Southern Times, Girls, and Sports

On a cold February night in Oklahoma City more than a year ago, Tony Allen gave arguably the greatest interview in Memphis sports history after the Grizz came from behind to beat the Thunder.

When asked how they pulled off the win, Allen responded with this answer.

“All heart, grit, grind.”

From that point on, that phrase became the rallying cry of  not only the Grizzlies, but the city at large.

In the end, a year after making a spirited run to the Western Conference Semifinals, that same slogan Tony Allen coined came back to bite the team in the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs.

Instead of grinding it out in Game 1, the Grizz got comfortable and managed to fold up like a card table by being on the wrong end of history after being up by 27 against the Clippers.

In Game 3, the Grizz blew a five-point lead in the fourth quarter after they thought that jumpers, not going inside-outside with their offense which meant getting it in to Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph when it mattered the most.

And yesterday, with the season on the line and the Grizz down 10 in the fourth quarter, Zach Randolph was treated just like the last kid being picked for team in three on three.

On top of that, O.J. Mayo, who is no more qualified to run the point than Greg Oden, couldn’t make shots or even plays while running the point and the Clippers’ bench, which reminded me of the Sacramento Kings’ bench of the early 2000′s, was just scoring at will and taking the load off the starters.

That’s the cold hard truth.

Prior to the beginning of the series, the Clippers were viewed as fake tough guys.

I guess we know now who wanted it more Sunday.

And it wasn’t the perceived fake tough guys.

When you think of Memphis’ sports history, the first thing that comes to your mind is disappointment.

Whether it’s Mario Chalmers hitting a 3-pointer in Derrick Rose’s eye or losing a shot at an expansion NFL team to cities like Jacksonville and Charlotte, the history of sports in the Bluff City has been for the most part, star-crossed.

However, on April 29, 2011, the Grizzlies, who prior to the start of the 2011 NBA playoffs had never won a playoff game or even a playoff series, did the unthinkable.

The underdog Grizzlies, led by a perceived problem child in Zach Randolph and an eccentric swingman in Tony Allen, defeated the mighty San Antonio Spurs to win their first ever playoff series on April 29, 2011.

One year later, the Grizzlies are gearing up for their matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers and Blake Griffin as the West’s #4 seed.

The Grizzlies, long viewed as the butt of jokes are now bonafide NBA title dark horses, something that would have been deemed as laughable a year ago.

Now the fun begins.

Born on January 27, 1991 in Melbourne, Australia, Bradley T. Wing was the son of professional punter David Wing, who unsuccessfully tried out for a spot with the Detroit Lions before settling on punting for the Scottish Claymores, a member of NFL Europe.

Growing up, Wing played Australian rules football, something that later on would help him in his punting abilities and after getting cut from the Sandringham Dragons, family friends of the Wings in Baton Rouge took an interest in him as part of a student exchange program prior to his senior year.

At Parkview Baptist High School in Baton Rouge, Wing would receive All-State honors for his punting skills which would transform into a football scholarship as well as the attention of Coach Miles, who Wing had no clue about until being told by his host family.

In April during the Purple-Gold Game, Wing made his debut after redshirting during the 2010 season and impressed LSU fans with his leg averaging over 40 yards per punt.

Against Oregon, the LSU coaching staff decided to let Wing punt with his right foot, which in turn would throw off the Ducks whenever they got ready for punts, something that would be a factor in the Bayou Bengals’ 40-27 victory.

For aspiring musician and actor Jesse Brooks of Hammond, Louisiana, being an LSU fan was just something that was embedded in the culture of southeast Louisiana residents.

“It’s pretty much in our culture,” he said, when asked about what it meant to be an LSU fan in the Pelican State, “Not only that my mom is a teacher at LSU, so I spent a lot of time on the campus so the Tigers were just in my DNA.”

Going into the season, Brooks’ opinion of Les Miles as a coach remained unchanged.

“I think he’s one of the best coaches in the country”, Brooks commented, “Is he good with clock management? No. Is the offense sometimes suspect? Yes. But he will stand up for his players, which is another reason why players love playing for him.”

Brooks believed that Florida, which the week before suffered a 38-10 drubbing at the hands of Alabama in the Swamp, was going to put up a valiant effort against LSU in Death Valley.

“After the way the Gators played against the Crimson Tide, which like LSU had a tenacious defense, I figured that they at least would make it interesting because they had guys like Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey on the offense that were capable of making big plays. I knew for a fact that John Brantley wasn’t going to be the difference maker at quarterback going against a team like LSU.”

While Brooks as well as most LSU fans thought for certain the Bayou Bengal defense was going to have its way with Brantley behind center, the day after the Kentucky game it was announced that the Gators were going to be without the senior quarterback after he twisted his knee and ankle on a sack in the Alabama game.

In postgame, Florida coach Will Muschamp stated that the injury to Brantley killed any chances of the Gators making a comeback against the Tide when they inserted true freshman Jeff Driskell behind center, a pro-style quarterback from Oviedo, Florida and regarded as the number-one quarterback in the Class of 2011 and the number 10 prospect in the Sunshine State.

With no Brantley to start at quarterback against the Tigers, it meant that either Driskell or the other true freshman Jacoby Brissett was going to get the start against the Bayou Bengals in Death Valley, which would result in Muschamp choosing Brissett over Driskell because Driskell wasn’t healthy enough to go against a tough LSU defense.

Meanwhile for LSU, the previous week’s return of Jordan Jefferson meant that Les Miles had to think of ways to involve Jefferson in the offensive game plan. Although Jefferson scored a touchdown in the Tigers’ 35-7 win, he wasn’t ready to go with him as the starting quarterback.

Through six games, Lee had thrown for over 1,400 and 14 touchdown passes and only three interceptions, erasing any trace of “Pick Six Lee” from the memory banks of LSU fans.

For Lee, who led LSU to wins over Oregon, Mississippi State, and West Virginia, Florida was going to be his first chance at beating a top-25 team on the Death Valley turf.

Back in Memphis, instead of enjoying a Saturday filled with football at a sports bar, I was relegated to dealing with customers at the gold company I worked for, filling in for a person that had the day off and since we didn’t have cable in our store, I had to find a radio station that carried the game with the radio application I had on my phone.

And instead of listening to Jim Hawthorne on WWL, I was forced to listen to the Florida announcers, which was the equivalent of listening to John Sterling for a Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway, torture of the highest order.

“If I get crazy,” I told my supervisor, who didn’t watch sports, “don’t be alarmed. Just look the other way.”

Yesterday on Twitter, Greg Gaston, John Maddox, John Martin and I had a conversation about how new Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen should fix Memphis football, which of course, is something that I make fun of on a regular basis.

And while all four of us had differing opinions on how Bowen should fix football, I felt I could use this column space to come up with three ways to fix Memphis football.

1. Make Memphis football an event, not just about the game

While losing football isn’t something you can actually market, the overall atmosphere at a Memphis game is that of a dreaded trip to the dentist. Although Tiger Lane in some way has erased the sterile atmosphere for the program tailgating wise, improving the gameday atmosphere as well as the product on the field should be an area of concern for Bowen.

2. Increase fundraising

In order to have a somewhat decent program, fundraising is the key. Aside from the Fred Smiths and Alan Grafs of the world, the small-time donors (i.e. those who give $10, $20, or $100) should feel a sense of obligation to the football program. Reason why I say this is because while it’s okay to break bread with the bigwigs, you have to connect with the average Joes that give to the football program. Lose them, and you’re still going to have 8,000 fans at games.

3. Forget getting an on-campus stadium

Memphis, much like San Jose State, is a commuter school, meaning that most of the students don’t stay on campus. Therefore, Bowen needs to forget about getting an on-campus stadium. Instead, figure out a way to shutter off four sections of the Liberty Bowl during Memphis games, which in turn would make a crowd of 18-25,000 out of a possible 45,000 seats look better on television.

Years ago, when I worked as a part-time social worker for low-income parents in the northern part of Memphis, one of the shows I enjoyed watching whenever I did have the time was City Confidential, narrated by legendary actor Paul Winfield.

            The show, which ran on A&E for many years, focused on the seedy side of various small towns as well as some major cities around the United States, most notably places like Athens, Georgia and Little Rock, Arkansas and because of my fascination with history as well as mysteries, I never missed an episode of the show.

During the craziness in the aftermath of the Shady’s bar fight, I always thought how Winfield, who died in 2004, would have narrated an episode of City Confidential devoted to the showdown at Shady’s.

More importantly, besides conflicting reports from a blooded Marine and several witnesses, what would make this something that could have been used as an episode on City Confidential?

On August 23^rd, a day before the restraining order Ms. Siadous issued against Lowrey in a Baton Rouge courtroom was filed, Baton Rouge police did something that I thought was only for murderers and rapists, not someone who had been accused of being in some bar fight.

That day, Baton Rouge police went to Jordan Jefferson’s apartment and asked him to take off the shoes that he was wearing as well as collect 49 other pairs of sneakers from the apartment.

The reason for the collection of sneakers from Jefferson’s apartments was to swab them for any traces of his DNA, something that many people saw odd.

Baton Rouge police spokesman Don Stone, in his meeting with reporters, didn’t comment on why the cops were interested in seizing Jefferson’s shoes however it was discovered that later on, the reason the police was interested in his shoes was to see whether or not they matched the imprint found on Lowrey’s shirt.

Meanwhile, on my radio show the following night, the subject of the LSU bar fight came up.

“With all that has happened,” my co-host asked me, “how do you like the Tigers’ chances against Oregon?”

“They’ll be fine for the most part,” I responded, “There’s been no word of suspensions or anything like that yet. However even if players are suspended, there are two things that can lead us to victory over the Ducks, running game and defense. Without those two things we’re royally screwed.”

“So you still think there’s a chance for LSU to pull off the win without Jordan Jefferson?”

“We’ve been through adversity in the past,” I said, “Miles knows how to get this team focused and I believe that is exactly what he’s going to do.”

On the seventh day after the Shady’s bar fight, Miles was facing insurmountable pressure from LSU fans as well as media in and around Baton Rouge.

As Miles originally stated in his short press conference the day after the fight, he wanted to let the Baton Rouge police do their investigation before making a decision on the four players involved in the fight.

For some LSU fans, including myself, we wanted this nightmarish end to what had been a productive preseason camp behind us, regardless of what happened to Jefferson and the three other players involved.

On August 26^th, exactly one week after the Shady’s bar fight, LSU fans finally would get a resolution on the fate of the four players involved.

That day, as I stood in line waiting to purchase books for the fall semester at CBU, Coach Miles announced that Josh Johns, Jefferson, Jarvis Landry, and Chris Davenport were suspended indefinitely.

Meeting with reporters, Miles stated that day that they were going to continue cooperating with authorities to find out what took place that night

“As sad as this incident is,” he said to reporters that morning, “it’s important that we learn from this and take away a valuable lesson. This has weighed on all of us. It’s time for us to come together as a team and focus on what we are here to do.”

Fearing that the dreams of winning an SEC championship or even a national championship for that matter might end up in smoke for the Bayou Bengals, I posted something on my Twitter page, something that ended up catching Cassie’s attention.

“Magic carpet rides don’t end, time just runs out on them,” I wrote.

Cassie, ever the optimist as well as unafraid to say what was on her mind, responded back to me.

“Forget a carpet ride,” she told me, “I don’t believe in carpet rides. Football is football.”

However, no one was prepared for what was about to come for the 2011 LSU Tigers.