Outdoors: Bonner carries on family tradition. 9C
Sports
S U N D A Y , J U N E 26 , 2011
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
CECIL HURT
No reason UA can’t be strong in all sports
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t has stretched almost into July, but the college sports year is about to come to an end in a few days when Florida and South Carolina fi nally settle the NCA A baseball championship. Regardless of who wins in Omaha, it will assure the Southeastern Conference of its fi fth NCAA (or BCS) national championship this season. Auburn won in football, Alabama in women’s gymnastics and Florida in men’s indoor track and women’s tennis. SEC member Kentucky also won the NCA A rifl e championship, although that is technically not an SEC sport. It also means the year-end tabulation of “all sports” awards. That has generally been the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Learfield Cup, although this year, Capital One has also created its own award and since it has a tie-in with ESPN, it is the one that will likely get the most attention. The primary difference is that while NACDA counts all sports as equal, Capital One has a more restrictive points system and awards “triple points” for the most “popular” sports. Capital One also recognizes only 26 sports — 13 men’s and 13 women’s — and that list does not include gymnastics, which scuttled any chances the University of Alabama might have had at a strong women’s showing. Also, it awards points only for Top 10 fi nishes, and that leads to some odd results. Alabama didn’t have any Top 10 national men’s fi nishes this year — by the Capital One rankings, UA football was 11th and thus merited no points – while Eastern Washington won the FCS football title and received 60 points. That’s fi ne, as far as the system goes, but I am not sure it reflects a reality that Eastern Washington has a better “all-sports program” in men’s athletics than Alabama (or LSU or Georgia or Arizona) does. It’s going to work out OK in the end, I guess, since Florida — which does has a laudable all-sports program — is going to win the Capital One award with either a fi rst or second-place fi nish in baseball. Stanford has already won the women’s Capital One cup and the men’s Learfield Cup. In the Learfield competition, Alabama will once again wind up around No. 25 nationally since it will get points under that system for a Top 32 fi nish in baseball. Will Alabama ever win any sort of men’s national all-sports award? It has a much better chance in the Capital One formula, since a football title and a good showing in a couple of other sports can propel a team in that competition. It’s worth noting the Crimson Tide doesn’t even sponsor two of the men’s sports — lacrosse and soccer — that the Capital One people consider as “double point” events. The fact is there are flaws in that system, just as there are fl aws in the straightcalculation method NACDA uses. A better measurement tool is whether Alabama will ever match Florida’s all-sports production. The realistic answer is “probably not,” given the demographics of the two states among other factors. Depending on your point of view, that attitude is either realistic — demographically, Alabama is far closer to Mississippi or Mississippi State than Florida or Georgia — or defeatist. The argument that Alabama is in a unique position because of its lucrative football program holds some water. Football gives Alabama the resources to pour into its other sports, giving them a chance to succeed. There is no reason for Alabama not to be strong in almost all of its sponsored sports. It is growing strong again in men’s basketball. SEE HURT | 7C
STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
Alabama native and New York Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck, who is affiliated with World Vision, looks at the devastation along 15th Street caused by the April 27 tornado. Tuck visited Tuscaloosa on May 12 and pledged $100,000 to the Tuscaloosa Disaster Relief Fund.
Tornado cleanup efforts continue, but for Tuscaloosa, the University of Alabama and its coaches and athletes, the time has come to focus on how to
REBUILD By Cecil Hurt | Sports Editor First in a three-part series on how the caloosa landscape, wondering when April 27 tornado affected area athletes things will change and normalcy will and athletics return. Both head coaches are participating in that rebuilding effort, and both reTUSCALOOSA cently took time to discuss what has ebuilding. For successf ul been done and the long journey that coaches, it is a familiar con- remains ahead. “It’s going to take a couple of years, cept. Nick Saban has done it before. So I think, to make this happen,” Saban has Anthony Grant. They have taken said. “It’s not going to just come back over in situations where a new direc- to what it was. But I think the cooption was needed, and a new infusion eration, the volunteers, all the federal of resources was required. They both and local organizations and governknow how such things get done. And ments who worked together, they’ve they both know it doesn’t happen over- done a nice job of helping clean up Tuscaloosa. night. “I think now the task is going to be That is an important perspective in Tuscaloosa these days. The tornado of to rebuild it, which is even going to April 27 is now nearly two months in probably be more difficult and timethe past. Colossal effort has been put consuming to replace the things that into cleanup and repair, and progress were damaged or destroyed. But I has been made. But a great deal re- think there is some normalcy. People mains to be done, so much so that it have found places to live and maybe can be frustrating to stand in one of they lost their home but they are in an SEE R EBUILD | 4C the debris fields that still dot the Tus-
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“It’s going to take a couple of years, I think, to make this happen. It’s not going to just come back to what it was. ... I think now the task is going to be to rebuild it.” Alabama football coach Nick Saban
INSIDE Counting his blessings
Tornado put sports on hold
Alabama track athlete Joel Lynch not upset about losing most of his possessions l 3C
Several athletic events had to be canceled or rescheduled due to the tornado | 3C
Finding a way to help out NFL and former Alabama player Le’Ron McClain gives back to Tuscaloosa | 4C
Haunting questions Deadly tornado leaves UA baseball player with uneasy questions | 4C
Lending a helping hand UA compliance office sprang into action to offer help to studentathletes | 4C