest in Gaza,
two wars, and Blago-gate), I have a few suggestions on how the Sportsfan in
Chief might improve the games we cheer stateside. Mr. Obama has already
suggested adding a basketball court to the White House. (If Nixon could bowl,
I’m all for the new prez working on his jumper between staff meetings.) But for
sports change that might give us all more hope, President Obama should confront
a few larger challenges.

• Let’s start with
the big picture, and create a U.S. Sports Commission, in charge of (as Major
League Baseball would put it) “protecting the interests” of American sports and
all it encompasses (athletes, coaches, officials, agents, mascots, and most
importantly, fans). Among the countless problems we have in sports are the
splintered standards from one “governing body” to the next. A player busted for
steroids in baseball is punished differently for one caught with the same juice
in football. Performance incentives (appearance fees) differ in golf from those
offered in tennis. And don’t get me started on the alphabet soup that is
professional boxing. (The sweet science can be saved — don’t laugh — but we must
do away with the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, and any other organization that has the
temerity to declare the 12th-ranked heavyweight in the world “champion.” There’s
only one world, folks. There can (must!) be only one world champion.

Now, who might be
seated on this all-powerful board of blood, sweat, and tears? Exactly three
people. A triumvirate, in the tradition of ancient Rome. The new president
should name an official from the world of finance, another from health, and a
third from education, the three areas that stand to gain — or lose — the most in
relation to the integrity and growth of U.S. sports. (By the way, the education
official cannot be affiliated with an NCAA program.) Like the Supreme Court,
these three “sport justices” would be appointed for life. Baseball’s
commissioner would answer to them, as would football’s, even the NBA’s mighty
David Stern. The Sports Commission would not have profit margin in mind (as do
the commissioners) when deciding what might help or hurt a particular
enterprise. They would be considering the same virtue any modern fan must
consider a given before she or he enters an arena: fairness.

• The new
president has hinted at a preference for a playoff system to determine college
football’s national championship on the field. And this simply has to happen.
(You tell the undefeated Utah Utes that they didn’t earn a shot against Florida,
because I couldn’t.) For this to happen someone is going to have to gather NCAA
officials, university presidents, and bowl representatives into the same
ballroom . . . and let them have it. President Obama can enlist his new Sports
Commission for these hearings on the right way (and wrong way) to treat the
great game of college football and its multigenerational fans.

This could be done
without eliminating a single solitary bowl game. All it would require would be
six fewer teams going to those 34 events. (Sixty-two teams in the “postseason”
are enough, people.) On New Year’s Day — a return to the historic, rightful
place for bowl season’s peak — four games would be played among the top eight
teams in the country (as ranked, I’m afraid, by the BCS system until a better
methodology is unearthed). How about the Fiesta, Cotton, Gator, and Liberty Bowl
(darn right) for the national quarterfinals? The following week, the Orange Bowl
and Sugar Bowl would serve as the national semis. Then around January 15th
(merely a week after the current system wraps things), the national championship
would be played in the granddaddy of ’em all, the Rose Bowl.

• Finally, Mr.
President, two important pieces of legislation for baseball, once (still?) this
country’s national pastime. First, the DH should be as illegal as HGH on a
baseball diamond. The designated hitter is an abomination and has insulted fans,
managers, and especially pitchers who can hit for 35 years now. Be gone!

Then, of course,
there’s National Baseball Day. Welcome to the White House,
President Obama. I’ll see you at the stadium.

NOTE:

Last week I
suggested that Stephen Gostkowski (first team) and DeAngelo Williams (second)
recently became the first former Memphis Tiger football players to be named
All-Pro by the Associated Press. And I stand corrected, on three counts.

Tackle Harry Schuh
(with the Oakland Raiders) was second-team All-Pro in 1967 and ’68, then
first-team in 1969. Linebacker Tim Harris (with Green Bay) was second-team in
1988 then first-team a year later. Most recently, wide receiver Isaac Bruce was
a second-team selection with St. Louis in 1999.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: Who Needs the BCS When We Have the NFL?

College football
has taken its annual share of abuse — all deserved — for the many cracks in the
foundation of its postseason format. But this year, the NFL has earned a heap of
criticism — again, deserved — for its own shortcomings in a playoff format that
has come to reward mediocrity and penalize geographic coincidence.

Philadelphia and
Arizona will play each other on Sunday for the NFC championship — and a spot in
Super Bowl XLIII — having each won nine regular-season games. Meanwhile the New
England Patriots — winners of 11 games — have had their golf clubs out
(presumably in a warmer climate than eastern Massachusetts) for two weeks. And
it gets worse.

Those Arizona
Cardinals put a whipping on the favored Carolina Panthers last weekend, but only
after beating the Atlanta Falcons in the opening round of the playoffs. Despite
winning 11 games, those Falcons — a wild-card team due to their finishing second
to Carolina in the NFC South — had to travel across the country to face a team
with two fewer wins.

Let’s look at the
AFC playoff brackets. Despite winning 12 games (and ending the season on a
nine-game winning streak) the Indianapolis Colts got to travel to San Diego to
play the Chargers in their opening playoff game. San Diego didn’t even finish
above .500, their 8-8 mark good enough to crown them “champions” of the AFC
West. Since the Colts happen to reside in the same division — the AFC South — as
the 13-win Tennessee Titans, Indy was relegated to wild-card status. Hit the
road, Peyton; lotta good that third MVP trophy did you.

With no fewer than
eight divisions, it’s merely a matter of time before a 7-9 football team “wins”
its division, and with it, a home playoff game. Teams that win between seven and
nine games are mediocre. And one of them, folks, will be playing in Super Bowl
XLIII. (Solution: Each conference should be made up of two eight-team divisions.
The four division champions would each have earned their bye, and geography
would have little to do in determining which teams qualify as wild cards.)

• What might have
been a stellar weekend for University of Memphis alumni was ruined by the
Panthers loss to Arizona. Carolina’s star tailback, DeAngelo Williams, was named
second-team All-Pro by the AP on Friday, while his former Tiger teammate —
kicker Stephen Gostkowski — earned first-team honors. To the best of my
knowledge (and I’m getting research help from U of M media relations), these are
the first former Tigers to earn such acclaim at football’s highest level. (No,
Isaac Bruce has never been All-Pro.) Somehow, though, Williams was left off the
NFC’s Pro Bowl roster.

A few angles to
consider before next Sunday’s two championship games, the best football day of
the year:

• Arizona is one
of only four franchises that existed before 1995 that has never played in a
Super Bowl. It should be noted though, that the Cardinals have been in the
desert only since 1988, while New Orleans, Detroit, and Cleveland have suffered
Super Bowl envy for more than four decades.

• If the favored
Steelers and Eagles each win, we would have only the third Super Bowl in history
between teams from the same state. In Super Bowl XXV (after the 1990 season),
the New York Giants beat Buffalo in one of the most memorable championships in
history and in Super Bowl XXIX (after the 1994 season), San Francisco demolished
San Diego.

• Twenty-one Super
Bowls were played before Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to “go
to Disney World” as world champion. It seems astonishing that 20 Super Bowls
have been played since that Redskin victory over Denver without another black
quarterback raising the trophy.

• The Steelers are
aiming to become the first franchise with six Super Bowl victories. Should they
beat Baltimore this Sunday, no matter who wins the NFC championship, their
opponent will be seeking its very first Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: A Fine Shine for ’09

If you call yourself a Memphis sports fan and didn’t have
fun over the first weekend of 2009, you’d best get comfortable with your Wii. In
a veritable three-day festival of athletics, the Bluff City set a standard
unlikely to be matched over the next 51 weeks.

• Last Friday, playing in weather borrowed from early
October, Kentucky erased a 13-point deficit to beat East Carolina in front of
56,125 fans at the 50th AutoZone Liberty Bowl Classic. The game’s singular
highlight, of course, came on Wildcat defensive lineman Ventrell Jenkins’ fumble
recovery, which he returned 56 yards for the game-winning touchdown with three
minutes to play. Jenkins delivered the finest stiff-arm since the Heisman Trophy
was sculpted, dropping Pirate quarterback Patrick Pinkney on his way to paydirt.

The outcome, alas, is hardly a ringing endorsement for
Conference USA. When C-USA’s champion is knocked off by a Kentucky team that was
merely the sixth or seventh best squad in the SEC, the divide between the
“mid-major” league in which the University of Memphis plays and the BCS big boys
only seems to expand. For what it’s worth, since the Liberty Bowl adopted its
current C-USA-vs.-SEC format after the 2006 season, the SEC representative
hasn’t won by more than eight points.

• Saturday night at FedExForum, the Memphis Tigers played
their sixth home game in 18 days, handling the Lamar Cardinals, 108-75, in the
Tigers’ highest scoring game of the season. (The win seemed more significant
than it should have, with former Tiger coach Tic Price sitting on the Lamar
bench, an assistant to Steve Roccaforte, himself an assistant to Memphis coach
John Calipari for three years.) Longtime fan favorite Antonio Anderson not only
seized the spotlight, but made history. Tagged with somewhat of a euphemism as
“the glue guy” for three 30-win teams, Anderson became only the second Tiger
player to achieve a triple-double (12 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists). And even
Penny Hardaway — who performed the feat in 1993 — couldn’t claim the remarkable
13-0 assist-to-turnover ratio Anderson managed in the Tigers’ 10th win of the
season.

“No turnovers?,” asked Anderson after the game. “Usually I
sneak one in.” When asked about the historical stat line, Anderson smiled and
said, “I’ve never had [a triple-double]. I’d been slumping, but Coach just told
me to work out of it. My teammates stuck with me, and now I’m coming out.”

The Tigers — unranked for the first time in three years —
hope they turned a corner with the move of freshman star Tyreke Evans to point
guard three games ago. “Tyreke should have been our point guard from the start
of the season,” admitted Calipari after the game. “Whose fault is that? Mine. He
now has the ball in his hands 90 percent of the time. We need to get to where he
has it 95 percent.”

The switch is one Evans — the team’s leading scorer, he had
25 points against Lamar — has welcomed. “Everybody seems to be on the same
page,” said Evans. “As point guard, I have to get into the lane and find people
for open shots. I’m used to having the ball in my hands, so I’m glad [Calipari]
put it in my hands, to let me show what I can do. I have to make the right pass,
and at the right time.” When he’s not scoring himself, that is.

• To cap off the weekend Sunday — back at the barn on Beale
— the Memphis Grizzlies ended a 13-game losing streak to Dallas by drubbing the
Mavericks, 102-82. The Griz shot an astounding 67 percent in the first quarter
and trailed only briefly in the third, beating their divisional rivals for the
first time at FedExForum. O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay, and Hakim Warrick all
had at least 18 points for the Grizzlies as they ended an overall losing streak
of four games. A much younger team than the Mavs, the Grizzlies also were the
quicker, more energetic, more lively basketball team in this rare matinee. And
what is early January if not a time for youth and vigor?

Add the Ole Miss victory in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s
Day and the first four days of 2009 were a winning streak unlike many the
Mid-South has seen as one year gave way to the next. With a general consensus
that 2008 is a year best left behind, why not start in the world of sports?

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: Murtaugh’s Top 5 Sports Events of 2008

5) Memphis 45,
Tulane 6 (November 29)
— There may have only been 15,012 fans at the Liberty
Bowl on this overcast Saturday after Thanksgiving, but two of them — Sofia
Murtaugh (age 9) and Elena Murtaugh (6) — were attending their very first
college football game. With more than 200 rushing yards, the Tigers left no
doubt on the field in earning their 6th win of the season, qualifying for a bowl
game (the fifth postseason contest for the Tigers in eight years under coach
Tommy West). I insisted on a review from my daughters after the game. “The field
was pretty,” said Sofia, “but not as pretty as a baseball field.” As for Elena’s
inaugural gridiron adventure: “I liked the way we scored lots more points than
they did.” Well put. And the hot chocolate was great.

4) Grizzlies 109,
Rockets 97 (December 8)
— A sagging economy and lukewarm local interest screamed
in the form of 10,000 empty seats on this Monday night at FedExForum. But the
home team played some positively Bull-market basketball. With Rudy Gay benched
at the start of the game for having been late to shootaround that morning, the
Griz still raced out to a 10-0 lead over the Southwest Division-leading Rockets,
and they never looked back. (Didn’t hurt that Houston’s Tracy McGrady and Ron
Artest were out of uniform with injuries.) Channeling his inner James Worthy,
Memphis rookie O.J. Mayo scored 10 points in the first nine minutes, on his way
to 18 for the game. And Mr. Gay came off the bench to score a game-high 20. With
Shane Battier and Joey Dorsey on the Rocket bench, it felt like Old Friends
Night at the big barn on Beale.

3) Memphis 6,
Omaha 5 (July 13)
– Josh Phelps will likely join Ernie Young and Kevin Witt in
the Memphis baseball history books as a one-year slugger who couldn’t quite land
a coveted big-league job, but took advantage of Triple-A pitching during his
five months as a Redbird. Phelps was the hero of this Sunday matinee, drilling a
three-run homer in the bottom of the 12th inning, after Memphis fell behind the
Royals in the top of the frame. It was the most dramatic of the team-leading 31
dingers Phelps hit in 2008. Alas, even in Memphis this slugger was but the
second-most famous Phelps of the summer.

2) Memphis 77,
Tulsa 51 (March 15)
— Memphis fans are getting dangerously close to taking the
Conference USA tournament championship for granted. And that’s a shame. The
Tiger program went 19 years between tourney titles, having last won a Metro
championship in 1987 before taking the C-USA title in 2006 at FedExForum. Just
as they did in 2007, the Tigers went undefeated in conference play on their way
to the 2008 championship game, again at FedExForum but this time against the
overmatched Golden Hurricane of Tulsa. Tipping off at 10:30 am for a national
television audience, the Tigers ate their Wheaties and won the game by halftime
with a 42-13 lead. This was Derrick Rose’s last FedExForum appearance as a
Tiger, and a rare spotlight moment for John Calipari’s “glue guy,” Antonio
Anderson. After leading Memphis with 19 points, Anderson was named the tourney’s
MVP.

1) Tennessee 66,
Memphis 62 (February 23)
— With apologies to Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, this
was the biggest showdown in Memphis sports history. Any matchup involving a
top-ranked Tiger basketball team and the number-two squad in the country would
likely have earned that status. But for the second-ranked team to be none other
than the Tennessee Volunteers (the highest such ranking that program had ever
achieved) made this Saturday night at FedExForum nothing short of epic. I hid my
credential outside the arena two hours before tip-off and asked an invigorated
scalper what he was asking for a single ticket. He laughed at the notion that
such information would be volunteered before I stepped forward and established
my demand. (This was Economics 101, in sneakers and a ball cap.) When I
suggested $50, well, he laughed again. The home team missed a few last-minute
opportunities after UT grabbed the lead, and fell by a score of 66-62. The
Tigers’ five-week reign as number-one in the country came to an end. If there
was any solace, it came a few nights later when Tennessee fell at Vanderbilt.
Five weeks beats three days, right?

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: The Year in Sports — Frank’s Faves (Part I)

As we count down
the last days of 2008, enjoy a countdown of the 10 most memorable sporting
events I attended this year. (Check in next week for the top five.)

10) Memphis 9,
Ohio U 4 (March 2) — One of the sunniest and windiest days of the winter
provided the setting for my first baseball game at Nat Buring Stadium. With my
mom visiting from frigid Vermont, this was as close to spring training in
Memphis as we could imagine. Having split the first two games of their series
with the Bobcats, the Tigers matched their run total from those games in just
eight innings at the plate. Sophomore Trey Wiedman (a graduate of Houston High
School) homered and drove in three runs, and freshman Robby Graham (a product of
Cordova High School) made a pair of diving catches in front of my family’s perch
beyond the leftfield wall. (There was a time when Memphis kids filled the Tiger
basketball roster, but these days, if you want to cheer Memphians, go see a
baseball game. No fewer than 22 players from greater Memphis were in the Tiger
dugout.) My 8-year-old daughter retrieved a ball hit over the centerfield wall
by a Bobcat player, and I told her she could keep it if she could get a Tiger to
sign the ugly off it. Thanks to Mr. Graham, that ball now sits in her playroom.

9) Memphis 3,
Omaha 1 (July 11) – A pressbox is a comfortable place to watch a sporting event.
And all too taken for granted by most members of the media, be they scribes or
camera-toting talking heads. But to a 9-year-old girl, a press box — as
described by dad — is a mysterious concoction of luxury, pressure, and
technology, with free popcorn. On this night, I escorted Sofia Murtaugh — with
the blessing of the Redbirds’ staff — for her first inning in a press box. Hard
to say if she was impressed, or merely distracted by the gargantuan bowl of
popcorn. Later in the game, she was quite impressed when DeAngelo Jimenez fouled
a ball directly into the second-level suite where we enjoyed most of the game.
Jimenez later delivered the go-ahead RBI, cementing himself in at least two
reflections of a baseball game begun in a press box, but finished where cheering
is, indeed, encouraged.

8) Alabama 29,
Tennessee 9 (October 25) — Their rivalry is among the most fierce in the country
and, even with the Crimson Tide ranked second in the nation and the Vols in a
two-month death spiral, you had the impression on this fourth Saturday in
October that another special chapter might be written. More than 100,000 fans
were there. The Pride of the Southland Marching Band never looked better. You
even had a reunion on the field of the 1998 national champs: Tee Martin, Al
Wilson, Peerless Price and friends. After UT failed to punch the ball in after
recovering a fumbled punt in the first quarter, the outcome was never in doubt.
This was Phil Fulmer’s 200th game as head coach at Tennessee. He would get to
coach only four more.

7) Woodland 7,
Second Baptist 2 (November 8) — The six- and seven-year-olds of Second Baptist
put up the best fight of their eight-game soccer season on this crisp Saturday
morning in east Memphis. Having scored but a single goal in their first seven
matches, the black-and-gold-clad “bumblebees” buried two in the final half of
the season against a strong Woodland team. The final tally of the season was
scored by rookie forward Elena Murtaugh, her first career goal . . . and with
Grandmom in the stands.

6) Louisville 35,
Memphis 28 (October 10) — If Florida and Florida State can play one another
every season despite being from different conferences, why can’t Memphis and
Louisville? While the gridiron rivalry is merely a stepchild to the version we
know and love/hate from the basketball arena, it remains one of the few tilts
that creates a vibe at the Liberty Bowl when no SEC team is on the field. On a
Friday night, and on national television, the Tigers scored two third-quarter
touchdowns to tie the Cardinals at 28 before Louisville returned a fumble 21
yards for the game-winning score. Memphis left the field a loser despite
outgaining their opponents 481 yards to 299. Remarkably 11 Tiger players caught
at least one pass in the game, including the U of M’s starting quarterback,
Arkelon Hall.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: Grizzlies’ Antoine Walker Takes a Golden Stroll

After 24 games, the Memphis Grizzlies have apparently
agreed to a buyout of Antoine Walker’s contract. While terms have yet to be
announced, the NBA’s version of divorce papers will allow the 32-year-old
veteran to become a free agent and negotiate with any of the other 29 NBA teams
that might consider him valuable. For those interested in the continued
rebuilding of the Griz, this development is every bit as welcome as the team’s
first four-game winning streak since April 2006.

I enjoyed what may have been the team’s finest
start-to-finish performance this season on December 8th, a 109-97 victory over
the Houston Rockets (the first game of the current winning streak). O.J. Mayo
stole the show after the opening tip, with 10 points in the game’s first nine
minutes, and an admonished Rudy Gay — he was late for that morning’s shootaround
— came off the bench to score a game-high 20. But I left FedExForum with two
fairly ugly images in the back of my mind: thousands of empty seats and Antoine
Walker in a sport coat at the end of the Memphis bench.

The NBA’s business plan doesn’t work. Not any longer. Not
in 2008. And this has everything to do with the skewed structure of the players’
contracts, inflated salaries that drive up the cost of game tickets, leaving
entire sections — almost entire levels — of NBA arenas empty. CEOs — those still
with their jobs — can certainly shell out four figures for season tickets, or
three figures for a few seats to a big game. But your average Memphis consumer
(let’s exaggerate and identify that person as someone making less than $100,000
a year) is tightening his budget and, if he’s paying attention, wondering about
the accounting department at his local NBA outfit.

Walker was never a part of the plan being implemented by
Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace and coach Marc Iavaroni. His contract
merely balanced the trade last summer that sent Mike Miller to Minnesota and
brought O.J. Mayo to Memphis. For his toil at the end of the Grizzlies’ roster
(and bench), Walker was scheduled to earn $9,320,500 this season. For additional
perspective, consider that Gay — simply the team’s best and most important
player — will earn $2,579,400, roughly twenty-five percent of Walker’s
pre-buyout take-home. There’s no other company on the planet with that kind of
salary structure for its staff.

The NBA has rules that don’t allow a player’s contract to
be ripped apart (as they can be in the NFL). A franchise cannot tell the Antoine
Walkers of the world to go away (at least not without paying him what his
contract stipulates or offering a buyout which, in Walker’s case, will include
six zeroes). And this is precisely the breaking point — in public perception —
with the NBA’s business plan. Because the rest of us are learning the hard way
how easy it is for bosses to say “go away”. . . and without a seven-figure
guaranteed contract (or buyout) to cushion the fall.

The Grizzlies deserve more fans in their arena,
particularly to watch a club with the kind of youth, energy, and yes, talent
that should lead to good things around the bend. But the scales of what the
Grizzlies spend and what they ask of their consumers must find a sense of
balance before those seats will begin filling. Among the empty seats at
FedExForum, the first one to actually bring a smile this season will be Antoine
Walker’s.

• You gotta love the breakout season DeAngelo Williams has
enjoyed for the Carolina Panthers. The former Memphis Tiger has rushed for 1,229
yards in leading his team to a record of 11-3 and first place in the NFC South.
Williams is fourth in the NFL in rushing, leads the league in touchdowns (16),
and is a lock for his first Pro Bowl appearance next February. In the meantime,
his Panthers have their sights on a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs, with
visions of Super Bowls dancing in their heads.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: Tigers Get First Bowl Shot at BCS Team

The University of
Memphis football team is on its way to the Sunshine State, to take on the South
Florida Bulls in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl on December 20th. (With 34 of
these postseason extravaganzas, you had to know we’d run out of clever titles.
The Tulip Bowl?) While it’s the fifth bowl game in six seasons for coach Tommy
West’s Tigers, this will be the first contest in which the U of M is matched up
with a so-called “BCS” team, a program belonging to one of the six conferences
that qualify for the mythical BCS national championship. But Memphis fans should
take pause before posting a tiger-striped “mission accomplished” banner.

To begin with, USF
plays in the Big East conference, the weak sister among the six power
conferences (behind the SEC, Big 12, Pac 10, Big 10, and even the ACC). For some
perspective, consider the Big East champion Cincinnati Bearcats (also on their
way to Florida, to face Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl). This is a team that
went 11-2, but lost to mighty Oklahoma, 52-26, and to not-so-mighty Connecticut
(yes, they play football), 40-16. (For what it’s worth, Cincinnati beat USF,
24-10.) As recently as 2004, the Bearcats were members of Conference USA. If I
were a fan of the 12-0 Boise State Broncos (on their way to the prestigious
Poinsettia Bowl, with a payoff of $750,000), I’d have a serious gripe with the
Big East’s automatic pass into the BCS five-bowl party. Cincinnati’s trip to
the Orange Bowl will earn the program a cool $17 million.

That, alas, is but
a long-winded way of explaining the simple notion that the Big East is not that
far removed from the level of competition Memphis is familiar with in C-USA. USF
spent the 2004 season in C-USA before joining the Bearcats in the Big East. Less
than 20 years old as a program, the Bulls have grown competitive fast. (It never
hurts to have a campus in talent-rich Florida.) This will be the team’s fourth
straight postseason appearance, though the Bulls are hardly charging toward St.
Pete, having lost four of their last five games. Looking at common opponents,
USF beat UCF (a team that beat Memphis at the Liberty Bowl) and lost to
Louisville (another team that beat the Tigers at home). They led the Big East in
total offense, and finished second in the league in total defense (a unit that
ranked 13th in the country).

Perhaps most
worrisome for Tiger fans is the fact that this game will essentially be on home
turf for the Bulls. A packed Tropicana Field, though, will be an atmospheric
improvement on the thousands of empty seats at the New Orleans Superdome when
the Tigers played there in 2003 and 2007. And heck, folks, it’s a bowl game,
“BCS” connection be damned. Ask Tennessee and Arkansas fans how much they’d mind
playing a road game this time of year.

• With six catches
in his San Francisco 49ers’ victory over the New York Jets on Sunday, Isaac
Bruce now has 987 in his long and illustrious NFL career. Which means that,
barring injury, Bruce should finish the 2008 season as the fifth player in NFL
history to catch 1,000 passes (following Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, and
Marvin Harrison). Among this quintet, only Rice, Harrison, and Bruce have won a
Super Bowl.

Though you’d never
know it by visiting the Liberty Bowl, Bruce is one of four former Tiger football
players to have his jersey number (83) honored. In but two seasons for Memphis,
Bruce caught 113 passes (most of them thrown by Steve Matthews) and compiled
1,586 yards, still seventh in school history. Thirteen more catches, and he’ll
punch his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. And consider the
irony there: a Memphis football player will reach his sport’s Hall of Fame
before any Memphis basketball player reaches Springfield, Massachusetts.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: Tigers Go Bowling with Sixth Win of Season

Say this for
University of Memphis football coach Tommy West: he knows how to close a regular
season. His Tigers beat Tulane Saturday afternoon at the Liberty Bowl, 45-6, to
finish West’s eighth season with a record of 6-6. The victory marked the fifth
consecutive year Memphis has won its regular-season finale, a streak unmatched
since 1966-70. Better yet, the win clinched a bowl berth for Memphis, the
program’s fifth trip to college football’s postseason in the last six years (and
three more than the program had seen before West’s arrival in 2001).

The ghosts of
Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant are grinding their teeth over a 6-6 team heading to
a bowl game (and searching for a celestial punching bag at the notion that 68
teams deserve such a trip). Nonetheless, the 2008 Tigers are a pretty decent
story. A team that loses its first three games, then sees its top three
quarterbacks fall to injury should not be scheduling practices in December. But
with a group of seniors who have experienced late-season rallies before, and a
coach who recognizes every Conference USA game as a potential win, these Tigers
took advantage of mismatches when they could — which included the likes of
Nicholls State and a depleted Tulane squad — to earn a 13th game. No apologies
necessary to critics, living or dead.

• The Tiger
program will never again see the likes of DeAngelo Williams, the tailback who
rushed for more than 6,000 yards before jaunting off to the NFL’s Carolina
Panthers (for whom he scored four touchdowns Sunday in a win over Green Bay).
But if we’re lucky enough to be here, we should resolve to check in on Brandon
Patterson in the year 2028. Last week, the Tigers’ senior safety was named an
Academic All-America by ESPN. A year ago, Patterson became the first Memphis
player in 15 years to earn such a prestigious national honor. He now is the only
Tiger player ever to earn the honor twice. Patterson is holding down a 3.7 GPA
as a graduate student and will earn his master’s degree in finance later this
month. He’s been an outstanding football player, too, a three-year starter with
almost 200 career tackles. Best of all, he — like Mr. Williams — embodies the
class and decency Tommy West sells as the foundation of his program. Something
tells me that in 2028, Brandon Patterson will be recognized for achievements
that dwarf his gridiron exploits.

• I took in
Saturday’s game from the stands with my family, which led me to a few thoughts
on the ongoing stadium debate. For those who gripe about the comfort of sitting
on aluminum bleachers, I’d point them to Oxford, Fayetteville, or Knoxville,
where thousands upon thousands sit on the same hard benches, one Saturday after
the next, and a good deal further away from the action than were the 15,012 in
attendance at the Liberty Bowl last weekend. The stadium’s concourse may be a
bit narrow for the all-too-rare sellout crowd. But there was plenty of elbow
room at concession stands for the Tigers’ home finale. (Consider: The combined
attendance of the Tigers’ last two games would barely fill half the stadium,
which has a capacity of 62,000.)

Bottom line:
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is too large for the Memphis Tiger program. From
the lowest days of the Rip Scherer era to the heights of Williams’ prime,
attendance at Tiger football games maxes out around 45,000 and tends to drop no
lower than 15,000. But even with 45,000 in the stands, the stadium is left with
considerable empty space, which gives a poor impression, particularly as the
stadium sits in the middle of a metropolitan regional destination. And when only
15,000 show up? It gives the impression a minor-league outfit is borrowing the
home of a larger enterprise.

I continue to
vacillate between the virtues of an on-campus facility for the Tigers, or a new
stadium at the Fairgrounds. But I’ve come to firmly believe that the best move
for the football program — and its many loyal boosters and fans — is a
dramatically smaller stadium. If nothing else, place some value on a Memphis
Tiger football ticket. Make them harder to come by in a market where the
program’s niche is smaller than many would like to believe. I’ll leave it to the
big-time developers to decide where the stadium belongs. But the day must come
when the most striking feature of a U of M football game isn’t entire sections
of empty seats (or benches).

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: West’s Grid Warriors Still Reaching for a Hail Mary

The good news last
Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is that the Memphis Tigers scored 21
points against the top-ranked defense in Conference USA. The bad news, of
course, is that the U of M gave up 21 points to a UCF offense ranked dead last
in C-USA. Add in a 26-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Knight linebacker
Derrick Hallman and the result is a 28-21 UCF victory, leaving Memphis with a
record of 5-6, this Saturday’s game with Tulane being the Tigers’ final chance
at gaining bowl eligibility for the fifth time in six seasons.

“We helped them to
14 points in the first half,” mused Tiger coach Tommy West after the game, “and
that ended up being the reason we didn’t win the game. I’m disappointed that we
made the errors early in the game that put us behind.”

The errors West
spoke of were made by Tiger quarterback Arkelon Hall, who had been on the
sidelines since breaking his thumb at East Carolina more than a month earlier.
In fairness, though, Hall’s first “error” was committed not with the arm that
earned him a scholarship, but with his right foot. After Brent Sutherland
shanked his first punt of the game, West entrusted Hall with the fourth-down
duty, even with the Tigers deep in their own territory. The ensuing “pooch” kick
met the backside of a Tiger lineman and deflected toward the Tiger end zone.
Four plays later, Knight quarterback Rob Calabrese connected with Ricky Kay for
a 7-0 UCF lead, one the Tigers couldn’t close for the rest of the game. (Hall’s
second miscue of the quarter was that fumble that resulted in a 14-0 deficit,
still not 10 minutes into the game.)

Other than a
perfectly thrown 54-yard touchdown to Duke Calhoun (also in the first quarter),
the game was entirely forgettable for Hall. With three 350-yard games already on
his resume, Hall misfired on 20 of 35 attempts, compiling only 183 yards through
the air. “I knew defensively that they’re good,” said West, “and yards were hard
to come by. [Hall] made a couple of bad throws I was really disappointed in. And
he missed [Earnest Williams] across the middle for a touchdown. Now, he
certainly helped us running the ball. But I’m not going to sit here and act like
that was his best game.”

When asked if
Hall’s thumb had bothered him, West dismissed the notion as a possible excuse,
and he rejected the thought of replacing hall with Brett Toney, the primary
stand-in in Tiger wins over Southern Miss and SMU. “Brett’s just not that kind
of guy,” said West. “When you have to start coming back in a game, I don’t think
that’s Brett’s deal.”

UCF has become an
annual nemesis for the Tigers. Sharing a home in C-USA’s East Division with
Memphis, the Knights have now won four straight over the U of M. And this was a
team that entered the Liberty Bowl with a record of 3-7 and postseason
eligibility an afterthought. The Tigers outgained the visitors, 305 yards to
194, and ran 74 plays compared with 59 for UCF. But Memphis converted merely
four of 16 third-down plays, shortening drives on an afternoon when the ball
quite literally bounced the wrong way for a home crowd that numbered but 18,836.

“We had plenty of
chances,” noted West. “We helped them a lot today. We spotted them 14 points.
You can cut it any way you want to, but that’s why we lost the game.”

Back to the good
news. Saturday’s guest will be the 2-9 Tulane Green Wave, a team that has lost
seven straight and given up at least 35 points in their last five contests
(while scoring as many as 20 in only one of those). The Tigers have won four
straight in this series, and a fifth would end their regular season at 6-6.
Conference USA’s bowl partners include the Armed Forces Bowl (Forth Worth,
Texas), the Texas Bowl (Houston), and the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl, each a
destination that would be welcomed by a team that, after 11 games, is caught
between the bad news of disappointment and the good news of opportunity.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: The ’08-’09 Tigers Are Off and Running!

The Memphis Tigers raised the lid on the 2008-09 basketball
season Saturday night with a 90-63 victory over Fairfield (a team expected to
contend in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) at FedExForum. As with any
opening night, the game was packaged with first impressions. Some of these are
worth noting — and pocketing — for the four months ahead.

• Seniors Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozer are the
decorated leaders of this team, and freshman Tyreke Evans will steal many of the
headlines with his ability to score, but if you want to trace the arc of the
season ahead, you’d do well to follow the progress of juniors Willie Kemp and
Shawn Taggart.

Back in the starting lineup after a one-year apprenticeship
under Derrick Rose, Kemp played 20 minutes Saturday night (after averaging under
14 as a sophomore). He dished out five assists (with only one turnover) and
picked up four steals. As for Taggart, the Tigers’ starting center played 26
minutes (after averaging 17 a year ago), scoring 14 points and grabbing 12
rebounds.

Elevated play from Kemp and Taggart will raise the Memphis
ship in ways the more known variables can’t. Particularly on defense, Taggart
will combine with Pierre Henderson-Niles as a tandem replacement for Joey Dorsey
in the pivot. Henderson-Niles wasn’t as active on the boards against Fairfield
as he’ll need to be (only two rebounds), but he ran the floor better than he
ever has, at one point putting a charge into the crowd by sprinting back to
deflect a fullcourt pass that might have otherwise been an easy Stag layup.

“Shawn’s longer than I am,” noted Henderson-Niles. “He
blocks shots, but I’m stronger on the inside. We just have to work together,
doing what we do. I think we can hold it down.” weighing in at 300 pounds,
Henderson-Niles says he has three more to lose in an effort to reach the
preseason goal established by Tiger coach John Calipari.

“For Shawn and Pierre,” emphasized Calipari after the game,
“it’s about sustaining the effort for 40 minutes [between them].”

• The most anticipated debut of the evening was that of
Tiger swingman Evans, this year’s “freshman phenom.” Having missed 10 of 12
workouts (including the team’s only exhibition game) with an ankle injury and
stomach ailment, Evans rose from the bench three minutes into the game and was
welcomed to the floor by a roar from the 17,741 in attendance. For the record,
Evans’ first Tiger points came on a slashing layup a minute-and-a-half later,
following a fastbreak feed from Antonio Anderson.

Evans went on to lead Memphis with 19 points in 24 minutes
of action. But it was a quiet 19, with nary a dunk or three-pointer.
Particularly near the basket, Evans showed an acumen for finishing, converting
seven of 12 field-goal attempts (and five of seven from the free-throw stripe).
His endurance was compromised by the recent time away, with cramps forcing him
to the bench at one point in the second half. Calipari explained after the game
that he brought Evans off the bench because he was convinced he’d exhaust
himself if exposed to the quick pace of a game’s start.

Look for Evans to be in the starting lineup in the very
near future, with closer to 30 minutes on his postgame stat line. In size,
appearance, and scoring ability, Evans calls to mind Bernard King, the former
Tennessee All-America who had a long and successful career as a scorer in the
NBA.

• I asked Kemp and Henderson-Niles about the impact of the
new three-point line (a foot deeper than it was a year ago), and if the
extension might actually help the Tigers’ motion offense, as zone defenses —
like the one played by Fairfield — might have to stretch further to contest
Memphis shooters. While Kemp emphasized that this will be the case only if
shooters are on target, Henderson-Niles added some perspective from the
interior. “We have great shooters,” he said, “so if defenses pressure them, it
opens the middle. They can flash to the middle, or it could leave the lane wide
open and they can dump the ball off to a big man.”

Sophomore guard Roburt Sallie — a rookie in the Tiger
program – drained two three-pointers early in the second half. If he can
complement the long-distance shooting of Kemp, Anderson, Evans, and Doneal Mack
(three treys Saturday night), the Tigers may well embrace that extra foot for
the interior elbow room it ultimately provides.