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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The 2009-10 Atlantic Coast Conference basketball schedule released today by Commissioner John Swofford is highlighted by 281 television appearances by the league’s 12 member schools, including 162 appearances on national television networks. This year’s schedule also includes 173 televised games involving ACC teams and marks the sixth-straight year the ACC has had more than 250 television appearances.

The Conference will provide an updated 2009-10 ACC schedule with additional television selections at a later date.

In addition, the league also unveiled the 2010 ACC Tournament logo today. The 57th annual ACC Tournament is set for March 11-14, 2010, and marks the 22nd time that the four-day event will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum.

ACC Basketball by the Numbers

162 - ACC teams are scheduled to make 162 appearances on national television networks, including 118 appearances on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, 35 on Fox Sports Net, and seven on CBS.

24 – ACC teams are scheduled to play a total of 24 games against 22 non-conference opponents that earned NCAA Tournament berths in 2008-09.

19 - Fox Sports Net and affiliates will televise 19 Sunday afternoon and evening games on a national basis, starting with North Carolina hosting Nevada on November 29.

11 - Headlining the league’s non-conference schedule is the 11th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge pairing two of the nation's premier conferences in a regular-season challenge series. Last year, the ACC won the Challenge for the 10th-straight time, winning six of the 11 games played. The ACC (.640) and the Big Ten (.613) are the two winningest conferences in NCAA Tournament history.

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.

Never, Ever

It was incredibly exciting. A double-overtime thriller at the Smith Center. Yet, when the finally horn sounded, we all said the same thing.

They will never win in Chapel Hill.

The Clemson Tigers blew a game Sunday night that confirms the above statement. Clemson held a 11-point lead with less than four minutes remaining and still managed to lose in Chapel Hill for the 53^{rd consecutive time without victory.}

All you needed to see was the body language. North Carolina knew it would win. Clemson knew it would not. It was only a matter of time. And when Clemson could not get off a game-winning shot in the final seconds of regulation, the feeling going into each overtime was not that Carolina would win, but by how many.

Add the fact that Clemson is also the worst free throw shooting team in the country (1-7???) it’s a wonder they were able to build such a tremendous advantage on the road.

I, for one, was hoping the streak would end.

I don’t like long streaks like this, losing streaks and games played streaks. They seem to take on a life of their own, and what does it really mean, anyway? These kids that played their hearts out for Clemson Sunday night had nothing to do with all those losses. Yet, they carried the weight of history with them.

Many a night, I broadcast the Clemson at UNC game, and it seemed that every game ended the same, with Carolina winning by an average score of 83-58! If memory serves, I called five Clemson at UNC games in the streak.

I hereby put in to call next year’s game!

You have to be impressed with the way Duke has been playing. A great win over Carolina on the road, followed by a string second half in taking care of Boston College, the Devils now have the inside track to home court advantage in the NCAA Tournament. No the games won’t be played at Cameron Indoor, but for Duke to get games in Raleigh and Charlotte would be plenty of advantage for Duke….Maryland is coming on strong. When James Gist plays like a superstar, the Terps emerge as a elite-team….why would I not be surprised to see Bobby Knight take over at LSU soon?....I’ll tell you another team that is coming on strong: Kentucky. They could be the sleeper come SEC Tournament time.

The Hawks hit the all-star break this week, staring at a Western Conference trip that will be as tough as any in recent years. At Lakers, Sacramento, Golden State, Utah and San Antonio is a rugged five-games-in-seven-days stretch. But even if the Hawks lose all five, they’ll still be in a position to clinch a playoff berth in the East with a month and a half to play. The way its going, 10-games under .500 will be good enough to make the playoffs in the East. And look at what is happening in the West. Potentially, a 50-win team could miss the playoffs.

Kobe or LeBron?

This week, the NBA’s top two marquee attractions will play Philips

Arena.

You can decide for yourself who is better. Kobe or LeBron?

Wednesday night, the Lakers make their annual visit. Bryant has been sensational this season, leading a rejuvenated Laker attack.

Bryant is averaging 28.4 per game this season. Since Philips Arena opened, Kobe has led the Lakers to five wins here in six decisions.

He’s averaging 30.2 PPG here in his career, with a high game of 37 here in ’05.

Over the years, the Hawks have managed to keep it close with LA, only to see Kobe take over at the end of games to seal the deal for the Lakers.

Friday night, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will be here.

Of course, we see LBJ a little more often, but his impact is just as big as Kobe’s.

LeBron scored 31 here, with 10 boards and six assists but the Hawks prevailed, 90-81, in January. Joe Johnson had 29 in that one.

In his career, James has averaged 30.1 in eight career games in Atlanta, with the Cavaliers winning six of them. In fact, that January win by Atlanta ended a six-game Cleveland winning streak here.

So far this season, LeBron is averaging 30.1 PPG. His high-game this season is 51, and has turned in four triple-doubles.

So, do you have your tickets? Wednesday and Friday look to be pretty special nights for basketball in the ATL!

Unbelievable Super Bowl! For the first time in recent memory, the game was better—much better—than the commercials! Hey, the Giants deserved it. They outplayed the Patriots. It’s a Super Bowl that will go down as one of the greatest sporting events of the last 25 years.

Duke and North Carolina Wednesday night in Chapel Hill…Duke is good, not great. Look for the Tar Heels to win this one, setting up the rematch in Durham that will tilt toward the home team. Clearly, the best two teams in the ACC. Hot right now—the Maryland Terrapins. A gritty victory Saturday at Georgia Tech keeps a positive roll going for the men of Gary Williams…

Tennessee held off Mississippi State last Saturday night and now owns the outright lead in the SEC East. The Vols quality depth makes them the SEC’s best. That game with #1 Memphis later in the month should be tremendous.

Atlanta's Rising Stars

Tomorrow night, the Hawks will face the Magic in Orlando. It will be Atlanta’s first look at the 16-5 Magic men, and will give us another installment of the Battle of Atlanta, Dwight Howard vs. John Smith.

Heading into the game, Josh had put together an outstanding run of five games. Starting with the New Orleans game on November 30th, J-Smoove was shooting .560 from the floor, and had not attempted a three-point shot in his last three games. Included in the run was a 28-point effort against Minnesota. The NBA’s league-leading shot blocker swatted seven against the T-Wolves. Josh has averaged 20.8 PPG over the stretch.

His former AAU teammate Dwight Howard continues to lead a Magic team that has been incredible on the road this season. (Mark your calendars now: Orlando will be at Philips much later in the season: Sat. March 22 and Tues. April 15).

Dwight’ presence inside has brought back memories of the franchise’s halcyon days when Shaquille O’Neal patrolled the middle.

This Magic team looks to have the most potential of any club that has followed in the wake of failure and frustration created by O’Neal’s exit in the summer of 1996.

The Magic have matched the record 20-game start recorded by the franchise’s two best teams—the 1994-95 and the ‘95-96 clubs of Shaq, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott.

Much like those teams, the Magic now have a big-time center, and have surrounded him with fantastic shooters.

“There is so much of a resemblance,” said Anderson, now a community ambassador for the Magic. “I really think this team could become like our team of ‘94-95. There are lots of similarities, starting with Dwight and Shaq. They’re not as big as we were, but the makeup is there.”

The scary things is  Howard is just 22 (same as Josh), and is signed through 2013.

I say bring back the old NBA territorial draft! Atlanta should have both Smith and Howard.

“The biggest comparison is that they have multiple weapons like we did,” Scott, the current Hawks radio analyst and former three-point bomber in Orlando, said.

“And people want to use the Shaq- and Dwight-as-anchors angle, and it works. I’m not sure they have a guy like Penny, but we didn’t a Rashard Lewis, either.

“This team just needs maybe one more guy who can come off the bench and win the game for you. They are close, but I’m not sure they are there yet.”

With the Hawks improving day-by-day, and Washington crippled with a key injury to Gilbert Arenas, it may not be very long until we are looking at a situation that the Hawks and the Magic will be the top two teams in the Southeast Division for the foreseeable future.

The Kiddie Corp

One of the ancillary benefits of my job is getting to talk hoops with the great men and women who cover the game on a regular basis.
Hop-scotching between the NBA and major college basketball brings me in contact with the elite of the 5th Estate and often those pre-game discussions spark some interesting fact-finding missions.
Last weekend, I ran into my old pal Ron Morris, now the lead sports columnist for The State in Columbia, SC.
We got talking about college personnel, and I shared with him a list of the players who are currently in the NBA that have collegiate eligibility time remaining.

Here’s the list, courtesy of STATS LLC:

NBA Players Who Would Still Have NCAA Eligibility if Stayed/Went to College
(Based on Current NBA Rosters)

NBA Team    Player                  College/High School     Would Be IF Stayed
Atlanta     Al Horford              Florida                       Sr.
Atlanta     Josh Smith              Oak Hill Academy HS           Sr.
Atlanta     Marvin Williams         North Carolina                Sr.
Boston      Glen Davis              LSU                           Sr.
Chicago     JamesOn Curry           Oklahoma St.                  Sr.
Chicago     Thomas Gardner          Missouri                      Sr.
Chicago     Joakim Noah             Florida                       Sr.
Chicago     Tyrus Thomas            LSU                           Jr.
Cleveland   Daniel Gibson           Texas                         Sr.
Cleveland   Cedric Simmons          North Carolina St.            Sr.
Denver      J.R. Smith              St. Benedict’s Prep HS        Sr.
Detroit     Arron Afflalo           UCLA                          Sr.
Detroit     Amir Johnson            Westchester HS                Jr.
Detroit     Rodney Stuckey          Eastern Washington            Jr.
Golden St.  Monta Ellis             Lanier HS                     Jr.
Golden St.  Patrick O’Bryant        Bradley                       Sr.
Golden St.  Brandan Wright          North Carolina                So.
Indiana     Shawne Williams         Memphis                       Jr.
LA Clippers Shaun Livingston        Peoria Central HS             Sr.
LA Lakers   Andrew Bynum            St. Joseph HS                 Jr.
LA Lakers   Javaris Crittenton      Georgia Tech                  So.
LA Lakers   Jordan Farmar           UCLA                          Sr.
Memphis     Mike Conley             Ohio St.                      So.
Memphis     Rudy Gay                Connecticut                   Sr.
Memphis     Kyle Lowry              Villanova                     Sr.
Miami       Daequan Cook            Ohio St.                      So.
Miami       Dorell Wright           Leuzinger HS                  Sr.
Milwaukee   Ramon Sessions          Nevada                        Sr.
Minnesota   Corey Brewer            Florida                       Sr.
Minnesota   Gerald Green            Gulf Shores Academy HS        Jr.
Minnesota   Al Jefferson            Prentiss HS                   Sr.
Minnesota   Sebastian Telfair       Abraham Lincoln HS            Sr.
New Orleans Julian Wright           Kansas                        Jr.
Orlando     Dwight Howard           SW Atlanta Christian Academy  Sr.
Philadelphia Jason Smith            Colorado St.                  Sr.
Philadelphia Louis Williams         South Gwinnett HS             Jr.
Philadelphia Thaddeus Young         Georgia Tech                  So.
Portland    Lamarcus Aldridge       Texas                         Sr.
Portland    Taurean Green           Florida                       Sr.
Portland    Josh McRoberts          Duke                          Jr.
Portland    Greg Oden               Ohio St.                      So.
Portland    Martell Webster         Seattle Prep                  Jr.
Sacramento  Spencer Hawes           Washington                    So.
San Antonio Darius Washington       Memphis                       Sr.
Seattle     Kevin Durant            Texas                         So.
Seattle     Jeff Green              Georgetown                    Sr.
Seattle     Robert Swift            Bakersfield HS                Jr.
Utah        C.J. Miles              Skyline HS                    Jr.
Washington  Andray Blatche          South Kent Prep               Jr.
Washington  Dominic McGuire         Fresno St.                    Sr.
Washington  Nick Young              USC                           Sr.

What goes through your mind when you see this? Didn’t realize that Josh Smith would be a senior this year? Or what the college landscape would look like with these guys back on campus? Think Tyler Hansbrough would be the pre-season player of the year with these bigs still in school?
That’s 51 players out of 450 spots in the NBA. Over 10% of the league would still be in college, based on this chart. Wow. I knew it was a lot, but not that many!
With Minnesota and Memphis coming into Philips arena this week, youth will definitely be served!

Bring It On!

Midnight Madness means only one thing—the start of the college basketball season.
And the blessed day is coming Friday.
And this season, you won’t have to wait until Midnight to get the party started.
By golly, common sense has prevailed in this tiny corner of the college basketball world, and teams will be allowed to practice at a saner hour, around 7-8 pm.
Memphis is picked by many to make it to the Final Four this year, and just might win it all. Head coach John Calipari had a confident look about him last week, when he stopped by the first day of Hawks camp.
Long the class of Conference-USA, the Tigers are as deep and talented as anyone this year. The city of Memphis has the fever. Memphis will be one of four schools highlighted during ESPN’s Midnight Madness coverage. There are no single game tickets available this season in the massive FedEx Forum.
Memphis, just to refresh your memory, returns all five starters from a team that went 33-4 last season, a win shy of the Final Four.
UCLA, North Carolina, and Kansas round out the consensus top four.

Speaking of the Tar Heels, I couldn’t help but think back on a women’s college basketball game I did for ESPN years ago.
The North Carolina Tar Heels were playing at Carmichael Auditorium, when one of their guards stole the ball near mid-court.
It seemed that she was laying the ball in the basketball before the player she had stripped turned around.
That player? None other than Marion Jones, who showed her world class speed on the hardwood as the world was learning of her amazing abilities on the track.
It was sad watching her life, for all intents and purposes, end on the court house steps in White Plains, NY, last week.
Broke, humiliated, and now looking at prison time, Marion Jones, like Michael Vick, had it all and threw it all away.
After her years of denials, Marion Jones finally spilled the beans about her illegal drug use.
Makes you wonder if anyone involved in that darkness is capable of telling the truth.

NBA exhibition games started this week. The Hawks will host Portland Sunday afternoon at 2 pm at Philips Arena.
Douglasville native and former Georgia Tech Jacket Mario West is playing great in Hawks camp. He’s a hard nosed defender, just like he was on the Flats, and is making a case to stick as the Hawks 15th man on the roster….Chris Ellis, Dale’s son, late of Wake Forest, is in Portland’s camp…Georgia State’s Brad Stricker is with the Nuggets, as is GT’s Alvin Jones…Seattle’s Damien Wilkins has changed his number to 21….scouts are telling me that Golden State’s Marco Belinelli is the real deal, perfect for coach Don Nelson’s system....GT’s Javaris Crittendon debuts with the Lakers this week against the Warriors in Honolulu.

Let’s hope that this weekend is better than last: Thrashers lose their home opener in front of a sellout crowd…Dogs get spanked at Tennessee…Tech loses at Maryland….the Falcons found a way to lose against the Titans…Andruw Jones leaves the Braves and no one seems to care…Marvin Williams didn’t have a hoop in the Hawks open scrimmage. Yuck.

Great Wins, Bad Losses

Now THAT was a great win!

Georgia’s thrilling OT victory at Alabama will go down as one of the more storied wins of the Mark Richt era. The man’s coaching success on the road is amazing. 9-2 in true road games against ranked teams? Outstanding. 23 wins in his last 26 SEC true road games? Unbelievable.

The challenge this week? Getting up for Ole Miss.

A very big deal was made last week over the fact that Larry Munson missed the broadcast at ‘Bama, and rightfully so. It was the first road broadcast that Larry will miss this year. But very little was made of the fact that the Georgia-Alabama broadcast was the biggest moment of Scott Howard’s career. Howard and Eric Zier turned in a broadcast worthy of the game, and a broadcast that every true Dawg fan should be proud of. Howard was under the microscope for this one, and he delivered.

A bit of history: In Tyrone Willingham’s first year at Notre Dame, he started 8-0 and did not receive a contract extension. In Charlie Weis’ first year at ND, he went 3-2. Weis received a 30-million dollar deal. How is that move looking now?

The Irish are a worst-in-school-history 0-4 after last Saturday’s drubbing by Michigan State. And this from draftnic Mel Kiper, Jr. on ESPN Radio: “There is not a lot of young talent being developed. Recruiting classes are fine, but do they produce? It’s who is being developed in this program. This is Weis’ third year. Where is the development of the sophomores and juniors? Freshmen play right away now. By their sophomore year, after four games, you should be able to identify the stars in the making. But there are no top flight players in Notre Dame’s sophomore and junior classes right now. I just don’t see it”.

The game of the weekend may be played on Friday night, when West Virginia travels to South Florida. USF dismantled North Carolina last week, the Tar Heels 18th straight regular-season out-of-state loss.

Great to be back at Philips Arena Saturday night, for the Thrashers pre-season home opener against St. Louis. Marian Hossa scored two goals in the game, one on a nifty backhand flip with the club shorthanded. Florida will be here Friday night for the final pre-season home game. The regular season starts Friday, Oct. 5, against Washington, as the Thrashers raise their first Southeast Division championship banner in pre-game ceremonies.

The Thrashers fans were back Saturday night. Great to see old friendships reunited after the summer break. That’s a loyal, hard core hockey bunch, happy to see their boys back on the ice. Many donning Thrasher sweaters were milling about the CNN Center waiting for the gates to open.

I found myself in Jock and Jill’s for the pre-game meal. Marketing note: all the TVs, less one, were tuned to college football in Jocks. One was on the Braves-Brewers game, and not a soul was watching. Interesting.

Congratulations to Bobby Cremins, who last week was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame at the NYAC. Other inductees included broadcaster Bob Wolff, former St. John's star Walter Berry, former Houston Rocket Mario Elie, new Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Ed Pinckney, former NBA coach and Knicks GM Al Bianchi, coach Hank Rosenstein and trustee Burt Beagle, longtime CHSAA and Baruch College statistician, who passed away this year.

Can we officially put the Joe Johnson trade now in the win column for the Hawks? Billy Knight secured an all-star guard and, thanks to the lottery balls, kept this year’s pick that was Al Horford. Going to the Suns, of course, was Boris Diaw. When Diaw first went to the Suns, he was deemed a great find and his versatility was hailed as a great piece in the Suns arsenal. But, alas, even Steve Nash couldn’t save him last year, and without Nash this summer, Diaw’s act was exposed. Diaw flamed out for the Suns in last year’s playoffs and pulled the same disappearing act for France in the recently completed European Championships. Diaw came under attack in the French press (he was called an "enormous disappointment") for going scoreless and fouling out in 25 minutes against Slovenia. A win against Slovenia would have put France in next summer’s Olympic qualifier. Boris also gagged two free throws with 15 seconds left against Russia in the quarterfinals, a 4-point loss.

Less than two weeks to the start of camp…..

A Method to the Madness

You probably didn’t read his name last weekend. You might have caught a brief glimpse of him on TV. But Boston College offensive coordinator Steve Logan was a very important piece in the Eagles win over the Jackets.
Logan, the former head coach at East Carolina and FSN South analyst, rejoined his pal Jeff Jagodzinski in Chestnut Hill when Jeff got the head job last winter.
I covered Logan’s ECU teams regularly when FSN had an East Carolina package. I got to see first hand what a brilliant offensive mind the man possesses.
If you watched the Falcons game at Jacksonville, you saw David Garrard quarterbacking the Jags. Garrard was Logan’s QB in Greenville and rewrote the Pirates record book.
Logan reminds me of one of those football coaches that will draw up a few plays before the kids wake up on Christmas morning.
You give him a quarterback like Matt Ryan and Logan is like the mad scientist in the laboratory.
Of course, there was more to BC’s win than just Logan and Ryan. BC’s line play was tremendous, they were on top of the Tech blitz package, and were in control all night.
But it was fun watching one of my former broadcast partners back in his element, calling plays for a great QB.

It never gets old watching Tech’s Durant Brooks punt the football. I’m sure Tech fans would like to see him punt a little less often! But, gosh, what a leg. He’ll be making a ton of money on Sunday’s starting next season…Didn’t you hold your breath in the first half when GT’s James Johnson collided with BC’s Wes Davis? I did. You just pray these young men get up after a collision around the head and neck area…there must be 10 million Division One high school football players in the state of Florida. Good grief! Enough talent to supply Florida, FSU, Miami, UCF, USF, Florida Atlantic and all the other schools that come in and get guys…watching GT/BC reminded me what an advantage football has over college basketball in keeping a team together for a few years and growing a winning culture. The hoop coaches don’t have that luxury, given the way players jump after a year, sometimes two. And the basketball practice time is so limited; you used to be able to outwork people. No more…..Speaking of keeping a team together, the 2007 national champion Florida Gator basketball team was honored in a ceremony 20 minutes before Florida's kickoff against Tennessee at Florida Field. Players and coaches were presented with their championship rings after a brief video tribute.
The Hawks Al Horford was there, along with the rest of his “04” teammates. That group made history last April, becoming the first college basketball team since Duke in 1992 to win back-to-back national titles. More history followed in June, when Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer became the first college teammates in history to get picked within the first 10 selections of the NBA draft. Horford went third overall, with Brewer going seventh to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Noah going ninth to the Chicago Bulls. In all, five Florida players were picked in the draft with Chris Richard (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Taurean Green (Portland Trail Blazers) going in the second round…..the folks at East Lake deserve a lot of credit for getting that storied course in shape for last week’s Tour Championship. The pin placements over the weekend were set up so the best could slug it out atop the 30-man leaderboard…..Congrats to former Georgia Lady Dawg Kelly Miller on winning the WNBA championship with the Phoenix Mercury Sunday. Miller scored 11 in the finale, which saw Phoenix capture a winner-take-all game on the road. Miller was a two-time SEC Player of the Year at Georgia and with twin sister, Coco, a Sullivan Award winner….By the way, how rare is winning the final game of a championship series on the road in professional basketball? The last time a team won a Game Seven on the road for a title was in 1978, when the Washington Bullets won in Seattle for the NBA championship…admit it, you loved seeing Bill Laimbeer going down in flames, didn’t you?

On Winning and Losing

Labor Day weekend, 2007, marked the start of another college football season.
And if you follow the sport at all, you heard about one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game---tiny Appalachian State’s incredible victory over mighty Michigan before 109,000 fans in Ann Arbor.
The miraculous victory was straight out of a Damon Runyon novel: big school invites little school up to its legendary stadium for a warm up game, giving the visitors a big check for their trouble.
Little school is supposed to roll over at the sight of big school, its fans, its athletes and its traditions.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Big House. No one told Appalachian. They thought they were going to the Fun House.
Outplaying the heavily favored Wolverines, little Appalachian kicked a field goal to go ahead then blocked a Michigan field goal attempt to win it. It was game that sent shock waves throughout college football and the Mountaineers to the cover of Sports Illustrated. But what about Michigan? How will they handle this adversity? The criticism?
It’s a story, I think, from the Michigan perspective, that was written before the game was played.
Its coach, Lloyd Carr, admitted after the game that his team was “unprepared”. This seems unthinkable…the opening game of a new season? 
But let this lesson sink in: if you are not prepared to play, the opposition—in what ever business form that might take—is ready to zoom right past you.
If you take that opposition lightly, the same thing will happen.
If the game plan is faulty, the execution not crisp, it is a given, no matter what level of expertise the opposition offers, defeat is inevitable.

So, the worst thing that can happen has for Michigan. Now what?
I’m reminded of the story of Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. Going into his senior year at the University of Pittsburgh, Marino was expected to lead the Panthers to another banner season.
Marino was the pre-season favorite for the Heisman Trophy. After all his teams were coming off three straight 11 win seasons.
But the Panthers were not ready for that season. Upset three times, Pittsburgh under-achieved, and Marino took the brunt of the criticism.
But Dan didn’t sulk. He made the most of the adversity.
In his autobiography, Dan wrote, “Sports and life are like a roller coaster ride. You have to take the ups with the downs. All the struggle and criticism my senior year made me mentally tough in the long run. Looking back, that season prepared me more for my NFL career that if I had won the Heisman Trophy.”
Marino went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Miami Dolphins. In 17-years, he was arguably the most proficient passer in this history of the game.
How did he do it? By focusing on his skills. His stick dropped after his senior year.
Dan wrote, “I made a decision not to be bitter at the teams that passed on me. Instead, I chose to count my blessings and focus my energy on the opportunity at hand.”
A chance to be bitter. Or a chance to be better.
It will be interesting to see which choice the Michigan Wolverines make.