On The Magic

Every time I update this blog, I send an e-mail to a long list of family, friends, and colleagues in the business. The subject line for the e-mail is always "Blog updated...on [something]," be it "the Heisman race," "the Big Five," what have you.

My friend George Galante, the Orlando Magic's Director of Communications and co-star of the viral-any-minute-now "Dante & Galante Show" on the Magic website (there, you got your plug, now leave me alone), responded to one of my blast e-mails with this query:

"When am I gonna see 'Blog updated...on the Magic?' 10-3, baby!"

This was last week, before the Magic rolled up four more wins over Charlotte, Miami, Portland, and Seattle to improve to 14-3. If they can beat Phoenix on the road on Friday, they will match the best start in franchise history, which was recorded by (arguably) the best team in franchise history: the 1994-95 squad that won 57 games and lost to Houston in the NBA Finals.

George, you got it. "On the Magic" it is.

The most immediate effect of the Magic's start this season, in my world, is this: when I go to the gym, the grocery store, or the golf course, the Magic are all that anyone wants to ask me about. The topic of conversation has perceptibly shifted from college football to "Can you BELIEVE what the Magic are doing?" or "What's the difference this year?"

Let's tackle the second question first.

Thanks to my recent switch to DirecTV (which itself is probably worth an entire blog entry on its own, but did include one very satisfying phone call to a certain cable operator), I am one of the lucky few in Orlando who has been able to watch the team on both Sun Sports and FSN Florida. The most obvious difference in this year's team compared to last year, to me, is the freedom with which the team is playing.

That's an important word, "playing." Basketball may be a business, and a subculture, and a religion to some, but it's a game first. You "play" games, you don't "work" them. The Magic are playing with a looseness and confidence that is palpable. When a player misses a shot, he's not looking over his shoulder to gauge how much time he's got left on the floor before his head coach pulls him. That's not to say that Stan Van Gundy is just rolling a ball out there, but rather my perception that Van Gundy's system is one that grants his professional basketball players the opportunity to do what they do without fear. And yes, I admit that it's a totally different vibe from the days of Brian Hill, who took it personally when his players didn't execute the game plan that Brian worked so hard to prepare. We've been down that road on the blog before, and it's not worth revisiting.

Dwight Howard has completed the jump to Franchise Player, and is still climbing: 23.5 points per game (11th in the NBA), 14.5 rebounds per game (2nd), 2.7 blocks per game (4th), and 14 double-doubles (1st). Hedo Turkoglu is averaging a career-high 18.5 points per game, which is eight more than his career average. The light has also come on for Jameer Nelson, whose assist-to-turnover ratio is a respectable 2.36, mere percentage points lower than luminaries like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. Note that we haven't even mentioned Rashard Lewis, his 19 points and 5 rebounds per game, or his mega-contract yet.

"What's the difference this year?" A perfect storm (at the moment) of key players hitting their primes and a coach who lets them play. Freedom plus experience equals confidence, which results in wins, which continues the cycle.

There's a saying among the golf media that certain PGA Tour pros tend to "play golf swing" rather than "play golf." In other words, some technically-minded pros get so focused on grip, stance, ball position, plane, and 400 other swing thoughts that they lose sight of the true purpose, which is to put the damn ball in the hole. It's not "how," it's "how many." Just hit it, dummy.

The Magic are "playing golf" right now as opposed to "playing golf swing." That's the best way I can state it. And at the moment, they're scorching the front nine.

"Can I believe it?"

Last month, I wrote the following on the blog:

"...as I look at the Southeast Division, the only team other than Miami or Orlando that can contend is Washington, which is a fun team to watch, but even thinner in the frontcourt than Orlando. The division will come down to the Wizards and Magic, with their free-for-all offenses and deep backcourts, against Miami, with the teetering health of Shaq and the MVP potential of Wade. Because of the presence of Dwight Howard, however, I have to give the Magic an early edge."

So yeah, I guess I can believe it, especially since Gilbert Arenas is out for three months in Washington.

Of course, more than one NBA observer has pointed out that the Magic got off to a hot start last season, too, going 13-4 before fading to 40-42. As I've written here before, this year's team is smallish without Darko Milicic (free agency) and Tony Battie (injury). Turkoglu and Lewis, in particular, are going to be compelled to play out of position often. However, only one of Orlando's three losses this season came against a team that went big on them (Detroit). The other two losses were to the jackrabbit Suns and the defending champion Spurs, who beat Orlando at its own small-ball game in a 128-110 track meet. Still, in watching Lewis get pushed around by Seattle's Chris Wilcox on Wednesday night, the Magic's lack of size is a concern.

But credit where credit is due: the team took a potentially disastrous situation with the Billy Donovan hiring and turned it into a home-run hire in Stan Van Gundy. General manager Otis Smith stuck to his plan, placing his faith in Jameer Nelson (a stretch) and Dwight Howard (a no-brainer), and facing the wrath of talking heads everywhere by committing $118 million to Rashard Lewis. Those three players are tied up in Orlando together through the end of this decade and beyond. Nelson signed his contract extension shortly before the Magic's season opener on Halloween night, and as one Magic staffer told me that night with a shrug and a smile, "this is your team."

So far, so good.

One Man, One Vote

Stand back -- I have a ballot, and I'm not afraid to use it. This year, for the first time in my professional career, I am a Heisman Trophy voter.

The process of being selected as a voter is hardly a "process" at all, it turns out. In my case, I received an e-mail from Orlando Sentinel columnist and Sun Sports contributor Mike Bianchi, who asked if I was interested. Mike is one of several dozen "State Representatives" who is granted the authority by the Heisman Trophy Trust to invite new voters into the fold. The electorate is based on state population, meaning that big states like California and Florida get more voters than smaller states like Rhode Island and Delaware. Apparently, Florida had some vacancies, and all it took was a "hell yes!" via e-mail from me to Mike. I'm in, baby.

My official ballot, number 862, came in the mail in mid-November. It looks very, umm, official. Plain white postcard with instructions and three lines: my first, second, and third choices for the 2007 Heisman Trophy. I am to return the ballot to an accounting firm in Connecticut by the stated deadline of December 5th. In keeping with the times, there's also an online option for my vote, complete with a secure password to the Heisman Trust's private balloting site, a piece of information that most college football fans I know would kill for.

My first semi-official duty as a Heisman voter was to provide my "watch list" to the producers of the Sun Sports pay-per-view broadcast of the Florida-Florida Atlantic game on November 17th. Wisely anticipating a blowout, they wanted to stash away some filler material for the second half, and once the game got out of hand, my list made the show, along with the lists of several other Florida voters. For the record, my five guys, in no particular order, were Tim Tebow of Florida, Colt Brennan of Hawaii, Kevin Smith of UCF, Chase Daniel of Missouri, and Ray Rice of Rutgers. That was my list as of November 17th, mind you, and it's subject to change.

Even though that list was made public almost a full month before the official Heisman announcement, and even though the game was on pay-per-view, I was stunned at how many fans jumped on it via the message boards. The UCF faithful, in particular, were geeked to see that both Bianchi and I placed Kevin Smith on our list, although one viewer noted that "the two Orlando guys" were probably far more aware of Smith's stunning performance this season than the 900-something other voters nationwide, and therefore cautioned his fellow Knights fans against getting their hopes up.

That's a terribly insightful point, when you think about it. For me and Bianchi, placing Tebow and Smith on our list is a no-brainer. We see them every week, cover them every day. However, while the whole world knows Tim Tebow by now, it's not a given that every Heisman voter in America is aware that Kevin Smith was on pace to become the first running back at any Florida school to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. Similarly, a voter in the Midwest who covers Missouri football may consider Chase Daniel to be the second coming of Joe Montana. A voter in the Pacific Northwest may view Dennis Dixon's body of work at Oregon to be more than sufficient for the 2007 Heisman. Despite our digital TV universe and the endless streams of coverage coming via the Internet, it's impossible for any one voter to gain a comprehensive understanding of every great college football player in every conference in America, which is one reason why the Heisman, like any other national college football award, must be taken with a healthy grain of salt.

And on that point -- the ballot reads as follows: "the recipient of the award must be a bona fide student of an accredited college or university including the United States Academies." Note that it doesn't say "Division I," or "Football Bowl Subdivision," or "BCS Conference." Just a "bona fide student." Theoretically, any voter could cast his or her ballot for any college football player in the country at any level, up to and including Division II, Division III, and even NAIA schools. However, based on the history of the Heisman, we all know that's not the case.

The reality is that the list of winners is filled with quarterbacks and running backs from power programs like Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Southern Cal. Going back to the very first Heisman Trophy ballot in 1935, exactly one defensive player has won the award: Charles Woodson, defensive back, Michigan, 1997. The last winner from what we now call a Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA) school was Princeton's Dick Kazmaier in 1951. That's why I have historically been dismissive of the Heisman as a popularity contest, and yet, as a voter, I have to consider every possible candidate, regardless of position or school. Lord knows I want to do this right. Criticizing the process from afar is one thing; being one of the voters, I am discovering, is something else.

Without any personal precedent, my criteria will include some combination of the following: stats, team record, strength of schedule/conference, and overall value to his team. There's a part of me that asks, "what would X's team be without him?" as a criteria, but does that necessarily produce the "best" player in college football, or simply the most valuable? It's not a team MVP award, it's the Heisman Trophy. Best player, period. Perhaps an impossible task, but I'll give it a shot.

I'll post my three choices once the award is announced. Wish me luck.

Trucks And Trends

Anybody notice that Saturday's Geico Gator Postgame show on Sun Sports was upside down?

No? Good.

Here's today's lesson in Television Production 101: It's Not Too Late To Choose Law School (4 credits).

Sun Sports has been producing Florida and Florida State football games for Sunday replay for many years now, going back to the days of "Sunshine Network" (and on that note -- it's been almost four years now, people. Can we please retire the phrase "Sunshine Network" forever?). The FSU games, titled "Prime Time Noles," with the original broadcast team of Paul Kennedy and Keith Jones, go back 20 years; the Florida replays, branded as "Breakfast With The Gators," started in 1996.

In order to produce these games for replay, Sun Sports rolls out a full-sized 18-wheel TV production truck to every FSU and UF football game, home and away. These are the very same behemoths that bring you every sporting event you've ever seen on television. Each truck contains all of the computers, monitors, cables, cameras, and various and sundry other pieces of hardware necessary to produce an event for live (or, in our case, taped) television.

However, most of these production trucks do not contain the hardware necessary to uplink the game to a satellite, which is how it gets beamed down to your local cable company and thereby into your home. For that, we have to bring in a second, smaller satellite truck, which parks close enough to the production truck so that cables can be run from one to the other. If those two trucks cannot get close enough to each other to hook up, the game can be produced, but it cannot be transmitted live.

Thus, truck parking is a very big deal. If the "cable run" is too long between the two trucks -- or between the stadium itself and any of the trucks -- we've got issues. Which was the case in Columbia, South Carolina this weekend.

It seems that our friends at The Four Letters had bogarted all the prime parking spots around Williams-Brice Stadium, so much so that Sun Sports was struggling to find room for our satellite truck to get close enough to our production truck. In the days leading up to the Florida-South Carolina game, a flurry of phone calls and urgent messages failed to resolve the situation (and from what I hear, we were actively seeking help from UF and/or the Southeastern Conference itself to get ourselves some space). Once it became apparent that the Worldwide Leader wasn't budging, literally or figuratively, we had to get creative.

So we parked our satellite truck across the street from the stadium. While this was too far to run cables to our production truck, it was not too far to run, literally -- which is what some poor kid had to do all day on Saturday.

We actually hired a "runner" -- new meaning to that term, no? -- whose job it was to sprint tapes across the street to the satellite truck to be fed to us in the studio. Hence, every shot you saw during the pregame and postgame coverage from South Carolina on Saturday, from the tailgating shots to Urban Meyer's press conference to the player interviews, was taped, not live. Which is why the postgame show appeared "upside down," with said press conference and player interviews coming in the second half-hour of our postgame show, instead of coming closer to the top of the show, as we usually do it. Simply put, it took a few minutes for the kid to run each tape across the street.

Ah, the magic of television. As we like to say, "America will never know." Unless I choose to blog about it.

Speaking of which, I received an e-mail from an avid viewer/reader named Seth who disagreed with Brady's contention that Florida State and Miami have killed the Big Five. Felt bad about this, a little, only because Brady made the comment off-air, and I used it for blog fodder (note to my co-workers: EVERYTHING is blog fodder. If you don't mean it, don't let me hear it).

Anyway, Seth points out that Florida State's stumble at Virginia Tech can be directly traced to a rookie QB with 70 percent of the playbook replacing the concussed Drew Weatherford (true), a rash of injuries to key guys like Antone Smith, Tony Carter, and Toddrick Verdell (also true), and some bad calls by the refs (umm, okay).

Seth also defends Miami as a team in transition with a new coaching staff and a "culture shock" of newly-installed disciplinary requirements. He also goes after Florida as not exactly helping the "Big Five" with three conference losses on the heels of a national championship. I'm pretty much cool with all that.

However, one weekend, or one season, does not define a program. Instead, you have to look at the long-term trend, and in that light, I consider Brady's offhand comment to be rather profound, actually (don't tell him I said that).

Florida State, as I have written before, has been in steady decline since 2000, when the Seminoles finished the season with the top-ranked offense in Division I football at 549 yards per game. Offensive coordinator Mark Richt left Tallahassee after that season to take over as the head coach at Georgia; the FSU offense has dropped in NCAA ranking ever since, settling in at 78th in the country as of this writing. I single out offensive ranking because it's the most linear example of Florida State's fortunes -- if you prefer to go by wins, the Seminoles won only 7 games last year (their first 7-win season since 1986) and have recorded exactly one 10-win season since Richt left, which is stunning for a team that reached double digits in victories every year from 1987 through 2000.

Of course, there's a new staff in Tallahassee this year, and a new system, so an adjustment period is to be expected -- but the fact remains nonetheless that Florida State, with a 6-4 record and road games coming up at Maryland and Florida, is merely continuing a 7-year trend.

Similarly, Miami's 2007 season is not a one-time thing, either. Starting with the 2003 season (the year after the Hurricanes were robbed of a second straight national championship by an atrociously timed pass interference call in the 4th quarter of the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State), the Hurricanes have slowly slipped into mediocrity. They won 11 games in '03, nine games in '04 and '05, seven games in '06, and just five games this year -- and with road games coming up against Virginia Tech and Boston College, it will take a mighty effort to get to six.

Point being, if the Big Five is really dead, it didn't happen overnight. I'm even willing to grant the point that Florida is at least partially culpable for this demise, as the Gators, who recorded nine 10-win seasons from 1991 through 2001, retreated to 8-5, 8-5, 7-5, and 9-3 before last year's national championship.

However, if we agree with Seth and declare the Big Five (or the Big Three, which is really his point) to be alive and kicking, we're doing so based on perception, tradition, and history, and not so much on "right now." Over the six seasons from 2001 through 2006, Miami was 6th in the country in winning percentage at 80.0%. Florida was 14th at 72.3%, and Florida State was 22nd at 66.2%.

But what if you shorten that range to four seasons, from 2003 through 2006? Florida drops to 16th in winning percentage at 72.5%. Miami goes down to 17th, at 72.0%. And Florida State drops to 23rd, at 66.6%.

Interesting to note that the winning percentages themselves don't change that much for the Big Three, but their ranking compared to other D-I programs drops -- which means that even though the Big Three aren't exactly going into the tank, other programs around the country are winning at higher clips over the last four seasons. Everyone else is getting better at a faster rate, which is one of the principal tenets of "parity" in college football.

Of course, South Florida, with its historic three-game Big East losing streak, dropped itself from BCS contention into conference also-ran, rendering my invite into a "Big Four" rather tenuous, and pretty much throwing a wrench into any Big Five, for now. Luckily, we still have UCF, which controls its own destiny as a division leader in Conference USA, and has a running back in Kevin Smith who is unquestionably the best at his position in the state, and one of the best in the nation. Should the Knights hang on to win their conference, the conversation can begin again.

By the way, Florida Atlantic is one game out of first in the Sun Belt right now, with a non-conference game at Florida this week followed by road games at winless Florida International and a season finale showdown with league leader Troy. Raise your hand if you thought at the beginning of this season that UCF and FAU would have the best chances of winning their respective conferences by the time we got to mid-November. Of note, those two teams were a combined 9-15 last season.

Welcome to the Bizarro World of college football in which we now live.

Big What?

Regarding the much-ballyhooed (by me) "Big Five" Theory:

Brady Ackerman had the best line of the year as we sat on the Sun Sports studio set late on Saturday night, digesting Miami's humiliating loss to Virginia in the Hurricanes' final game at the Orange Bowl and Florida State's first loss to Virginia Tech in the Bobby Bowden era:

"The Big Five is dead. Not because of anything UCF or South Florida did, but because Miami and Florida State killed it."

And really, there's nothing left to add.

Until tomorrow, that is.

Thursday Night Lights

Back from Tallahassee, where the Sun Sports "Rec Warehouse College Kickoff" team of me, Brady Ackerman, and Terry Norvelle was assigned to FSN's national Nike High School Football Game of the Week.

Lincoln vs. Godby. Five state championships between them and a boatload of talent. Cold night in Tally, and the Godby Cougars were without their all-time leading rusher (a story better left for someone else), but highly entertaining.

Two links: the Friday morning recap, and the Thursday morning preview from the Tallahassee Democrat, which apparently was starved for news this week. In all seriousness, thanks to them for the exposure.

Gathering Thoughts, Again

Again, these are in no particular order. Much like my work schedule these days. Another 8pm kickoff on Saturday night, followed by a four-hour game, leading to a midnight start for the one-hour Seminole Postgame show...feh. At least they won, and we got to turn the clocks back.

There's a good line in there somewhere about Florida State "turning the clocks back," but I'm too freaking tired to think of it.

-Florida State's game notes prior to the Boston College trip claimed that the Seminoles had never beaten a 2nd-ranked team on the road, and we dutifully reported that fact on the air. At least one FSU fan called me on Monday to correct that stat: the phrase "regular season" would have helped.

As in, the Sugar Bowl following the 1999 season, when top-ranked Florida State beat 2nd-ranked Virginia Tech for the national championship. Technically, a road game, and certainly, a win. Good catch by all.

However, it remains that the win at BC was Florida State's first over a number two in the regular season, and their first road win over a top-5 opponent (again, in the regular season) since that same 1999 campaign, when the 'Noles beat Florida in their season finale. So a good win, is what I'm saying.

Now, the question: was it a tease, or have the Seminoles figured something out?

On Monday's "Tailgate Overtime," I leaned towards the latter, and I think it starts up front, with the offensive line. That unit, much-maligned and oft-injured over the last five years, protected Drew Weatherford to the tune of 354 passing yards to seven different receivers and no interceptions. And even though the 'Noles weren't able to run the ball terribly well against the Eagles, it's worth noting that Antone Smith has gained 323 of his 643 rushing yards this season -- almost exactly half -- just in his last three games. Something is clicking up front.

Also worth noting that, perhaps because of that confidence in the offensive line, Smith has three straight games of 20 carries or more, after going the first six games of the season without reaching that number once. Rushing offense + quarterback protection + Mickey Andrews' man-eating defense = upset.

As one longtime University of Florida football season ticket holder said to me on Sunday: "I wasn't worried about Florida State until I watched them against Boston College. I'm worried about them now."

Game on, dude.

-How much harder can South Florida fall? Three weeks ago, we were talking about the Bulls as a Cinderella team in the BCS National Championship Game. Today, they're 7th in the 8-team Big East Conference, and get this: they're actually behind Florida State in the BCS standings.

Double feh. Raise your hand if you thought that was possible three weeks ago. Now, all of you with your hands raised? You're lying.

-Has anyone noticed that UCF's Kevin Smith is the number two rusher in the nation? He's ahead of Arkansas' Darren McFadden, ahead of Rutgers' Ray Rice, ahead of Michigan's Mike Hart and Oregon's Jonathan Stewart and a bunch of other guys you've heard of. However, he's behind a guy you've never heard of: Tulane's Matt Forte, who's putting up monster numbers for a 2-7 Green Wave train wreck. Tulane has losses this year to Army, UAB, and Memphis, among others -- and the Forte kid has rushed for over 200 yards in five of their nine games. Where did he come from?

And on that note, Kevin Smith played his high school football in Miami -- where were Florida, Florida State, and The U when Smith was being recruited by UCF?

Go read his bio. Smith is on pace to shatter every UCF rushing record in the books (among the few he doesn't hold already). Think he wouldn't fit into a backfield in Gainesville, Tallahassee, or Coral Gables?

-On the live "After Party" chat at sunsportstv.com after Monday night's show, I was asked what teams I'd like to see in the BCS Championship Game if I could pick them. Easy answer: LSU and Oregon. To me, those are the two most talented teams in the country, and it would be a hoot to watch. Oregon is an SEC team playing in the Pac-10 -- speed and more speed. Any chance we can move the Ducks into the SEC West?

That is all for now. Check local listings for Thursday night, as the FSN Nike High School Football Game of the Week will come from Tallahassee, as Lincoln squares off against Godby in a city rivalry. Your announce team: me, Brady Ackerman, and Terry Norvelle. Gotta go mine some stats.

See you on TV.