The older we get, the more we realize a simple truth: Some of
the stuff our elders taught us is whack.
Sticks and bones break bones, but words never hurt? Please. Cheaters
never win and winners never cheat? Hardly. A watched pot never boils? Keep looking.
The world of sports is full of similarly questionable phrases and metaphors. There’s no “I” in team, but there’s a “me.” Don’t ever give up, but insert your subs when all hope is gone. Size doesn’t matter, but your heaviest players are linemen.
Generally
speaking, forcing ball carriers to fumble are positive plays for the defense.
Grambling State sustained a huge exception against visiting Bethune-Cookman on
Saturday. But the wacky play didn’t matter in the end.
Grambling
was suffocating on defense in a 28-14 victory that kept its hopes alive in the Southwestern
Athletic Conference. The Tigers gave up just 96 yards rushing and 81 yards
passings. Bethune might have been held scoreless, too, if not for two long
touchdowns after recovering fumbles – one its own.
Before a sparse crowd at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadum, the craziness began on the opening possession. With nothing to lose in a season going nowhere, Bethune attempted to convert on fourth-and-1, lining up in shotgun formation from its own 42-yard line.
Grambling
State’s outlook for this football season was much brighter as September ended.
The
Tigers had just snapped a five-game losing streak against Prairie View A&M
in the State Fair Classic. With the win, they remained undefeated in the
Southwestern Athletic Conference and seized control of their destiny in the
West division. The crown would be theirs if they could run the table.
Instead, Grambling suffered back-to-back SWAC losses before limping into last week’s bye at 3-4 overall, 2-2 in SWAC. Even if it resumes winning – starting Saturday against visiting Bethune-Cookman – Grambling has dimmer prospects for a title in head coach Hugh Jackson’s second season. He has encouraged his players to forget about watching the scoreboard and hoping teams ahead of them stumble.
Father Time is undefeated. Nothing’s gonna change that, and
no one can stop it. In the end, all he does is win, win, win.
But he’s gotta play the long game against LeBron James.
James hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down at 38-years-old as his 21st NBA season gets underway. He opened with a tidy 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists in Tuesday’s defeat against the Denver Nuggets. It wasn’t quite the age-defying performance of last season, when he averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, but it’s close enough.
For the Alcorn State football team, this was the definition of a trap game.
A “trap game, as defined by the Urban Dictionary, is “a game played against an opponent deemed to be easy to defeat. As a result, a person or team may not prepare as thoroughly as they would for a formidable opponent. Often this attitude and its attendant lack of preparation lead to a loss.”
Alcorn State didn’t fall for it on Saturday. There was little doubt and less suspense as the visiting Braves ran all over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 31-7, to spoil homecoming in front of 13,469 fans at Simmons Bank Field.
As they practice each week and prepare for the next opponent, first-year head coach Alonzo Hampton and his Arkansas-Pine Bluff football team can’t allow themselves to look at their games on paper, where rankings, statistics, and predictions rarely favor the Golden Lions.
If they ever needed a reminder, it was delivered during last week’s visit to previously winless Mississippi Valley State.
Pine Bluff was soundly defeated, 42-17, returning home without its first Southwestern Athletic Conference victory under Hampton. The Lions fell to 1-5 overall (0-3 in SWAC) and will try again on Saturday, the homecoming game.
The mother recounting her experiences in Langston Hughes’ famous poem isn’t necessarily talking about poverty, though the dilapidated conditions she describes suggest a lack of means. But if we replace material things with the inner workings of hearts and minds, we realize that rich and poor alike can face the same journey, dealing with tacks and splinters, torn boards and bare floors, sometimes in the dark.
The message to that son, irrespective of family wealth, is to keep climbing, continue growing and going, no matter how hard you struggle. I’m certain that Allen Iverson can relate, even after earning more than $200 million in his career. Yes, if you’re gonna be unhappy either way, it’s better to have money. But there’s ample evidence that happiness can’t be bought at any price.
Legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells has an oft-repeated quote on judging a team that fights hard and comes close but fails to secure victories due to a key play here or an untimely mishap there. At the end of the day and season’s end, Parcells says, you are what your record says you are.
No matter where the record stands, a team always feels better when its most recent result is positive, outweighing any flaws in the performance. Conversely, the loser is left to lament what it could’ve, would’ve, and should’ve done differently to change the outcome.
The Texas Southern Tigers were rude guests Saturday at Daytona Stadium, opening a big lead and holding on for a 34-31 victory that spoiled homecoming for the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. The Tigers returned to Houston with an overall record of 2-4 (1-2 mark in the Southwestern Athletic Conference). The Wildcats (1-5, 0-3) spent the rest of the day nursing their wounds and imagining what if.
Unlike its peers in the Southwestern Athletic Conference West division – where four schools have one loss and are vying for the top – Texas Southern has an unlikely path to being crowned. The Tigers (1-4, 0-2 in the SWAC) must run the table and see multiple stumbles from division leaders Prairie View, Grambling, Alcorn State, and Southern.
Bethune-Cookman’s prospects in the SWAC East aren’t any brighter (1-4, 0-2), as Florida A&M has yet to lose a conference game, and Jackson State has lost only one. Odds and the remaining schedule suggest one of those schools will claim the division title.
But there’s always something to play for once hopes of contending fade.
Homecoming season is nearing its peak with festivities planned at 13 HBCUs on Saturday, among them Southern, Tennessee State and Virginia State. The following weekend is the calendar’s busiest, featuring 15 celebrations, with a lineup that includes Clark Atlanta, Fayetteville State and (you know) my Howard University.
Nothing compares to these sumptuous feasts of Black culture.
Anticipation rises annually for students and alums who can’t wait for the fun to begin. They arrange meet-ups and plot their strategy to attend step shows, forums, fashion shows, parades, day parties, receptions, night parties, tailgates, brunches and worship services. The football game is an optional centerpiece, with the band, dancers and cheerleaders as complementary attractions.
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