By Sonny Jones
For those of us who have known Larrell Murchison since he was a youngster playing baseball at Elizabethtown’s Leinwand Park or football at Bladen County Park, we know him as a quiet, hard-working, polite, coachable, friendly and generous person.
As you might expect, he has been much the same way since joining the Los Angeles Rams earlier this month after being waived by the Tennessee Titans.
That all changed last Sunday when Murchison (No. 52) got his first NFL sack in his first game with his new team. He celebrated with a dance and, according to a teammate, brought energy to his new team.
“Well, the dance definitely sticks out,” six-time App-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner told The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrique. “When you come into a team (like that), he’s quiet, doesn’t really say much. Just kind of meeting with coaches, trying to get sped up on the defense. Then he goes out and gets a sack and starts dancing, starts talking to us – like, where did this come from? But he’s put a lot of work (in) to try to understand the scheme, understand the nuances of the defense, and I think that it was really fun just watching him have fun out there, let loose, not worry about always being right and making plays. … Everybody was feeding off that energy, because he probably said about four words before that.”
Murchison also sacked Russell Wilson again in the Rams’ 51-14 win and was credited with four tackles.
The Rams play their city rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on New Year’s Day. Hopefully, there will be another “Murchboy” dance or two.
BOWLS, BOWLS, BOWLS
The drive to watch every bowl game continues. Streaming is my friend.
Games played: 29 (through Dec 29)
Games watched live: 18
Games streamed: 10
Games to watch: 1 (Alamo Bowl)
• CHEEZ-IT BOWL: Florida State 35, Oklahoma 32
(Played Thursday, Dec. 29, watched Thursday, Dec. 29)
Welcome back to the national scene Florida State. Huge, boisterious crowd in Orlando. Fantastic finish won by the Seminoles on a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Fitzgerald. Lead changed three times in the second half and game was tied with 3 1/2 minutes left. What more could you ask for?
• PINSTRIPE BOWL: Minnesota 28, Syracuse 20
(Played Thursday, Dec. 29, watched Thursday, Dec. 29)
Best analysis of this game is that it’s not a good idea to play a college football bowl game inside a stadium designed for only baseball. It sounds cool to play in Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park or Petco Park, but, in reality, it isn’t.
• TEXAS BOWL: Texas Tech 42, Mississippi 25
(Played Wednesday, Dec. 28, watched Thursday, Dec. 29)
Nice gesture on Texas Tech’s first play from scrimmage in memory of former Red Raiders coach Mike Leach by lining up in the “Air Raid” spread formation. Leach, who was coaching at Mississippi State, died earlier this month. As for the game, there was more than 1,000 yards total offense, each team went for it six times on fourth down and Texas Tech scored its first touchdown when the ball was snapped between the legs of the backup quarterback, who was under center, to the starting quarterback, who was in shotgun formation, for a 2-yard run into the end zone.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 2010 — Top-ranked Connecticut’s record 90-game winning streak in women’s basketball ends when No. 9 Stanford outplays the Huskies from the start in a 71-59 victory at Maples Pavilion.
POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY
• DUKE’S MAYO BOWL: N.C. State vs. Maryland, noon, ESPN
• BASKETBALL: North Carolina at Pittsburgh, noon, ACCN
• SUN BOWL: Pittsburgh vs. UCLA, 2 p.m., CBS
• SOCCER: Brentford at West Ham United, 2:45 p.m.
• GATOR BOWL: Notre Dame vs. South Carolina, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
• BASKETBALL: N.C. State at Clemson, 4 p.m., ACCN
• HOCKEY: Harvard at Boston University, 7 p.m., ESPN2
• NBA: L.A. Lakers at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m., NBATV
• ORANGE BOWL: Clemson vs. Tennessee, 8 p.m., ESPN, ACCN, ESPNU
• NBA: Portland at Golden State, 10 p.m., NBATV
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.
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