2012 December
ORLANDO The old comedian Steve Allen once said, "I used to be a heavy
gambler. But now I just make mental bets. That how I lost my mind." replica
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He easily could have been talking about bowl games. As inexact sciences go,
they fit somewhere between the "wheel of fortune" and "pick a number between one
and 10."
A college team's best players often are upperclassmen who already have one
foot and an entire head out the door. Some get lost in the vacation atmosphere
of bowl week. Some can transition back from holiday break. Others just look,
play and act like they would rather not be there. It why we are left with
results like: Central Florida 10, Georgia Holograms 6 in the Liberty Bowl. Call
it an academic and career game plan.
"It's a pretty big field nowadays," Murray said in August. "A lot of
companies are hiring IO psychologists."
Aaron Murray plays a football game Tuesday. There is a very good chance it
will be his final football game for Georgia.
This is pure conjecture on my part. It is based on the fact that Murray, as
much as he loves college football, has other things going on in his life. He has
other things he wants to try. He's a different kid.
"You mean mature?" Murray said, smiling.
"No," I responded. (He laughed. Know your audience.)Greg McGarity is avoiding
amusement parks and costumed cartoon characters this week. He found his own
"Happiest Place on Earth" in Orlando roaming the aisles of a Barnes and Noble
while clutching a gift card.
"I'm going to spend all of this," he said by phone. christian
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McGarity loves books, particularly anything on leadership. His favorite is,
"Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck Why Some Thrive Despite Them
All," by Jim Collins.
"There's a section in there on productive paranoia," Georgia's athletic
director said. "I think all ADs have a level of that."
It is why, despite the generally positive feelings that surround the Georgia
football program these days, McGarity isn't nearly satisfied.
After 15 years, it almost gone. After 17 years, it will be. (How did the BCS
get to vote before it was 18?) We left with a palatable title game (AlabamaNotre
Dame) but a nonsensical way of getting there and zero postseason drama. Or in
the case of the Baltimore Ravens in 2001, a defense so great that it can
overcome Trent Dilfer.
Results by Matt Ryan and the Mike Smithcoached Falcons this season suggest
Atlanta is in a pretty good spot to go to the Super Bowl for only the second
time in franchise history, and possibly win it. Ryan is having the best season
of his career. Smith has kept his team focused and ascending over the past four
weeks (exception: the Carolina game) and upgraded his staff with coordinators
Mike Nolan (defense) and Dirk Koetter (offense).
What Ryan and Smith both lack is a playoff resume. Here are my rankings of
the potential 15 quarterbackcoach combinations in the playoff field (10 teams
that have clinched, five that are in the hunt):DETROIT The schedule says there
is a game left. The coach, Mike Smith, says, "We've said all along that if
there's games left to be played, we're going to play them to win." (And in his
head, he probably adds: "Even if we play them with Luke McCown.")
But this is the reality: Nobody is thinking about Game 16 against Tampa Bay.
It about what happens in three weeks and that where everybody thoughts are.
There's no pressure to win the regular season finale next Sunday, no requirement
to play in the first round of the playoffs, no pressure to jazz up the
resume.
"We've done everything we can," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said late Saturday
night following his team's 3118 win over Detroit, which secured a bye and the
NFC's No. 1 seed in the playoffs. "Now we just have to go do it." In the
playoffs, he means.