It’s always great to see athletes who understand the importance of giving back to the community and the Mercer’s men’s basketball team proved they do last week. With road games on Wednesday and Saturday against traditional college basketball powers Oklahoma State and UCLA, the Bears redirected their focus away from the hardwood for just a moment last week, spending Monday at the Children’s Hospital in Macon. Players spent one-on-one time with the many young patients and gave out gifts to each child as well. And though the Bears would lose games against both the Cowboys and Bruins, the players were no doubt victorious last week, proof of which could be seen on the faces of the many children they reached out to.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOTES
Interested in checking out some absurdly early preseason college football rankings for the 2009 season? If so, visit nationalchamps.net, where a top 25 list for the upcoming season has already been posted. The Florida Gators, who have a Jan. 8 date in the National Championship with the Oklahoma Sooners, are the early preseason favorite, while Alabama—another SEC school—earned the second rank. Texas, Oklahoma and Southern California round out the top five. Interestingly, Georgia Tech earned the eighth rank while the Georgia Bulldogs sit one spot behind their in-state rival at No. 9. Can Tech make it two years in a row over Georgia? Clearly, some think so.
Fort Valley State University used last Wednesday to name Donald Pittman its new head football coach. Pittman will become the 13th coach in Wildcat football history after serving as the offensive coordinator at Albany State since the 2002 season. During Pittman’s seven years running the offense at Albany State, the Golden Rams won four Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football titles, made five appearances in the NCAA Division II football playoffs, and were consistently ranked high in almost every major SIAC offensive category. In addition to welcoming a new head football coach, FVSU is also in the process of building a brand new, state-of-the-art football stadium.
VOTE FOR KEITH
Fans can visit NFL.com to support Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking in his quest to win the Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP award. Brooking joins seven other players up for the community award, including Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers and Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals. A former Falcons Man of the Year, Brooking works consistently in the community through The Keith Brooking Children’s Foundation, which has awarded more than $300,000 in grants since February 2004.
After being misled in negotiations with former Brave shortstop Rafael Furcal last week, Braves general manager Frank Wren had this to say: “In this business, you have to have confidence in the people you’re dealing with. The worst thing that can happen to you is to lose the confidence of the people that you have to deal with.” While Wren has obvious reason to be dissatisfied with the way Furcal and his agent dealt with the matter, shouldn’t Wren have had a closer eye on the competition, especially the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team with which Furcal has spent the last three years? Furcal is already the third player this offseason Wren believed to have in the bag before losing in the end, joining Jake Peavy and A.J. Burnett on this growing list.
As for some positive news surrounding the Braves, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones both accepted invitations last week to play for the United States team in the World Baseball Classic. The Classic, which is scheduled for March 5-23, will include teams from the United States, Canada, Venezuela and Italy. The four teams will compete in a six-game, double-elimination tournament from which the top two teams will advance to play in the second round in Miami.
Janovitz can be reached at sjanovitz@scoreatl.com.
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