• As
disheartening as it was to read of the Tiger basketball program’s latest
appearance on the police blotter, it was that much more discouraging — though
somehow not surprising — to find Joey Dorsey’s name in the mix. When freshman
Jeff Robinson and transfer Shawn Taggert were arrested on Beale Street in the
wee hours of September 2nd, some margin might have been granted to a pair of
kids not yet aware of the responsibility that comes with the quasi-royalty of
being Memphis Tiger basketball players. (Having been on campus a year, though,
Taggert gets less margin than does Robinson.)
But Joey
Dorsey? The 23-year-old senior “leader” of a team with national title hopes?
Having been previously connected with transgressions large (bar brawls in
February and June) and small (pouring water on another U of M student), Dorsey’s
track record already made him a lightning rod for controversy. Even if he was,
say, handing out 20-dollar bills, for the 6’9″ center of the city’s flagship
basketball institution to jump on top (!) of a bar is well beyond any boundaries
of taste and civility (at least this side of the Coyote Ugly staff).
I, for
one, can’t figure Dorsey out. I recall his humble post game assessment as a
sophomore on areas he needed to improve upon for his team to advance deeply into
the NCAA tournament. When I tried to touch on the same area last winter, he held
up his hand and proclaimed his policy of not speaking with the press. From
there, he proceeded to compare Ohio State’s Greg Oden to the Biblical David with
Dorsey himself in the role of Goliath . . . in front of the national press.
However lacking Dorsey may be in the details — and message — of scripture, he’s
apparently just as shallow when it comes to his conduct after dark. It’s gonna
be an interesting year covering the Tiger cagers.
• When I
saw Pete Sampras win the 1996 Kroger St. Jude championship at The Racquet Club
of Memphis, I told myself that — at age 26 — I had already seen the greatest
tennis player I’d ever see. From his serve to his forehand, from his net game to
his decade-long consistency, Sampras was a standard I placed on a pedestal
beyond reach of mortal players.
Then
along came Roger Federer. In winning his fourth straight U.S. Open — on the
heels of winning his fifth straight Wimbledon title in July — the 26-year-old
Swiss titan has made a tennis court his canvas, his opponents merely part of his
medium of choice. Whether it’s power (he out-aced Andy Roddick, remember) or the
surgical precision of his groundstrokes, Federer brings a beauty to a sport that
has been customarily bludgeoned in recent years by power-serving sluggers who
can’t cover half the court if their service is returned. Next time you watch
Federer play, count the times he stumbles or grunts. (Wouldn’t you think the
countless players — men and women — who incorporate screams with every stroke
might look at Federer and reconsider their volume as wasted energy?) With 12
Grand Slam titles to his credit, Federer may well break Sampras’ record of 14
next year. It seems the only challenge ahead of this racket-toting magician is
Rafael Nadal’s supremacy at the French Open and a calendar-year Grand Slam
sweep. Don’t bet against him.
• On
July 19th, I took my 8-year-old daughter to her first night game at AutoZone
Park. It happened to be Rick Ankiel’s 28th birthday. When Ankiel reached first
base after his second at-bat, the stadium organist serenaded the Thursday-night
crowd — and Mr. Ankiel — with the familiar jingle of “Happy Birthday.” I
remember how complicated it felt to try and explain to Sofia how exceptional it
is for a baseball player who has reached the highest level of his sport as a
pitcher to metamorphose into a power-hitting outfielder . . . and return to the
major leagues. That conversation was, well, kid stuff compared with the topic of
human growth hormone. Is a third-grade mind ready for a summary of HGH?
• The
39-19 loss suffered by Southern Miss at Tennessee Saturday is not a good sign
for Conference USA. It’s never easy to win in Neyland Stadium, but when the
preeminent program in C-USA loses by 20 to a team generally considered the third
best in the SEC’s Eastern Division, the recruiting gap between these conferences
is growing, not shrinking. Try convincing a blue-chipper life as a Golden Eagle
— or as a Memphis Tiger — would be better than that of a Vol, or a Gamecock, or
heavens, a Wildcat.