March Madness

March madness is certainly named correctly.

This season, much like every other, has been full of upsets, bracket busters and teams that have shocked the world.

For only the seventh time in history a 15 seed beat a two seed when Florida Gulf Coast took down Georgetown.

Florida Gulf Coast has only been eligible for the tournament for two seasons.

Who would have ever dreamed they would take down a powerhouse like Georgetown?

Not many, but I’m sure they had no doubt they would be winning the game.

How are you ever going to win if you don’t go into the match thinking that you will?

There’s no right or wrong way to fill out a bracket.

Really, you have just as good a chance by flipping a coin as you do by spending hours researching each match up.

Kids who pick by color and mascot have just as good a shot as anyone.

That’s the madness of it and that’s also the appeal.

The tournament gives you a reason to be glued in to your television screen and your computer for days.

Locked in, rooting for teams you’ve never pulled for in your life, simply because you picked them in your bracket.

It’s the perfect marketing scheme.

It makes every game seem important to every fan.

No matter whether you have any allegiance to a team or not, if you pick them in your bracket, you better believe you’ll be their biggest fan for one game.

It’s all about peaking at the right time.

Teams that just barely make it in or make it in by winning a conference tournament and getting an automatic bid sometimes have an advantage over teams that have been at the top all season.

Teams like Florida that make it to the conference tournament and struggle can either come in with added determination to prove they really do deserve to be a three seed, or on the other hand, can come in downtrodden and flop in the first round.

There are also teams like LaSalle.

Ever heard of them?

Kansas State didn’t seem like they had and had a difficult battle with them, and eventually lost the game.

Kansas State not unlike Georgetown was expected to be a contender at least to the Elite Eight.

Neither the Wildcats nor the Hoyas made it past game one.

The TV deal that CBS and Turner have currently airs every single tournament game over four different networks.

That’s an incredible amount of basketball in just a few weeks, especially the first Thursday through Sunday of the tournament.

Previously, CBS would air the games and cut back and forth between contests based on which games were the most exciting.

There were certainly advantages to that including the anticipation of knowing what was going on and only having to go to one network to get all the content.

Now, fans have to find TruTV in order to catch some games and it’s been said that one of the biggest upsets of the tournament is finding that channel on the first try.

It’s great having all the games on television, but it does lose a little bit of the luster somehow.

There’s nothing quite like college sports and while football may be king, for at least one month, college basketball rivals the enthusiasm and excitement of football.

Bowl season is special, but even New Years Day bowls can’t top the craziness of the opening weekend of March Madness.

There’s something magical about those 48 games.

Win and you’re in.

Survive and advance.

So let the madness continue.

There are more upsets to be had, more high fives to pass around, and more brackets to burn.

Zach Johnson: Football isn't everything

After ten years, divorcing the sport you love isn’t easy, but sometimes it’s the only choice.

Zach Johnson, former Trojan offensive lineman, had played the game he loved since he was ten years old; however, this season, one hit and one diagnosis changed his life.

Johnson began playing football at the age of 10 and said there was no doubt this was the game for him.

“I wasn’t the tall athletic looking kid,” Johnson said. “I was always the biggest kid in class, so people expected me to play.”

He only received one FBS offer to play football and that was at Troy University where he was able to come in early.

Johnson graduated mid-term and joined the Trojans in the spring of 2011.

“He actually went through spring ball and summer training, and in the fall won a starting job, which is highly unusual,” head coach Larry Blakeney said. “He’s a pretty good player to be able to do that.”

When he first arrived his role was to fill in where he was needed, but due to injuries on the line during the 2011 season, he was placed into a starting role.

“Zach was a huge part on this offensive line,” senior lineman Kyle Wilborn stated. “The second he got on campus he made an impact.”

This season though in the first home game against Louisiana-Lafayette, Johnson suffered a concussion after his helmet was hit by running back Shawn Southward on a play late in the game.

It wasn’t just the concussion Johnson was battling however.

“With the concussion alone, they had ruled me out for the rest of the season anyway, but this gave them time to really look at my neck,” Johnson said. “The whole process was pretty crazy.”

Johnson had suffered from concussions before and also had problems with stingers and neck injuries.

“I would even sneeze and get stingers,” he said.

During the time following his injury in September, Johnson saw several doctors and a neurologist.

Doctors determined Johnson suffered from spinal stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal.

He was told his spinal column is so narrow there is barely even enough room for the nerves themselves.

After over a month, Johnson and the team orthopedic discussed the options for him, and he was informed it was highly unsafe to continue playing football.

“The doctors and trainers told me that if I were to have a serious neck injury then there would be a 90 percent chance of paralysis,” Johnson said.  “In all actuality, the concussion was a blessing in disguise.”

For Johnson, it wasn’t leaving the game that was the most difficult.

It was leaving his family.

“Without a doubt the offensive line is a family,” Johnson said. “To see them go into battle and not being able to suit up beside them may be the worst feeling.”

With the impact Johnson made immediately on the team, he will be missed.

“We’re sad to see him go but we certainly understand you have to be smart with an injury like that,” offensive line coach John Schlarman said.

“I really hate it for him hearing the news that he can’t play football anymore but I know that if anybody can handle it Zach can,” Wilborn declared.

Though his presence on the field will be missed, he is not only remembered for his actions but also his character.

“You don’t get any better than Zach,” Schlarman said. “He’s a good Christian young man.”

But when one door closes, another opens.

That’s something Cory Wilkes, another former Trojan football player, knows all too well.

He was a member of the team for two years from 2008-2010 before suffering a career-ending back injury off the field.

Wilkes said prior to his injury he began to evaluate how much of his life he was pouring into football.

“Eventually I started realizing, you know, I’m devoting too much to football,” Wilkes said. “I really wasn’t focusing on priorities as much as I should have.”

After he was told he could no longer play, his reaction was not typical.

“It was not as bitter as I thought it would’ve been,” Wilkes stated. “If it had happened a year before, I would have been torn apart.”

He said some of his family members took the news harder than he did.

Since he had already begun to think he needed to reevaluate his priorities, leaving the game was not a harsh departure.

“It really helped me to understand God is really pointing me in a new direction now,” Wilkes said.

Wilkes still lives in Troy and serves in different ways at Bush Memorial Baptist Church, which is how he knew Johnson.

Both of them worked at Camp Troy at Bush Memorial teaching children the game of football.

After Johnson’s career ended, Wilkes offered words of encouragement to him.

“It’s not fun being told you can’t do what you love, but it’s going to turn out really good,” Wilkes said. “God’s going to open doors and opportunities that you never dreamed would’ve happened.”

Johnson said that hearing from Wilkes has helped him through the process of moving on.

“It is different talking to someone who is simply giving you sympathy and talking to someone who genuinely knows what is going on from experience,” Johnson stated.

Johnson said though football is not in his future, he already had other plans in mind.

“When I was a freshman in high school I surrendered to the ministry, and feel led to one day pastor a church,” Johnson said.

For now, he plans to get involved in churches and ministries around the area and after finishing his degree, attend seminary.

“I know that God has a greater plan for my life and I’m anxious to see what it is,” Johnson stressed.

Though he only was a Trojan football player for two seasons, he left a definite impact on his coaches and teammates.

“I know he’s got big things in his future outside of football that he’s going to be involved with,” Schlarman said. “I look forward to seeing what he does moving forward from here.”

Judy Morgan: An Unsung Hero

Many times you hear players or coaches refer to a football team as a family, but it is not as often that you hear about the team mom.

Troy v. Louisiana Lafayette

Despite a record setting night on offense, the Troy football team lost its conference opener Saturday to Louisiana-Lafayette 37-24.

The downfall for the Trojans was three turnovers that the Ragin’ Cajuns turned into points.

“If we had played a little bit better and made a little bit fewer mistakes, we could’ve been in the hunt at the end to win it,” coach Larry Blakeney said.

The Trojans first fumble came late in the first quarter after a pass from quarterback Corey Robinson to wide receiver Chandler Worthy was stripped from Worthy’s grasp.

Jermarlo Moten returned the fumble 56 yards for the touchdown to put the Ragin’ Cajuns on top 14-7.

That score gave Louisiana-Lafayette momentum and put them on top for good.

Robinson had a record setting night for Troy breaking five school records in the loss.

He broke three career marks and two single-game records including completions and passing yards.

Robinson was 46-of-70 for 485 yards and two touchdowns but gave the credit for his accomplishments to his coaches and teammates.

“I haven’t done it alone,” Robinson said. “I want to thank all those guys and my coaches for sticking with me and believing in me.”

Troy had 588 total yards of offense, but only 60 yards came on the ground.

The rushing attack that was successful against UAB was almost non-existent against Louisiana-Lafayette.

“Everybody blocked well,” Shawn Southward, running back, said. “Lafayette was on it. They did a great job stopping the run.”

Troy had almost 200 more offensive yards than Louisiana-Lafayette, however Troy was out rushed 218 yards to just 60 for the Trojans.

“It looks like it boils down to me being able to rush the football,” Blakeney said. “They had no fumbles lost and out rushed us and I think that’s a big key.”

Along with the turnovers, Troy was unable to convert twice on fourth down resulting in a turnover on downs.

The Trojans were 4-of-5 in the red zone but only got in the end zone three times.

“We’ve just got to get better in the red zone and capitalizing,” Robinson said.

“We can put up the yards all day,” he said. “We’ve just got to get in the end zone and once we start doing that we’ll be tough to beat.”

Despite the loss, players said the morale of the team was still high and unlike last year, they were not going to be discouraged but rather move forward.

“I don’t see us falling out this year,” Southward said. “Everybody is going to come together and we’re going to keep practicing hard and get wins.”

Even with an SEC opponent next weekend in Mississippi State, coach Blakeney said he was confident his team would be ready.

“We’re a little bit behind the 8-ball right now but you never know when we’ll peek out from behind it,” Blakeney said.

I love being a journalist

Being a journalist has perks.

Viewing games from the sideline or the press box, knowing players and coaches behind the scenes, and being the first to hear breaking news.

There's another perk though that has nothing to do with any benefit I could receive.

It's the way my mind works.

When I'm watching SportsCenter and they do something creative, my mind runs wild.

I want to be able to work with the limitless resources they have.

They did a story on Peyton Manning this morning (I probably paid a little more attention since I am a Manning fan) and about his attention to detail.

The shot began with the anchor just standing there talking to the camera with the anchor well in the distance.

 The story was about the fact that he has a camera placed 10 yards behind him on the field on a ladder so that he can observe his footing and which direction his helmet is facing.

As the camera zoomed in, they rotated around the anchor to show that there was indeed a ladder behind him with a camera girl filming him and as he went to intro the story, he turned around and they put him on the shot that was from the ladder.

HOW CREATIVE CAN YOU GET?

It blew my mind.

It was so perfect for the story.

That's what I love.

Seeing things from a journalistic mindset.

Just something I wanted to share and if you haven't seen it, run to your tv, flip it to SportsCenter, and sit for a spell.