Football: The Focus

Baseball is our national pastime. Football is our nation's obsession.

The game-NFL, college, or even high school-has a knack for staying near the forefront of our collective competitive consciousness. The buildup for each season begins shortly after the lights go down in stadiums nationwide.

This is most obvious in the NFL. Once the Lombardi trophy is handed out the focus turns to free agency and the NFL Draft. The Combine quickly arrives and with it speculation of who's going where and when. While the lead-up to the NBA Draft (the second most-prominent draft in the four major sports) lasts a month at most, pro days and workouts in front of NFL decision-makers keeps us interested as the temperatures start to warm and the pollen starts to fall.

Obviously draft week is a prime example. Even with the NBA Playoffs getting underway and the post-Opening Day hangover still lingering for MLB fans, the future of NFL franchises reigns supreme. The fact that the spectacle has shifted to primetime on Thursday night furthers the phenomenon. And once the dust settles and Mr. Irrelevant finds a new home we'll all drool as we see our respective No. 1's in their new colors at OTAs and mini-camps.

In similar fashion spring football helps to satiate college fans. Storylines always abound, and with it hope for a new year. How else can you explain Alabama once again playing their spring game in front of 91,000+. You've got new quarterbacks (Georgia), players filling in major voids on both sides of the ball (Georgia Tech), and new defensive schemes (both). Along with Signing Day it's the best opportunity to get a sneak peek at the future of your program. And who among us doesn't like that?

As for the preps, it all goes down on a much smaller scale. Teams go to work under the radar as coaches examine their prospects for the summer and fall, and the players shake off the rust after a long winter. The microscope isn't there. The buildup isn't as great. But there's something about driving past a high school and seeing out of the corner of your eye kids in t-shirts, shorts, sneakers and gloves running gassers and go-routes. It reminds you that football season may seem far away, but it's never completely out of focus.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Darnay Tripp

A Tale of Two Men!

The media masses have left Georgia in the wake of two huge sports stories - Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's bar hopping escapes in early March in Milledgeville and Tiger Woods' return to competitive golf at the Masters in Augusta.

The Roethlisberger saga dragged out for weeks as investigators interviewed countless witnesses as they attempted to figure out what happened at the Capital City Club in the early morning hours of March 5. In the end, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney said there was not enough evidence to prosecute the case "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Bright admitted something may have happened between Roethlisberger and a twenty year old Georgia College and State University student but he couldn't prove it. Bright said he did not condone Roethlisberger's behavior while adding "we do not prosecute morals. We prosecute crimes." While Roethlisberger escaped punishment in Georgia he could face sanctions from either NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell or the Steelers. While the Roethlisberger caper dragged on for weeks Tiger's tale played out over one week at Augusta National.

The week started with a Tiger press conference in which he admitted hurting numerous people and pledged to change his on-course behavior as well. The change worked well as long as Tiger was keeping his ball in play but a few stray shots brought out the old fiery Woods complete with verbal outbursts. Although a fourth place finish was viewed by many as an accomplishment given Tiger's long layoff Woods didn't view it that way, saying he enters tournaments to win not finish fourth.

While both Tiger and Big Ben have left the state, the aftermath of their trips will not soon be forgotten and the lingering story lines will continue to be followed for months to come. Stay tuned!

~ Frank Malloy

BRAVES COULD WRITE CINDERELLA STORY WITH POST-SEASON APPEARANCE

The writers of the latest edition of Sports Illustrated predicted the Atlanta Braves will snag the NL East Wildcard position this year. From their pages to God's ears. But the Georgia boys do have a good bit going for them this season. They picked up Troy Glaus, Chipper Jones is back and ready for business and hopefully Billy Wagner can make a difference in the bullpen. If things run like a good fast ball you will see a very happy Bobby Cox in the dugout.

Next fall the Skipper plans to retire after twenty-five years and two different stints with the Bravos. Since I began covering news and sports here fifteen years ago, I've only known the Braves with Bobby, arms folded and staring out from the dugout. I spoke with him a couple of years back at spring training and he was quite the gentleman, fielding every question we had with a kind spirit.

It's well known that his players love him and maybe that's because he's the first to jump out of the dugout for some fireworks with the umps over a bad call. After all he does hold the record in major league baseball for the most ejections. He's had to hit the showers 143 times.

But along with his feisty nature on the field he also has the title of the fourth winningest manager of all-time. Bobby can sport a World Series ring whenever he wants. And maybe we all got a little too complacent when the Braves won a division title every season from 1991 until 2005. Now it's 2010 and we've yearned for the boys in blue and red to stretch their talents deep into October. Do it for Bobby!

Suzanne...