numbers – Memphis Flyer

A weekly
columnist must be careful in measuring the life span of his or her work. The
math is precisely the opposite of the way we examine a car’s “life”: it’s the
age, not the mileage. This being my 300th column in this corner of cyberspace, it’s not so much the nice round number that matters, but all that’s happened to the sports world — and naturally, my world — since Week 1 back in February 2002.

Allow me
a few lines of self-indulgence (or bewildered attempts at perspective):

• “From
My Seat” has now been a part of my life longer than was high school or college.

• I’ve
got to be careful in calling this space “my baby,” as it happens to be older
than my actual daughter, Elena.

• While
I’ve spent most of my 30s wondering when I’d finally find inspiration for my
first book, I’ve now written — cumulatively — more than 180,000 words for a website that archives the copy. Not exactly a leather-bound bestseller, but let’s just say my keyboard is ready for the real deal.

Among the attractions that brought me to sports in the first place was the beauty of
numbers, and how they reflect — maybe even illuminate — the games we watch and
the athletes we cheer. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa reduces baseball
games down to the cold, hard numbers we all read each morning in the newspaper.
A win goes in the left column, a loss in the right. Add them up at season’s end,
and the best teams will reveal themselves.

Which
has me considering some Memphis sports numbers, less than or greater than 300,
but all of significance over the last five years.

• 0 —
Number of coaching changes by the University of Memphis football and men’s
basketball programs. The current seven-year stretch without a change atop the U
of M’s flagship teams is the longest since Zach Curlin coached BOTH programs
from 1924 to 1936. There’s much to like about stability, particularly in the
fickle world of big-time college sports.

• 66 —
Number of wins by the Tiger basketball team over the last two seasons.

• 61 —
Number of Tiger basketball wins over the FOUR seasons before John Calipari
arrived in 2000.

• 6,026
— Number of rushing yards by former Tiger All-America DeAngelo Williams from
2002 to 2005.

• 6,039
— Combined total of yards by the Tigers’ leading runners over the NINE seasons
before Williams arrived on campus.

•
633,129 — Number of tickets sold by the Memphis Redbirds in 2007, the lowest
total in eight years at AutoZone Park, and a figure that has the Redbird brass
scrambling for new promotional ideas for 2008.

•
397,339 — Highest baseball attendance in Memphis history before AutoZone Park
was opened in 2000. The Redbirds have been pitiful on the field for some time
now, but baseball in the Bluff City is alive and well. Wait till the Cardinals
finally fuel their farm system.

• 3 —
Number of former Sam’s Town 250 winners competing in this year’s NASCAR Nextel
Cup Chase for the Championship (Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, and Kevin
Harvick). The ST250 is the most underrated sporting event in the Mid-South, and
I’m not sure what’s second.

Numbers,
of course, only scratch the surface in the stories the sports world provides.
Watching Anthony Reyes shut down the Round Rock Express one night, then win Game
1 of the World Series merely a few weeks later provided a rather direct link
between AutoZone Park and the St. Louis Cardinals’ 10th world championship.

If you
saw Darius Washington miss those two free throws that cost his Tigers — his city
— the 2005 Conference USA tournament championship and an NCAA tournament berth,
there’s no number to represent the heartbreak . . . or the courage Washington
showed in leading his team to the Elite Eight a year later.

And how
about the taken-for-granted number search Memphis sports fans get to enjoy every
winter now: our place in the NBA standings. Right before our eyes, the Bluff
City went big league! This column space came into being as the Grizzlies wrapped
up their first season at The Pyramid. May it still be here when the first
championship parade turns from Beale to Front Street.

Here’s a
great mind-bender to play the next time you attend a University of Memphis
football game at the Liberty Bowl. Ask those in your party — or perhaps the
entire seating section — to name the former Tiger players who have had their
numbers retired. And a dish of nachos to the fan who can actually identify the
numbers as well.

U of M
football may not be as tradition-rich as the BCS big boys, but the program has
actually honored four players, three for their exploits on the field and a
fourth as a memorial. But even if you’re a Highland Hundred lifer, in your seat
from kickoff to the final tick of the clock for every Memphis home game, you may
be unaware of these players’ names, much less the numbers they wore as Tigers.
Because, you see, there is no sign, no banner, no plaque, not so much as a
temporary flag displaying the honored names. Has to make you wonder how
“honored” the surviving stars really feel.

Associate athletic director Bob Winn clarifies that the players have had their
jerseys — but not the actual numbers on their jerseys — retired. And the
explanation is perfectly reasonable: with more than 100 players on a college
football roster, a team would simply run out of digits. (This, of course, makes
those nachos so terribly difficult to earn. You may see the “retired number” of
a former star prancing across the goal line for a touchdown.)

When I
asked Winn about the absence of a display — of any sort — at the Liberty Bowl,
he told me I was the first person he can remember even mentioning the perceived
void. “We’ve talked about [putting the numbers up],” said Winn. “We’ve just
never really progressed, and I don’t know why. We’ve discussed a ring of honor,
but just haven’t come up with the appropriate way to do it. It seems like
colleges these days will often honor a [current] player by giving him the number
of a former great, or a special locker, maybe.”

As far
as which players are honored, Winn says the U of M leaves the decision in the
hands of its coaches. Which begs the question: How does a coach in 2007
legitimately consider the impact of a player in, say, 1977? A panel of boosters,
it would seem, might be better equipped — and with longer memories — to define
and recognize a past player’s greatness.

The
city-owned Liberty Bowl has layers of protocol when it comes to decor that the
university wouldn’t have to accommodate if it had complete control of the
facility. (Another arrow in the quiver of the on-campus stadium movement.) But
even with approval needed for any permanent paint display, Winn feels like city
authorities would be receptive if a movement for the display was strong enough
and it didn’t defame the stadium in any way.

“When it
was named Rex Dockery Field,” explains Winn, “there was so much emotion about
Rex being killed in that plane crash, that some of his friends just went
straight to the City Council, and it was done. There was not much of a process.”

Here’s a
cheat sheet for your Tiger Football Legends game:

•
Charles Greenhill, #8 (played for Memphis in 1983) — A defensive back and
former star at Frayser High School, Greenhill was killed in the plane crash that
also killed Tiger coach Rex Dockery on December 12, 1983. He was the first Tiger
to have his jersey retired.

•
Dave Casinelli, #30 (1960-63) — Casinelli was the first Tiger player to rush
for 1,000 yards in a season (1,016 in 1963). He was the program’s career rushing
leader for 41 years and was honored posthumously after being killed in a 1987
car accident.

•
Isaac Bruce, #83 (1992-93) — In 1993, Bruce caught 74 passes for 1,054
yards, records that stand to this day (and really haven’t been challenged). With
more than 900 receptions and over 13,000 yards for the NFL’s St. Louis Rams,
Bruce could become the first former Tiger to reach the Pro Football Hall of
Fame. His jersey was retired in 2003.

•
DeAngelo Williams, #20 (2002-05) — A member of three bowl teams with
Memphis, Williams became only the fourth player in NCAA history to rush for
6,000 yards in his career. He established NCAA records for all-purpose yards
(7,573) and 100-yard rushing games (34). His number was retired in 2006, his
first season as a Carolina Panther.