13-3 isn't good enough. I love it.

Posted by William
So Falcons win NFC South, 13-3, get boatraced by Green Bay. Everybody thinks Falcons take a DE to rush passer to beat Green Bay.

No. 13-3 isn't good enough. We trade up to get Julio. Paid ALOT (we do have 2 2nd round picks next year,)  but we know this......

Arthur Blank isn't settling for playoffs. The Falcons are all in. I LOVE it.

http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/04/28/falcons-pick-right-time-to-make-big-move-get-julio-jones/?cxntfid=blogs_jeff_schultz_blog

I'm having a good thought for you AJ

Post by William

Let's all have a good thought for AJ Green today. Let's hope he doesn't get drafted by the Bengals- worst organization in the NFL- tonight with the 4th pick. Going to the Bengals would be like going to Siberia. Awful.

Who to draft? This is the toughest choice I have ever seen.

Posted by Mike

The consensus of CBSSportsline.com, Tony Barnhart and ESPN Draft Analyst Mel Kiper seems to be Cam Newton will be the top pick of the draft, but Kiper is hedging his position and on the last Sports Center did not have Newton in the top 10.

While the kid is a huge talent, the intangibles are troubling.

- His interview with John Gruden did not instill a lot of confidence. When the coach asked him to call a play, Newton had a deer in the head lite look and basically said "Our system was simple and the coaches would just flash a card with play 16 or play 38 on it."

- His Wonder Lik scores have not been made public. Why? If he had aced the test, we would have heard. His agent would have made sure of that.

- Shot gun QBs and spread offenses are not a typical part of your standard NFL offense. Some people make the argument that a play book could be built around an exceptional talent, but what happens when your starting QB gets hurt and misses two games? Plus, can you really pay a player $60-million, then ask him to run over Ray Lewis repeatedly?

So Thursday night Charlotte will make a potentially franchise altering pick. There are near certain talents on the board in Marcell Dareus, A.J. Green, and Patrick Peterson, then there is this charismatic, super talented QB who allegedly asked for $180,000 to play for Mississippi State and stole a lap top.

Will he study his play book? Will he be the first man at work and the last to leave?

If the Panther make the wrong move it could set the team back five years or more. If they pick Newton and he becomes an All-Pro player the team will improve, but in the NFL one player can not carry a team to the Super Bowl.

Has there ever been more on the line for the top spot in the draft? Not that I recall. Sure am glad it ain't my decision.

CBS Mock Drafts

Tony B's opinion

Mel Kiper's top four picks

Anybody REALLY think Tiger is hurt?

Tiger has pulled out of next week in Charlotte and the week after at TPC at Sawgrass  w/sprained MCL and some other ailment. I think I know what's really going on.


He's finally gonna(or already has) suck it up, get his ego out of the way, call Butch Harmon and ask him for help. I think he finally realizes that Sean Foley's swing-the one where Tiger looks like he's trying to tie his arms into a knot- isn't working. IF he does go back to work with Butch, WATCH OUT at US Open at Congressional. He's won his tournament there before.

I'm no Tiger fan but that's the best move he could make right now.

http://web.tigerwoods.com/news/article/2011042618266714/news/

Brother I don't believe I would've told that!!!

Just like Lewis Grizzard used to say....

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/chizik-video-being-great-is-really-expensive-29658

Very interesting idea....and funny too!!!

http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/04/25/cam-newton-offered-1-million-if-he-can-pass-lie-detector/

The Uggla truth.

Now that is how the Braves are supposed to play!

You could see the confidence growing as Atlanta swept the defending World Champions in San Fran. Sunday's game was a back and forth slug fest with Jason Heyward homering to give the Braves a lead only to have it taken away by a Buster Posey dinger.

The Hatchets won in extra innings on a Nate McClouth, bases loaded single. So everything is beginning to click.

BOX SCORE

Even the ugly .182 average hanging on Dan Uggla was shined up with his game tying solo shot in the eighth.

Okay the slump was becoming painful to watch. Uggla was obviously uncomfortable at the plate. His .182 average is lowest among the starting line up, and he currently ranks 220th in the National League. His average is the lowest in MLB of all starting second basemen, but lets face the facts, we hired him for the long ball and he has punched 5 so far. The average does need to climb, but Uggla swings... BIG and misses often. But when he connects... he "hits the freaking bull!"

On the positive side he has been to the plate 88 times. Only iron man Martin Prado has more at bats with 94. And oh yeah... Uggla hasn't spiked himself... yet.

Now on to San Diego. You know Ron Burgundy says "the city was discover in 1904 by the Germans who named it after a whale's vagina".

We need to win this series too and close this gap STANDINGS a bit.

Zenon gets action on T day.

Tony Zenon had 2 carries for 22 yards during Saturday's T Day game. (Photo by The Atlanta Journal Constitution.)
YouTube of the run.

And then they lost it?

Posted by Mike
Aaarrrgggghhhh!

Last season we won that game.

Check out the team batting average from Thursday's loss.
Box score

Now check out the team batting average for the season.
Team batting rankings

Hard to win the East when you aren't hitting.

Braves find the offense.

Posted by Mike

The new line up is working. Last night in LA the Braves offense exploded for 10 runs and four homers. Prado, Freeman, Uggla and Hinske at went yard as the offense found legs in the late innings to beat the Dodgers 10-1.

Uggla's average has improved to .200 and McClouth is up to .250. The two hole is still a puzzle. Since moving to that spot Heyward has dropped to .203. It's a mystery!

BOX SCORE

Late nights brush backs.

Posted by Mike
With Braves on the west coast it is hard to stay up late enough to catch the action. So if you missed it last night there were two retaliation pitches thrown.

Dodger rookie left fielder Jerry Sands got off to hot start against the Braves. The youngster doubled and singled in his first two plate appearances. Apparently Huddy had seen enough of that and knocked the rookie to the dirt with a fast ball in the seventh.

The Dodgers retaliated by throwing behind McClouth in the next inning.

After being moved to the eight hole McClouth improved his average to .232 on the season. Fredi G has to have a short fuse with McClouth. The organization wasted a full season trying to get his swing straightened out and can not afford much more patience. A quick glance at the Gwinett Braves roster supports this theory as the AAA club is currently carrying three center fielders. Joe Mather - .297, Jose Constanza - .350, and Jordan Shaffer - .256, and all appear to be getting plenty of playing time.

Check out the G Braves roster.

Don't fret about the record... it's the offense you need to worry about.

Posted by Mike
Don't fret about the Brave's current record of 7 and 9. The season is young with plenty of time to find the right mix. The good news is Atlanta leads the league with a 3.09 ERA. The bad news is we are 14th in hitting with a team .230 average. Meanwhile the Phillies are hitting .294 and rank third in pitching with a 3.34 ERA.

Dan Uggla was supposed to be answer to this offensive problem, but his bat normally takes April off and this season is no different. He is currently carrying a .177 average versus his career number of .268. When he gets cranked up it will boost the rest of the line up.

A bigger problem may be developing in the two slot. Nate McClouth is hitting .212 which is an improvement over his .190 performance of last season, but still a disappointment. In the second slot he is hitting behind Martin Prado and in front of Chipper Jones. A pitcher facing those three batters will pick one to pitch to, and avoid the others.

Who do you think is getting the strikes? So even in the protected spot McClouth is not able to put up numbers, and Sunday manager Fred Gonzalez played with the line up and slid Jason Heyward back to the two hole. He responded with two hits, one a homer. If we are stuck with McClouth we ought to at least bury him at the eight hole and get more at bats for the J-Hey kid.

Mediacom disappoints Braves fans.

FOXSportsSouth press release regarding PeachtreeTV and Braves

From The Albany Journal
by Mike Flynn

Not sure when the last time I missed watching the Braves home opener was, but I won't forget this season's opener anytime soon. It was historic. Bobby Cox threw out the first pitch. Chipper got his 2,500th hit, and the Braves beat the Philles. What a night!

Only... I did not see any of it because I am a Mediacom (888-847-6228) subscriber. Instead, my cable provider was kind enough to provide coverage of "BallUp", a street basketball league. Excuse me... I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

FOXSportsSouth and SportsSouth are carrying 105 games this season and have offered to sell the feed to another 45 games which are on PeachtreeTV to distributors like Mediacom (888-847-6228). Last season the provider did buy the feed, but not this year.

Sally Bloom, Vice-President of Governmental Affairs and Community Relations for Mediacom (888-847-6228) told me by telephone Saturday afternoon, "Our company has not completed negotiations with PeachtreeTV to provide any of those games."

That's right, I said Saturday afternoon. While I am certain Ms. Bloom would have preferred not to be speaking with an annoying small town columnist on her day off, I am equally as certain there are thousands of Mediacom (888-847-6228) subscribers that would have preferred to watch the Braves on Friday night.

Bloom did not know when or if a deal would be struck, so as it stands now, Mediacom (888-847-6228) customers will miss another 44 games, three this week alone including the Mets on Friday night. Forty-five may not seem like a lot in a 162-game schedule, but consider that of those remaining unavailable games, 35 are at home.

That's right, you will miss nearly half of the action from the Ted.

Want to watch Buster Posey when the Giants come to town in August? Then you better make alternative plans to Mediacom (888-847-6228) .

Like to relax at the end of a long week by lighting the grill and watching the Braves on Friday night? Good luck with that. There are nine Friday games which will be unavailable.

Hey, business and times are tough and surely the negotiations to provide coverage of the winning-est sports franchise in the South are all about the dollars. So Mediacom (888-847-6228) customers may have to get equally tough.

No one likes to switch providers, but Mediacom (888-847-6228) may need to understand they are not a monopoly. DishNetwork (888-232-8689) and Direct TV (877-442-8540) offer packages that include the missing PeachtreeTV games, and both providers are only a phone call away.

A mass Mediacom (888-847-6228) exodus would not be good for WALB or WFXL as the locals would not be available via satellite providers.

Local radio has not exactly done a great job with the Braves either. Cumulus is supposed to carry the games on 1450 AM.

So far, the station has not broadcast the season opening game or the home opener, and during last Thursday's day game in Milwaukee, the station had the Braves game and the Jim Rome Show playing over each other.

Satellite radio is also an alternative for this problem, but since Cumulus doesn't send me a monthly bill, this issue is a little less annoying.

Surely it is not too much to ask to have the Braves available via radio or cable. Maybe the team will bring back Chief Noc-a-homa. He could send out smoke signals from the Ted and that would be an improvement over our current access.

Happy Masters Friday

Post by William

Happy Masters Friday. What a great day.

Go ahead and get prepared for the Tiger lovefest this afternoon.

If you missed it Wednesday, make plans or set the DVR for 11am Saturday on ESPN2. It's "Yes Sir", a show about the 1986 Masters narrated by Jack's son Jackie. Must See TV. It's really good.

The NCAA mess hits close to home.

From The Albany Journal

By Mike Flynn

All things considered, college athletics is in a troubled state, and issues are starting to hit close to home.

Just look around at the wreckage. The landscape is riddled with damage.

With the NCAA tournament recently ending, consider that Kentucky's coach John Calipari has pushed two programs, UMass and Memphis, into serious NCAA punishment. Conveniently, Calipari isn't in town when any of these punishments roll down having bolted to greener pastures on both occasions before any sanctions were handed out. Now Kentucky, his current employer, is under investigation. I know... shocking!

Of course UConn's leader Jim Calhoun is no saint and has already been suspended for three games next season, and the investigations into his recruiting efforts have just begun.

Tennessee had not even fully recovered from that whole Lane Kiffin mess, then Bruce Pearl gets off the reservation bringing more NCAA hounds to sniff around the Volunteer campus.

Then the World discovers Ohio State's squeaky clean Jim Tressel is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. His fore knowledge of the tattoo scandal and pre-Sugar Bowl slap on the wrist reek of hypocrisy from the top of the Buckeye athletic department down.

Florida is in a mess too. Urban "Soft on Crime" Meyer resigned again after Jimbo Fisher gave him a bloody lip, and then Will Muschamp went out and hired Charlie Weiss. Good luck with that.

After leaving the sport to be with his family "Soft on Crime" waited a full month before he began throwing his name in for possible job openings... like the one that may develop at Ohio State. So that whole "my tummy hurts" excuse was exactly that... an excuse to leave one of the top football jobs in the country. But why? Me thinks I smell a rotten Gator being swept under the rug. Also, don't forget there has to be a reason Florida passed over heir apparent Dan Mullen when they were shopping. Could it all be related?

If you really want talk about turbulence, let's dare to step over the Chattahoochee. Not sure where to start, but Cam Newton's semi-pro contract is old news now. (For Auburn anyway. Maybe not for the two coaches we discussed in the last paragraph.) There have been tree murders, armed robberies and a HBO special since the events of last fall.

In the cable expose hosted by Bryant Gumbel, former Westover Patriot Troy Reddick claims to have been contacted by a representative of a local Auburn alumni and offered money to play for the Tigers.

As a high school senior Reddick was leaning towards Georgia Tech but ultimately chose Auburn. He was recruited by former Auburn assistant Hugh Nall who covered south Georgia and served as offensive line coach on The Plains. Since leaving coaching Nall has gone to work for Southern Ag Carriers right here in the Good Life City.

Reddick, an offensive lineman, claims he did not take money to sign with Auburn, but says he did take money from a University coach on three occasions in his junior season, and on seven occasions as a senior.

The former Patriot claims that he became unhappy at Auburn and was threatening to leave the school. In the HBO piece he said, "I think me worrying got back to the alumni from my hometown or it may have been the coaches or the staff, but everybody knew I did not want to be there."

Remember this simple equation when reading Reddick's statement: Hometown = Albany.

There are many Auburn fans in this town, and they love their Tigers. So what if a few hundred dollars flowed from one of them to a player to help make his life a little easier. Reddick should be grateful, not bitter. No one made him go to Auburn or forced him to take money, and complaining about it now shows no loyalty if it actually happened.

I am no rocket surgeon, but there is a difference in boosters trying to help a kid, and an institution blatantly putting players on the payroll or the sleazy tactics of Pearl, Calipari, Meyer, Tressel and Kiffin.

As for a solution to straightening out the sloppy landscape of the NCAA, well I'm no brain scientist either, but until 90,000 people are willing to pack a stadium on a Fall Saturday to watch actual students play, there isn't one. Sadly, a 4.5 40 time is more important to some of us than a 3.5 GPA.