The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, November 8, 1993 - 3 McMurtry The one-time Wolverine wideout " discusses life in the NFL KEN SUGIURA Close But No Sugiura Greg McMurtry was a standout wide receiverforMichigan from 1986 to 1989, earning All-American hon- ors his senior year. He was drafted by the New England Patriots (he was also a first-round choice of the Bos- ton RedSox coming out ofhigh school) and now is playing his fifth year with the Pats. Beforeyeterday'sgameaganstBuf- fao, McMurry had 22 receptions, 241 yards and one touchdown., ranking him among the NFL's top 25 in receptions. Recently, Daily Sports WriterScon Burton spoke withMcMurtryabouthis footballcareer with the Patriots. Daily: In terms of your first four years in the NFL, are you happy with the way your career is going? McMurtry: Somewhat... it'sbeen pretty up and down. We haven't been winning so ithasn'tbeen toomuch fun. Hopefully we can get things turned around. You justhavetoworkthrough it week to week, and every week is a new challenge. Things are getting a little better; they're a little stagnant right now, but hopefully Ican get through thatand get things turnedaround. D: Has it been tough to play for a struggling team all these years? M: Yeah, everyone doesn'twin in the NFL. I'm not the only one who's going through a tough time - other teams, you look at like a Phoenix or a Tampa Bay - I'm sure those players arehaving atough timealso. Everyone doesn't'get to play for the champion- ship-contending teams. D: Wheneveryonelastyearlooked at your offense and saw that it was second to last in the NFL, the com- mon assumption was that there just wasn't a whole lot of talent in any of the skill positions. Do you feel that is M: I don't think so. Last year we used four different quarterbacks, the line was a little bit shaken up - whenever you have that it's not going to make the running game and the passing game look all too impressive, because there is no cohesiveness. I think what a lot of people don't realize is thateverything starts up front and when they are going through some trouble there is not going to be much cohesiveness, therefore the offense is not going to run the way it should. D: Whatkindof feedback have you gotten from the coaches and the scouts as to how you're progressing in the NFL? ;M: Really they don't talk to you much. As I said, this is a day-to-day business. One week you can be a hero, andthe next Sunday they mightnotbe *in too much love with you. You just have to getbetter every week because if you don't, you can be in trouble. You can lose your spot, lose your job. Youlcan'tworry too much about what they're thinking. Youjust have to try to do your best every week. D: Doyouever feel that if youwere playing on a more prolific offense, A say a Houston or a San Francisco, you mightbe atadifferent level than where you are now? M: That could be the case, but I don't really deal with the 'what ifs' because you can do that with every- thing. But you're not really handling reality the way youshouldandthatis to take ithead on. D: How would you evaluate the 1993 season for you on a personal level? Has this been your most pro- ductive year? M:At some points, yes. I started .% .yy . fr.' r ' .. . . ; "..'r rf f:r. .g" ,/ r;; ...,.,...,.. f:f.,.>?,''.:°:j ,~{.if: :f'. .ifi <9:. 4 4 / 7 :i.f;*. .3 . .. ik ?itt b::j ';rkt of r'l. ' dopig a..A yitl tr. ..:. . .'.. onetebaladittleoneroncy n M: He's an intelligent guy with a lot of talent. He's only going to get better with the more games he plays I thinkhe's going to bean outstanding quarterback and really make the of- fense a lot better. When you have a guy with the kind of tools Drew has, you can get away with a few more mistakes as opposed to someone who might not have the skills he has. The margin of error is a little bit greater. D: What was your reaction when you found out that Irving Fryar and Hart Lee Dykes were not returning to the team? M: That's the nature of the busi- ness, constant change. One year you mightfitintothe team's plans and one year you may not. At first it's kind of hardto deal with that, to witness that, but after a while you get used to it because that's the way things go. D: As the elder statesman in the Patriots' passing game, doyou feel that there is some responsibility on your shoulder to guide the group? M: Somewhat, but they have 4' ...r NEW ENGLAND PATROTS coaches for'that also. They get paid just like everyone else so I can only do so much. The best thing I can do, and thte thing thatlI'm trying to do, is to goocut and practice hard and play hard and let everything else take care of itself. D: What about Bill Parcells? How has the team changed under his guid- ance? M: We're a tougher team and I think we are just abetter team overall than last year, although we're not get- ting any wins from this improvement and the bottom line is wins and losses. I think if it were not for a few mistakes here and there, we might end up with a few more wins. D:Doyoufeelasense ofattxhment to the Pahriots, in the same way John Elway might have with the Broncos? M: No, because it is the nature of the business. I think there are but a handful of people around the league who consider themselves lifelong, do or die, for any particular organization - people like a Marino, or like you said, Elway, maybe Troy Aikman now -those types of people could sit back and say 'Well, you know chances are that I'm going to be a Dolphin, Cow- boy or Bronco for the restofmy career and I have a sense of loyalty.' Other than guys like that, you're obligated to do yourjob because that's what you're getting paid to do and do it the best you can but - not to sound harsh -- I don't think you owe the organization anything more than that. D: Have you had any thoughts about reconnecting with your Michi- gan quarterback, Jim Harbaugh? M: I would have to see what their situation would beor they would have to show interest in me if that situation came up. Sure, I wouldn't mind, it would be fine with me. But I really don't put too much thought into that. D: How close have you stayed with some of your old Wolverines teammates, the (receiver Chris) Calloways, the Harbaughs? M: Somewhatin touch. When we're playing acertain team thathas acouple ofguys thatlplayedwith, Italk to them a little bit. But everyone is kind of spread outandkindof doing theirown thing, so it's hard to catch up with everybody. D: (Running back) Jon Vaughn was a teammate of yours for a while. What was that like and how tough was it for you when he left (to Se- attle)? ' M: I played two years with Jon (at Michigan). I knew him and we were friendly toeach other, but I didn't really hang out with him. He was a couple years younger that I was, that's just the way things go when you're in college -older guys tend to hand out with the older guys and the younger guys tend to hand out with the younger guys. I knew him somewhat (in New England), but to see him go, it'sjust the nature of the business - people in management have a change in direc- tion, they change their mind often and he just happened to be in the change that they wanted to make. D: Another former Michigan wide receiver, Desmond Howard, has seen his share of frustration trying to get going in the NFL. What advice would you have for him? M: Just to hang in there and keep working and I think ifhe does that, he'll do all right. He obviously has all the tools to do that and I think he will be successful. The 'next Jordan' seen with 'next Babe Ruth' o will replace Jordan? With the advent Friday of the first Airless NBA season since knee-high socks were all the rage, basketball pundits were all pondering the issue of just who will replace all- galaxy guard Michael Jordan as the league and game's reigning megastar and goodwill ambassador. After the Bulls combined for six points in the second quarter in their 95- 71 loss to the Miami Heat Saturday, it apparently won't be Scottie Pippen. But while the NBA has a wealth of fine talents and personalities to select from, the correct answer to 'Who is the next Jordan?' is no one. Just like baseball has yet to find the next Babe Ruth and golf is still looking for the second coming of Arnold Palmer, basketball will very likely never produce a person who will equal the legend of Michael Jordan. That is not to say this portends bad tidings for the NBA. After all, 58 seasons into the Babe's retirement, major league baseball is still making do with the loss. While still in the public eye, Palmer is no longer what he once was, yet golf's popularity has never been greater than it is today. Similar statements will undoubtedly be made with Wayne Gretzky and the NHL when he steps down in a few seasons. Nor is it necessarily a slam on the current NBA stars. It is just that too many factors - factors that have nothing to do with basketball - went his way for the same ascension to ever be duplicated. For instance, Jordan was placed in the large media market of Chicago. Had Portland, picking one spot ahead of the Bulls in the 1984 NBA draft, decided to take a chance on the raw talent from North Carolina instead of going for the sure thing in Kentucky center Sam Bowie, perhaps all we'd be hearing today is how the long-suffering Bulls are hoping this Webber kid will be able to turn the franchise around. Jordan's fame and the wild popularity of his shoe line and commercials seemed to fan each other's flames. Nike introduced Air Jordan at a time when the sneaker craze was just catching on and was able to get Jordan on the bottom floor of the industry. Even Chicago's colors, red and the ever-popular black, seemed to align themselves in Jordan's favor. Shaquille O'Neal's Reeboks were a heinous metallic blue and white. They had the popularity of the measles. Jordan also entered the league at a time when the NBA was suffering from image problems and desperate for a clean-cut star. His good looks, exuberant love for the game and congenial nature made him the obvious choice for NBA execs as the player to thrust into the spotlight. And there were so many other factors: being able to play the white-hat hero against the black-hat Detroit Pistons, performing before the world in the 1984 Olympics and again in 1992, playing on otherwise-average Bulls teams that depended so much on his nightly heroics, his willingness to appear in countless commercials, basketball's growing popularity around the globe; the list is endless. Jordan had control over only a handful of these things. The rest, Jordan merely happened upon them, something he readily admits. What if Jordan was not Air Jordan, the dunker, but Ground Jordan, the three-point marksman? This player has a name. He is Chris Mullin. Consider the player that many look to as Jordan's replacement, O'Neal. He did not play in the Olympics before entering the league, his uniform's colors are not all the rage in sports paraphernalia and he does not have a foil like Detroit. How many of these factors did he have control over when he entered the league? None. True, O'Neal and teammate Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway figure to wage epic battles with Charlotte's Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning like Jordan did with the Pistons, but the Hornets, with "Grandmama" on their side, will draw just as much support as will Shaq and Penny. Through no fault of his own, Shaquille will never equal Jordan, and no one else will, either. 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