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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Coming Out of Retirement!

I got very complacent with the Atlanta Sports scene the last year and half and nothing excited me enough to want to share it with the 5 of you that have visited. Now I'm ready to go, the Braves have some exciting things going on but more importantly (imho) the Hawks look to be interesting and the Falcons are already filling gaps with the signing of Dunta.

Look for some changes this week!

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Atlanta Hawks Former Cheerleader Turns To Porn

Apparently the Atlanta Hawks playoff run got more than just the fans excited. One cheerleader (Briana) decided to turn her excitement (and her lost job) into a career in porn. I'm sure that's what every proud Papa would want for their daughter. Hey, I'm not hear to judge. I did not do any searches but I assume that you can find whatever you might have came here for utilizing our friends at Google. Otherwise, you can head over the Atlanta Hawks website, since they are still proudly marketing Briana.

Psst - Note to Atlanta Spirit: If you fire someone you might want to remove their photos from your site... just a thought.

Then again it could just be a marketing ploy since the Hawks are number one and the Atlanta Fans still prefer to watch reruns of Seinfeld over going to the game. Then again, maybe families aren't interested in attending games where cheerleaders act like Briana. Hmmm

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Hawks Atop Power Rankings?

Love from the "news" organization that can't show a highlight without mentioning Boston, Cleveland or LA?

This seems almost surreal:

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 3
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (6)	Hawks	8-2	After matching Cleveland's win in Orlando with their own breakthrough in Boston, it's time to toss it out there: How much more must the Hawks do before we all start saying that the East elite runs four teams deep?
	2 (5)	Nuggets	7-3	Can't emphasize enough how torn we were on whom to award the top spot, given how Denver has dealt with seven road games ... and J.R. Smith's seven-game suspension ... and what it just did to the Lakers.
	3 (4)	Suns	9-2	Excluding its two games against the teams that appeared in June's NBA Finals -- both on the second night of a back-to-back -- Phoenix is a pretty passable 9-0. And only four of those games were at home.
	4 (1)	Celtics	8-3	Seeing Cleveland lose two of its first four home games was disorienting. But seeing 3-happy Boston get swept on a Friday/Saturday back-to-back, capped by a 113-point pummeling in Indy, was just as staggering.
	5 (2)	Lakers	7-3	The Lakers, like their old pals from Boston, are faced with their first losing streak of the season. The view, though, is clearly more troubling for L.A., now that Kobe has his own groin injury to go with Pau's bad hammy.
	6 (9)	Cavaliers	7-3	Things change fast around here. One successful two-game swing through Florida and suddenly Cleveland -- after the supposed crisis of a 0-2 start -- is the only NBA heavyweight that can say last week was a good week.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2010&week=3

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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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Hawks Pierced In Boston

I'm not even going to mention last season's playoff run. That was then and this is now. What I will say, is that the Hawks are so much more fun to watch this year. They had the Celtics on their backside for most of the game and it wasn't until the fourth quarter that the game even looked close.

ESPN probably had the best write up on the game, but too much emphasis on last year. Some things that are different, for those interested:

• No Josh Childress - The Hawks one and only bench player (sorry Zaza, you're just there for fouls).
• Flip Murray - An actual bench player that contributes
• Mo Evans - Another bench player that is contributing
• Marvin Williams shooting 3 pointers (went 4/4 over K.G.!)
• Mike Bibby (Let's face it folks, he was NOT there last season)

It's not a moral victory, it's a big ole loss in a long season. However, the Hawks did it all without JOSH SMITH... and THAT makes me want to HOOT!

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Horford A Beast Against Bulls

Al Horford proving to be the best pickup by the Hawks since, well, dare I say, 'Nique! Al Scores 27, with 17 Rebounds, 3 Assists oh and he messed around and blocked 6 shots! Yeah, that good!

He's not going to go off like this every night but getting a double double every night is pretty darn good!

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Are The Hawks For Real? Opponents Don't Think So

For 4 straight games the Hawks have added a W in their column and for four straight games opponents have said they are off their game.

“There was just nothing we could do to stop them,” said Raptors coach Sam Mitchell. “We just couldn’t guard them tonight. Almost everybody was off. It happens.”

“They were more aggressive, more physical,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said. “They took liberties against us and we took a step back because we accepted it.”

“The way we finished the game was really disappointing,” 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks said.

“Atlanta played a lot harder,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. “They played like they really, really wanted to win it. We just showed up, I guess just thinking it would happen if we walked out there.”

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Baker to go under the knife

Sam Baker and the Falcons got some bad news about his hip. So at the end of the day, it was never short arms, just injury prone - comments about Baker.....? Actually, in all seriousness he's had the largest impact on the team in my opinion.

D-hall is back, you can read the article if you want. Nothing new.

Hawks Win!

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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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Acie Law on Obama

with me being afro-American, this will be huge for my heritage and the world, just thinking he might be the first black president leaves me speechless.

Acie Law of the Atlanta Hawks has a blog on Yardbarker and although I could make all the comments in the world about how he write and ask if he actually went to college, he's relatively thoughtful in the blog. It's worth a watch.

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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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Childress Plays Against High Schoolers.. See Videoo

I've been out a while, but I saw this over at BDL and I thought it was worth sharing. Childress goes overseas and has no competition, we said it here first. He's not looking to good, except for the video below. The statement was further backed up by 'Nique. See the video here.

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Atlanta Hawks Newest Addition!

*Drum Roll Please*

Marvin Williams.   In a recent Yahoo! Sports post, we find out that Marvin has added on much needed weight and is working on becoming a 3-point threat.  In addition, Josh Smith is impressed by Williams ability to go to the hole now.  A skill that Williams hasn't dusted off since College. 

. “People know him as a mid-range jump shooter but he’s added more to his game. He’s got counter moves and being able to get to the hole and he’s even doing moves in the post that I haven’t seen him do before. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people.”

Williams has added plenty of new wrinkles to his game, too.

“As always I’m just trying to get better,” he said. “I’ve been shooting a ton of (three-pointers). I’ve definitely been working on the 3-ball. And I’ve put on a lot of weight, too. I’m up to about 245 with seven percent body fat. I’m as big and strong as I’ve ever been. I’m finally starting to fill out my frame and it feels good.”

The increased attention to his outside game is every bit as surprising as the weight gain. But both were calculated moves.

“I shot them my rookie year but I didn’t shoot many last year, maybe 10 or so,” Williams said of his long range shooting. “Five or six of those were from half court, too. But I feel like that’s something I can add to my game that will make me more of a threat. A lot of people feel I can shoot that shot. It’s something I’ve got to continue working on to get better.”

Getting bigger doesn’t always mean getting better. But Williams isn’t worried.

“I was 233 last year, but I actually feel like I’m moving a lot better,” he said. “I’ve been running sprints on the track and my times are better than they’ve ever been. I think a lot of it is just natural maturation. It’s like my Dad always said, I was so young when I came into the league. It was just a matter of time before my body developed. I just turned 22 two months ago, man. Everybody has to go through this.”

We'll See...

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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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The Greeks will find out: Chill's Ain't Got No Game

Josh Childress just signed with Greece. Well good riddance in my opinion. I'm an Atlanta Homer and an Atlanta Native, if you don't want to try to stick it out here, go on then.

See ya.

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Childress Is Not A Competitor

I know, really I do. The Spirit is really to blame for all of this. Their impotence and confusion is likely handicapping Sund from actually signing the two Josh's. It's still no excuse.

Josh Smith's excursion to Philly then to L.A. makes sense. I doubt he's actually going to go anywhere, but he's got to make the play to get paid. Good for him. If he applied himself for 4 quarters they'd be talking about him, the way they do Wade and Lebron. Really.

Josh Childress, to actually consider going to Greece to play. Really?! It tells me that this kid is no competitor. The greatest players and athletes in the WORLD are in the NBA. They're great players in Europe, but the BEST are in the NBA. True competitors with heart, want to play the best. Ask any kid in the last few decades who they scored that game winning buzzer beater over... Jordan... who is it now? Lebron, Kobe maybe Garnett or Pierce.

Bottomline, flaking out to the Europe league might make some financial sense, but this is a "BS" answer. Childress is simply being a baby because he's a 6th man in this league and instead of working on his game enough to himself into the starting lineup he figures he'll go to Europe where he will be starter then come back a few years later and hope that some team will insert them into their lineup. Fat chance.

Hey Sund! You're a master of trades and free agents, rumor is Josh wants a sign and trade... can't we oblige?... What's that?! No trade value.... Hmmmm

I appreciated the hustle and your game in the playoffs. Your true colors are starting to show - was that an anomaly? Either sit back down and wait your turn and be quiet or go play in Europe. With that attitude no one in Atlanta would want to watch you play anyway.

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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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