BEHIND THE MICROPHONE

On Coaching Behavior

Post-Game Saturday night. Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville. Vanderbilt coach James Franklin and Georgia assistant Todd Grantham get nose-to-nose in a nationally televised shouting match.

Post-Game Sunday afternoon. Ford Field, Detroit. 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and Lions head coach Jim Schwartz nearly come to blows after Schwartz took exception to Harbaugh's post-game congratulatory handshake.

OK, you've seen the video dozens of times. There's a lot of wrong here. But here's the leadership message that is getting lost in who is right and who is wrong: guys, you have to dial it down.

As the leaders of the football team, you have to keep your cool. They call it poise under pressure. If you expect the players to keep their cool when all around them are losing theirs, then you, too, must abide by those rules.

College and pro football are ultra-competitive. There are nights you would like to rip someone's head off. But you can't, at least in public. You are the leader and your conduct sets the tone.

And, if you need a reminder, there will be plenty of video after the fact. A frame-by-frame replay of your behavior will be made available within seconds on You Tube.

Let your coaching and your team speak for your success. As ticked off as you get, you must have the discipline to walk away.

Just like you tell your players.

The Conundrum of Leadership

Sunday morning, I received word that University of Georgia linebacker Cornelius Washington had been arrested for DUI and speeding only hours after his team's 24-10 victory over Mississippi State.

I was thankful that that no one, including Mr. Washington, was injured by his actions.

Immediately, Washington was suspended for a minimum of two games.

Cornelius played a great game, recording two sacks for a Georgia defense that is coming on strong. The Bulldogs pass rush has been superb in recent weeks, and Washington has been a big reason why.

Now, his loss affects the team in a big way.

But his post-game poor judgement got me thinking about teamwork, and leadership, and the buy-in from all on the team.

I spent considerable time last weekend with Georgia players and coaches, and many mentioned the true team spirit that had galvanized their group from the inside.

Many pointed to leadership lessons gleaned from Jon Gordon's highly acclaimed book, "The Energy Bus", where Jon describes energy vampires and his famous No Complaining Rule.

What struck me then, and today, is how everyone was on board with this thinking and the positive impact it was making.

So what has me puzzled about Washington's poor decision was this: what is the leader supposed to do when he or she thinks everyone is On The Bus and someone strays?

And what is the tipping point for that person who momentarily gets Off The Bus?

Certainly, head coach Mark Richt has been down this road before. He acted swiftly, suspending the player, and making him apologize to the team. Washington will be missed.

As for the person  involved, what causes someone to forget about the lessons learned, and begin a chain reaction that clearly will be detrimental to himself, his family, and his team?

It's an age old question to be sure. We all have an override button. It's called free will. What makes us push it from time to time? Ego? Arrogance? Alcohol? Philosophers have been wrestling with this one since the beginning of time. Trying to figure out human behavior is a centuries-old proposition.

As for the leader, how do you handle the blind-side hit? How will effect the rest of the team? The leader must press on, stick with what he or she thinks is right, and keep the team together.

It looks like this to me: if you say you are going to get on the bus, then stay on the bus. But if you don't want to get on, don't. If you want off the bus, tell someone first. Don't let the leader get a phone call at 2 in the morning from the Highway Patrol announcing your decision.

The Hunt for Wins in October

The first Saturday of college football in October has come and gone, and what are we left with?

In the ACC, two clubs are looking to knock Virginia Tech off its decade-long perch as the team to beat.

The Clemson Tigers proved championship-worthy, by pasting the Hokies, 23-3 in Blacksburg, VT's worst home loss in 30 years.

It marked the first time in history an ACC team had defeated a ranked team in three consecutive games.

Now, Clemson must avoid a letdown at home this Saturday against Boston College.

Same for Georgia Tech. The Jackets have started a season 5-0 for just the second time in 45 years after their win in Raleigh over NC State. This Saturday, the Jackets host Maryland.

In the SEC, I believe the new favorite to win the East is Georgia. The Dawgs defense was outstanding in its demolition of Mississippi State Saturday. Todd Grantham's 'D' has allowed only one touchdown in its last 12 quarters.

UGA does not have to face Alabama, Arkansas, or LSU this season. The may be the difference maker. Georgia got big time help from two West teams yesterday (Auburn, Bama) to tighten the race. The Gamecocks loss to Auburn and the Gators beatdown by the Tide marked the first losses of the season for each team. The East race is heating up and remains wide open.

This week, Georgia goes to Knoxville, for a big test against the Volunteers.

Nationally, one must put Wisconsin in the national title picture, after the Badgers spanked Nebraska.

Two games that will barely get noticed, but were impressive wins nonetheless: Duke winning at Florida International and Ole Miss winning at Fresno State. Congrats to David Cutcliffe and Houston Nutt.

 

Welcome back, Coach!

Below is a reprint from today's Orlando Sentinel. It's a column written by George Diaz on ESPN's Lee Corso. Lee and I worked toegther at ESPN in 1987, first with the inagural season of Arena Football and later that fall on college football. He is one of my favorite people on the planet and one of the most loyal friends and partners that I've been lucky enough to work with. So happy that he is coming back strong!

Lee Corso won't let the stroke he suffered in May slow him down

Lee Corso won't let the stroke he suffered in May slow him down

George Diaz

COMMENTARY

12:34 AM EDT, August 2, 2009

Lee Corso stepped outside his home in Heathrow around 8:30 a.m. on May 16, and disappeared.

Somebody else came back into the house. That person, newspaper in hand, grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down in the patio. He felt woozy. He then tried to talk.

"Gaaagggh, baaahh." Pure gibberish.

Corso — the loquacious Mad Hatter on ESPN's College GameDay — vanished that day, replaced by a man engulfed in dark silence.

The diagnosis was a mild stroke. The adjective was a life-saver. Corso saw it for himself, as he began his rehabilitation to heal his body and mind. Others in that room, scarred for life, weren't so lucky.

"I read this book that said 'if you survive a stroke,'" Corso said. "Hello — if you survive a stroke. They used the word survive. That scared the crap out of me. You don't read, 'if you survive a broken leg.'"

Corso is surviving. One day, one word, one sentence, one conversation, at a time.

Nearly three months later, Corso is piecing his life together again. He's graduated from physical therapy but remains in occupational and speech therapy. The stroke affected his right side. He is learning to write all over again, just like he's learned to talk all over again.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the stroke, Corso sat down outside a Starbucks in Longwood a few days ago, took a few sips of an iced tea, and told a story etched in transformation.

A man who has reinvented himself once already — going from a struggling football coach to a glib gridiron guru — is plotting another magnificent makeover. He will be back on TV once fall football begins. The ironic twist in the challenge is obvious: A chatterbox got silenced by a stroke. His voice, as he says, is "the ultimate thing for me."

He speaks fine now. There are a few quirky moments when things don't quite connect, like when he's trying to recall precise moments through the fog of recovery. A critical step was passing a swallow test, he says, "inside the hotel (pause), inside the airport (pause), inside the hospital." It took three times, but he finally found the right word.

But don't feel sorry for Corso. He doesn't. He knows he's blessed.

Blessed from the moment he was rushed from Florida Hospital Altamonte after the stroke, and then transferred within hours via helicopter to Florida Hospital Orlando for more extensive tests that revealed a stroke caused by a blockage to a small artery.

The diagnosis was the easy part. The hard work came next. Beyond the struggles with speech and writing, Corso lost comprehension skills. He couldn't remember anything he had just read.

He was in the hospital for a week in critical care, then another five days in the rehab section before his release.

"The brain heals at its own pace," he said. "If I had a shoulder injury I could rehab it 10 hours a day for five days and it would be great, but not the brain."

He's piecing it all together slowly. He works out every day. Gathers strength in his right hand by squeezing Silly Putty. Twice a week, it's speech therapy. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr," he says, mimicking one of the tongue exercises, then moving his tongue side to side, cheek to cheek. "When I first started I felt my tongue weighed 80 pounds. And I slobbered. I'm getting better at that. I'm trying to get the brain to realize that you can do this."

The blessed part? Like most people who suffer trauma, he's gathered perspective and appreciation for life. Blessed by a family, including his wife, three sons and a daughter. Blessed by his "day job" if you will, as director of business development for Dixon Ticonderoga. It's the company's No. 2 pencils you see when Corso waves them at Kirk Herbstreit to make a point on GameDay. Blessed by getting to know people who cared from him unconditionally. Doctors, nurses, and the orderlies who bathed him during the first days of his hospital stay.

"The people who used to bring me my food and ask how I was," Corso says, tearing up for the only time during our conversation. " ... They got your back and they do a good job. They care about you and they want you to get better. They didn't care who I was."

They likely know Corso for his ESPN gig, which began in 1987. They might not recall a few other significant details: He was Burt Reynolds' roommate at Florida State. He stumbled for success in three head coaching gigs in college. His résumé read more like P.T. Barnum than Paul "Bear' Bryant, a fair assessment for a man who once rode an elephant to help sell season tickets for the University of Louisville in 1969. He has strong ties to Central Florida. Born in Lake Mary, Corso had a run as coach of the Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League in 1985.

Corso's voice is what matters most now. Part of the soundtrack of college football, it's informative and analytical, glib and gregarious. Putting on a mascot head to pick a weekly winner of the game, live on campus, is his pièce de résistance. It's a shtick that has endeared him to generations of football fans, from the college freshman to the 70-something grandfather who is his peer.

Just five days shy of his 74th birthday, Corso is not about to let no stinkin' stroke spoil the fun.

He's marked Sept. 5 — the Alabama- Virginia Tech game in Atlanta — as his coming out party for 2009. That's his goal. He will be there. Live TV. First stop on ESPN's college football traveling circus.

He's turned down various speaking gigs that would have prepped him for the moment. He won't entertain his buddies at the annual Florida Citrus Sports kickoff dinner. He admits to a bit of fear, afraid he might embarrass himself before he's ready.

Instead, he's heading straight to the big room. National audience. No safety net.

Typical Corso. You gotta love it.

Way back when he was a struggling football coach, Corso once crawled out of a coffin on his local TV show to give his players the ultimate pick-me-up: Don't ever count yourselves out.

Same deal applies today. Lee Corso refuses to be silenced.

Not so fast, my friend: Mr. Corso is popping out of that coffin again on Sept. 5.

George Diaz can be reached at 407-420-5533 and gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com.

Toe Meets Leather

Seven SEC football games added to Fox Sports South

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

9:04 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The proliferation of SEC sports on television continues.

Fox Sports Net said Wednesday it has reached a deal with ESPN that will put 91 SEC sporting events per year on FSN regional cable networks in the Southeast, including Atlanta-based Fox Sports South.

The package will include seven football games, expected to air on Saturday nights, as well as 20 men’s basketball games, 24 women’s basketball games, 16 baseball games and 24 other events per year.

The package comes from the massive inventory of events ESPN controls under its new contract with the SEC. Since there is not enough room on the various ESPN networks for all of the programming, some is being sold off to other outlets.

One place or another, all SEC football games and all non-conference home games involving SEC teams will be televised this fall.

The deals will mean an increase in the number of SEC games played at night. The seven Fox Sports Net games likely will kick off between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports South general manager Jeff Genthner said. He said there might be as many as three other SEC games televised elsewhere on any given Saturday night.

Genthner said selections of FSN’s first two or three matchups should be finalized next week.

He said Bob Rathbun will be the play-by-play announcer on the football games, with Dave Archer as analyst, Jenn Hildreth as sideline reporter and Fred Hickman as halftime host.

FSN also plans a live one-hour SEC football show on Wednesday nights this fall, “SEC Gridiron Live,” airing from the network’s Atlanta studio. The show will debut at 10 p.m. Sept. 2 and run for 12 weeks.

Genthner said the studio show’s cast will include Charles Davis (host), Randy Cross (analyst), former Georgia star David Pollack (analyst) and Cassidy Hubbarth (“social media reporter”). Hubbarth’s role will be to facilitate live interaction with fans via sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Genthner said.

Fox’s SEC programming will air on Fox Sports South in seven states, Sun Sports in Florida and Fox Sports Southwest in Arkansas and Louisiana. The programming will be available in more than 24 million cable and satellite households.

FSN had direct TV deals with the SEC for the past 18 years, but those did not include live football games except on rare early-season occasions.

Here's the release about the Emmy's from FOX Sports South

FOX SPORTS SOUTH, SPORTSOUTH

RECEIVE NINE EMMY AWARDS

Original Programming, Studio Programming, Live Event Production

and On-Air Promotions Recognized with Awards

 

FOX Sports South and SportSouth received nine Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Southeast Chapter.  The 2009 NATAS Southeast Regional Emmy Awards, presented June 27 in Atlanta, recognize television excellence in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. 

 

FOX Sports South and SportSouth received 18 Emmy nominations and won in eight of 11 nominated categories.  For the third consecutive year, the networks won the Sporting Event/Game-Live/Unedited category for production of the Atlanta Hawks’ Game 6 playoff match-up against the Boston Celtics and the University of Georgia’s football game against Central Michigan University.  Also for the third year, FOX Sports South and SportSouth won in the Interview/Discussion category, not a sports-specific award, for In My Own Words: Charles Barkley.  The networks swept the nominations in the Sports-One Time Special category and won for the 60-minute documentary Spotlight: Joe Johnson.  Please see below for a complete list of FOX Sports South and SportSouth Emmy winners.

 

Television and Program Specialty Excellence – Sports One-Time Special

·         Spotlight: Joe Johnson – Steve Becker, Keith Wetzler, Dan Greene, Joe Johnson

 

Televise News and Program Specialty Excellence – Sporting Event/Game-Live/Unedited

·         NBA – Celtics vs. Hawks Playoff Game #6 – Hammond Reynolds, Rohan Backfisch, Jay Hoover, Garry Lehman

·         College Football – Central Michigan @ Georgia – Hammond Reynolds, Craig Ritchie, Joe Vencius, Ric LaCivita

 

Television Programming Excellence – Interview / Discussion

·         In My Own Words: Charles Barkley – Steve Becker, Keith Wetzler, Kevin Allison, Charles Barkley

 

Television Spot Announcements Excellence – Promotion-Program

·         SportSouth Trivia – Jon Johnson, Alix Jones, Phil Olshanski

 

Television Crafts Achievement Excellence – Director-Short Form

·         Braves LIVE Show Open – Adam Hirsch

 

Television Crafts Achievement Excellence – Graphic Arts-Graphics

·         SportSouth Trivia – Jon Johnson

 

Television Crafts Achievement Excellence – On-Camera Talent-Anchor-Sports

·         Jerome Jurenovich

 

Television Crafts Achievement Excellence – Photographer-Sports

·         Dan Greene

 

“To be recognized with 18 Emmy nominations for excellence across so many disciplines of our business – original programming, editing, promotions, graphics, on-air talent and photography – and to earn nine Emmy wins is a tremendous honor and a well-deserved recognition for our entire team,” said Jeff Genthner, senior vice president and general manager of FOX Sports South and SportSouth.  “We are grateful to the Southeast Chapter of NATAS and congratulate the many other Emmy winners for their excellence in television production.”

 

The Emmy goes to...

A great night for FOX Sports South/SportSouth last night at the NATAS Southeast Regional Emmy Awards. FSS walked away with a grand total of 10 Emmy Awards!

It was a thrill for yours truly two be nominated for two Emmy's in the same category--in two different sports. Our college football broadcast, Central Michigan at Georgia, and our NBA telecast, Boston at Atlanta in Game Six of the playoffs last year EACH won last night for Outstanding Achievement: Television News and Program Specialty Excellence; Sporting Event/Game-Live/Unedited.

It was a thrill to join Executive Producer Hammond Reynolds and Co-ordinating Producer Rohan Backfisch on stage to accept the dual Emmy's.

On the SEC football game, it was a pleasure to work with one of the game's top analysts in Dave Rowe, plus our great production team of producer Joe Vencius and director Ric LaCivita.

My Hawks team also won for the second year in a row with a telecast from that thrilling Hawks-Celtics seven-game series from 2008. Kudos to Steve Smith, producer Jay Hoover and director Gary Lehman.

More pictures and stories to come!

Congratulations to all of the nominees and Emmy award recipients.

What to Think?

Wow, that was some week last week.
From Bobby Petrino to Roger Clemens, we’ll not soon forget the events of the last seven days.
And what to think of all that?
First, the Falcons.
One thing I have learned in a lifetime of covering college and professional sports is this—unless you are on the inside, and I mean the inner sanctum of these teams—you don’t know the whole story.
There is so much more to all of these stories that what you have heard and read is just the tip of the iceberg.
But with limited knowledge, the entire Petrino affair looks distasteful.
From the outside looking in, it is hard for me to believe that a coach would leave his team in the middle of the season. An NFL coach headed back to college should not have any trouble telling that new team to wait three weeks while he finishes his season.
And what about Arkansas? What kind of program wants a coach that would jump ship to captain yours?
(Let’s not get into the sanctity of the signed contract, shall we? How long was that deal you signed in Louisville, Bobby?)
Certainly, the Petrino Follies will be used against him in recruiting. I’ve heard it said that Petrino will have a hard time in the living rooms of potential recruits. Theory holds that Ma and Pa want Little Johnny to have his coach the whole way thru his college experience.
Well, that’s a nice fairy tale. But the truth is there are plenty of parents who just want Petrino to get their kid to the NFL as soon as possible so the paychecks can start rollin’.
Maybe they could start a conga line with the coach and in unison shout, “We’re Gonna Get Paid!”. They don’t much care how long Petrino lasts in Fayetteville just as long as Their Kid can make it to the league.

The Mitchell Report on steroids was another disturbing bit of news. Not so much for the names that were revealed but how there has been a seismic shift in the values of baseball players, never very high to begin with in the first place.
The history of the game is replete with players trying to gain an edge any way they can. From Slippery Elm to greenies, from sign-stealing to HGH, players will stop at nothing in their quest to beat the system.
But for me, the story of the Steroids Era is this: In years past, players (Pete Rose comes to mind) always held the standard of the Hall of Fame to be bench mark as the highest point in the game. Rose certainly feels this way, and his lifetime ban is keeping him from being in amongst the games greatest players. He never thought he would get caught. And if he did, he’d find a way out. After 13 years of denials on gambling before his admission of guilt, Pete still finds himself on the outside looking in. And looking back, I’m sure Pete feels that it was not worth doing what he did if it will keep him out of the Hall forever. That’s just a guess on my part, but knowing how Rose truly loves the game of baseball I can’t help but think he feels that way in his remorse.
Not so with today’s stars. To use Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens as examples, those players, when faced with a decision to use steroids, picked money over the Hall.
Money is now officially (not that there was much doubt) the most important thing in baseball. Money that the clubs generates. Money that the border-line player can make if he juices and can stay in the big leagues. And money (Bonds and Clemens have made tons) is more important than the Hall. If the allegations are true, then Bonds, Clemens and the like will be recognized as the first players that made the conscious decision to violate first, the laws of the USA and in so doing, thumb their noses at the baseball establishment by using, for profit, performance enhancing drugs.
The money won out. Sad to say, but when has it not? Unfortunately, the money is so big now for the players and the owners in major league baseball that for the first time in memory, the game has taken a back seat.
Get rich. Stay rich. And do what ever it takes to stay at the top. If it keeps me out of the HOF and convicts me in the court of public opinion, so be it.
It was worth it to be a cheat.
What a great message to send to our young people.

Welcome to 'Lanna'

Welcome to town, LSU and Tennessee faithful! It will be a fun weekend, one of the best we have to offer round these parts.
When Steve Spurrier got the job at South Carolina, yours truly was in Columbia to broadcast the USC-Clemson basketball game, the day of the SEC Championship game. USC officials brought Darth Visor out to meet the Gamecock nation at halftime of the basketball game.
“There’s a game tonight in Lanna (that’s correct. He said ‘Lanna’ instead of Atlanta. You had to be there) It’s my favorite game. One day, we’ll be going down there to play in it, I hope.”
Now the crowd went nuts after he said ‘play in it’ and never heard the ‘I hope’. But his point is well taken. It’s a lot of folks favorite game. And this one is intriguing, to say the least.
How Tennessee pulled that Kentucky game out of the fire remains a mystery. And LSU comes in after seeing its BCS title hopes dashed with the loss to Arkansas.
But hey, they are here, ready to play for the SEC title and have a big time.

So, while you all live it up at the Dome, I’ll be slaving over a hot microphone. And it’s another Clemson-South Carolina game, this year at Clemson (4PM, FSN South).
The Tigers had a Tuesday night date with Purdue in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. South Carolina just lost Sunday afternoon to George Mason in Orlando, FL.
Last Saturday, the Tigers beat the new giant killers, Gardner-Webb, but lost two key men to injuries.
James Mays was on crutches after the game, and junior center Raymond Sykes was scheduled for a trip to the oral surgeon after each suffered injuries against the Bulldogs.

Sykes was hit in the mouth in the first half, and the diagnosis was that he had four teeth "moved back" on the play, while Mays, who was undercut on a second-half drive to the basket and lay on the floor for several moments, was diagnosed with a hip sprain.

"I am very concerned with injuries coming out of the game," Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell said. "That was pretty scary (seeing Mays lying on the floor).

"I am not even sure what a sprained hip is. He has been battling some things, and he will start treatment Monday. With a mouth guard, Raymond should be ready to go."

Bulldog head coach Rick Scruggs said the Tigers were the most impressive opponent his team has played thus far.

"From what I have seen, and we played Kentucky, Connecticut twice, and Oklahoma, Clemson has been by far the best team we have played," Scruggs said. "The reason is, they can score it. Clemson got a lot of stuff off transition today, and we paid the price because of the way they were shooting it."

That’s high praise for the Tigers. They should be at the top of the ACC with North Carolina, Duke, and NC State.

The Hawks will be home twice this week, Wednesday vs. Milwaukee, and then Friday vs New Orleans.
Here’s something to look for Friday night. The Hornets have a ritual where all the reserves stand at the bench until the team makes its first field goal. Last Saturday night against the Clippers they didn't sit down until David West hit a 12-footer 10:15 with left in the first quarter -- the first points by either team.
Thrashers back on home ice Thursday night against Toronto, out to prove the back-to-back shutout losses last weekend were flukes. No one can stop that Shake and Bake Line for long!

Rating the Southeast Division

T-minus two weeks and counting to the start of the 2007-08 NBA regular season.

As the pre-season games unfold, here are a few thoughts on the Southeast Division race, where the Hawks reside.

WASHINGTON—surprisingly, the Wizards are rarely named as one of the East’s top teams. Remember, they were pretty banged up by the time they got to the playoffs last year. Healthy, many NBA observers felt like the Wizards would have eliminated Cleveland last year, not the other way around.

This is a deep and talented team. Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison give the Wiz a top three that will rival any in the division. 6-11 Andray Blatche is starting to come in to his own. This is the favorite in the division.

ORLANDO—perhaps a sleeper team in the East. Certainly the addition of Rashard Lewis in the off-season will give Dwight Howard some help up front, but the key to the success of this team might at the point. Jameer Nelson has had a great pre-season to date, and may just thrive in Stan Van Gundy’s up-tempo system. Jameer has piled up 20 assists with only three turnovers in his first three pre-season games. Orlando had a hot start last year that carried them to the playoffs.  They’d like to duplicate that this season.

MIAMI—the big fella (Shaq) is slowing down, injured again in a pre-season game last weekend against Charlotte. But when he is out there, and when Dwayne Wade returns later in November, the Heat will be a formidable foe. The supporting cast is substandard (amazing how out of shape Antoine Walker is). Allowing James Posey to walk to the Celtics was a move that will hurt the team. Dorell Wright, however, is a start in the making. Udonis Haslem will need to improve his scoring.

CHARLOTTE—One of the Bobcats big advantages in years past was Bernie Bickerstaff’s motivation to play hard each and every night. If they get the same inspiration from Sam Vincent, the Bobcats will be improved. Gerald Wallace, armed with a new contract, is the Energizer Bunny for this outfit. Jason Richardson gives the Bobcats a two guard of note, but his work ethic is sure to set the example for this young team But a young team with a raw rookie coach (Sam has spent exactly one year on an NBA bench) will have its work cut out for it.

Meanwhile, the Hawks won three of their first four exhibition games. After winning the first three, the Hawks were slowed on Sunday by Portland. The Blazers had success throttling the Atlanta running game with a 2-3 zone. The Hawks must find a way to score in those situations, or that’s all they’ll see this season. Josh Smith has struggled with his shot through the first four. Al Horford has been as good as advertised. One more home exhibition game this coming Monday against Washington.

FROM THE NOTEBOOK

Anyone struggling with the late start times here in the East with the baseball playoffs? I know I am. 10 o’clock starts are a little rough….Colorado’s run continues to impress and amaze. 19 of 20? Unreal. Kudos to Clint Hurdle and company. Remember folks, the regular season means little. All it does is get you in. What happens from there is anybody’s guess….Good luck and best wishes to Frank Wren as he takes over the Braves. A solid baseball man with deep roots in the development and scouting side, he’ll do a great job….I’ve got to get a plug in for the old alma mater, Catawba College. Last Saturday, in what had to be a game on par with LSU-Kentucky, the Indians roared back from a 35-13 deficit to knock off seventh-ranked Carson-Newman 55-49 in South Atlantic Conference football action on Saturday afternoon at Burke-Tarr Stadium in Jefferson City, TN.  Catawba, ranked 12th in Division II going in, remain undefeated as they improve to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the SAC.  It also marked the first win for Catawba at Carson-Newman since 1987.  The Eagles fall to 6-1 and 2-1. Look for Catawba to now go on and win the national championship.