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FEBRUARY 2015

SPORTSVISIONS MLK EDITION

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

_________________________________________ Heisman Winners _________________________________________ Atheletes and Social Conscience _________________________________________ Honoring Vince Dooley _________________________________________ 2015 College Bowl Games Payouts _________________________________________ High School Luncheon Recap _________________________________________ 2015 NBA All-Star _________________________________________ Hawks On Fire

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Who Will Win Super Bowl XLIX?

NFL Experience Engineered by GMC The National Football League will host the NFL Experience at the Phoenix Convention Center from January 24 - February 1, 2015. The NFL Experience Engineered by GMC is one of the most exciting continuous event surrounding Super Bowl XLIX – pro football’s interactive theme park offering participatory games, displays, entertainment attractions, youth football clinics and free autograph sessions from NFL players. Please check back for an updated list of player appearances. Confirmed appearances will be available starting Friday, January 23.* Got questions about the NFL Experience? You can always email us or visit NFL Experience FAQs.

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Heisman Trophy Marcus Mariota Just in time for the holidays, the landmark 80th annual Heisman Trophy presentation celebratesd a new college football champion this year in New York City.

The official ceremony was televised live on ESPN on Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 8PM ET when this year’s winner was finally announced. As expected, it was star quarterback Marcus Mariota who was honored to become the first American of Samoan descent (and the first Oregon player) ever to be awarded the Heisman Trophy.

2014 Heisman Trophy contenders

Rounding out the Top 5 included: Wisconsin Badgers running back Melvin Gordon who also had an incredible 2014 season topped off (most recently in November against Nebraska) with 4 touchdowns and 408 rushing yards, an FBS record.

Another leading pick was TCU QB Trevone Boykin -- who last season became the first player in TCU history to have a 200-yard passing, 100yard rushing and 100-yard receiving game in one season.

Crimson Tide junior Amari Cooper, whose quiet demeanor usually belies his lightning quick speed and phenomenal catches, also vaulted him securely into Heisman Trophy consideration this year.

On a list for leading Heisman Trophy contenders this year, Oregon QB Marcus Mariota remained on or near the top.

This year’s Heisman winner led the Ducks to its third consecutive win at the Alamo Bowl last year while being honored as the game’s Offensive MVP. He finished out 2013 with 4,380 yards of total offense, becoming the only player in Oregon history to surpass 4,000 yards in a season.

Oregon QB Marcus Mariota led the pack in the competition for Heisman glory in 2014. As he continued his red hot streak this season, Mariota nevertheless battled for 2014 Heisman glory with Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott -- who almost singlehandedly brought the Bulldogs up from sideline contenders to one of the best college teams in the nation.

Prescott was named the MVP of the Liberty Bowl in 2013 after leading the Bulldogs to a 44-7 win over Rice in 2013, and his star continued to rise this year as one Heisman’s leading contenders.

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College Bowl Game Payouts Source: NCAA College Football, College Football Playoff Schedule The following is a list of the college bowl game payouts for the 2014 season.

Bowl Game

CFP Championship Sugar Bowl – CFP Playoff Game

Per Team Pay-Out $22,000,000 $18,000,000

Rose Bowl – CFP Playoff Game

$18,000,000

Fiesta Bowl

$18,000,000

Orange Bowl

$18,000,000

Citrus $4,250,000 Chick-fil-A Bowl Peach $3,967,500 (ACC)

$2,932,500 (SEC) Alamo Bowl Cotton Bowl

$3,825,000 $3,625,000

Outback Bowl

$3,500,000

TicketCity Cactus

$3,325,000

Texas Bowl

$3,000,000

Holiday Bowl

$2,825,000

Music City Bowl

$2,750,000

TaxSlayer $2,750,000 (Previously Gator Bowl) Russell Athletic Bowl

$2,275,000

Sun Bowl

$2,150,000

Foster Farms

$2,212,500

Pinstripe Bowl

$2,000,000

Belk Bowl

$1,700,000

Liberty Bowl

$1,437,500

Heisman History Oregon’s Marcus Mariota would join an elite group of college quarterbacks to have won the Heisman Trophy and a national title if the Ducks beat Ohio State on Monday. Here’s a look at those who have pulled off the rare feat in the past 50 years:

Charlie Ward Florida State, 1989-93 He may have passed on the NFL for an NBA career with the Knicks, but Ward’s college highlight was the 1993 season, when he won the Heisman Trophy and led the Seminoles past Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to claim the national title.

Danny Wuerffel Florida, 1993-96 Wuerffel was a four-year starter under Steve Spurrier at Florida, finishing his career with 114 touchdown passes.

He went back-to-back winning the Davey O’Brien Award as the best QB in 1995 and 1996, and in ’96 picked up the Heisman and a national title.

Matt Leinart Southern California, 2003-05 Leinart’s three-year run at USC came at the helm of a team filled with NFL talent, but the 2004 Heisman winner did his part, throwing for more than 3,000 yards each

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season and winning the national title as a sophomore in his first year starting

Tim Tebow Florida, 2006-09 Tebow may be best remembered in New York for his Jets disaster, but he was thrilling at Florida, winning the 2007 Heisman and being part of a pair of national championship teams. He would finish his career with 88 passing touchdowns and 57 rushing.

Cam Newton Florida, 2007-08; Auburn, 2010 Newton played the fewest games in college of this group, yet his one season featured a Heisman and starring for Auburn in a national title victory against Oregon. He finished the 2010 season with an absurd 50 touchdowns (30 passing, 20 rushing).

Jameis Winston Florida State, 2012-14 Off-the-field controversies diminished Winston in the eyes of the public, but on the field he had an amazing two-year run, winning the first 27 starts of his college career. He claimed the Heisman and national title in 2013 before falling to Oregon in this season’s playoff.

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Honoring Football Legend Vince Dooley - Field Dedication

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HAWKS ON FIRE!

Mike Budenholzer and Staff to Coach Eastern Conference All-Star Team

ATLANTA -- Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer and his staff will coach the Eastern Conference All-Star team at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday, February 15. With the win against Indiana, the Hawks have clinched the East’s best record through games of February 1.

Thursday, January 22 Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia Emcee: Daryll DJ Jones Sportsvisions was ask to contact former Bulldog players to join Vince and Barbara Dooley to dedicate Dooley Field and celebrate the Dooley’s ongoing commitment to the children of the Agalta Valley in Honduras.

This year Vince and Barbara plan to return to the Agalta Valley in March for a dedication of Vince Dooley Field along with celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary. The soccer field that will be between the hedges will be a great addition to the campus HOI has built. FIFA along with Coca-Cola has kindly provided regulation goals and equipment along with a scoreboard to enhance the programs HAVE Foundation has made available to the school and the people of the remote State of Olancho in Honduras.

HAVE Foundation also honored Patrick and Tamara Man-

nelly for their continued dedication to HAVE Foundation cause.

Patrick Mannelly, a local from Marist, played for the Chicago Bears from 1998-2013 and distinguished himself on and off the field while playing more games for the Bears than any player in history. Tamara has been a member of the HAVE Foundation team for several years while personally travelling to Honduras to help build schools, educate children and open opportunities to the children of Agalta.

This year the Hugh Spruell award for Health and Wellness Assistance was awarded to Joe and Barbara Stock who have provided over 1200 hearing aids as well as an audiometer for our clinic that serves the Agalta Valley.

All proceeds from the event go to support the schools of Honduras Outreach.

WWW.HAVEFOUNDATION.ORG

“It’s a credit to our players, our front office and our entire organization. I really feel strongly about our assistant coaches; I think they do an amazing job,” Budenholzer said. “It’s a great honor but it’s our players that put us in this position. It’s the players that deserve the credit.”

In his second year as Hawks’ head coach, Budenholzer has led the Hawks to a 35-8 mark (.814), the best start in Atlanta history through 43 games.

The Hawks are currently on a 14-game overall win streak, equaling the longest in franchise history, and have won the last 12 on the road, a new franchise mark. Atlanta has posted a 28-2 mark (.933) over the last 30 games.

Atlanta led the NBA in fewest points allowed (96.3) and was the only team in the East to rank in the Top 10 in both scoring (seventh, 103.1) and fewest points allowed. The Hawks ranked second in the NBA in assists (26.0) and had assisted on 68.5% of their baskets, best in the league. They also ranked third in the league in 3FG% (.386) and ninth in FT% (.771).

The Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December after a 14-2 month, Budenholzer has led Atlanta to a 12-0 January.

Budenholzer’s coaching staff includes Kenny Atkinson, Darvin Ham, Taylor Jenkins, Charles Lee, Neven Spahija and Ben Sullivan.

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HBCU MONEY GAMES:

Athlete With A Conscience continued

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Rutgers runs away from Howard Bison

6

LeBron James And The Return Of The Superstar Athlete With A Conscience

by Travis Waldron CREDIT: (AP PHOTO/FRANK FRANKLIN II)

LeBron James joined the list of professional athletes to don an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt in pre-game warm-ups before Monday’s meeting with the Brooklyn Nets, joining other Nets players and his Cavaliers teammates in brandishing the last words of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man killed by a New York police officer in July.

James was not the first player to wear the shirt. Chicago’s Derrick Rose wore an “I Can’t Breathe” warm-up before the Bulls played Golden State on Saturday, just three days after a grand jury decided not to bring charges against the officer who killed Garner, and several other Brooklyn and Cleveland players wore them Monday.

million last year, he used Twitter to take issue with how much money was transferred to owners during the 2011 lockout. He later signaled that he was considering a run for president of the NBA Players Association, though he ultimately decided against it.)

The killings of Martin, Brown, and Garner have become a common thread, but James picks his spots on when to speak out, he explained Monday.

I CAN’T BREATHE But LeBron is LeBron, and so coming from him the gesture carries even more weight, especially taking place as it did in New York, the city where Garner was slain. That British royalty were in attendance and a massive protest was taking place outside the Barclay’s Center only added to it all.

Beyond the immediate impact, Monday’s gesture was another indication that the biggest superstar in sports has surprisingly but not-so-quietly become one of that world’s most socially conscious — and outspoken — voices. Even more than that, James has perhaps emerged as the symbol of the return of a superstar athlete who is both politically conscious and willing to speak out on controversial issues that matter to them.

James emerged onto that scene in 2012, when he and Dwyane Wade led their Miami Heat teammates to don black hoodies, with heads down and hoods up, for a team picture that protested the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin:

James recalled that image when he first “spoke” out on the shooting death of Michael

Brown, the St. Louis teen who was shot by a white police officer. When a grand jury failed to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, James shared this picture on Instagram:

“If it feels important to me, then I respond.

If it doesn’t, I don’t. There’s a lot of issues I haven’t talked about. For me it’s about knowledge, it’s about the gut feeling,” James told reporters after the game in Brooklyn.

While his statements in these three cases have trended toward less-than-subtle symbolism rather than outspoken screeds and explicit arguments, James has at other times used his voice — and his power — to take a stand.

As a result, he has emerged as one of the more constant voices when these issues arise. That ascension is powerful given the stature LeBron holds both in sports and in American culture writ large, but it is also so because James is a somewhat surprising source. It might have been easy to expect a man who was anointed King as a teen, felt meticulously brand-managed through The Decision in 2010, and now exists as the sport’s most iconic superstar to follow in the footsteps of certain megastars who preceded him.

His strongest moment, perhaps, came after former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was caught on tape making racist comments about fans and NBA players. It is hardly a stretch to suggest that explicit outrage from James — who said pointedly that “there is no room for Donald Sterling in our league” and, with his Heat teammates, held his own silent protest during the playoffs — and other players led to commissioner Adam Silver’s harsh punishment of Sterling. And though reports that James was prepared to lead a boycott of the 2014-2015 season if Sterling didn’t sell the team were premature, James still made it clear that he and the players were watching the proceedings closely.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said then.

(As an aside, James’ voice has been loud on NBA-specific economic issues too: after the Sacramento Kings sold for more than $500

And yet, there is no Michael Jordan here, no cool dismissal of sharing an opinion with a line like, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”

Whether Jordan ever actually said that is disputed, but the contrast is clear: with James, there is little reluctance to endorse black political candidates at the height of his career (he openly supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012) and little hesitance to take stances on controversial political and social issues (aside from the Martin, Brown, and Garner cases, James was also among the athletes who helped promote Affordable Care Act enrollment). James has used his platform continued on page 16

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Thursday, Feb. 12 All times Eastern (ET) 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. | All Day Dunk-A-Thon | NBA TV 5 p.m. | BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge Practice | NBA TV 7 p.m. | NBA on TNT Tip-Off | TNT 7 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. | All-Day Dunk-A-Thon | NBA TV 8 p.m. | Cavaliers vs. Bulls | TNT 10:30 p.m. | Inside the NBA | TNT Friday, Feb. 13 All times Eastern (ET) 12 p.m. | NBA All-Star 2015 Media Day | NBA TV 5 p.m. | The Beat | NBA TV 6 p.m. | The Starters 7 p.m. | Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game | ESPN 9 p.m. | BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge | TNT 11 p.m. | Inside the NBA presented by Kia | TNT 12 a.m. | NBA GameTime | NBA TV Saturday, Feb. 14 All times Eastern (ET) 10 a.m. | Hall of Fame Class of 2015 Finalists Announcement | NBA TV 11 a.m. | NBA All-Star Practice presented by Sean John at Macy’s | NBA TV 1 p.m. | Inside Stuff | NBA TV 1:30 p.m. | The Starters | NBA TV 7 p.m. | Adam Silver news conference | NBA TV 8 p.m. | TNT NBA Tip-Off 8:30 p.m. | State Farm All-Star Saturday Night | TNT Shooting Stars (1st Event) Taco Bell Skills Challenge (2nd Event) Foot Locker Three-Point Contest (3rd Event) Sprite Slam Dunk (4th Event) 11 p.m. | NBA GameTime | NBA TV Sunday, Feb. 15 All times Eastern (ET) 1 p.m. | NBA Legends Brunch 2:30 p.m. | NBA D-League All-Star Game presented by Kumho Tire | NBA TV Boost Mobile NBA D-League Slam Dunk Contest at halftime 5 p.m. | NBA GameTime | NBA TV 6 p.m. | Sprint Pregame Concert | NBA TV 7 p.m. | NBA Tip-Off | TNT 8:30 p.m. | NBA All-Star Game | TNT 11:30 p.m. | Inside the NBA presented by Kia | NBA TV

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2015 NCAA Tournament Schedule

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ESPN.com 2015 NCAA men’s basketball tournament: Selection Sunday March 15 First Round March 17-18 UD Arena (Dayton, Ohio) Second-Third Rounds March 19, 21 Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.) KFC Yum! Center (Louisville) Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh) Rose Garden (Portland, Ore.) March 20, 22 Time Warner Cable Arena (Charlotte, N.C.) Nationwide Arena (Columbus, Ohio) CenturyLink Center (Omaha, Neb.) KeyArena (Seattle) Midwest Regional March 26, 28 Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland)

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West Regional March 26, 28 Staples Center (Los Angeles) South Regional March 27, 29 Reliant Stadium (Houston) East Regional March 27, 29 Carrier Dome (Syracuse) National Semifinals April 4 Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis) Championship Game April 6 Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)

2015 NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament: The 2015 NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament will be played in March and April 2015, with the Final Four played April 5–7. The subregional games will be played at the campus sites of the top 16 seeds. The regional locations, after a one year experiment allowing tournament teams to host, will return to four neutral sites: Oklahoma City, Spokane, Greensboro and Albany.

The subregionals will be played March 20–23, while the regionals will be played March 27–30. This represents a change; in the past, the rounds were played starting on a Saturday and ending on a Tuesday. In 2015, the opening rounds and regionals (but not the Final Four) will be played starting on a Friday and ending on a Monday.

The Final Four will be played at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Tampa, Florida This is the second time that Tampa has hosted a Women’s Final Four Basketball tournament, the prior time was in 2008.

Subregionals The basis for the subregionals will return to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, will host the first two rounds on campus.

Regionals and Final FouR The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, will be held from March 28 to March 31 at these sites: • Oklahoma City Regional, Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Host: Oklahoma and OKC All Sports Association • Spokane Regional Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington Host: Washington State University • Greensboro Regional, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina Host: ACC • Albany Regional, Times Union Center, Albany, New York Host: MAAC Sacramento was originally selected as one of the regional locations, but a scheduling conflict precluded their ability to host the event, so Spokane was selected as a regional location.

The 2015 Women’s Final Four will be held on April 5 & 7 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, hosted by South Florida.

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Seventh Annual Columbus Valley Area High School Football Awards Luncheon Held in December 18, 2014

Sponsored by

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2014 High School Coaches & Players of the Year Auburn Coach Tim Carter Offense - Tyus Flakes Defense - Randy Hooks

Brookstone

Columbus High School

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Coach Phil Marino Offense - Raymond Cochran III Offense - Dale Williams, Jr. Defense - Essang Bassey

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Coach Brian Osborne Offense - Anthony Santiago Defense - Taylor Faulk

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S

High Football Norwood * Chester’sSprings BBQ • JDSchool Mercer • Dr. Marcus Edwards • Melwood • Dr. Marcus Edwards •LLP Melwood • Taylor Funeral Home •

SpringsDrive, • Robert Gould *The Protocol Luncheon Academy of Georgia31906 • Taylor Funeral Awards 1836•Midtown Columbus, GA Mayor Teresa Pike-Tomlinson and Wade Tomlinson • Home Sponsored by • 706-507-0024 E&S Men’s Warehouse • And

W. H. Spencer Coach Calvin Arnold Offense - Raekwon Allen Defense - Chris Baker

Aflac

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Hilton Ga

CB&T • Fountain City Classic •Columbus Quarterback Club • TIC Federal Credit Wendy’s Union • The Martin Firm *Jimmy Watts State Farm Agency • Jonathan Smart All