Johnson apologizes for comment
Greetings-
Notes from Tuesday.
1. Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, whose oft-unfettered tongue and unwillingness to back down to rival Georgia have earned him the admiration of Tech fans, apologized for a poor choice of words on his radio show Tuesday night.
Near the end of his show, a caller, presumably a Georgia Bulldogs fan, came on the air and said, “Hello? Hello?” and then began barking before either hanging up or being cut off. Johnson responded, “Hello? Hello? He just got off from Walmart.”
Johnson, who earlier in the day had commented how most Georgia fans he encounters are cordial, said, “Anybody who calls into a radio show and barks is either retarded or doesn’t have a life.”
After the show, Johnson said he meant his response as a joke, “but it was a poor choice of words on my part and I sincerely apologize. It was not my intention to offend anyone.”
Advocates for people with mental disabilities have campaigned to stop the use of the word “retard” or “retarded” as a slur, calling it hurtful and dehumanizing.
(Not sure what to say. It was a poor choice of words.)
2. A-back Orwin Smith, who sat out last Saturday’s game with a toe injury, practiced Tuesday and will try to play in Saturday’s game against Georgia.
“I will at least try,” Smith said Tuesday. “The worst that can happen is me going out there and me not being able to play, but I will give it a shot.”
Smith said he ran full speed at practice and “limped around a couple times,” but overall said he felt great. Smith is the Yellow Jackets’ most dangerous playmaker on offense. He averages 10.8 yards per carry and 23.8 yards per reception and has scored 11 touchdowns in 65 offensive touches. He has been receiving a variety of treatments, including hot and cold tubs and ultrasound, to stimulate healing of his turf toe injury, typically a painful malady.
Wide receiver Stephen Hill and A-back Roddy Jones were held out of practice for the second day in a row, but both expected to return to practice Wednesday and play. Guard Will Jackson practiced but was kept out of contact drills.
(The fact that Smith may be hampered is, obviously, noteworthy. Bears watching.)
3. Hal Miller, an All-American offensive tackle and a co-captain of Tech’s 1952 national championship team, died Monday following a short illness. He was 81.
In 1952, Miller helped lead the Jackets to a 12-0 record and a Sugar Bowl win over Mississippi, giving them the titled awarded by the International News Service. Born in Kingsport, Tenn., Miller was enshrined in the Georgia Tech, Georgia and Tennessee sports halls of fame.
The school is working on a tribute to honor both Miller and legendary Georgia play-by-play voice Larry Munson, who died Sunday, at Saturday’s game.
(While it’s sad news, I do hope that both are honored before the game.)
4. Hill is friends with one Georgia player he’ll likely see plenty on Saturday, cornerback Branden Smith. The two hung out last summer, Hill said. They played each other in high school and Hill played basketball and long jumped against another Georgia corner, Brandon Boykin.
“They’re real fast,” Hill said. “Their technique is great, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
5. Defensive coordinator Al Groh on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray:
“He’s certainly as good as we’ve seen. We compare him and his skill level to (Clemson quarterback) Tajh Boyd. He moves very well within the pocket as well as getting out. … He’s always got his feet underneath his shoulders. He re-sets very quickly. He makes a lot of big throws when the rush initially makes him move off his normal throwing spot without leaving the pocket.”
(One thing I appreciate about Groh: No player assessment will ever be, “Kid’s got a rocket for an arm.”)
6. Wide receiver Tyler Melton has been playing his best football the past two or three games, Johnson said. Melton has seven catches in the past three games for 122 yards, including three for 54 yards against Duke. The seven receptions are more than he had in any of his first three seasons and as many receptions as he had in the first eight games of this season. He has also blocked particularly well over that stretch.
Johnson said he’s not making a concerted effort to get Melton the ball, “but when the ball’s gone his way, he’s made a couple of nice catches and come down with it.”
(Melton has shown some nice ability to adjust for passes. I have no idea what his draft stock is, but he’s shown plenty of other skills – namely blocking ability and special teams play. If he can keep up his pass catching, he’ll hopefully get a shot in somebody’s camp. Remember that Kevin Cone – who caught six passes last year – fought his way onto the Falcons practice squad.)
7. Tuesday, Johnson dismissed an Internet report that Mississippi had contacted representatives for Johnson regarding its coaching opening.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “That stuff’s crazy.”
I want to thank the posters who have kept things clean and respectful, for the most part. I was very tempted to not post the notes on the blog, because this seems like a fire waiting to happen, but decided that you deserved a chance to comment on it. If the posts aren’t respectful, however, I’ve got no problem closing commenting, and probably for the rest of the week. Please don’t be the bad apple that spoils it for everyone.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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422 comments Add your comment
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:15 am
And here is the other thing. He really isn’t even that good of a coach.
His combined record at Tech against Va Tech, UGA and the Bowl Game is ….
2 – 8
If he loses to UGA and the bowl game this year his record will be 2 – 10 in his three biggest games.
Pathetic.
gt4ever
November 23rd, 2011
11:15 am
I’m picking the upset… I have picked UGA to win every game after their start… Here is to hoping my streak continues…
GTFan1
November 23rd, 2011
11:16 am
Just my personal opinion, but I think sports store should be the only ones who sell collegiate apparel. The quality at Wal Mart, Target, and etc. just isn’t the same.
Don Draper
November 23rd, 2011
11:16 am
This little drama is obviously not on the same level or same universe as the Penn State scandal. Nonetheless, the reaction of the GT faithful on here underscores how a culture of deniability can exist among blind loyalist who are unable or unwilling to be self aware and engage in critical thinking. Something that should be universally accepted as poor taste is rationalized and dismissed with responses like “I can’t for the life of me understand what is wrong with what he said?” There is no doubt that UGA fans would be reacting the same way if the situation were reversed. However, the mythology that Tech was somehow above this type of thing and is a bastion of enlightenment is once again shattered.
GTFan1
November 23rd, 2011
11:18 am
This drama wouldn’t have started had this person not called and barked, simple as that!!!!
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:18 am
If you haven’t clicked on that link to the Jan Kemp story, whether you’re a UGA or Tech fan, I encourage you to.
It signifies much of what is ugly about the state of Georgia.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1064531/1/index.htm
I feel nothing but deep shame when I read it.
The only solace is that the culture that surrounds Georgia Tech Football would never get within a million yards of this.
This is real pain, Lex. It ain’t fake. Grown, outwardly-Christain men behaving very badly.
macrotech
November 23rd, 2011
11:19 am
haha…I think your plea for kinder banter is going well! A LOTTA love in the comments….LOTTA LOVE! I think the funniest part of all this hate is the thought that ANYONE might think that they are going to convince the other that their team is the better team. Epiphanies for EVERYONE! Happy Thanksgiving! Please don’t choke on your own words before you’ve pulled up to the table!!!
Delbert D.
November 23rd, 2011
11:19 am
If you don’t have kids yet, the chances of your having an autistic kid are 1 out of 110. The kids are challenged mentally, and socially as well. Bullying by other kids at school often brings them home in tears, and there is now real way to explain to them why it happens and why they are different.
I simply ask everyone reading this blog and the comments to think about what it would be like to greet a child every day as he comes home from school every day riding the “short bus” and trying to help untangle his mind from from the experiences of the day at school. These people are not hidden away in institutions anymore. You may meet one who is earning a living by working as a bagger at Kroger or Publix, two companies who provide support and their resources in trying to help provide a meaningful existence for autistic kids and adults.
What Johnson said can’t be excused, retracted, glossed over or forgotten. It can only be realized as a mistake and tucked away in those places where we store experiences that we don’t want to repeat. I have a few of those, and some have visited my consciousness frequently to remind me of how I am not going to make those mistakes again.
If you need to joke about someone, think before you assign a label. Is there oversensitivity in society? Yes, but it seems there is not enough sensitivity to things that are really important.
DawginLex
November 23rd, 2011
11:20 am
Yep
and a demented woman who handled things totally WRONG at the university where she had been paid to teach for years.
Don Draper
November 23rd, 2011
11:23 am
@Delbert D. — Wise sentiments, and your attempts to educate are admirable. Sadly though, your words will fall on deaf ears.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:23 am
Lex, I don’t know if she’s a demented or not.
But if we’re going to call ourselves men, we’re above terrorizing the ill.
You already know this, I consider you a high-character person.
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
11:24 am
“The differences are that UGA coaches are careful not to insult not only the fans of other teams, but also whole groups of disabled people.” So it’s an insult to the mentally disabled to compare them to UGA fans?
Hit a Single is a liar......
November 23rd, 2011
11:24 am
when he said his uncle got a Sports Management degree from Tech. Tech doesn’t offer a degree in Sports Management. Here is a list of all colleges that do ….
.http://www.nassm.com/InfoAbout/SportMgmtPrograms/United_States
Note, UGA, and both GSU’s are on the list, but Tech is not
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:24 am
The only solace is that the culture that surrounds Georgia Tech Football would never get within a million yards of this.
This from the school that is currently on probation for cheating. Again.
And has had the likes of Reuben Houston a convicted felon on its football team.
Plus I hear they may have to call out the National Guard to restore order on the Tech campus with all the violence. You got guys like Tech baseball player Matt Skole driving drunk and could have killed somebody.
Techs drug policy is a joke. They don’t even suspend players for the first failed test like they do at UGA.
Tech is an embarrassment to this state and has turned into a real cesspool with CPJ right at the top of it.
A comment
November 23rd, 2011
11:25 am
Walmart’s CEO is a GT grad. If not now, he was only two or three years ago but now is also true. CEO of Walmartis a GT man, sooooooooooooooooooooooo
if Walmart is so undesirable, it IS run by a GT man ………….who is at fault here???Hmm?. End of story.
Tech Man
November 23rd, 2011
11:26 am
PC? It is politically incorrect to USE young men without offering anything in return! What happens to these former UGA players that arrive in Athens, idolized, and sent to the curb only a few months later. Jan Kemp has not left the building. Now, instead of allowing an athlete to play ball without attending a college credit class (see Kemp, Pulpwood Smith, et al), UGA uses the young man and deports them.
And, dawg fans, please keep shopping at WalMart. A Tech Man is the CEO.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:26 am
when he said his uncle got a Sports Management degree from Tech. Tech doesn’t offer a degree in Sports Management. Here is a list of all colleges that do ….
They do offer a degree in ” Management ” which I think 98 percent of the football team is majoring in.
Wonder why ???? LOL
Dawglasville
November 23rd, 2011
11:28 am
I heard the end of the CPJ show on 790 this morning. I believe the guy who called was making fun of a Georgia. First, the guy was named Bubba, and mind you I can fully accept that there are quite a few UGA fans named Bubba. Then the chuckle head sounded more like a cartoon character. Honestly, the bark was lame. Do I believe a UGA would do that – yes. I just don’t believe that this caller was a UGA fan. That said, Johnson made a mistake, apologized, move on. None of this ancillary stuff matters anymore. It all gets decided between the painted lines Saturday.
1eyedJack
November 23rd, 2011
11:28 am
Hayseed Dixie
“The only solace is that the culture that surrounds Georgia Tech Football would never get within a million yards of this.”
Wait a minute. I seem to remember something about a grade fixing scandal or something to do with a bunch of football and basketball players playing while inelegible because of grades over on the flats a few years back.
When painting a fence one should not stand so close.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:29 am
No headley, you didn’t read the article. Read it, I dare you. You won’t.
If the emotion that you come away with is anything less than disgust, you are sub-human.
We don’t systematically and organizationally terrorize women in the name of our own sin, for ostensibly attempting to screw up our good-ol-boys club.
If you think anything Tech has done, communally, comes anywhere near this, you’re certainly lost and blind.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:29 am
@1eyedJack
I’m not talking about the academic scandal.
I’m talking about how they treated the messenger.
Read the article.
Silly Bloggers
November 23rd, 2011
11:31 am
Wow, another story blown out of context. I am a UGA grad and I certainly don’t “approve” of Paul Johnson’s comments or disparaging the mentailly handicapped; however, at the end of the day, we are again on the taking the politically correct thing to a new level. He used a bad choice of words, he issued an apology, end of story. The UGA fan deserved all he got as he instigated it. We will continue to make fun of Tech’s latent crime campus, their lack of attractive women, their empty stadium. They will continue to make fun of us for the dope smoking, driving record of our players, and perceived lack of education (which is silly but I get the fun in it).
It is good ol’ fashioned hate. I don’t approve of Johnson’s comments, but I do get a kick out of the fire and that Dawg nation has struck a nerve with the gnats. Should be an emotional game and I am looking forward to it.
Jimmy Crack
November 23rd, 2011
11:32 am
Paul Johnson is a hateful, shallow excuse for a man. He won’t even interview with half of the media in his own town because in one way or another they rubbed him the wrong way. What a thin skin. If someone had told him after his comment, “Good for you Coach!” and the media hadn’t called him out on his thoughtless tongue, he would NEVER had apologized.
A hateful man. With many nuts stored in his jowls for food for the winter.
mark Pricht
November 23rd, 2011
11:32 am
Funny as crap….man I love this coach
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:38 am
@Silly Bloggers
Thank you for walking your talk.
You’re right, if a UGA coach had said the same thing, most UGA fans would be on here railing against the need for political correctness.
Moral Victory
November 23rd, 2011
11:38 am
I think it’s become obvious that Tech fans like Johnson so much because he talks tough about Georgia (the only subject Tech fans care about). I mean, It can’t be his record on the field. Not with a wining percentage of 25 (after saturday) against georgia.
They just like a mouthy guy I guess. Oh well.
Headley Lamar is a liar......
November 23rd, 2011
11:42 am
because there is a BIG difference in a management degree and a SPORTS MANAGEMENT degree, which Tech does not offer. He is also a liar when he says that Tech is on probation for “cheating,” when, in fact, “cheating” does not appear anywhere at all in the NCAA report on Tech.
Moral Victory
November 23rd, 2011
11:43 am
The people on here complaining about his usage of the word aren’t UGA fans. The’re just people who don’t like that word. Not a football issue at all.
Personally I don’t care, i just get sick of being told PJ is great when he doesn’t prove it. But I guess he has the local writer scared..
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
11:44 am
A couple of questions for headley/all cupcake.
you keep trying to beat the life out of the whole uga vs. tech drug policy. Perhaps UGA has a stricter drug policy out of necessity.
Would you address why Tech has a no alcohol on campus policy while uga allows alcohol and how this factors into your argument.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:46 am
You’re right, if a UGA coach had said the same thing
If a UGA coach had said the same thing Bradley and Schultz would both have written articles about the need to fire and or suspend him.
Some how the jerk CPJ can tell people to assault other people physically. Make fun of “retards” as CPJ sees them and basically gets away with it.
Meanwhile our coach has adopted disabled children from overseas and loves them and is a great father to them.
Ill take our guy every time.
Silly Bloggers
November 23rd, 2011
11:47 am
?????????? Actually, UGA is an alcohol-free campus as well. The downtown area with all the bars is not considered on campus as the line of demarkation is the arches. Granted, the police tend to look the other way if you are drinking out of a Solo cup on gamedays, but believe me, the fuzz will issue a possession of alcohol ticket in a New York second.
Also, about 10 years ago, Budweiser offered a boat-load of money to be able to sell beer out of the South endzone only for games. It was unanimously voted down by the board.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:47 am
So tell me headley?
Whaddya think of the way the UGA nation treated Jan Kemp?
Does it fit your definition of manhood?
I bet it does.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:49 am
Perhaps UGA has a stricter drug policy out of necessity.
We will never know will we. If they fail the test at Tech nothing happens so its hard to say.
Silly Bloggers
November 23rd, 2011
11:49 am
Headly Lamar…as much as I feel this story is overblown, I agree that the silence speaks volumes from Schultzie and Bradley. Think it is a non-story, but they definitely would have issued an opinion piece on it if this was Mark Richt or Grantham who commented on it. Granted, Richt never would, but I wouldn’t put it past TG.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:51 am
Whaddya think of the way the UGA nation treated Jan Kemp?
It was deplorable. The blackest eye in the Universities history.
Tech has its share of black eyes too.
Let me ask you this ?
If you had one man to teach your son values and how to be a man would you choose.
CPJ or Mark Richt ?
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
11:51 am
Thanks for the info Silly, I read that fact in the recent Atlanta Magazine feature on the rivalry. I stand corrected. Still, I would hope that Headley can get some new material, he’s been beating that drug policy dead horse ever since the UGA tailbacks got suspended. To be fair, it may be several more months before he actually uncovers something of fact, so he needs to milk them when he does.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:52 am
I’d choose myself, headley.
They’re already people by the time they’re 12.
If you’d had raised any children you’d know this by now.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:53 am
And again, if you think anything Tech has done comes anywhere near this, you are- as your posts suggest, an idiot.
Name one thing.
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
11:53 am
Yet which school has the most recent suspension of players for drug usage? I suspect that if Tech players tested positive, CPJ would probably enforce his own policy. May be unaware of the current policy because he’s yet to have the problem.
old gold and white in my veins
November 23rd, 2011
11:54 am
Easy question headley, I’d choose myself. No other option for me.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:55 am
I’d choose myself, headley.
They’re already people by the time they’re 12.
If you’d had raised any children you’d know this by now.
Ok lets say they were 5 and you couldn’t because you would be dead in 6 months ?
What is your answer now.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:56 am
May be unaware of the current policy because he’s yet to have the problem.
Could be. Or could be that we don’t hear about them because Tech doesn’t suspend players for the first failed test.
Either way the lax rules mean we wont know.
Hayseed Dixie
November 23rd, 2011
11:58 am
You’re a child, headley. That much is obvious.
Jan Kemp, headley?
How bout it?
Name one thing that the Tech culture has produced that’s anywhere near as ugly.
You have no answer.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:58 am
And again, if you think anything Tech has done comes anywhere near this, you are- as your posts suggest, an idiot.
Name one thing.
I would say using kids for your football program and then spitting them out without a degree, Tech has the lowest graduation rates in the ACC by far and much lower than UGA’s, would be in the ballpark.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
11:59 am
Ok lets say they were 5 and you couldn’t because you would be dead in 6 months ?
What is your answer now.
No answer ?
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
12:00 pm
And please headley, stop using the Reuben Houston example. He was suspended from the team upon his arrest. He sued and a federal judge ordered him reinstated to the team. Don’t just pick the facts that support your arguments, use all of the facts and let people decide for themselves.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 23rd, 2011
12:01 pm
The word choice was unfortunate, but who among us, and for that matter what PUBLIC figure, has never used a bad choice of words that offend some people? Even CMR, who I don’t doubt is a fine Christian man, has reacted a couple of times in ways that are not particularly indicative of his faith. SO WHAT!!! Read what Ken posted late last night about CPJ visiting a UofMd player in the hospital in Atlanta and even giving him his phone number to call if he needed anything. To me that indicates that CPJ IS a classy man. He didn’t have to do that, but he did, showing his concern with the kid’s well-being. I would have no problem at all with CPJ teaching my son values.
headley lamar
November 23rd, 2011
12:03 pm
I would have no problem at all with CPJ teaching my son values.
I doubt you would but you are an idiot.
Again for the record.
One guy uses the word “retards” and gets a chuckle out of it.
Another one adopted disabled children from from a poor country and gave them a home and a future.
Pretty easy call.
Don Draper
November 23rd, 2011
12:03 pm
@Supersize — Well said. No attempt at rationalization and some greater perspective on the guy who said it.
Delbert D.
November 23rd, 2011
12:03 pm
headley – Wrong again. AJC, June 10, 2011: “Georgia Tech does well in APR — updated with ACC’s excellence”
“The football team’s score increased for the third consecutive year, reaching 993, the fourth-highest score nationally and tops in the conference, according to the ACC. The team’s multi-year average of 967 is tied for the third-best score among ACC teams, behind Duke and Miami.”