16 MAR 08: DAWGS WITH NINE LIVES

It's one thing to play a day-night doubleheader in baseball. It's another thing to do that in basketball. And in the middle of a major college tournament? A tournament where the arena was damaged by a tornado, in the middle of a game? This isn't "March Madness" - it's Roundball Ridiculous.

Yet the Georgia men's basketball team did the seemingly impossible Saturday. The Bulldogs won two games in the same day, to advance to today's Southeastern Conference finals. This might actually get some Georgia football fans to get their minds off spring practice....

Georgia's quarterfinal game against Kentucky was supposed to be played late Friday night. But then an F-2 tornado hit downtown Atlanta, and ripped a hole in the roof of the Georgia Dome during the Alabama-Mississippi State game. I'm still not sure which player made the big shot, which blew the roof off that place.

This was NOT the first time the Georgia Dome's roof has been damaged. A less severe storm did the same thing on a Saturday night during the 1990's, at the end of a Falcons exhibition game. I noticed it the next morning as I walked into CNN Center, mentioned it to my newsroom co-workers - and no one seemed to care until it was the top story on WSB-TV's noon news.

But Friday night's storm was even worse, as insulation fell from the Georgia Dome roof onto fans. Now there's a one-of-a-kind souvenir -- although it might be hard to get Coach Dennis Felton to sign a piece of fiberglass.

The Southeastern Conference finished the Alabama-Mississippi State game, then decided to postpone the Georgia-Kentucky game. On top of that, the S.E.C. moved the tournament from the Georgia Dome to Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Couldn't the Columbus Civic Center have moved those monster trucks to the football stadium?

(The tournament couldn't be moved to Philips Arena, because it was booked for a Saturday night Christian music concert which was canceled. But who was the genius who scheduled an Atlanta Hawks home game Friday night, next door to the Georgia Dome? As if the Los Angeles Clippers really are a more interesting draw?)

So there were Georgia and Kentucky playing at midday Saturday, on Georgia Tech's home court. To their credit, there were no reports of either team stomping on the yellowjacket or the Atlantic Coast Conference logos in a protest....

The winner of Georgia-Kentucky had to return Saturday night for an 8:30 p.m. game - so they wound up with the one thing neither team probably wanted: overtime. Georgia won its second overtime nailbiter in a row 60-56. That's OK -- we wouldn't want those spoiled Kentucky players to be overworked before the NCAA tournament begins.

True confession: I usually turn off the TV on Friday nights, turn the radio to religious music and avoid all news for 24 hours of rest. So when people at church Saturday mentioned tornadoes in Atlanta, I didn't know what they were talking about. I never expected one would strike downtown - because I didn't think there would be room for one, amid all those tall buildings.

(My sympathies to former co-workers at CNN. The network's headquarters apparently had serious damage, including a computer blown out a window. I can't wait to see Anderson Cooper walking through ceiling tiles, demanding faster federal intervention.)

Since I was as much in the dark as thousands of Atlanta residents, I was surprised to turn on WRBL Saturday night and see the Southeastern Conference semifinals in progress. And when I saw the game being played at Georgia Tech, I realized something must have gone wrong at the Georgia Dome. At least that city has a "Thriller Dome" as a backup.

After my Saturday night run and a trip to dinner, I was further surprised -- as Georgia was playing Mississippi State in the second semifinal game, and the arena had large numbers of empty seats. I didn't realize admission was limited to players' families. I figured all the Kentucky fans had left town.

Most fans (including me) probably expected Georgia to run out of gas, playing two games in ten hours. Yet the Bulldogs received a break or two in the final minute to beat Mississippi State 64-60. When it was all over, the most tired Bulldog in the building seemed to be radio broadcaster Scott Howard. His voice was so worn, Larry Munson might have to be on stand-by today.

Georgia freshman Billy Humphrey didn't seem that surprised about the doubleheader sweep. He said in a post-game interview: "We've faced things worse than tornadoes this season." After being suspended from the team twice, he ought to know....

(Humphrey admitted his freshman season has included some "young decisions, bad decisions." Yet he was still on the team to score some big points in the final minutes - which I thought was a bad decision by his coach.)

Georgia Coach Dennis Felton expressed hope the Southeastern Conference will find a way to admit more fans, for today's final round against Arkansas. That probably won't be a problem. With Kentucky and Tennessee both eliminated, I'm not sure enough Bulldog fans can change their fishing plans to attend.

The Southeastern Conference did Georgia a favor, by delaying today's tipoff from 1:00 to 3:30 - but in the process, the game moved from CBS to ESPN-2. If I was a manager at WRBL, I'd be on the phone demanding permission to show today's game. Wellll - then again, I'd be asking ESPN for permission to show the Big 12 final between Kansas and Texas instead.

E-MAIL UPDATE: After an off-season of controversy, Pioneer Little League opened a new season Saturday. But amazingly, new information surfaced about problems with another local Little League program. It comes in an e-mail passed on to the blog....

Parents,



As you know, at the beginning of this year, 2008, I was suspended by Northern LL for one year for an incident that supposedly happened at the beach cookout last August in Ft Myers, FL. I accepted this suspension under the understanding that this was coming from the St Petersburg, FL office (Jen Colvin, Southern Region LL Director).



I was told by Allen McMullen, president of Northern LL, that one of the parents of my Jr all-star team had filed a complaint against me in writing to St Petersburg (Jen Colvin). I was told by Allen McMullen that St Pete conducted a formal investigation on this matter and wrote a recommendation to Northern LL to suspend my coaching privileges. Allen also told me that he personally conducted a formal investigation on this matter.



I asked Allen if I could see the "letter of complaint". I was denied. I asked Allen if I could see the results of the "formal investigations", I was again denied. I asked Allen if I could see the recommendation that came from St Pete (Jen Colvin). Needless to say, I was again denied.



On Tuesday, March 4th, 2008, I paid Bernard Ashley a visit. Bernard Ashley is the District 8 Administrator. He is over all of the little leagues in this area. I asked him what he knew of my situation/suspension. He said he had heard nothing about it. He also said that this was the first time he had heard anything about it. He told me that anytime St Pete gets involved in a situation, they will contact him first to see what's going on. No such contact was made.



I asked Bernard if he would call Jen Colvin (St Pete) and ask her if she knew anything about my suspension. Bernard called Jen while I was sitting there and asked her if she knew anything about an incident in Ft Myers, FL or anything about my suspension. She said, "No". She said that if Allen had called her, the only thing that she would have done was to point out to Allen what the rules say about this matter and that's it.



This means that St Pete did not see a "letter of complaint". There was not a "formal investigation" by St Pete. There was not a recommendation by St Pete to suspend my coaching privileges.



As you can see, we have a very serious problem here. We have a league president that has misled me, misled the board of directors at Northern, and misled the league as a whole.



Here is what I am proposing to you, Northern LL parents. Please let Jen Colvin and Bernard Ashley know how you feel about all of this. Whether it is good or bad, they need to know. Please don't delay in giving your opinion on this matter. It needs to be taken care of as soon as possible.



If you would, when you contact Jen Colvin, please copy Bernard Ashley in on the email. I want both of them to know how you feel about this matter....

I have attached the email that I sent to Jen Colvin and Bernard Ashley last week. I have not heard anything back from Jen as of yet.

I have also attached the letter that I wrote to the Northern LL board of directors back in January.

I am sorry to drop this all in your lap, but this is something that all of you, and the whole league, needs to know about. Bear in mind I am not politic-ing to get my two teams back. I just want the truth to come out and this is only the tip of the iceburg.



Thank you,



Gary [Miller]

Let's notice one difference right away between Pioneer and Northern Little Leagues. The Northern, the problems involving coaches happen out of state.

We admittedly have lacked time over the last couple of days to make any phone calls about this matter. So does anyone know what happened at this beach cookout in Fort Myers? Can a Little League coach get in trouble for undercooking burgers, and running the risk of e.coli infections?

Let's take one more e-mail, about a big weekend event in Columbus:

I find it funny that on the Columbus GA Event Calendar the poster for Monster Jam has Columbus spelled wrong...



Here is the link...

Sad to say, this error doesn't surprise me at all. I've spotted terrible spelling errors all over Columbus over the years. It took one accounting firm years to discover its sign along Wynnton Road was spelled "accountnig."

Now let's see what else is catching our attention this weekend....

+ Columbus Police reported someone robbed Dinglewood Pharmacy on Wynnton Road, stealing about $50,000 in prescription drugs. Well, that's a relief - he didn't touch any of the scrambled dogs.

+ Keep Columbus Beautiful staged its annual "Great Columbus Clean-Up." I'm pleased to report I did my part - and almost all the grunge is gone from my bathroom sink.

+ The annual "Thunder in the Valley" show began at the Columbus Airport. This year's event includes not only shows by pilots, but classic cars - and when you start some of those antiques from the 1960's, they're probably almost as noisy as the planes.

(Mayor Jim Wetherington went for a ride in an aerobatic plane Friday, and admitted the flips in the air had his stomach turning. Imagine how he'll feel in July, right before the sales tax vote.)

+ A Thomaston funeral home was fined $800 by a Georgia state board, because it had no adult caskets on hand when a state inspector showed up. State rules require all funeral homes to have an inventory of eight adult caskets. I think they got this number from the cast of "The Addams Family."

+ An Alexander City police officer was arrested, on charges of beating a spectator at Talladega Superspeedway with a baton. Why didn't this officer do what most of the Talladega fans do - and throw beer cans at the guy?

+ Randall Tharp won the FLW bass fishing tournament at Lake Eufaula. Phenix City's Ryan Ingram finished second, only 14 ounces behind. The only other sport I know where weight matters this much is weightlifting - and weightlifters don't tend to wear Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes logos on their outfits.

(So with a second-place catch of 62 pounds five ounces, does this qualify Ryan Ingram to appear on "The Biggest Loser?")

+ The Associated Press reported the Atlanta Falcons plan to trade cornerback D'Angelo Hall to Oakland. If this deal goes through, the Falcons had better draft a high-profile quarterback in April - or else this team may have no ego at all.

+ Instant Message to the man who stopped me in a grocery store parking lot, and asked if I wanted to sell my car: No, seriously - I meant that. If I sell it to you then and there, I face a walk home of more than two miles. AND I'd have to clean out my trunk. And I don't carry a wheelbarrow, to cart all that stuff with me.

To offer a story tip, make a PayPal donation, advertise to our readers or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 674 (+ 29, 4.5%)

TRUDGE REPORT, DAY 14: 2.8 miles jogged, 1.35 miles walked. Total: 40.95 miles run, 7.15 walked

The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author -- not necessarily those of anyone else in Columbus living or dead, and perhaps not even you.

© 2003-08 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.