Not back from the Dead

Hello fellow Atlanta Fans!  I'm not back to blog about how questionable the strategy of letting Lofton go in favor of an injury prone player or how upset I'll be if the Hawks don't get something for Josh Smith (Sorry mr. Kaman you are not "something") or even how under rated Chipper Jones is... nope, just wanted to drop a line and say, I "see" all of you on Twitter and visiting the site despite the lack of updates and wanted to say thanks!

If there was any indication of what is going on in Atlanta Sports, just watch Atlanta Real Estate sales.

That is all -

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Bobby, Matt & Joe still couldn't get me fired up...

It's been a while, looks like more than a year. I'm ready to jump back in the saddle and be as sarcastic as ever about my favorite sports team. Here's my take on my teams:

• Atlanta Hawks - 2nd Round of the playoffs this year! We have pieces to get us there but still lack that key "go-to" guy for the shot. Sorry, Joe, you're great but you'll have to really elevate your game. Then again, it's a contract year.
  
• Atlanta Falcons - 2nd Winning Season in a row! That's an accomplishment in it's own right. Our secondary is going to be a liability and our inability to stick with the run early in games will come back to bite us. I love the Falcons but I don't think they get past New Orleans in the playoffs.
• Atlanta Braves - The pride before the fall! Frank Wren railroaded Francoer out of town and now Bobby Cox. Say what you want about Bobby, he's the best Regular Season coach on the planet. We have the pitching to take us far, but the attitude in the locker room is completely different.
  

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The Atlanta Falcons Are Bad For Atlanta Sports

You read the title right, it's not some teaser.... and No, I am not drinking. I think the Atlanta Falcons franchise, more specifically, this Blank person and Dimitroff have totally ruined Atlanta. I hope we run them out of town... well, maybe that's a bit too far.

How did I arrive here?

Let's reminisce a little bit.

Authur Blank buys the Falcons, we get all excited. An owner who can spend money and an exciting player. During that time the Braves were still making runs into the playoffs and never winning.

Year before last: All 4 franchises suck and the worst one of all was the Falcons.

Now, what I am upset about is that this Blank character goes off and hires some surfer dude to come into Atlanta with a real plan. Then they hire a Coach that gets "it." The Falcons have a great year, Dimitroff makes more moves and now the expectations are even higher.

That's all well and good, the NFL is very competitive... it's only natural that people root for their team to get to the superbowl, even if they have no shot at it all *cough* Raiders *cough*.

However, in the NBA, it's pretty much decided. In fact, in some cases, even injuries don't play a role.

Let's get to the point. The Hawks dominated talk radio today. I really pity the hosts and the callers. I realize that the real evil is that the Atlanta Falcons organization has raised the bar for every one. To think that people talked about moves the Hawks could make to get to the next level, is ridiculous.

IT"S THE HAWKS, PEOPLE! THE FACT THEY HAVE A WINNING PERCENTAGE OVER .500 IS NEWS ENOUGH.

Now the people of Atlanta want to move pieces to get even further in the playoffs. HELLO! IS ANYONE THERE?!?!

PLAYOFFS (in Mora voice) ?! Really. Let's just be happy that we had a winning season and try not to mess up a good thing.

Ultimately I think the Atlanta public would be just fine if the Hawks made the playoffs as an 8 seed every year and failed to make the championship. Rattle off a few years like that and you can then harold the franchise as one of the most storied of all time.... then again, we already have a franchise like that - The Braves.

So yes, the Atlanta Falcons are bad for Atlanta Sports because they've raised our expectations on all the franchises in Atlanta. Shame on them.

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Atlanta Sports Injury Report

Just some things to watch:

• Atlanta Falcons MVP - Sam Baker Hip
  
• Chipper's Shoulder
• Hawks Hype (rehash)
  
• Atlanta Hawks Top 5 Questions from AJC
  
• Atlanta Braves John Smoltz Leaving or Staying?
  

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Who'd a Thunk It?

Optimism in Atlanta? Really. The whole reason I haven't posted in a while is that there is very little drama in Atlanta sports. Sure, the Atlanta Hawks are the NBA's whipping boy for players going to Greece and yeah, they picked some guys playing pick up games at the Run n shoot, but you know, the look pretty good in Pre-Season. Even though Yahoo! thinks that they will suck, I for one will be rooting for them.

.. and the Falcons. Are you kidding me? Amazing what a Coach and an accurate passer can do for a team. Not to mention a HUGE Tackle. That's the piece they've been missing all these years. Sure it was really cute when Alex Gibbs was here to take out opposing teams knees, but even I can take on a 250 tackle. Goodness, Jamaal Anderson would have 10 sacks against an Alex Gibbs oline playing the power running game.

Again, there is at least one moment in every game that I destroy my remote even further, but a win is a win, we'll give the rookie coach a pass for believing Roddy White caught that bounced ball.

... and yes the Braves! I'm so happy that the Yankees fell short of winning 15 seasons. That'll be ours. Of course, they actually WON something, but a record is a record. Bobby's with us for one more year and to be honest I'm happy about that, considering what else is out there.

Oh and the economy may not be what you want, but if you are able to spend time reading this, then life must be pretty darn good. You've got time to waste and at least $20 you don't need.

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Friday Fu - Detroit Pistons Are Shopping for Smiths

HAWKS
Detroit is in the rumors of every site on the net for the NBA team and Josh Smith negotiations are on every site as well for almost every team.

I really hate to see him go. It's kind of funny or ironic though. The same reason I got into the NBA last season is now the same reason my interest is waning with the Hawks situation. Why do NBA players have to negotiate this way or better yet, why does MY TEAM have to be the one that makes history with disgruntled overpaid players.

BRAVES
Frank Wren went on the radio today to lie about not talking about Jeff Francuoer. Frenchy is not tradable in my book, sorry, if we're going to stick it out with some of these other players, then Frenchy needs to be the next "Chipper."


FALCONS
The Atlanta Falcons seem to be the lone "feel good" in the ATL right now. I'm gearing up to go see their scrimmage at Mill Creek High School.

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The End - Tex To Angels

We offered a very aggressive multiyear contract that would have made him one of the highest-paid players in the game, and it was not accepted," Wren said. "We knew from that discussion that we were not going to be able to sign him, and we didn't feel like it would be best for the club to go into the offseason just receiving [compensatory] Draft picks when we could get established Major League players to fit our plan going forward.

We're not mathematically out of it, but we might as well be. Wren is folding here and getting what he can. I'm not happy with the move personally, but the above statement tells me that the Braves are at least running a professional sports franchise, something that couldn't be said about the Hawks.

Teixeira being here for years to come was a dream. Another hometown guy, someone to scare the opposing pitcher... I mean, to face Francoeur, Chipper, Teixeira, McCann in the heart of a lineup, that'd be pretty awesome. Of course, then again, this year is different, this season we lose two hall of famers to injury, Francoeur has an off year and the Cubs AND Mets are actually playing good baseball. Go figure.

Again, at least there is some competence in the front office.

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Friday FU - Chilly Reaction, AJC Plays the Race Card, Again, and the Braves are in it?

Friday FU (Follow Up) for July 25th, 2008

Chilly Reaction
Josh Childress is gone and in the aftermath, who can blame him. He's a low level player wanting big bucks. Not sure if bought into the fact that he was drafted 6th by possibly the worst drafter in the history of the NBA, but it's a moot point. The Hawks couldn't throw that kind of money at him.

Sure, I'm upset he's gone or that he doesn't love Atlanta enough to stay, but face the facts. If the Spirit put an offer for him that he accepted we'd have the most overpaid player for the 2008 season. Sorry, a 6th man on a sub .500 team simply isn't worth that.
AJC plays the Race Card
I'm over here looking for something to write about my Falcons and come across some articles. One talking about Horn showing up to camp (who cares), one about Martrez Milner (that one is a feel good, but pointless), another one about Sam "Stubby Arms" Baker & Curtis "Most Likely To Appear on 'Cops' " Lofton potential for holding out (sleeper) and finally one about Black QB's who are out of work and want to blame race by the AJC.

Really?! Seriously, this is the reason why I don't subscribe to the AJC in the first place, it's worthless race baiting talk. Jobless QB's are being discriminated against? OK, I'll play along, who is getting discriminated against?

• Byron Leftwich - Um, has he ever played a full season? He blew his free pass due to Petrino when he got hurt, again. Sorry, league minimum or not, I can't put my teams hopes on the shoulders of someone who can't take a hit.
  
• Daunte Culpepper - This one is almost there. I rank him right under a Trent Green, Jeff George comeback kid. He had a great game for a team that didn't do anything last year. He's worth the minimum, but word on the street is that he wants to play. Sorry, there's only a handful of jobs, and frankly, we've seen what you can do (and what you can't)
• Quinn Gray - OK, this must be the writer's cousin or something. Who is Quinn Gray, Really?! Do a google on him and get this photo of the cheerleader. Oh yeah, he went threw for 54 yards and 2 picks in a game last year. Bring 'im home Dimitroff!
  
• Shaun King - Hey, if the article was just about him, I'd agree wholeheartedly. All he did was run a good ship for the Bucs into the playoffs and what did he get in return... Fired. Of course, it doesn't help that he can barely see over the steering wheel let alone a 6'5" 300 LB lineman.
• Aaron Brooks - Really?! Are you serious. The comparison is that the there are scrubs that happen to be white that are getting jobs over proven failures. The key here is that these scrubs don't mind doing the dirty work for the job. Sorry Aaron, you'll get no love here.
  

Bottomline is that these guys all want to be starters and they have proven that they don't have the skillset for the job. Two are injury prone, one is a bonafide bust, one is too short for the NFL (and on that he IS getting discriminated against) and one will be lucky if he's the answer of some obscure trivia question.

Braves Are In it?
Although Cox is the master of the 2nd Half, he might have the magic to pull out this season. With 60 or so games left and 24 of those against the 3 teams ahead of them the Braves will have to win almost every game down the stretch to even have a shot. So will Texeira stay or go. I wish they'd get off the fence and say, Yes we will compete or no, let's get ready for next season. Time will tell.

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Friday FU: 7.18 - Cox the Master of the 2nd Half | Mr. Smith comes home | First Round Fantasy: Norwood

July 18th, 2008

Cox Owns The Seocond Half
As we begin the second half of the season with a 6.5 game deficit there are two thoughts that run through my mind.

First, that if I could have anyone in the dugout to play the nearly perfect second half, it'd be Cox. Say what you will about his post-season record or slow starts to a season, COX OWNS THE SECOND HALF.

Second, Cox has been giving up ground for the past several years. I hope 6.5 seems like enough of a challenge.
Every season the AM talk shows will be dumping on the Braves chances and talking about re-tooling and every season (except one) they are proven wrong. Well, my hope is that this season isn't a wash and if we have any shot at the playoffs, it's going to be Cox that makes the difference not a new acquisition. Keep Texeira by the way.

Mr. Smith Comes Home?
Now that the 76ers have their Brand new team and the Clippers have made their Marc (OK, I know that's REALLY BAD), it'll be interesting to see what Josh Smith signs for. Sund has called the bluffs and no one really wanted to go head to head with Sund, or rather a shaky ownership group that might not have actually matched the offer.

Until ownership gets on the same page, we'll never be able to fully commit to the team, but I love the prospect of our first 6 players coming into this year. Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, (Space Taking Center), Josh Smith, Al Horford, Josh Childress.... Notice that this hasn't changed from last year. Sure the Hawks didn't get any new pieces, and sure it wasn't intentional. But it's exactly what the Hawks need, stability. What other team should have their same starting group intact and not have to worry about "gelling" the first half of the season. I predict the Hawks to make the playoffs again, albeit as an 8th or possibly a 7th seed.

First Round Fantasy Talent: Jerious Norwood
If you're a betting man, then I suggest you sneak Norwood out of the first or early rounds. The guy is a touch down miracle man. He'll get less touches than Turner, but the coaches don't seem to be as dense as the previous regime, so I expect Norwood to get a few more touches. Really, that's all he needs to get his. He'll average almost a 100 yards culmative and at least a TD every Sunday this year.

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Friday FU - 7-11 BOO Braves!

Friday FU (Follow Up)

BOO BRAVES!
The Francoeur move was too little, too late and although it seems to be proving dividends, it was certainly a mis-management of the most marketable player on the team. BOO FANS! too, booing Frenchy is simply unacceptable in my opinion. The guy's hitting better than that bean bag we had here for a few years and again, one of the best guys in the clubhouse there is.

TYPICAL HAWKS
Now that the Clippers are Falked, they're likely to try to do some "falking" of their own by over-offerring for Josh Smith, so he can run back here and ask our dazed and confused owners for to match. ... NICE. At least, I've come to expect the Hawks to make moves like this one.

NO VALUE FOR HORN?
Is Authur the only one willing to overpay for Horn, surely we could get some water bottles or something for him. I'm guessing they were using the questions for Horn to sign Terry.

GWINNETT DAILY BOOSTING FORCE...
Um... (ajc says the same) don't they know the season is over for the force?

DREAM A NIGHTMARE?
Although this is possibly the silliest experiment in professional sports, the Dream did win one. Um, don't tell the girls, but they are in ATLANTA.

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Y! Team Reports Surprisingly Good

See for yourself....

• Atlanta Hawks Team Report (6/6/08)
• Atlanta Falcons Team Repot (6/6/08) - I just love this quote... FINALLY!
  

  “The coaches are putting me in a variety of spots in a variety of sets,” Norwood said. “They’re going to line me up at receiver, running back, shoot, maybe some quarterback. They’re going to put me in some one-on-one matchups to get me in the open field.”

• Atlanta Thrasher Team Report (6/6/08)
• Atlanta Braves Team Report (6/6/08)

What's missing from the braves report is the quote from Chipper all but dooming the Braves to a losing year due to Smoltz surgery. I couldn't believe the response! !

Not having him at all for the rest of the season is devastating, flat out devastating," third baseman Chipper Jones said. "Going into this season, I said there's one guy on this club we cannot do without. That's John Smoltz."

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Smoltz Out For the Year

John Smoltz is under going season ending shoulder surgery, so this blogger has to eat it. It's all but official but in an interview with 790 the Zone the best "money" pitcher in the MLB is looking for what to do "next year." Is this it? At least for this season.

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Twosday Round Up: Pretenders vs Kobe and Smoltz

Twosday Round Up is a feature that looks at two sports in one blog topic.

Pretenders vs Kobe

We all know by now that the Celtics (*cough* Pretenders *cough*) are playing the Lakers. What really gets me is that this was hyped before the playoffs even started. They were talking about this back when the Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were riding the pine watching the Atlanta Hawks eat their lunch. They talked about it when Lebron made Kevin Garnett look like Manute Bol. They still talked about when Ray Allen looked more like Ray Charles in most of the Piston's series. Well, let's give them a golf clap for finally getting here. However, to compare this Celtics team to any of the championshipr Celtics teams is ludracris. Paul Pierce is no better than any other shooting guard on 90% of the NBA teams and Garnett is more reminiscent of Dennis Rodman than Mchale.

After the Lakers win this in 5, I hope that the NBA hype machine can put this to rest. It's not some storied playoff round. It's one mediocre team playing a pretty good one with the best player in the NBA.

SMOLTZ IS BACK!

The best money pitcher of my era is back and is in the Bullpen. Sure he blew his first save opportunity, but this is Smoltz. He could throw it with his foot and still get more people out than Clemens without the juice. What I'm reading about Smoltz return, I am liking.

"The results can be a little deceiving," Smoltz said. "I could have gone out
there, given up three line drive outs and everybody would have said, 'Nice job.'
I just think I needed to be a little better with my touch. I'm overpowering some
of my pitches and not trusting the movement."

You have to read between the lines, but pay attention to his "lines." The reporters usually don't know too much when it comes to Smoltz. I'm at least not concerned about our bullpen anymore.

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Braves Get More Cox, For Another Year At Least

Braves get Cox for at least one more year.

Widely thought to be the last year for Cox something changed his mind.

"We were up in New York and he was looking at the new stadium out in left field and said, 'That will be cool to go there next year,'" Francoeur said. "Then I started thinking he would come back."

Wren was reported as saying as long as Cox wants to manage he'll always have a home here. Cox has similar sentiments about the Braves.

Cox has two seasons to rectify the image that he's the greatest regular season manager ever and one of the worst playoff managers. Cox owns a career record of 2,171-1,686 and his .563 career winning percentage ranks third all-time. His post-season record of 43 to 36 and a .544 winning percentage only include ONE world series, with over 15 Division series under your belt, you'd think there'd be more than one!

I like Bobby, sometimes I just wish he'd turn a different gear on in the postseason. Glad to see we don't have to start over next year.

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Most Distraught Atlanta Franchise Is The Only One With A Plan

One year ago, I'd say that there was only one franchise in Atlanta Sports that had any sort of plan at winning. It wasn't that the Falcons weren't trying, it was just a number of events that took them out of the entire equation. The Hawks, well, they're the Hawks... and are we really going to talk about the Thrashers? Yes, the Atlanta Braves, the staple and example of a winning team seemed, at the time to be the only one with a plan.

Today, there is still only one Franchise that seems like it has a plan to win while the others are languishing with unanswered questions.

The Atlanta Hawks have yet to select a GM and with their ownership situation it will be harder to lure any of the top candidates. Until that is settled, it leaves the coach up in the air as well as the two Joshes.

The Atlanta Braves are doing well with Chipper and their patchwork bullpen, but Smoltz had a set back and there is no consistency out of their starting pitching.

The Thrashers traded away a player that is taking his team to the Stanley Cup...

Yes, The Atlanta Falcons, believe it or not, have developed a winning formula. They've hired a GM for a winner, drafted a winner at QB, hired a winner at Coach and for once have some depth there, at least in terms of backups. They have an actual owner.... there's a lot of positives. There's some hope at least. There's some question marks about the team obviously, but there is only one place to go for the Falcons and that's most certainly is up. To think last year, this was the leagues worst franchise to come into this year with a team with some major promise. Maybe not this year, but in short time the Falcons seem poised to get rid of that record for years without a consecutive winning record.

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Are They Really Still Talking About This | Chipper Jones

Honestly, Chipper is having a great first quarter or so of the season, but really...

See this Braves Article

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More tomfoolery in Atlanta ....

Will Chipper hit .400?

Honestly, is this a real discussion. Is there no other news in Atlanta Sports? Is it a foregone conclusion that both the Hawks and the Falcons are the equivalent of expansion teams that there is absolutely no need to be writing about the exciting offseason that both will have?

Here's one really well thought out blog post about the insane.

Matt Ryan Is Already a Star?!
AP is to credit this blinding flash of the obvious. I was not able to attend Falcons Mini-camp so I am glad that AP has filled me in on the most important news of the day!

Vick still has fans in Atlanta, but Ryan’s No. 2 is the new attraction at the merchandise tent.

Really?! In Atlanta, first round draft picks are usually so boring, I can't imagine any other possibilities. I imagine that if we drafted Glenn Dorsey, no one would really be interested in his performance or jersey. Hmm.

As a side note, no offense to Brian Finneran, whom I am a big fan of, but is he the only guy available to comment on this "new face of the franchise?"

Cricket Sounds...

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Billy King will be a strong candidate to replace Knight with the Hawks

I have yet to hear of any potential replacement for Billy Knight except for the exacerbating option of the former 76ers GM, Billy King. It would only be true Hawks basketball if that were true. I'd prefer to keep our Billy than take their old one. Other than that rumor I have heard nothing about the Hawks (except for blogs that have lauded this fact).

I'm sending out resume' to the NBA. It seems that working in the NBA is like a government job. You don't actually have to be good at what you do, you just have to have the job and once you get the job you keep it for life.

Braves Almost Interesting?
Now that the Braves have had their 6 game winning streak snapped and the media is slating them to miss the playoffs (seriously, in May?), I'm interested to see if they do the ole' Cox "hang with them until the All Star break and then pull," away that was so common for 10 plus years.

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Horses, Soccer & Softball More Important Sports News Than Atlanta Has...

I was watching ESPN yesterday and it was the first time in a long time that I got to see a whole episode of Sportscenter. Amazingly, they spent no time on the Atlanta Brave's 5 game winning streak (no team in baseball has a better home record! Or worse Road record), no time on Atlanta Hawk's GM Billy Knight stepping down and no time on the Altanta Falcon's Michael Boley situation. Instead, we had more recaps of Lebron's non-performance, more drama over an injured horse and some special about softball.... YES, SOFTBALL.....

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A Beginning of An Era ...

I've grown up in Atlanta and I am old enough to have enjoyed Dominique's Run as a Hawk or seen Deion or watch the Braves at Atlanta Fulton County stadium, but I've never seen anything like this. Atlanta has been seen as a Basketball town for ages, but attendance proved otherwise. With the buzz around the Hawks and the Falcons, this time was so exciting that it pushed me out of my regular blogging status into wanting to talk about my favorite thing, Atlanta Sports.

Welcome to my Atlanta Sports Blog.

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