HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Get Ready for a great year in The Corner! 2010 will be the best one yet.

And, oh! by the way, Lets go Pirates! playing for the Liberty bowl championship

Give the devil his due

Vick deserves some credit

It may be time to remove Michael Vick from the Corner Wall of Shame. That is that infamous place where some of those who have given the world of sports a blackeye are remembered.

It is time to forget the poor animals who suffered at his hands. It is time for PETA and the rest of us to forgive him and appreciate the talent he maintained when he left prison last year.
Vick may not like the way things have evolved in Philadelphia, but the Eagles have done him a favor. He has finally evolved into the position he should have been in the first place which may make him a better player in the long run.
Michael Vick has been a quality quarterback since being the keystone of Beamer Ball at Virginia Tech. He can throw the ball and run an offense but the Eagles have recognized he is much more than that. He is one of the rare ones who can help teams win games in more than one way. Whether he likes it or not, he is not the best for a team when he is only a quarterback.
He is part of what is called the Wildcat formation. There is a touch of irony in a convicted dog fighter being part of a wildcat offense but it is working out well. If Vick wants to continue his success he needs to accept he is not an NFL quarterback, he is much more.

Tiger's impact, no kidding

Many may doubt the recent decision to appoint Tiger as the athlete with the most impact in the last year. They are wrong.
Impact doesn't have to carry a positive meaning with it. There is no one who has affected the sports world more than the man who wears red shirts on Sundays.
Think about the definition of impact. If a ten thousand pound meteor falls off the Empire State building, it will make create a giant crater on the street below. The same can be said for Tiger's fall from grace.
There is no doubt he was at the height of the sports world prior to Thanksgiving of this year. There is also no doubt he is headed towards the bottom now. The impact of that nine iron swing from wife Elin affected more than his mouth. Each mistress that comes out of the woodwork brings him down a little more.
A sure sign you have fallen into the pit of personal disgrace is when Donald Trump is giving advice to you directly on the Larry King show. Your life has been impacted in a bad way.
No one in the last year has rocked the sports world more than Tiger. I only hope he can begin that climb back up that ladder to once again become the world's greatest athlete. The world will have a whole new opinion if he gets back to Augusta, wins another green jacket and holds his two kids in front of the television cameras.

Its Time for More TOMMYS

Anyone who has visited The Corner for any extended amount of time knows that each summer I present the TOMMY awards to events, persons or things that get my attention in the world of sports. It is a personal version of ESPN’s Espy awards. This year I had to make a biannual adjustment. I have to present two awards early because of the impact of recent events

I must present a TOMMY to Coach Marc Morris of the Harnett Central Trojans. Coach Morris made what I call the toughest call I have ever seen. He decided to go for two points after a touchdown that would have most likely given him a state championship. 

The more secure one point conversion would have tied the game and sent it to over time. As the coach told a local reporter, the team was three yards away from a state championship.

Fans should go easy on  the coach, he made the right call. He had the opportunity to win the game from three yards out versus the challenge of over time. That would involve scoring from much further out and possibly relying on his defense to stop a powerful Asheville Reynolds squad. 

He went with much higher odds and tried to win on one play. If tailback Jarod Spears managed a few more yards on his run the coach would be a hero, being praised for his courage and forward thinking.

I also must present a TOMMY to the Harnett Central football team in general. Wow! that would be the word to describe this squad. I hope when the sting of the loss wears off they will realize what an accomplishment it is to be the second best team in the state in their division. 

Harnett Central Principal Ken Jernigan said it best. He said “There are no losers tonight.” 

Those with Trojan signs, keep them around. Coach Morris is building more than a state championship team for one year. He has developed a program of winners. He has them coming up from an undefeated junior varsity squad last year. He has more than half his starting team from this year back. Things are good in Trojan land.

And now, we must address the Tiger Woods “situation.” A “What the heck is going on” TOMMY goes out to a situation that seems to be getting weirder as the days continue to progress. 

Weird is the only word I can think of to describe it. Like most people my impression has been changed. My TW hat and shirt may stay hidden for a while. It is a little harder to look at this picture on my desk I took of him in Pinehurst, thinking maybe a girlfriend is in the crowd, perhaps standing next to me.

 I no more believe he is done with golf than I do I can beat him on the links. The game has been bred into him since he was a child. It is admirable he is addressing his family situation first. I hope it works out. When he does return the rest of the tour better watch out. He is going to come out determined to show he can still do it, and he will. 

A final, early, TOMMY, goes out to readers of The Corner each week. Without you I couldn’t do it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Lets Go Trojans

Trojans Of Both

Colors Should Be Proud

Anyone who has read a newspaper in the area this week knows what the sports story of this area is. It is not often that local sports dominates over the games at any other level, but that is exactly what is going on as thousands in the local area sit on the edge of their seats waiting for Saturday’s state football championships.

There is no way I am going to make any kind of prediction about the final scores of the weekend contests facing the Trojans of South Johnston and Harnett Central high schools. Something is just wrong about putting media pressure on young kids to meet the standard of someone who at least thinks they know a little about the sports world.

That doesn’t mean I won’t make a prediction, but this is one I can bet the farm against. When buses leave Chapel Hill and Raleigh Saturday on their way back to the local area they are going to carry groups of winners. That will be the case no matter what the scoreboard reads and who is hoisting the championship trophy.

A parent of one of the Harnett Central players told me recently their son is now involved in a year-round program. Officially practice can’t start until the summer but athletes do a lot of training months before their official group meetings with their coaches. Hours, and eventually days, are spent in weight rooms, on tracks and on other training devices trying to gain that extra edge that will pay off in December.

In other words, being able to play football this close to Christmas has taken a lot of training, time, patience and perseverance. It has taken dedication most don’t realize unless they have seen it first hand.

That is undoubtedly the case at South Johnston as well. Getting to the state championship game has been a long, hard road regardless of how the final chapter is written. Anyone who is less than a winner ceased being part of such a program a long time ago. That is true of any school playing in any of the championships this weekend.

There is another certainty about this weekend’s contest involving Harnett Central. When it is over there is going to be a stronger school community left behind between Lillington and Angier. The Harnett Central community is closer today than it has ever been and to a large degree that is due in part to the young men wearing the burgundyand gold. I will take the final words this week to give a big shout out from The Corner to all the Trojans, no matter what color they are wearing. I am looking forward to reporting the next chapter of the story next week

Check out the video bar aside to hear the fight song that will fill the air at Carter Finely tomorrow

Tiger and Bobby, What a week!

WOERNER’S CORNER

Woods Controversy
Uncalled For
I think I now understand why Tiger Woods named his boat Privacy. That’s because the only place he can be alone with his family is in the middle of the ocean, on a boat. There is no place on land he can go to escape the ongoing and unnecessary controversy about a minor car accident.
I guess when your name is Tiger Woods you are not allowed to be human and have an automobile accident, a minor one at that. His accident has to go down as one of the most recorded and publicized in history.
Every day in this country thousands of car accidents go unnoticed. When there are no serious injuries, a driver is usually given a ticket, insurance information is exchanged and everyone moves on with their lives. There is nothing further unless you are the greatest golfer in the history of the game.
When Woods had his accident the media swarmed to his house like bees to honey. It turned into a witch hunt, with gossip hungry reporters trying to find a story.
Even if there was a domestic dispute between Tiger and his wife, it is irrelevant. There is no statute against driving after you fight with your wife, unless alcohol or drugs were involved. If there was such a law the roads would be much less crowded.
If the couple was or is dealing with an issue of infidelity that is no one’s business but their own.
If I were Tiger, and anyone who has seen my golf game can testify that I am not, I would helicopter out of my estate secretly and find “Privacy.” I would be sailing up the Intracoastal Waterway, smiling all the way, with family in tow trying to mend some broken fences. I would be headed north just to get away from most people, known as snowbirds, who head south for the cold winter. Santa Claus would have to make a water landing for my kids this year. I would stay out of reach until I teed off in the spring. Tiger equipped his boat better than many houses in this country and now is the time to use it.

Bowden Rides Off
I would be remiss this week if I didn’t send out a giant “Kudos from The Corner” to Coach Bobby Bowden who has announced his retirement. Anyone who thinks he left Florida State willingly is fooling themselves. He retired to maintain some dignity as the Seminole tribe circled around him looking for his head. Coach Bowden is a rare example of someone who is a victim of their own legacy. He established one of the most successful legacies in college football history at Florida State. The way his teams dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference when the school entered the conference, he will probably be recorded as the premiere coach in the history of the conference.
For all those accolades, it is sad to see someone treated the way Coach Bowden has been. It started when the losses started piling up and only got worse. I would call him one of the top five coaches in college football history, and the best one I have ever seen coach in person. He certainly wasn’t treated with the respect he deserves in his final days in Tallahassee. You have to respect him for getting out before the situation got even worse.