Category: Sports Feature

John Calipari may have done his finest coaching job of the season Monday night against UAB. The crowd was flat. The pep band was uninspired. The students were quiet. Even the pompon squad clapped as if their minds were on boyfriends or mid-terms or anything but basketball.

It seemed that only Calipari came ready to play. After consecutive losses to Cincinnati and Charlotte, the first-year Tiger coach had to dig deep into his bag of motivational tricks to get his team started. He yelled, he cursed, he stomped his feet, he ran players in and out of the game. Finally under the capable leadership of senior point guard Shyrone Chatman, Memphis took its first lead of the game at 18-17 with 7:25 to go in the first half. From there Memphis (15-11; 9-4 in C-USA) gradually pulled away before pouring it on the visiting Blazers in the second half. The final score was 86-69, but the game was never in doubt after Memphis went on a 12-2 run to open the second half.

Afterward, Calipari was relieved, happy, jubilant almost. He talked about the job Murray Bartow had done this season with UAB. He said Marquette’s Tom Crean or Bartow should be coach of the year in C-USA. But really, shouldn’t that award go to Calipari?

After the UAB game he gave his players two days off, admitting that it would probably be good for them to take a break from The World According to Cal. That world can be pretty intense.

No one knows it better than Shyrone Chatman. The point guard always has the toughest job. As the “coach on the floor” he has to mirror the intensity of the head coach. In Chatman’s case that is a tall order. The serenity with which Chatman faces his task game after game is a wonderful thing to watch. Each time the game is stopped for a foul shot, Calipari yells to Chatman, who dutifully comes to the sideline to listen to his coach. Sometimes it is a rant, sometimes a reminder. But no matter the message or the tone in which it is delivered, Chatman is the same. He makes eye contact, focuses on what the coach says, nods that he has heard him, then goes back to his team. He never buckles under the strain, never shows any impatience. The cohesion of the two men says a lot about both of them.

Part of the Johnny Jones/Tic Price Louisiana connection, Shyrone Chatman was a little-used player heading into the second half of his junior season. But he started six of the Tigers’ last seven games for Jones and became the defensive stopper on the club. When Courtney Trask was suspended for academic misconduct on December 9th, the senior from Baton Rouge was ready.

Chatman doesn’t have much flash to his game, but he is a relentless competitor. More than anyone else, he is responsible for the turnaround in Memphis’ season. His maturity and leadership were just what the Tigers needed. Against UAB his line in the box score told the story: 15 points, 4 steals, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 0 turnovers in 30 minutes. Chatman is a winner.

Because of the bond that he and his coach have built, Memphis will be one of the favorites to win the Conference USA tournament next month in Louisville. And winning the conference tournament is looking more and more like the only way the Tigers will get into the NCAA.

Memphis has not done well in the C-USA tournament, going 2-5 (with the two wins coming in Memphis). But Calipari has a little experience in conference tournaments. His record at UMass in the Atlantic 10 tournament was 17-3. Assistant coach Derek Kellog was a starting guard and team captain for Calipari. The Minutemen won four consecutive A-10 conference tourneys while Kellog was at the school from 1991 to 1995.

Although Chatman will not get to play four years for Calipari, he is the most important factor in whether or not Memphis wins the C-USA tourney and gets into the Big Dance. If that happens, it will be because of the synergy that two very different men have built in a little more than eight months together. There were times against UAB that Calipari, his arms flailing like a madman on the sidelines, looked like he was going to go on the floor to help his team. But eventually he saw that it wasn’t necessary.

He had Shy and that was good enough.

THIS AND THAT:

Like the XFL TV ratings, Memphis Maniax attendance was down by almost 50 percent last weekend. The bigger problem is the team’s offense, which has not scored a touchdown in the last 10 quarters. The fans thought the XFL would be wide-open, but the offensive talent is just not there. No one in the league is scoring, and that is a problem. In last week’s cover story about talk radio, I used an anecdote about Tommy West and Lex Ward to illustrate a couple of points. The first is that some coaches do listen to talk radio. The second is that talk radio is full of misinformation. I did not mean to imply that Lex Ward is one of those who makes a habit of putting out misinformation. Ward does as much preparation for his show as anyone and I respect the work he does on SportsCall 790. Nor did I mean to imply that what Ward said about the offensive coordinator job was necessarily false. In fact, it turned out to be the correct call. Randy Fichtner got the job as offensive coordinator, just as Ward had said he would. Speaking of sports talk radio, I had Mike DeCourcy visiting with George Lapides on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Everyone knows that Thursday is devoted to trivia on George’s show. The next game for the U of M is Sunday night against South Florida, the team tied with the Tigers for both best overall record in Conference USA and the National Division title. It’s the final home game for the Tigers, who close out the season against Southern Miss and Louisville on the road. Sunday’s game, to be televised on ESPN2, will mark the final appearance in The Pyramid for seniors Marcus Moody, Shannon Forman, Shyrone Chatman, and Shamel Jones.

You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com.

The University of Memphis fell behind 9-1 in the first five minutes of the game, but came back to bury Conference USA rival UAB Monday night in The Pyramid. The final score was 86-69, but the game was never in doubt after Memphis went on a 12-2 run to open the second half.

“They’re laughing in your faces,” Tiger head coach John Calipari screamed at his starters after calling time-out just three minutes into the first half and the Tigers trailing 6-1.

The first year coach had to dig deep into his bag of motivational tricks to get his team started. He yelled, he cursed, he stomped his feet, he ran players in and out of the game. Finally under the capable leadership of senior point guard Shyrone Chatman, Memphis took its first lead of the game at 18-17 with 7:25 to go in the first half. From there Memphis (15-11; 9-4 in C-USA) gradually pulled away before pouring it on the visiting Blazers in the second half. The Tigers led 33-29 at halftime.

Afterward Calipari was happy that his team had ended a two-game losing streak in their third game in five days. He rewarded the players by giving them two days off. The next game for Memphis is Sunday night against South Florida, the team currently tied with the Tigers for both best overall record in Conference USA and the National Division title. The game is the final home game of the year for the Tigers, who close out the season against Southern Miss and Louisville on the road. Sunday’s game, to be televised on ESPN2, will mark the final appearance in The Pyramid for seniors Marcus Moody, Shannon Forman, Shyrone Chatman, and Shamel Jones.

For the third game in a row, Jones gave Memphis a first-half lift with dominating physical play in the paint. Kelly Wise had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. He also had 3 assists and 2 blocks. Chatman finished with 15 points, 4 steals, 4 assists, and 0 turnovers in 30 minutes. Forman and Courtney Trask each scored 11 for the Tigers.

The only Memphis player who did not play was junior John Grice. Calipari said after the game that he did not expect Grice to play any more this season. When asked if that was a basketball decision, Calipari said, “It’s my decision.” He would not elaborate. Grice, a junior college transfer from Shelby State, was a starter before serving a 16-game suspension (along with Trask) for academic misconduct. The two were reinstated three games ago.

An exclusive interview with XFL president Basil V. DeVito Jr., who was in Memphis to watch the Maniax play the San Francisco Demons Saturday night at the Liberty Bowl.

How did tonight’s production go?

The only thing I was praying for was ‘not an overtime.’ Last week, everything was conspired against us. This [the NBC primary game between the L.A. Extreme and Las Vegas Outlaws] was a great finish right at the last second. A 47-yard field-goal, I don’t care what league you’re in, that’s one hell of a kick.

What are the differences between producing this live sport and something scripted like wrestling?

I’ve been in production of NBA, rodeo, professional football — both in the NFL and here — and WWF, so I think the similarities are that what we are trying to accomplish before the game, when the fan walks in, we are trying to grab and deliver some entertainment and information and bring them through the whole game. Obviously, the challenge here is that the game dictates the pacing.

The challenge to us as event producers is to have enough material so that you can work with the flow of the game. That’s the biggest difference because in the WWF, we can control the pace and tempo and leave everybody screaming on that high note and everybody always wants to come back.

In wrestling, there are villains and there are heroes. Who are they in this league?

You know what, in the old days of the WWF, there were heroes and villains. Today that no longer holds the case. There are not that many people you know in life that you absolutely like. There are no really good, good, good guys. Even with your best friend, there’s a shade of gray in there. There’s not really the blacks and whites anymore.

DeVito is interrupted by a phone call from NBC Chairman Dick Ebersol. Ebersol apologizes for mistakes made during the broadcast and says it won’t happen again. DeVito continues the interview.

How are your broadcast teams doing?

That was the best telecast we have had, and that’s the thing to say each week, ‘that’s the best.’

I think they’re doing well. At first, we had so much explaining to do. You’re starting out with a brand new thing. We knew we had this desire to explain all the differences in who we were and we were searching ourselves. How do you explain yourself?

It’s like pick-up lines, the first thing you might say and we had to say something. Now it’s all coming from the field, you have a team that’s 1 and 2 and a team that’s 2 and 1 and they’re going in different directions and that’s what the drama of real sport brings to us.

What’s your take on the cold shoulder a network like ESPN has been giving you coupled with the fact that ESPN is owned by ABC?

Well, their company spent a billion dollars for the NFL [shrugs shoulders]. The thing about it is, having worked with some of the multiple ABC networks, I will say that there has always been, regardless if there is a conscious point, I don’t necessarily think there is any one person or any memo or specific point of view. But there is a culture. There’s producers in different places and on-air talent and everybody makes an assumption of ‘This is who we are and I’m working all these hours and I know the company doesn’t want me to do that.’ Often, I find it within the culture of that kind of company that everyone will go to that side because that’s the perception.

Interesting enough, ESPN.com has utilized the XFL quite often. Our fans are very Internet savvy and that internet group isn’t that dyed-in-the-wool group, so they don’t have that company point-of-view in their head.

I think ultimately, we will crawl into that consciousness there. Tonight’s game, they really don’t want to ignore that. People are going to want to know. And if Fox or CNN or MSNBC is giving the score and people are tuning in to see the score and ‘Oh my God, why am I not getting it?’ [another shrug]

Is there talk of expansion?

We’ll probably expand in year three. I’d like to go four more. When we first started, a four-team division did not seem immediately to be something we would stay with for a while. Then what happened? The NFL went to four team divisions. I think two years from now, when everybody is used to seeing four team divisions, that just came our way.

There must be plenty of applications:

Especially since we have been playing in [San Francisco’s] Pac Bell park, and we are proving that we can co-exist with a baseball team. It opens up a lot of opportunities if you are looking for a 30-40 thousand-seat baseball stadium.

If only the Memphis Maniax had hands that could hold onto footballs. The team might be dangerous.

For the second week in a row, the Maniax (1-2, 0-2) squandered a fine defensive effort, did not score a touchdown, and committed two crucial turnovers during key drives. The end result was another loss this time to the San Francisco Demons (2-1, 1-1) 13-6. An announced crowd of 17,063 withstood freezing temperatures to cheer on the XFL franchise as reserve quarterback Jim Druckenmiller led them deep into DemonsÕ territory in the final minute of the game. But instead of tying the game, the Maniax suffered another turnover.

Despite holding the San Francisco to only 33 yards rushing, the Maniax gave up 184 yards and two touchdowns to the league’s best QB, Mike Pawlawski, who connected on 19 of 37 attempts.

The Maniax offense, featuring league-leading running back Rasaan Salaam, could only muster 29 yards on the ground. The Maniax used two quarterbacks in the game. Marcus Crandell was 11 of 23 for 141 yards. Druckenmiller completed 6 of 10 for 85 yards.

Crandell threw an interception to Demon defensive tackle Emile Palmer in the third quarter at the Maniax 25 yard line, setting up San Francisco’s first scoring drive, when Pawlawski connected with Demon halfback Terry Battle from 7 yards out.

Crandell then left the game and was replaced by Druckenmiller who threw for two interceptions, one to Demon’s defensive back Kevin Kaesviharn at the Demon’s 7 yard line and another to defensive back Wendell Davis at the end.

The loss puts the Maniax at the bottom of the Western division, with 7 games remaining on the schedule. San Francisco is now tied at first with Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Maniax travel next week to Los Angeles to play the Extreme on Sunday, February 25th.

Kenny Satterfield hit a basket in the last second of the game leading the Cincinnati Bearcats to a 66-65 victory over the University of Memphis Thursday night in The Pyramid. Reserve forward Shamel Jones had scored with 10 seconds to go in the contest, giving Memphis a 65-64 lead. It was the fourteenth lead change in the game.

“I’ve been in many of these in my coaching career and usually what happens is whoever has the ball last usually wins the game,” Tiger head coach John Calipari. “And they had it last.”

Two candidates for Player of the Year in Conference USA, Cincinnati guard Steve Logan and Memphis forward Kelly Wise put on a terrific show for a national ESPN audience and 19,582 in The Pyramid. Logan scored 27 points on 9 of 18 shooting. Wise countered with 16 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks.

Shamel Jones had a career high 17 points and 10 rebounds. His energy lifted the Tigers, who led by five, 37-32, at the half.

“This is his kind of game,” Calipari said of the senior from Brooklyn who played 23 minutes. “It was a rough-house game — everybody’s fouling on every play, everybody’s pushing and shoving. It’s his kind of game.”

Satterfield had 11 points — five in the final minute. Donald Little also had 11 — the only other BearCat in double figures. Memphis out-rebounded Cincy by 11 (41-30) and had only 14 turnovers to 16 assists. The Tigers blocked six shots.

“We were just one shot, one play away. We’re close though. No one stopped playing on our team for 40 minutes. I was happy about that,” Calipari said.

* * In the story, I use an anecdote about Tommy West and Lex Ward to illustrate a couple of points. The first is that coaches DO listen to talk radio. The second is that talk radio is full of misinformation.

I did NOT mean to imply (1) that Lex Ward is one of those (regardless of his background) who makes a habit of putting out misinformation. Ward does as much preparation for his show as anyone and I respect the work he does on SportsCall 790. And (2) I did not mean to imply that what Ward said about the offensive coordinator job was necessarily false. I don’t think anyone knows what Tommy West is going to do with the job, including West himself.

* * I asked John “Rainman” Rainey, a professional sports handicapper, if he had ever had trouble getting media credentials to college games due to the NCAA’s worries about gambling. He said he had not.

“From the first day that I was on the radio, I never used the University of Memphis in any of the plays that we put out. Never. I don’t tell people to bet on them or against them, either way. I have access to the coaches through the radio show and that would obviously be a no-no with the NCAA.”

* * I asked Jeff Weinberger to comment on the fact that people accuse him of making outlandish statements for the sole purpose of getting listeners to call in. Here is his response:

“I swear on my grandmother’s grave, I do not just say things to get people to call. I don’t know if this speaks good of me, but I really believe everything I say.”

* * I talked to both Greg Gaston, who does play-by-play for the University of Memphis on TV and Dave Woloshin, who is the radio voice of the Tigers, about people calling them “homers.”

“We walk a fine line,” Gaston said. “We won’t duck an issue, but I won’t use the radio format to ruffle feathers just to cause controversy. That’s not the type of person I am. Especially being involved with the Tigers, I’m not going to bring up anything just to cause a stir if it is not a legitimate story.”

“I don’t think they listen to the whole show. I don’t think they are listening objectively,” Woloshin said of his critics. “When I’m doing a game, the same way as when Jack Buck is doing a game, he’s for the Cardinals, I’m for the Tigers. I think if somebody is calling me a homer they are either fans of the opposition team or they are Tiger fan who doesn’t think I am a homer enough for us.”

* * The Jim Rome Show is sometimes criticized by callers to Sports 56. New WHBQ-AM program director Bill Grafeman says he has no intention of canceling the syndicated program, even though he realizes that Rome is not popular with many in the Mid-South. The show’s ratings in the Memphis market are “no better or no worse” than most of the other sports talk shows, Grafeman said.

“I have a feeling that Jim Rome being from Southern California tends to stay away from the South for some reason. I don’t know why that is,” Grafeman said. “He comes across as very arrogant. He’s one of those people who you either love him or hate him.”

* * Interestingly, Rainey attributes a job in his past with helping him with the host role on talk radio.

“One of the things that may have helped me was playing in a couple of rock and roll bands back in the Sixties,” he said. “I learned a lot of timing from that. A lot of radio is an innate sense of timing.”

First impressions are a big deal. That’s nothing new. But the idea has teeth.

Try the first impression a team makes on its home city, the first impression in front of more than 30,000 at the Liberty Bowl. The team wants to prove itself. Those in attendance come with hope in their hearts. The team fumbles that hope away.

Now ask the fans to come back next week, to believe one more time.

Such is the task faced by the XFL Memphis Maniax after their opening loss — a game marked by costly turnovers; a game that should have been a Maniax win. Las Vegas won because it was the better team, right? Hardly. Vegas didn’t total over a hundred yards rushing or passing.

In their opening win against the NY/NJ Hitmen, Outlaws QB Ryan Clement hit eight different receivers 13 times for 189 yards and two touchdowns. But the Maniax defense held Clement to two completed passes before knocking him out of the game. His replacement, Mike Crawley (who played at James Madison for former Memphis coach Rip Scherer) completed only three for a grand total of five completions for 62 yards. Vegas did not fare much better on the ground, rushing for only 97 yards.

But. But, but, but. The Maniax also gave up three fumbles and an interception, all which resulted in Vegas scores (two fumbles and the pass were run back for touchdowns). This gave Vegas 322 yards in Òmiscellaneous yards.Ó Due to Memphis’ inability to protect the ball, Las Vegas produced 481 total yards!

How’s that for first impressions?

The Maniax need to win Saturday against a San Francisco Demons team that also started hot, beating league favorite L.A. Extreme, before losing to Eastern Division 800-pound gorilla The Orlando Rage. The Demons feature the league’s top QB in Mike Pawlawski, who leads the XFL in completion percentages (67.7 %), and total yards (577).

The Maniax need to continue their defensive intensity. They need to continue their punishing ground game behind Rashaan Salaam, the XFL’s leading rusher (236 yards — 5.4 yards per carry). If Salaam can avoid his penchant for fumbling and continue his torrid running pace, he can live up to the Heisman hype that landed him a first-round draft choice in the NFL.

But the real need is for the Maniax to prove themselves to those fans who come to see their second game. Television coverage is important for the league to succeed, but this community has a big monkey on its back named professional football and it’s time to start fighting that monkey. To do that, Memphis needs a winner.

The Maniax didn’t prove themselves last week. Impressions last. Can the Maniax can shake their shakes and will Memphis fans come back, just once more, to root for a home football team. Just in the name of hope. Stay tuned.

In front of 30,117 home fans, the XFL Memphis Maniax turned the ball over four times (3 fumbles, 1 interception) on the way to a 25-3 beating by the Las Vegas Outlaws at Memphis’ first-ever home XFL game.

In a game dominated by the Outlaws’ (2-0, 1-0) defensive line, Memphis (1-1, 0-1) could never get its offense moving with running back Rashaan Salaam rushing for only 82 yards on 17 carries and a critical fumble at the Maniax one-yard line which was scooped up in the end-zone by Outlaws’ middle linebacker Kurt Gouveia and run back 100 yards for a touchdown.

Maniax quarterback Marcus Crandell struggled as well, completing only 9-21 passes for 134 yards, before being replaced by back-up QB Craig Whelian, who promptly threw an interception to Outlaws’ free safety Chris Bayne. Whelian finished with only 5-12 completions for 46 yards.

The Outlaws offense didn’t fair much better, collecting only 92 yards rushing and 62 yards passing. But the Outlaws were able to convert the Maniax’ turnovers. Besides the 100-yard return, Outlaws’ free-safety Jason Kaiser ran back a fumbled exchange 80 yards for a touchdown. The Outlaws were also able to score a field-goal after Whelian’s interception, which Bayne ran back for 71 yards to the Memphis 8-yard line.

“The fans have every right to be mad. I’m mad. Because that’s not acceptable,” said Maniax head coach Kippy Brown after the game.

Though frustrated with Sunday’s outcome, Brown said he wasn’t totally surprised.

“Our problems started when we came back to work on Wednesday. We didn’t have a good feel by the way we were preparing. It’s embarrassing, but there’s no excuses. This wasn’t the true Maniax team.”

The Maniax’ next game is Saturday, February 17th at the Liberty Bowl against conference foe San Francisco(1-1, 0-1), who lost in Orlando, falling to the Rage 26-14 in a game Saturday.

The University of Memphis dominated Tulane Saturday night at The Pyramid, winning 91-64. The Tigers have won 10 of their last 11 games and appear ready to host arch-rival and conference power Cincinnati. The Bearcats come to Memphis Thursday night for a game on ESPN.

“The [one] barrier that this team has not been able to break through has been nationally televised games at home in front of great crowds,” Calipari said after watching all ten of his players score in a game that was never close. “Overcoming a little bit of selfishness, where it’s ÔME, ME, ME because we’re on TV, TV, TV.’ So the next challenge, Thursday, is that. Nationally televised game against THE team in our league.”

The difference against Tulane was Kelly Wise. The junior forward was sensational, scoring 18 points in 28 minutes. Wise made a steel at half-court then drove for a slam dunk just before halftime. He added a stick-back basket and led the Tigers off the floor with his arms raised in triumph, leading 43-26. “Without Kelly we’re not up 17,” Calipari said. “He’s getting better and better.”

Freshman Scotter McFadgon scored in double figures for a team-leading 10th consecutive game, with a game-high 19. Senior Shannon Forman hit seven out of 10 from the field to finish with 17 points.

The Tigers pressured the Tulane guards all night, putting their taller players, including the 6-10 Wise on the ball. Tulane turned the ball over 15 times but more importantly, the Green Wave was never able to run its offense. It was, in fact, the very type of defensive pressure that Bob Huggins’ teams at Cincinnati have used in dominating this league and the Great Midwest Conference before that.

This will be the first time Huggins has met Calipari in Conference USA. Calipari is 0-2 against Cincinnati, one of the few teams that he has a losing mark against.

“Bob and I are friends and competitors at the same time,” Calipari said. “In the NBA, it was Larry Brown, who’s a mentor, he knew I wanted to beat him so bad. It was the same with Rick Pittino. I think we went 3-1 against Boston. It’s the same way with this game. If Bobby and I were playing one-on-one I would feel very good about our chances, but since it’s his team against my team — who’s going to be playing better? It should be a lot of fun.”

ESPN is expected to bring its first team in for the game, meaning the return of Calipari’s motor-mouth friend Dick Vitale, who broadcast the Tigers’ home opener against Temple. Vitale also made a paid appearance at The Pyramid for the celebrations surrounding the opening of Tiger basketball practice in October.

The Maniax will have a different backup quarterback when Memphis plays Las Vegas Sunday at the Liberty Bowl. In the season opener against Birmingham Jim Druckenmiller was the backup to starter Marcus Crandell. However, this week the backup quarterback will be Craig Whelian.

The change has nothing to do with Druckenmiller, who played a series when Crandell came out of the game after a big hit. Instead, it’s a player management tactic by Maniax head coach Kippy Brown as a reaction to XFL rules which restrict the team’s roster to 38 players. Teams can also suit-up a third-string quarterback as a 39th man.

The trick is that the third-stringer doesn’t get paid since he is not technically on the active roster unless he comes into the game. This isn’t little league where the coach has to make sure everyone plays, so in most cases the third man out is … well, out. Even though he practices with the team, wears a uniform, and is ready to play, the third quarterback gets only a fraction of the pay that his teammates make, and no bonus if the team wins. That means that while quarterbacks in the XFL get $4,500 a game plus a $2,500 bonus if they win, the third-string quarterback gets only $1,000.

“It’s not right, but it’s the way the league is right now,” Brown says. His solution? “This week we made Druck the second guy. He got his full salary and bonus. Next week, Whelian will be the second guy, and he’ll get the full deal. That’s being honest about it. That’s being fair about it. It’s hard for me to walk up to a guy on Thursday, and say, look, you busted your butt, you’re prepared, but you’re not going to be active this game. He hadn’t done anything to be sitting down, but that’s pro football.”

Brown says the switch might continue with other positions as well. “There will be some positions where it’s close. And I might flip-flop it because the guy that I sit down, he doesn’t deserve not to make his money,” the coach says. “I’m going to do what it takes to win, but if there’s a situation where the two players are even, I’m going to rotate them.”

However, Brown also hopes for a league change in the future. “The league, hopefully down the line, will realize this and even it up . . . . The rules in this deal have to be figured out. I think once we go through the growing pains, the people calling the shots want this thing to be as good as we can make it.”