8 DEC 06: SHOWDOWN OUT OF TOWN

BLOG SPECIAL COVERAGE: We blogged the Carver-Shaw football playoff game in real-time, from start to finish. Latest posts are at the top -- so to read our coverage from start to finish, scroll down to the bottom of this entry:

FINAL: The Shaw Raiders advanced to the state AAA finals by edging Carver 16-14 at the Georgia Dome. It was a dream season for Carver, jumping from 3-7 last year to 12-2. But at the end fans understandably were saying - "O, Shaw!"

Carver collapsed on offense in the final 2:20 of the game. The Tigers were set back by two illegal procedure penalties - then a fourth-down long pass which was on target was dropped by receiver Eric Washington. A dropped pass in the Georgia Dome?! It's the Alge Crumpler curse....

Fourth Quarter, 4:30 to play: The Channel 28 broadcast video signal has gone off for a couple of minutes as well! It looks like Mediacom and Knology's sales staff will have a busy afternoon....

Another Cliff Rutledge great broadcast moment, during a Carver drive: "Here's a pass and -- ha ha ha! Who was that, number one? Turn around, son, so I can see your number. I don't think that was Fortson. No, I think it was Eric Washington. He had the pass in his hands, and dropped it." You'd think he was trained by Monday Night Football's Tony Kornheiser.

Start of Fourth Quarter: The final term begins with back-to-back giveaways on fumbles. It appears Shaw quarterback Cam Greenhouse tried to change hands with the ball behind his back, and fumbled it. Not even Terrell Owens pulls a showboating stunt like that on the field.

End of Third Quarter - SHAW 16-14. A long time-consuming drive by Carver ends with an incomplete fourth-down pass at the Shaw 18. A field goal could have put Carver in the lead - but I'm starting to wonder if their kicker overslept.

With no GPB audio on my set, I'm watching the video while hearing WOKS/WKZJ's radio call. Cliff Rutledge reports Carver's "number 44" led a group of tacklers late in the quarter. If he's going to do this, the stations should place programs with rosters at convenience stores all over town.

Late-Third Quarter: Shaw throws another interception on the first drive of the second half. Maybe Carver's players were inspired during the early morning, by eating turnovers for breakfast.

'Ain't going nowhere!" is one of Cliff Rutledge's catch phrases when running plays are stopped. Pair him with Beau Bock from television and.... well, the local English test scores might not change much at all.

The Georgia Dome big-screen apparently is showing text messages from Carver and Shaw fans. But Carlos Williams emphasizes to the radio audience: "Please send CLEAN text messages." As if some of us can understand the difference in that shorthand....

Have you noticed not all the Carver players have "Tiger paws" on their helmets? The quarterback doesn't, for instance. Is it a matter of funding for the athletic program -- or did he get hit THAT hard during the season?

Start of Third Quarter: GPB is kind enough to let fans hear from the marching bands at halftime. That's a nice thing to do - but after watching GPB several nights this week, the single guy in me was hoping the Celtic Woman singers would come out again.

So far I've heard one pitch for money from the GPB announcing team. I could have gone to Atlanta and paid 15 dollars for a ticket - but these guys want me to pay at least 35 dollars, for staying at home and watching them?!

But uh-oh - my broadcast signal of Channel 28 loses its audio moments before the second-half kickoff. I guess I should spray the TV antenna more often, to keep the roaches away....

Carlos Williams of WOKS rode to the game with Muscogee County Assistant Superintendent Robin Pennock. He says a couple of school board members made the trip to Atlanta as well. We hope Spencer alum and incoming board member Cathy Vaughn Williams set a right example -- by staying at home and on the job.

Yet have you noticed how empty the Georgia Dome is, for the Carver-Shaw game? Even the sections with Carver and Shaw fans don't seem that packed. It only reinforces our local reputation - Columbus: the city too busy to have fun.

Cliff Rutledge notes Carver and Shaw students will NOT have to make up the day of class they're missing for the football game. That must make the "Saturday scholars" at Jordan High feel good....

Halftime - SHAW 16-14. Shaw makes a touchdown pass for the lead, after Carver goes for it on fourth and one at its own 25, and falls short. College football coaches change kickers, when they lose confidence in them --but Carver apparently can't even do that.

The touchdown pass is thrown to Arsenio Williams, who surprises me by NOT mugging for the GPB camera on the sideline. You'll never confuse that young man with Arsenio Hall.

But Shaw has a bad snap on the extra point, to keep it a two-point game. Maybe it's the weather - and maybe it's as cold in Atlanta as Chris Sweigart says. Did you notice Shaw head coach Craig Fitts is wearing a jacket on the sidelines - even in a domed stadium?

Craig Fitts tells GPB at the halftime break Carver is "whupping our butts up front." I'd say this coach hasn't been taught how to talk on live TV - but then I think about the language they use before 9:00 a.m. on "The Daily Buzz."

Here's how Cliff Rutledge calls a key offensive play for Shaw: "Here is a fake.... and an.... interception!" Maybe his goal is to make you think - think backwards, and reconstruct the play in your own brain.

Carver takes a time out with 12 seconds left in the half, instead of running out the clock. "Are they going to try a Hail Mary?" Cliff Rutledge wonders -- and he's right, as it happens unsuccessfully. I wouldn't have guessed that. After all, these are public schools -- and the American Civil Liberties Union might sue.

Mid Second Quarter -- CARVER 14-10: The Tigers score on a 55-yard halfback option pass. Carver then goes for the two-point conversion for the second time, but fails. In football, you can only ride the "two-two twain" so often.

"Give him some space, and he's sayonara." So says GPB's Beau Bock of a Shaw running back. He's what?!?! How many Muscogee County English teachers are tuned to this game and biting their tongues?

Carver running back Chris Kyles hobbles off the field, and Beau Bock describes him as a "huke and juke guy." This sounds more like something I'd hear during a WOKS blues show.

End of First Quarter -- SHAW 10-8. Carver gets a break, when it intercepts a Shaw pass in the Shaw half of the field and drives for a touchdown. The Shaw receiver seemed mixed up about what route to run. If you don't go down, your offense may have to go out.

"It's a footrace!" Cliff Rutledge declares during a Carver quarterback option - but replays show it's a race to the sideline, as Carver doesn't gain much. Brent Musberger usually reserves such language for 20-yard runs FORWARD.

Carver scores its touchdown on a five-yard pass to receiver Jarmon Fortson. With a name like Fortson, I wonder if he's another of those transfers from Shaw.

Md-First Quarter: A 24-yard punt by Carver gives Shaw the ball inside the Tiger 20. It leads to a 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Maybe our Mayor-Elect needs to build some soccer fields south of Macon Road.

During Shaw's scoring drive, there's one of those Cliff Rutledge moments. He says a Shaw running back gets "running room," and asks Carlos Williams to remind him of a story later. But Rutledge never says how far he runs, or where the ball is. You're not broadcasting to people inside the Dome, Cliff - K 92.7 doesn't carry that far.

Then while WOKS is in a commercial, Carver fumbles. At least the station is back for a Shaw touchdown pass, making the score 10-0 Shaw. Sometimes a non-commercial telecast has its advantages....

GPB reveals Carver coach Dell McGee played on the Los Angeles Extreme - which won the only championship of the XFL five years ago. So what was Dell's funny nickname -- "Hard Drive?"

The notorious Beau Bock (check our March 2005 entries, from when Ketia Swanier played at Columbus High) tells GPB viewers Carver and Shaw are "only a couple of miles apart." As fast as some Columbus drivers move on I-185, I suppose that's accurate.

Down on the field, WXTX sports anchor Andrew Wittenberg predicts Shaw will win. The WRBL online poll agrees with him, and with our Big Blog Question. But maybe he spoke too loudly, because Carver's player fumbled the opening kickoff at the one yard line.

9:00 a.m.: WOKS-AM has sent its what its morning announcer calls "the best crew in the world" to Atlanta for the game. Either Cliff Rutledge signs this announcer's paychecks, or he's never been outside Columbus or owned a television set....

While color commentator analyst Carlos Williams seems to know his stuff about high school football, play-by-play man Cliff Rutledge ranks among the worst I've ever heard. Sometimes he seems to forget he's on radio, and wanders off into some unfathomable humor. At least Harry Carey called the action when he was drunk.

In an ominous sign, Carlos Williams says the game is being televised on "Georgia..... Georgia....." It's a wonder he didn't say Georgia Prep Sports Plus.

8:50 a.m.: CBS, Fox and NBC present hour-long shows before their big football games. GPB seems to be taking a different approach. I mean, a sloth singing "It's a Big, Big World" isn't quite what Bob Costas and Howie Long would do.

Our Big Blog Question on the game closes, and voters are unanimous - they say Shaw will beat Carver. That Bill Gates initiative to put computers in low-income areas still has a ways to go.

It turns out WRBL seems to be blogging the big game as well, with Chris Sweigart at the Georgia Dome. A few minutes ago he reported: "IT IS COLD!" It looks like we've found an emergency replacement for Bob Jeswald.

Our Pre-Game Show: It's the big day at last -- for the moment of truth that has been hyped for days across Columbus. It's time today to settle it once and for all. So who do you like? Which side will prevail? Will Nathan Suber get enough military votes to stay on Columbus Council?

Oh, you were thinking about that OTHER big event. It's Carver against Shaw, in the Georgia AAA high school football semifinals. The game is SO HUGE that it's being played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta - even though considering Columbus's sports history, I'm not sure it would sell out McClung Memorial Stadium.

The winner of today's game will face the winner of Peach County-Washington County in the AAA finals next week. And the way things are going, the winning coach might join the list of candidates being wooed by the University of Alabama.

The Carver-Shaw game has a 9:00 a.m. kickoff, so pep buses are leaving both schools for Atlanta at 5:00. For once, those pre-dawn after-Thanksgiving sales had some value - giving the football fans practice.

The Carver Tiger team actually traveled from Columbus to Atlanta Thursday afternoon, on a charter bus. C'mon, Coach Dell McGee -- Atlanta traffic gridlock isn't THAT bad.

Shaw's head coach told Thursday's Ledger-Enquirer he planned to give the team fruit and breakfast bars for an early morning pre-game meal. You have to like that - a coach who wants his players to be hungry for a win.

Carver and Shaw have met once before this year. The Tigers surprised many people by beating the Raiders 14-9 in the second week of the season. After all, we know from the last few seasons that any old team can beat Spencer -- even on opening night.

Shaw quarterback Cam Greathouse has had quite a successful year. He played on a Columbus baseball team which reached the Babe Ruth World Series. Now he's in the AAA football semifinals. He may live up to that last name, by signing a big pro sports contract.

There's at least one player who has seen both sides of today's matchup. Patrick Grant played for Shaw last season, then transferred to Carver. I'm not sure why he did it. Maybe he wanted to be around friends there - or maybe he loves to watch Carver's earthquake measuring device.

Does the Carver-Shaw game show the "no recruiting" policy of Muscogee County Athletic Director Charles Flowers is working? Someone told me this week that in recent years, half the Shaw football roster consisted of boys living in the Carver attendance zone. So the desire to move from South to North Columbus started at an early age.

The Carver-Shaw game is unusual for another reason, beyond the all-Columbus matchup and the location. The semifinals at the Georgia Dome are being televised and webcast on Georgia Public Broadcasting. So with a 9:00 a.m. kickoff, that yellow thing you see on the field might not be a penalty flag - it might be Big Bird.

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