Here we go again! More bowl games and the return of the Sprawl Bowl to Newnan (COLUMN)

Today is Friday December 28 which is Day 14 of the 2012 college football bowl season with three on today’s docket.

From Albuquerque to Boise to Charlotte, we have had a bevy of bowls with sponsorships for t-shirts, potatoes, a flower, a restaurant, a truck carrier and a southern based department store chain.
Today we will have sponsors of athletic apparel, auto repair and health wellness for the bowls but there will be other bowls with other sponsors.
The count of bowls for this season is 34 and we didn’t count the BCS title game which is considered a bowl until it’s extinction after next year’s bowl season.
Of the bowls that will appear on television, ESPN/ABC will broadcast all but two of these games as FOX will handle the Cotton Bowl and CBS will delve into the Sun Bowl on Monday between Southern Cal and Georgia Tech.
Years ago I wrote about having a bowl in Newnan called the Sprawl Bowl as the City of Homes was growing a lot and a number of shopping centers and business were putting down roots.
I had this well-coordinated with a parade and all sorts of ceremonies and yes I was having way too much fun with this and eventually the Sprawl Bowl went into hiding.
Until now.
I am having to bring this back just to show how crazy bowl season is to the masses.
I am going right to the parade which will begin at Jackson Street and travel to Newnan High School.
Danny “Boomer” Bishop has been shown a lot of love lately and that should continue as he is the grand marshall for the parade.
Boomer will ride in a car that will have his favorite teams’ logos as Braves, Newnan Cougars and Georgia Tech stuff will adorn the ride.
I guess the bands from East Coweta, Newnan and Northgate as well as their competitive cheerleading squads can appear as well as bands and cheerleaders from the respective middle schools.
We will have to remember one important detail and that is to not have these groups behind the horses.
We will try to schedule the parade around sporting events.
We need a big luncheon like the other bowl game so I am thinking of Sprayberry’s on Jackson or the Redneck.
At the luncheon, Newnan mayor Keith Brady will present the coaches with keys to the city and the teams will have some things to say about the game.
There will be other activities involved with the bowl such as a trip to Senoia to visit the set of “Walking Dead” and a special edition of the Turin Tractor Pull.
I don’t want to disrespect the pull because it is enjoyed by all who attend but my idea of a pull is some of the players from team can pull the tractors.
There will be other activities but I am not that creative and this would take too long to list in this column.
We still need a stadium to play this in and to assign a network to broadcast said game with the most important aspect is to invite a pair of teams.
I think we play one quarter each at Drake Stadium (Newnan), Shoemake (East Coweta) and Seldon (Northgate) with the final stanza to be played at the Temple Avenue recreation facility.
The game will be sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America who has their new facility in Newnan.
The combatants will be Louisiana Tech who was spurned by the bowls and Marshall University since the “We Are Marshall” movie was filmed here.
The final touch is to select a network and since ESPN has a huge plate, we need to go elsewhere like FOX, CBS or NBC.
I did think of TBS but they are very funny and this bowl is very ridiculous so I think we will go with NuLink cable channel 10 to handle the broadcast.
There we go. I have presented the ridiculous and sublime of a bowl and I have shown it can be played anywhere, sponsored by anybody and broadcast by any station.
Enjoy the games as there are more to come.

The world of sports can be medicine for what ails the real world (COLUMN)

Victoria Soto was a big fan of the New York Yankees and her favorite player was probably star shortstop and team captain Derek Jeter.

When the 2013 baseball season begins in April, the 27-year-old teacher will not be among the throngs at the team’s home opener as she was one of the 28 people who were killed last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Soto was killed while trying to protect students in her first-grade class.
Laid to rest Wednesday, Soto’s mother Donna Soto received a telephone call on the same day from somebody affiliated with her daughter’s favorite baseball team.
It wasn’t someone with the public relations department or a representative of the Steinbrenner family who placed the call.
It was none other than Jeter himself who called Donna Soto on one of the worst days in her life to offer his condolences and speak with her a moment.
James Wiltsie, a cousin of Victoria Soto, told the New York Daily News about the loyalty she had toward the Yankees and what it meant for Jeter to call.
 "Vicki loved the Yankees -- that was part of her eulogy," Wiltsie told the paper. "No one in the family reached out, so (Jeter) must have heard about it and ... reached out.
Nothing is going to fix the fact that Donna had to bury her daughter today, but I'm happy that it brought some comfort. and people like Jeter have reached out. It brings some comfort to know that people recognize Vicki as a hero."
Amen to that Mr. Wiltsie.
Your cousin was a hero when she didn’t need to be but there are some six-year-old children who will get the chance to play for the Yankees or become a teacher like Victoria Soto.
I am not a huge Yankees fan since I am deep into following my beloved Atlanta Braves, but one of those who is a favorite of the other clubs is Jeter.
He may be a bit of a player in the city that never sleeps, I don’t read about those activities and SportsCenter is not telling me that he is suspended for 60 days for juicing and he is not sitting in a Manhattan jail for killing someone.
What Jeter means to me is the good that is in sports when we read or hear about the domestic disputes, the DWI stops or the cheating to hit 8000 home runs.
Jeter is part of a medication designed to help try to make the world feel better despite all of the problems that exist.
Another person that can used for medicinal purposes is Chuck Pagano who is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
Pagano was hired by the Colts to steer the club through the beginning of the post-Peyton Manning era and the record was of no concern to the club as they were in rebuild mode.
The Colts were off to a 1-2 start and all was well in the Hoosier state until news broke during the team’s bye week.
The club reported that Pagano was diagnosed with non-life threatening Leukemia and would have to take a leave of absence as head coach for chemotherapy treatment which would last for several weeks.
Bruce Arians was named interim head coach and the story of the 2012 season for the Colts and their fallen leader.
In the first game under Ariens, the Colts came from behind to defeat the Green Bay Packers 23-20 in an emotional game for a movement that became known as “Chuckstrong”.
The Colts lost a 35-9 decision to the New York Jets the following week, but went on a four-game winning streak that gave them a 6-3 record and made them relevant in playoff talk and later two of the team’s cheerleaders paid tribute to the coach by having their heads shaved.
This act of kindness followed an act by most of the team to become hairless including star quarterback Andrew Luck a couple of weeks sooner.
By the way, the cheerleaders are prettier than the football players.
A 59-24 loss to the New England Patriots tempered the situation for the Colts but this weekend they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 20-13 for their fourth win in five games and a trip to the AFC playoffs which was something that was not expected.
The playoff spot was not the only good news for the Colts as Christmas Eve day marked the return of Pagano to the office to prepare to coach next Sunday when they face the Houston Texans on the road.
The outcome will be irrelevant but I would like to see Indy win it for Pagano and go into the postseason “Chuckstrong”.
Good luck coach.

Sports involvement with the number 12 (COMMENTARY)

COLUMN

Today is the 12th of December in the year 2012 and according to the Mayans (the folks who have declared the end of the world nine days later) this date is quite significant.
It is the last time this century that the month, day and year will be similar with the next time coming on January 1, 2101 when I will be 138 years young and laying claim to being the oldest human on the planet.
Weddings, a few births, parties and other events are being conducted on this date and in some cases at 12:12 pm if they didn’t happen this morning at 12:12 while a number of events are happening only by chance.
The world of sports is not shutout from the number 12 or the date 12-12-12 as the two digit number is associated with everything from jersey numbers to home runs to points.
There are a lot of famous number 12’s including the quarterback trio of Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach and Tom Brady who have won a combined eight Super Bowl titles while Ken Stabler, Aaron Rodgers, Bob Griese and Joe Namath garnered one trophy.
The number 12 is famous in our part of the world when Sid Bream score the winning run in the deciding game of the 1992 National League Championship Series as he wore number 12 during his three years with the Atlanta Braves.
Wade Boggs wore number 12 when the New York Yankees won the World Series in 1996 which had to do something with the 26 he wore with the Boston Red Sox as two times six is…12.
Michael Jordan was known for wearing 23 during his career at North Carolina and the NBA but he wore 45 during his baseball “career” and the first few games during his second stint in the association but there was one game where he donned the number 12 jersey in a 1990 game in Orlando as his normal jersey was stolen.
The number 12 is even significant in the sport of golf as the shortest hole is located in the heart of Amen Corner at Augusta National Golf Club. The 12th hole is a par-three, 155-yard hole which has a deep bunker in the front and azaleas, pine trees and two bunkers in the back.
Of the pros who have toiled on it, Jack Nicklaus called it the hardest tournament hole while Tiger Woods felt comfortable on the tee of the hole only on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday which is not good when you consider tournaments are played Thursday through Sunday.
However, the pro with the worst luck on the 12th hole was Tom Weiskopf who shot a 12 in 1980 which is probably not good.
One former athlete is taking the number 12 to unique heights as baseball hall of famer Roberto Alomar was getting married today at 12:12.
There are a lot of people getting married today but during his career, Alomar wore the number 12 except for one stop but 12 for him was like 44 for Hank Aaron or 33 for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Good luck to the happy couple for at least the next nine days when the world is supposed to be ending.
There are a lot of sporting events planned or otherwise for today including the 12-12-12 marathon being run in Sarasota, Florida and the NBA has scheduled not 12 but 13 games for tonight including the Atlanta Hawks travelling to Orlando for a game with the Magic (hmm) who once had a guy named Dwight Howard that wore number 12.
I would go further into the involvement that the number 12 has in sports but this is exhausting alone as we are 12 days left until Christmas shopping is completed.
Hope your day went well on 12-12-12.