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22 MAR 04: MO, MO, MO!
Instant Message to all the residents of LaFayette: Thank you for calling WRBL Sunday afternoon. That HAD to be the reason we finally saw your hometown star playing for Alabama-Birmingham in the second half of its playoff game against Kentucky. In the first half, the Alabama border might as well have been drawn around Sylacauga.
LaFayette High grad Mo Finley hit the game-winning jumper in the final seconds, as UAB upset top-seeded Kentucky in the second round of the men's basketball playoffs. Probably no one in Alabama knows enough about Broadway shows to have the headline: "MO BETTERS BLUE."
CBS's Dick Enberg said early in the second half "the whole town" of LaFayette was watching Mo Finley play for UAB. Well, they probably didn't in the first half - because WRBL showed Pittsburgh-Wisconsin instead. Be thankful NCAA Sports offers live streaming video on the Internet....
Admittedly Pittsburgh-Wisconsin was a better matchup, but WRBL not showing UAB for a half made me realize something. Just like some say there are "two Georgias," there also can be "two Alabamas" - well, make that three. There's Birmingham, for one. And sometimes I think Mobile and Pensacola should form a state with Biloxi and New Orleans.
The UAB KO of KY (translated "knockout of Kentucky") means the Blazers get to face dear old Kansas in the regional semifinals next Friday. With Georgia Tech playing Nevada in the other game - well, the cloud of worry over my head seems
to have disappeared with that cold front.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: I happened to see a UAB-Kansas battle in person several years ago -- for free. More on that later this week....)
Georgia Tech advanced to the round of 16 with a hard-fought win over Boston College. It was one of those rare times when a Southern college could tell B.C. to "take a powder...."
We shouldn't overlook Alabama, which upset top-seeded Stanford on Saturday in Seattle. With two colleges from Alabama in the round of 16, fired Auburn coach Cliff Ellis looks more like a slacker than ever.
Since we're talking sports here, did you see the implosion of Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium Sunday? That could never happen in Columbus. Jim Rhodes would strap himself to a pillar, to protect anything with "veteran" in its name....
BLOG UPDATE: The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition begins a 45-day drive to recall Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson today. The coalition needs to get about 30,000 names on petitions - so don't be surprised to find petition sheets covering the pizzas delivered to your door.
In an interview shown on TV Sunday night, Dr. William Howell of Rainbow/PUSH said he'll take a broad-based approach to the recall drive. "We're going to reach out to the Hispanics, we're going to reach out to the Koreans, we're going to appeal to members of the clergy.... to fraternities and sororities...." He named about every group except the Caucasians.
COMING TUESDAY: A spring cleaning report.... or what roaches eat when they're desperate for dinner....
© 2003-04 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.