The Sporting Life

Remembering The Rifleman

Chuck Person and his younger brother, Wesley, will be honored in a jersey-retiring ceremony when Auburn takes on LSU tomorrow night at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

Despite playing prior to the era of the three-pointer, Chuck is Auburn's all-time leading scorer and helped carry the Tigers to their only appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 1986. Auburn's first trip to the Sweet Sixteen had occurred the previous year when Person and the Tigers lost to North Carolina.

  ·  Full story on al.com

As I was saying ...

It's been three weeks since I posted about the Thrashers. Since that time, they've gone 3-6 — including six straight losses after tonight's game vs. the Sabres wraps up. (It was 5-2 Buffalo in the third period with about three minutes to go, when I last checked.)

Remain calm: It's only Jan. 10
Plenty of season to go before Thrashers
can finally say they're playoff-bound

There's a reason Atlanta fans are hesitant to get their hopes up about the prospect of postseason hockey: Dec. 26, 2003.

On that day, the Thrashers welcomed Dany Heatley back to the ice for the first time since the wreck that left teammate Dan Snyder dead; defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning; and sat atop the Southeast Division Standings. In its fifth season, Atlanta looked like a legitimate playoff contender and had fans in a frenzy.

No one had any idea what would follow. During the next six weeks, the Thrashers won two of their 21 games. The team fought back to finish the year in second place in the division — behind eventual Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay — but sat in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, out of the playoffs.

This year, I'm pointing to another date: March 4. It will mark the team's first home game in a month and put us only 22 games from the end of the regular season. If we're anywhere from six to (a close) 10 in the standings, I'll admit I'm going to be hopeful that postseason hockey could finally be played in Philips Arena.

Lone star

Vince Young was unbelievable. Congratulations, Texas. You gave me reason to think I should watch the second half, and now I can hit the hay knowing it was worth it.

Change of heart

I got home tonight and couldn't help but remember: The eyes of Texas are upon me. Texan by birth, Southern by the grace of God. I'll be rooting for the 'Horns. Hook 'em!

Bowl me over

It's the new year, but college football is rumblin', stumblin' on

Late-night sports are gonna be the death of me. Today I had to practically pull myself up a staircase at work as a result of yet another post-midnight finish to a ballgame. Early in the fall, it was the baseball playoffs. Now, college bowls are to blame. Whether a chemical imbalance or the efforts of some tiny outpost in my mind, something won't allow me to give up on a good game and simply go to bed.

As the Orange Bowl entered the fourth quarter last night, I knew I was most likely in it until Paterno and Bowden shook hands at midfield. I was right.

Not all the bowls have been nail-biters, however.

Sometime late in the first quarter of the Capital One Bowl on Monday, I text-messaged a cousin of mine to find out which station was carrying the game. I thought I'd been watching it, but I began to think I'd clicked over to a replay of Auburn-Georgia Tech from the first of the season.

It had to be, right? DBs occasionally nowhere near receivers, costly turnovers, dropped passes, overthrown balls — I know the Tech game when I see it. But, strangely, the opposing team wore red and white.

A top-five finish and another 10-win season would've been nice, but Auburn fans shouldn't let the dismal performance vs. the Badgers destroy their enthusiasm about the 2005 season or hopes for 2006. As for me, I can't wait. No matter how it pans out, it's a great schedule, including home games vs. Washington State, Arkansas, Florida, LSU and Georgia.

But as a friend of mine said, it's over, and there's no sense in analyzing and bemoaning it. Our season is done, and it's time to turn to basketball and baseball.

As for that game tonight, I'm at a point where I no longer care. Sportswriters and analysts have slobbered so much over these two teams and this Rose Bowl that it's robbed the event of something for me.

I'm going to bed at the half. I mean it. Really. Leave me alone!

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Fair and balanced: To Lynnette Ruby, the woman who spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper about the awful revelation that the report of 12 survivors of the West Virginia mining disaster was false: Thanks.

Thanks for talking with a reporter. Thanks also to the three or four unnamed people I've seen who likewise gave good interviews. Rural folks with (as my mom would put it) walking-around sense usually steer clear of somebody with a microphone or a camera, which means the face of smalltown America — and particularly the smalltown South — is often left to the it-sounded-like-a-train, still-on-probation bystanders without whom Fox's Cops probably wouldn't exist. Your appearances on camera were the only positive moments in a story of absolute anguish.

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Your source for Auburn football? Hardly: This blog has to be a helluva big disappointment for the football-rabid visitors who arrive here from the list of blogs at CNNsi and at fanblogs.com. I'm not exactly sure how I made their lists since Auburn football is just one of many random things I ramble on about. My apologies.

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Countdown to first pitch now in days rather than months: No matter how it pans out, somebody please assure me the No. 4-ranked Cornhuskers won't return to Omaha. Their appearance last year was the only blemish on an other wise awesome trip to the College World Series, and I already have a hotel lined up for 2006. With Nebraska fans making it especially competitive to get seats, I think I used enough sunscreen for four people while standing in lines that turned back and forth outside the outfield like a queue at Six Flags.

Only one SEC team in the Top 10 and barely two in the Top 15? And why in the world is North Carolina overrated year after year after year? At least Georgia Tech has a more realistic ranking for a change. How many times have they started out Nos. 1, 2 or 3 and (as usual) not made it out of their own regional? Peruse all 40 of the teams in Collegiate Baseball's preseason poll and judge it for yourself.

There's only one time in life when an Auburn fan loves to hear the words "Roll Tide": when he or she is leaving Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga.

It means the Tigers have just gotten another win against the Georgia Bulldogs on the road. War Eagle!

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And congratulations to the Thrashers for the huge road win vs. the Hurricanes, stopping Carolina's nine-game winning streak with a 9-0 thumping.

Battle fatigue

Days later, finally able to discuss Astros' amazing run that fell short

What? You mean the World Series has been over for days? How long have I been asleep?

Seriously, by the time it was down to Game 4, my brother said, "Well, look at it this way: If we win tonight, then we didn't get swept. If we lose, then we've been put out of our misery and can start getting some sleep."

All those late-night games really began to take a toll on me. Even though it would be an exaggeration, it seemed like I was going to bed after midnight every night for the last three weeks. Houston's final game vs. Atlanta went 18 innings; Game 3 vs. the White Sox went 14 innings.

So now that I've had some time to shake off fatigue and gather my thoughts, I thought it would be unfair to the Astros and their incredible journey in 2005 if I let the season go without any sort of acknowledgement.

  · I agree with what a couple of commentators pointed out: Albert Pujols perhaps cost the Astros a World Series. We'll never know whether it actually would've made a difference, but Roy Oswalt would've taken the mound in Game 1 of the World Series if Pujols' infamous home run hadn't forced a Game 6 in St. Louis.

  ·  It killed me to see Brandon Backe's Game 4 performance go to waste. You have to love his enthusiasm for the game.

  ·  I was glad Jeff Bagwell got a hit during the World Series. It was great to get him there, but I hated the thought of him not contributing in any way. I suspect, however, that he would trade situations with Frank Thomas, given the chance.

  ·  A lot of fans from other teams got to know Lance Berkman, my favorite player besides Bagwell, for the first time. For even more insight into this character, check out this story and this one. You gotta love Fat Elvis.

  ·  This World Series was the lowest-rated one in TV history. I heard many people say, "After my team's out, I no longer watch or care." I hear this sort of comment frequently, especially in college sports. It makes me wonder whether a person is truly a sports fan or simply a fan of a team. If you watch a game only when it involves your team and never at any other time, then I'd say you certainly have passion for your team but don't really have a true love for the sport.

  ·  By the way, if you cared enough to root against the Astros only because of George H. and Barbara Bush, you're as small as anyone who rooted against the Arkansas Razorbacks in their run to the Final Four because of the Clintons.

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  ·  Thousands support Astros at rally
  ·  First taste Series well worth the wait
  ·  No tricks left in a magical season 

House of Cards
Astros overcome Game 5 to bring down Busch Stadium,
reach World Series for first time in franchise history

More than six months ago, a birthday card arrived in my mailbox from my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece. Inside were two handmade tickets — tiny vouchers, according to the words printed on them, that I could exchange for admission to the Saturday and Sunday games between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals in April.

My brother and nephew wanted me to go with them to see Busch Stadium during its final season.

I'll admit I wasn't sure. For one, it would require a lot of driving. First to my parents' house in northeastern Alabama, where I would meet my traveling companions, and then on to St. Louis by way of Nashville and across the Tennessee River where I'd never seen it before, in Kentucky.

Besides the time the three of us would spend on the road for only a two-day trip, the past also had me doubting.

My brother and I had traveled to the Northeast just a couple of seasons earlier for historic first-time trips by the Astros. After our flight and procurement of a rental car, we journeyed to some nondescript roadside hotel in Connecticut, dropped our bags in our room, turned on the TV and discovered, in our absence, Houston's pitching staff had thrown a no-hitter against the Bronx Bombers.

But we would be in attendance not until the next day, for the final game of the series at Yankee Stadium (a loss), followed by the first game of the series at Fenway Park (another loss).

So I had my reservations. But I hated more than anything to pass up a chance to spend time with my nephew. So off we went.

And the Astros lost back-to-back games on the road in my presence once again.

On that chilly Saturday afternoon or intensely sunny Sunday afternoon in April in the Gateway to the West, in the middle of Houston's 15-30 start to the first 45 games of the season, if you had told me I'd later see my team put this place to rest for good en route to a World Series, I would've said you're a sick-minded bastard to taunt anyone from such a tormented fanbase.

But you would've been right.

What an unexpected gift this season has become.

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  ·  The joy of Game 6 erases a painful past
  ·  First-hand account of fans beginning the celebration
  ·  Roy Wonder puts team on shoulders
  ·  Biggio finally has reason to celebrate
  ·  Work day, school day, the celebration goes on
  ·  White Sox up next for the new NL champions
  ·  Astros cast out ghosts of past Octobers
  ·  Biggio and Bagwell's long wait ends
  ·  A new chapter written in Astros history