No Trojans for Matt

Last night when I called my Dad, a SC diehard, he tells me "Hey! did you hear Leinart got a girl from Newbury Park pregnant?" I of course did not. Thanks for the 411 dad.



So I want to be the first person on the Atlanta Sports Blog to congatulate Matt for his addition....and they're not getting married, sweet! Apparently they used to date at SC, she plays hoops. I think it says alot about how ready Leinart is for professional sports. I mean he's not at the success level of Santonio Holmes or Kenny Anderson, but its a good start! Congrats Matt!

Paris or Brynn Cameron?

CBB Trivia Question

Category: College Basketball

Who, at the age of 27, became the youngest head coach in Division I history when he took over the program at Appalachian State in 1975? (answer in comments)

Atlanta Falcons 2006 Schedule

Since 2002, the NFL schedule has been set up so that a team plays each team within its division twice. Each division is matched up with 1 division from its conference and 1 division from the rival conference. Two single games are also on the schedule. They match teams in the same conference, not division, who also finished the previous season with the same division ranking (ex. NFC South 3rd place vs. NFC West 3rd and NFC North 3rd).

AFC
East: Buffalo, Miami, New England, NY Jets
North: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh
South: Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tennessee
West: Denver, Kansas City, Oakland, Saint Diego

NFC
East: Dallas, NY Giants, Philadelphia, Washington
North: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota
South(Video Preview, Written Preview): Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, Tampa Bay
West: Arizona, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle


There are 3 divisions that look better than the rest to me. The NFC East, NFC South, and the AFC North appear to be the best divisions. So guess who the Falcons play in '06. All Three. Of course in the NFL parity rules so this may not be the case after the season is over with. Injuries can turn a team upside-down and in the NFL things aren't always what they seem so maybe the Falcons will end up having an easy schedule.

NFC East
The NFC East will be one of the best divisions because of the strength of all four teams and because they have 3 of the best coaches in the NFL in Tuna (who loses Payton), Gibbs, and Reid (who losses Childress, off. cord. since '99). The Redskins added WRs Randle-El and Lloyd to an offense that set the record for fewest yards in a playoff victory (120 yards). Can they make the playoffs again with Brunell's weak arm because otherwise they are solid? The Giants won 11 last year and hope Eli continues to develop. Tiki's total yardage last year was 2nd only to Faulk in '99, can he repeat at his age? One of their big additions was LB Arrington, who has often been called overated. Their draft pick was DE Mathias Kiwanuka who will join Strahan and Umenyiora. They also added Sam Madison. The Eagles had an off-year with the T.O. mess and now have a mentally and physically healthy McNabb. DE Darren Howard should be a force with Jevon Kearse and their great secondary. No RB or WR depth despite the addition of WR Stallworth. Cowboys get T.O.'s talent but also get the unwanted strain that he causes. The other big change is they will have the league's most accurate K in history in Vanderjagt.

NFC South
The NFC South will feature 3 teams with Super Bowl aspirations and New Orleans. The Saints will have Reggie Bush AND Duece McAllister plus QB Drew Brees so they may do better than second-to-last in PPG but they have many problem areas. Atlanta have improved their roster. They added WR Lelie, DT run-stuffing specialist Jackson, DE Abraham, CB Williams, Ss Crocker and Milloy, RB Norwood, T Gandy, and essentially LB Hartwell (once healthy). Mike Vick also will be heatlhy, unlike '05, and loves his new QB coach. Atlanta losses Finneran, who was Vick's favorite WR, DE Smith, and RB Duckett but not a whole lot else. Carolina will feature Keyshawn opposite Steve Smith and get star DT Kris Jenkins back. Otherwise, Fox (who is one of the best) will feature most of the same players from last year's team that fell in the NFC Championship. '05 South Champ - Tampa Bay and stud coach "Chucky" Gruden will have the luxury of knowing their QB coming into the season this year. Simms took over after six games last year. The team's defense should again be one of the best with LB Brooks, CB Barber, and DE Rice all at the top of their position. RB Cadillac Williams is for real but his line will not be. . again. Have they ever had a good line?

AFC North
The AFC North, like the NFC South, has 3 teams will Super Bowl aspirations. The Ravens would be hard-pressed to get there but they could suprise people. They finally have a QB in McNair who will bring Pro Bowl skills to the team (he is 3 years out from winning the NFL MVP and made the Pro Bowl last year). McNair is getting worn-down but he's inspired to make one last run and this is it. The Ravens will have former McNair teammate, Derrick Mason, Todd Heap, Mark Clayton, C-Moore, and D-Darling catching balls which may be as good as that units been in a while. LT All Pro Jonathan Odgen returns to anchor the line, which may be the weakest unit on the team. At RB, they are deep and talented with Jamal Lewis, Mike Anderson, Musa Smith, and former Georgia Tech walk-on PJ Daniels. The Defense finished 5th in '05 and they should be just as good this year. The secondary features the Defensive-P.O.Y. S Ed Reed and shutdown CBs McAllister and Samari Rolle. The other spot may fall to rookie and former Tech S/QB Dawan Landry. LB Ray Lewis has been hurt and sounds more inspired with a QB he finally believes in. He missed the final 10 games last year when they ranked 5th. If he returns to his dominant and healthy ways the defense may be, well, dominant. DT Ngata was their 1st pick and they also added Trevor Pryce. K Matt Stover is one of the best. Pittsburgh, coming off their SB win, will return Big Ben, Willie Parker, the NFL's best OL?, Hines Ward, TE Heath Miller, Bill Cowher, NT Casey Hampton, DE Aaron Smith, LBs Porter Farrier and Haggins, SS Polamalu, and OC Ken Wisenhunt. They lost Randel-El, the Bus, DE von Oelhoffen but return most everyone else and they should be strong again. Cincy will have one of the top offenses if Carson Palmer recovers from his knee injury that occured on the 2nd play in the first home playoff game in franchise history. The offseason has been rocky with many players involved in legal matters. Dealtha O'Neal had 10 picks last year. Cleveland is cursed.

Dirty Birds look to have a tough schedule this year. Atlanta plays the NFC South 2x, the AFC North, and the NFC East. Our 2 other games are Detroit and Arizona. Our bye is the fifth week which means 12 straight weeks and then the playoffs. Carolina, TB, and NO all have to play those 3 divisions too so all things are close equal to win the division, but the schedule does not favor Atlanta for getting a wild-card. Fortunately due to last year's 3rd out of 4th finish we play Detroit, who should not be good, and Arizona, who will continue the rebuilding (or just building) with Edge, but Cardnals at home is still a win, right? Detroit, Arizona, Cleveland, and New Orleans (2x) are the games that look easiest. Past that though, we may play the toughest schedule possible. Carolina (2x), TB (2x), NYG, Dallas, Philly, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. So the Falcons need to go 4-1 in the first group and finish 6-5 against the top-tier teams to make the playoffs comfortably but getting one of the 2 byes is crucial to SB hopes. So hopefully Atlanta can get 11 or 12 wins for the all important bye, forget last year's Steelers, and go 2 for 2 in the playoffs to make the Super Bowl. In 2007, Atlanta gets the AFC South and the NFC West.

*San Francisco plays Arizona (2x), Seattle (2x), St. Louis (2x), Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Green Bay, New Orleans, and Philly -- which looks favorable to me but I'm thinking they go 0-16 anyway.

ATLANTA FALCONS 2006 Schedule

at Carolina
TAMPA BAY
at new Orleans
Arizona
bye
NY Giants
PITTSBURGH
at cincinatti
at detroit
CLEVELAND
at baltimore
NEW ORLEANS
at washington
at TAMPA BAY
DALLAS
CAROLINA
PHILLY

Admit It. You Missed Him!!

In an attempt to provide an insurance policy should QBs Aaron Brooks, Andrew Walter, and Marques Tuiasosopo not pan out, the Oakland Raiders have signed Jeff George to a non guaranteed contract. Mr. Run-and-Shoot with a Mullet was last seen coaching his kids youth football team using the very offense that helped make him famous. Apparently, he has been keeping his arm fresh with some former high school and college teammates. Early reviews are that he impressed in his first practice, showing that he still has one of the best arms in the league.

I have always liked George. His arm is amazing. His intensity is great. His attitude is horrendous. And that has killed him. He hasn't played in an NFL game since 2001 and was last seen riding the pine in Chicago in 2004. But Brooks sucks. And the Raiders can't get any worse. I am now rooting for George to win a roster spot and some playing.

I can't wait for the first George, Moss, Porter blow up! Followed by him punching out Shell!!

If Jeff George is coming back, can Jerry Glanville come too???

And in other football news, Donte Stallworth was traded to the Eagles for undersized backup linebacker, Mark Simoneau. John Clayton of ESPN is calling this the equivalent of a fourth round draft pick. Am I the only one who would rather have spent a fourth round draft pick, or equivalent player, on Stallworth than trading for Lelie? Stallworth played for a crappy team and had 70 catches last year. He is a proven commodity (with a bad QB), just as big a deep threat, and is also a free agent at year's end. I still think Atlanta could have gotten more.

Ball Named to Watch List for Manning Award

Have they been watching the past 3 years? If this watch list were at least 60 QB's long, I might consider him. However, with it being only 22 QB's in length, this is baffling and quite disturbing.

Side note: With a 12 game regular season, Chan and Reggie are gonna have to pull some serious magic out of their rears to finish with the 7-5 record they have grown so fond of. I guarantee you a large part of the pre-season has been devoted to figuring out how to go 7-5 in the regular season and then not play the bowl game without taking a win or a loss.

Church.

All time Tech Team

Tony Barnhart recently had his All-time Tech team. I however know so few of these guys. I honestly only vaguely remember Tech winning the Nat'l championship in 90. West Coast bubble I guess. So since my Tech history only goes back to 95, I;ve created my own 95-present team (excluding OL's cause....well just cause).

DE. Greg Gathers and Eric Henderson - Gathers was amazing...and maybe slihtky chemically imbalanced.
DT. Nate Stimson and Joe Anoai
LB. Brooking, Daryl Smith, Ron Rogers - Hard to leave Key Fox out, but Brooking and Rogers were a wrecking crew and Daryl Smith even with taht huge cast was unstoppable.
SS Tavares Tillman
FS Mike Dee...just kidding....Jeremy Muyers
CB Kenny Scott and Nathan Perryman

QB. AJ Suggs or Joe Hamilton its a toss up!
RB. Joe Burns - Hard to pick a guy that runs out of bounds but he was a stud, albeit a stupid one.
FB. Ed Wilder
WR. Calvin and Kelly Campbell - slight edge to KC over Dez for that one handed grab in the endzone at Talahassee.
TE. JP Foschi-lots of options here. Makes me wish our offense would utilize our TEs as pass catchers.
OL. I wont pick these guys. I do know that Nat Dorsey is IN for neutralizing Julius Peppers. Mike Cheever would probably also make it.

K. Luke Manget
P. Rodney Williams - the bombs make up for the shanks.
PR/KR. Nathan Perryman - guy refused to call fair catch.

if i did a 95- present hoops i'd have 2 teams. 1 by actual position they played the other the best team i could assemble

BEST TEAM BY POSITION

PG. Jarret Jack
SG. Elder - Slight nod over the amazing passing skills of Drew Barry
SF. Matt Harpring
PF. Chris Bosh
C. Luke - I considered Alvin, RaSean, and Elisma. Alvin was an amazing defensive presence, but I would just get irate watching him airball 4 footers. I mean what is up with that? Rasean will be the best of them, but as of right now he is just to enigmatic. Luke was on the final 4 squad and pretty much was the reason we went that far, despite the fact he seemed to kind of digress his sr yr.

BEST TEAM ASSEMBLED
PG Jarret Jack
SG Stephon
SF Harpring
PFJeremis Smith
C Bosh

Im sure I missed a few guys

Extreme Marketing

Element 21 Golf Co. is going to publicize its new line of clubs with the help of a Russian cosmonaut, who will use one of their clubs to hit a golf ball during a space walk. NIKE is wondering how soon NASA can get Tiger to the moon to prove that he can reach Mars with a sevon iron.

In an unrelated story, Pluto is no longer a planet. Seriously. I guess it is now classified as a dwarf. Is that even PC? Why not just go ahead and call it a midget planet? Or spherically challenged.

Do kids in elementary school now get to tell their science teacher to shove it for teaching the planets incorrectly?


cnn.com

Eddie Griffin Wrecks While Watching Porn

This is a couple months old but it's sports and it's odd and the cops drove him home so I thought I'd post it for anyone who had not seen this.

Minnesota Timberwolve basketball player Eddie Griffin allegedly crashed his SUV into a parked car, $25,000 worth of damage, because he was masterbating to a pornographic DVD on a TV on his dashboard while driving drunk. He also is accused of bribing the owners of the parked vehicle so that they would not call the police. He, allegedly, says on video, "Whatever kind of car you want. You want a Hummer . . . You want a . . .not a Bentley."

The police did NOT test Griffin for alcohol. What they did was drive him home which is probably what they would do for most people, right?

A 3 MINUTE VIDEO of it is available on youtube.com.


twincities.com

Will Ashley Lelie Drop the Ball?

As a Falcon fan I welcome Ashley to Atlanta with a clean slate and I hope that he excels this year while catching bullet passes from Mike Vick. It would be great if he could match his 1,084 yards he gained in 2004. He would be the best deep threat we've had since Tony Martin was arrested for money laundering (he was later aquited). Getting a wide out for Duckett became necessary once Finn went down and Norwood stepped up, but trading for a top receiver when teams know you need one is never easy. Plus, the 'Coons are cap-strapped. Having said that, there's a lot about the WR we got that doesn't sit well with me. So here goes some negative. . .

First and foremost, Ashley Lelie has unreliable hands. WRs dropping balls have always driven me crazy because drops end drives and they hurt momentum and morale. Plus, you never want the QB to have to think, "will he catch it?" And Vick's velocity might not help matters.

Lelie caught just 48% of the 88 passes thrown his way in 2005. That made it the 2nd time in 3 years Lelie had the worst percentage out of the top 50 receivers in the NFL. Yikes! In 2003 his percentage was 46%. In '04 it was 54%. Lelie's teammate Rod Smith's number was 68% in 05. Finn's was 62%. Jenkins was 51%. That percentage includes balls thrown over his head and into the dirt by the QB so a lot rests on Plummer and the difficulty of the pass, but under 50% is a bad number. Plus, 2 out of 3 years he was the worst out of the top 50 wide outs and his division has some weak secondaries.

Lelie has "Alligator Arms." He has long been considered a player who was "soft" and who didn't want to catch many balls over the middle of the field. He started 13 Gs, played in 16 Gs, but only had 1 TD in '05. In '03, he started 10 Gs, played in 16 Gs, and had 2 TDs. The Alligator Arms probably have a connection to him leading the league in yards/catch the past two years, along with him being fast. And the inside info says is that last year teams realized how to counter his one-dimensionalism by bumping him at the line of scrimmage to knock him off his fly pattern.

Lelie seems to also have some character issues. Lelie fell out of favor with Shannahan early. Later, Lelie sat out of training camp and offseason workouts because the Bronco's traded for Javon Walker. He felt he no longer had a chance to start with Rod Smith and Walker on the team so he elected to hold out to force a trade. Lelie was fined $14,000/day. The total fines for his camp absence came to $378,000. Lelie also lost a $100,000 for not participating in offseason workouts. But what had he done to deserve the #1 spot? In 2005, Ashley started 13 games plus he caught a pass in ALL 16 games yet only had 42 catches (2.6 avg), 770 yards, and 1 Touchdown. He broke the 81-yard plateau only ONCE and had NINE catches on 3rd down all year long. Plus he played in a weak secondary conference last year with Kansas City, San Diego, and Oakland. Hopefully he will be catching enough balls to stay happy in Atlanta.

Shanahan on Lelie's choice to hold out,

"If you want to compete to be the number 1 guy, why not be here...If you're afraid of competing against a number 1 guy who's 3[6] years-old, I don't think you're going to find a better scenario...It would be different if people were beating down the walls to get him," Shanahan said. "But they're not."

"Our guys aren't going to worry about someone that doesn't want to be here, because they know that guy's not going to win you a championship." The Broncos stopped believing Lelie was tough enough to be a champion. You could hear the contempt in Shanahan's voice, when he dissed Lelie for failure to embrace competition. In the coach's mind, winners never back down from a challenge. "I think that's the way men do it,"

Fellow receiver Rod Smith tried to contact Lelie,"I just want to win games," Smith said. Smith recently tried to telephone Lelie. Lelie did not return the call, "So when I see him, I'm going to SMACK him," Smith said.

Don Banks, of SI.com had the following to say regarding the Duckett-Lelie trade:

While Denver didn't get a player for its 2006 playoff push in the deal, the Broncos might be the trade's biggest winner thanks to the old addition-by-subtraction theory. In ridding themselves of Lelie, a player who had obviously burned his bridges in Mike Shanahan's fiefdom, the Broncos lanced a boil that threatened to fester all year long until it was dealt with. Make no mistake: Denver didn't lose a great player in Lelie, who at times has struggled with his maturity level. His Broncos tenure had some highlights -- namely his 1,000-yard receiving season of 2004 -- but he had UNRELIABLE HANDS and wasn't ready to challenge veteran Rod Smith for the role of the team's No. 1 receiver any time soon.

Well, hopefully all of that is in the past now. Often proffesional athletes are better, especially their first year, after a fresh start, so hopefully Lelie will help the Falcons reach the playoffs and beyond. He will probably only be here one year anyways. Finneran, Jenkins, and White are the future 3some and with a tight cap and a training-camp holdout attitude from Lelie I do not foresee us resigning him. But athlete's tend to produce numbers above their averages in their contract years so hopefully he will feel that extra inspiration. Also, with Vick's arm strength Lelie's deep routes could be more dangerous than with Plummer. Mike Vick can zing it about as deep as anyone, he just isn't very accurate on throws from the pocket. Lelie's also is 6'3, which would be better if he would use to his advantage in the red zone or over the middle, but again maybe he will be willing to sacrifice his body more in that contract year. Plus, as MIKE mentioned in the comments before, Crumpler will be our top target and Griffith, Dunn, and Norwood will have a lot of catches too. Lelie may be faster, but I think Finneran (6'5) would have been more helpful to the Falcons this year. So many of Atlanta's plays are broken ones, and Finneran and Vick had developed a relationship to the point of familiarity and I'm not sure how well Lelie will perform on broken down plays. Remember he will not have the luxury of even going through one full training camp with Vick and he will get in only two preseason games with a QB who is quite unique. Was Lelie the best WR to be had by the Falcons via trade? Probably or else they would have traded for Jerry Porter, for example, if they were able too. Again, when teams know you HAVE to trade a player there are not going to give you a stud receiver with no issues in return. So hopefully he will catch everything, risk his body, and get double digit TDs. Who knows, it is a contract year.

Duckett (18th), Lelie (19th), and Walker (20th) were all drafted in a row. The small Ed Reed fell to 24. WRs Randle-El and Deion Branch went in the second round. WR Eric Crouch went in the 3rd. WR David Givens went in the 7th round.

youtube.com
denverpost.com
sports.yahoo.com
si.com

Looks like he does some MANscaping

GTChris19 wishes.

Hulk Hogan obliges.

Cornerstones

The Scott Boras post got me thinking that after AP, Fonsie is the guy I'd most like to build a team around. I was telling my friend this, and then found out he's 30. Not so young. So he's off my "top 5 players I'd build a team around". If you had to start a team from scratch, who would you start with? I have set an age limit of 25 or less. This eliminates guys like Pujols (26), Ryan Howard (26), Mark Teixeira (26), Chase Utley (27), Jason Bay (27), Travis Hafner (29), Adam Dunn (26), Vic Martinez (27). I have also eliminated all pitchers due to the fragility of a pitching arm (see Kerry Wood & Mark Prior) so adios Scott Kazmir (22), Johan Santana (27), Francisco Liriano (22), the D-Train (24), King Felix (20). This leaves..........

1)Miguel Cabrera 23 - He seems like he's been in the league forever. As good a hitter as there is out there.
2) David Wright 23 - he's a 5 tool player and the Mets cornerstone for the next decade.
3) Joe Mauer 23 - great stick AND he plays catcher.
4) Carl Crawford 25 - Is such a good athlete he could probably make the Pro Bowl as a receiver.
5) Grady Sizemore 24 - Love the defense and the spark at the top of the lineup. Having a guy that plays balls to the wall is great for the clubhouse, bad as an injury risk.

honorable mention to:
Jose Reyes 23 - legs a huge part of his game....and his are fragile.
Brian McCann 22 - Im really impressed at what hes done.

Im sure I've left some people out that I forgot.

Coach/Athlete Fight?

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was apparently involved in an altercation with pitcher Ted Lilly after the skipper pulled Lilly in the third. Gibbons followed the pitcher off the field and then confronted him in the tunnel where cameramen saw the manager push Lilly. A scuffle ensued and was broken up. When Gibbons came back to the bench, he was treated for a bloody nose. This is the same manager that challenged Shea Hillenbrand to a fight earlier this year. Although I love the fire that he shows, he should know his limits or at least back it up!!

This got me thinking. Who would would you like to see involved in a coach/athlete fight? And it has to be the coach going after the player. Think Zimmer going after Pedro (but only 150 lbs and 40 years less) or Woody Hayes and anybody. For the sake of comedy, you can't go wrong with Van Gundy and Yao. I wouldn't mind seeing Gruden getting popped in the face. But I have two favorites:

I would have loved to see Sean Tracey knock out Ozzie Guillen to finally shut him up after Guillen embarrassed the rookie pitcher for not hitting a batter in retaliation.

But tops on my wish list would be seeing Krzyzewski get his ass kicked, Sprewell style, during a game after cussing someone out one too many times. But since he always has sissy boys on his team, it would need to be someone from a rival team that is big and scary. I nominate Jeremis Smith from GT. And I don't think anyone would break it up.

Falcons get their wideout

The Atlanta Falcons pulled off a three team trade last night, netting the Denver Broncos’ wideout Ashley Lelie and parting with backup tailback TJ Duckett. Duckett, a former first round pick with a “downhill” style of running has been playing very well in training camp. He will head to Washington as insurance due to the injury of Clinton Portis. Washington will send as many as two draft picks to Denver, a third and fourth round, to fulfill their end of the deal. Denver rid themselves of Lelie, a former first round draft pick, after a lengthy holdout in which the receiver wanted out of Denver after the team’s acquisition of Jevon Walker from Green Bay.

Lelie had wanted to only be traded to a team in which he would be their number one receiver. With the Falcons, he will be the number three receiver. According to the article, Atlanta had a conversation with Lelie about his future role before the trade was made.

Another key part of the deal was that neither of the two players involved received contract extensions. They are both in the last year of their deals and will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Neither player would have stayed with their original team after the season, making a deal necessary to get something back for the investment in the first round draft picks.

Clearly the Falcons needed a number three receiver and TJ Duckett was somewhat expendable. This deal leaves Atlanta with no proven backup at tailback and Dunn is in his 30’s and is bound to get banged up sometime. I still think a more pressing need is at defensive tackle. Atlanta will not be able to stop the run without putting eight in the box and they play in a division with talented ground games. Also, Lelie was never a go to guy for Denver QB’s. They always went to Sharpe, Smith, and McCafferey. Lelie has much more ability than Finneran, but if he wasn't good enough for Denver's passing game, how will he be a solution for Atlanta's offense? Vick already has two talented young wideouts who need to step up their game. Adding a third to the mix doesn't give Vick more confidence. How many times last year did he check down to the number three option? I realize that a move had to be made to get a number three receiver to help open up the field and complete the offense. I am just not sure this was the best one. Every team in Atlanta's division is a run first offense with talented running backs. Stopping the run is the key to winning the division and making the playoffs. Atlanta needs help on the D-line and this wasn't it.

This pisses me off

I have met and competed against many gifted athletes in my time, but Justin Gatlin was one of those rare talents that would leave you in awe of what he could do on a track. After my event finished on Day 1 of 4 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships during my senior year, the only thing that brought me back to the track (and out of the bars where I was celebrating!!) on Day 4 was to watch his event. His speed is sick. He won the 200 M in a blazing time and practically walked across the finish line because the closest competitor was 20 meters behind. He had the talent to go after Michael Johnson’s 200 meter record if he practiced hard enough (think Joe D’s 56). He neither used, nor needed the drugs then. Why start now? It looks like his career is over after winning gold at both the Olympics and World Championships. He is only 24. All other sports should adopt this policy. Talk about conviction.

The Boras Roundup

In an effort to get MLB teams to outrageously overpay for "star [sic]" talent, Scott Boras signed Carlos Lee to help him corner the market in post arbitration players. Lee already turned down a 4 year, $48 million offer from Milwaukee, which punched his ticket out of town to the Rangers. Lee (30 yrs old), a lifetime .286 hitter who has only hit 100 RBI's twice in his previous 7 years (CWS and MB), is putting up career numbers in his contract season.

Joining Carlos Lee in the soon to be overpaid club are Alfonso Soriano, Barry Zito, and Japanese star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Soriano, if you will remember, was dumped by the Rangers last season after hitting .268 and making 3,762 errors at second base. Since joining the Nationals, Soriano has also put up monster numbers at the plate in a contract season. He also has managed to increase his fielding error rate , (total chances : errors) of 36:1 to 28:1, while moving to left field and having to deal with those pesky fly balls. And please pay no attention to that career .326 OBP. Its not like the Yankees and Rangers had good offenses or anything.

Former Cy Young winner, Barry Zito, will hit the market in high demand despite only having three pitches, a fastball that tops out at 88, and a reputation for not being able to win the big game. He does have very good career stats and the ability to beat Seattle at any time he wants. Some team will surely shell out Pavano, Burnett, Clement type money for Zito. But will he follow their example and really live up to the expectations for first 1/2 year on a multiyear contract?

Expect Boras to recruit a couple more big name players to add to his yearly free agent powerplay list and hold them out for as long as possible in order to cash in on desperate teams (cough: Jeff Weaver and the Angels: cough) all at once.

Fact of the Day...

Vin Diesel invented black. In fact, he invented the entire spectrum of visible light. Except pink. Tom Cruise invented pink.

ESPN's 5 ACC Football Predictions

ESPN.com's ACC football preview is out today and Mark Schlabach made five predictions for the upcoming season in which he feels that the ACC will have a down year. Included in his predictions were:

1. FSU will beat Miami twice and win the conference title.
2. No ACC coach will be fired as everyone does just enough to keep their job.
3. Drew Weatherford, QB for FSU, will be the most dangerous weapon ahead of GT's #21.
4. Duke will lose to a I-AA team but not go winless.
5. GT will have a big out of conference win, again, as the Jackets narrowly lose to ND at home, but beat Georgia on the road en route to a third place finish in the Coastal Division.

Georgia Tech's New TV Spot

This 30 sec Ad focusing on football/academics is hosted by Gailey and should hit TV soon.

The slogan is "Combining strong academics and athletics, it is challenging, but for Georgia Tech it is the right thing to do."

Don't Go the Speed Limit on the Highway

Some Georgia State students test the speed limit on Atlanta's perimeter in this video. They create a WALL OF CARS which is shown @ 3:45 all driving 55mph. Traffic becomes congested behind them as everyone behind them on 285 must max out at 55mph and some road rage ensues. At one point a swerving van has it's mirror explode on a car sitting on the shoulder. On of their contentions is that no one drives 55mph so when someone gets a ticket going 80, should the ticket really be for 25 over? I don't think that should be the same as going, say, 50mph in a neighborhood.

Braves Blunder

If you didn't see how the Braves game ended a couple days ago, you missed an odd one.

Atlanta was riding a 3 game win streak trying to put together a miracle to attain the wild-card (5 games out but about 8 teams out).

It is the ninth inning. Francoeur was on 2nd, Diaz on 1st, 0 outs, and the Braves are down by one. Adam LaRoche is now up to bat. Since the All-Star game he has a .321 avg. and leads the team with 12 Dongs since the break. So of course HE decides to BUNT (Bobby didn't call for a bunt).

LaRoche preceded to barely get the bunt out of the dirt and catcher Miguel Olivo picked it up to turn the rare 2-5-3 double play. McCann was intentionally walked, and then Langerhans popped out. Game Over.

If a successful bunt was laid down to get the tying run at third with one out, it would not have been awful, but Laroche is not a skilled bunter and he runs like he's got a piano strapped to his back. He has one sac bunt on the year and Frenchy was caught off gaurd at 2nd. Add to that, the fact that LaRoche was 3-4 lifetime with a homer off of pitcher Joe Borowski. Frenchy, Chipper, and Bobby were pretty shocked afterwards.

Here are some good quotes from both teams after the game.

''We just gave a game away we should have won,'' Cox said. "I don’t what the [heck] he’s doing,”

''I can't imagine why a guy with 25 homers would be bunting, especially when the lineup behind him doesn’t favor it'' Chipper said.

''I don't think I've ever seen that,'' Marlins manager Joe Girardi said

''If you're going to draw it up, that's about as perfect as it has to be,'' Marlins Pitcher Borowski said.

''I wanted to take the double play or fly ball out of it,'' LaRoche said. ''I knew I could get the bunt down, but I didn't do it.''

I told him that even if you were successful [bunting the two runners over], they're still going to walk Mac [McCann]. ... He was just trying to do too much." said Cox

"That's what I was trying to do. I thought, if I get this down, Mac's not going to get pitched to, we've got bases loaded with one out, go from there." said LaRoche

"Obviously, if I could do it over again, I'm swinging at it," said LaRoche, whose bunt against closer Joe Borowski was fielded a few feet in front of the plate by catcher Miguel Olivo.

This will not help Adam's popularity with the fans which has never seemingly been high. A play at first, here is the VIDEO of it, where Adam walked over to the bag and was beaten by the runner fueled the fans ire. Later, he made some questionable COMMENTS about Braves fans.

"If you're going to boo me when I'm struggling, then boo me now or don't do anything," the affable LaRoche said in a quiet monotone. "If you're going to call in [to talk shows] and say you don't want me here, that's fine."

"But I don't want those same guys to be standing up for me when things are going well. That's just the way I am. I've got no problem with you if you hate me. But stick to your guns; don't go back and forth."

Of course if he keeps hitting like he's one of the premier 1st basemen in the game these things seem to fade away a litlle quicker.

nytimes.com
ajc.com
youtube.com

Jets Get Barlow, Keep McCariens

The N.Y. Jets traded a 2007 pick to San Fran for Kevin Barlow. This is a blow to the hopes of getting Justin McCariens for T.J. Duckett. The AJC reported Saturday that there were disscussions about McCariens.

In Detroit former top ten picks WRs Charlie Rodgers and Mike Williams are 3rd string. The Falcons won't aquire a player like Rodgers but Richie Rich would probably take a look at Williams. As far as RBs, they have Kevin Jones and 3rd round pick Brian Calhoun. I don't know if Duckett would fit in a Mike Martz scheme either, but we have other pieces like linebackers and draft picks. We need at least one more WR who is not with the current team.

'Zinger Caught In A Tight Lie?

Seems Paul Azinger WITHDREW from the U.S. Bank Championship because his dad needed surgery, and then he was spotted playing in the WSOP. If a golfer withdraws from a PGA event he is supposed to provide a decent excuse or receive disciplinary action.

Azinger told Golf Digest that he withdrew because his father had become ill and needed surgery but that the surgery was postponed, so he headed for Vegas and the Hold 'em Main Event.

That Joe Buck Is So Hot Right Now

Joe Buck has somehow been given the PREGAME host duties AND the post-game host duties for NFL on Fox to go along with his lead play by-play duties in both football and baseball playoffs. Sports fans will get their share of Joe in September and October (his ego will be giant by November) and there will probably be dozens of -- he's doing everything but selling the popcorn jokes -- before the year's over. Howie Long, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Bradshaw, and the sarcastic Buck will now do the pre-game from the parking-lot of the lead game. I never have liked Fox's pre-game show too much and I don't think this is the answer I was looking for but I guess I was mainly looking for the axe for JJ and Terry. This might help though since James Brown just sat back and let Terry and Jimmie talk without seemingly putting any thought behind what they were saying. With Buck at the helm, the show may finally take a turn at becoming less silly and less frivolous but I wouldn't bet on it.

Which makes my wonder: Why do Pre-Game shows in the NFL feel like they need to have the tone of a "Morning Show." We're talking about football and yet I feel like a tickle fight is bound to break out at any moment. There is also a seemingly low quality from the some of the analysts. For many of them their main/only "performance" is a couple hours on Sunday and they don't exactly bowl me over with much fresh information and analasis to the point that I feel they spent even one full day of the week preparing to break down this week's games. And wasn't that supposed to be the purpose? Not to give T.O. 2 more hours of face time and not to drown the viewers in worn-out expressions and mindless star-chatter. Anyways. . . .

Unfortunaltly, Fox's rival at ESPN, Sunday Countdown, loses Steve Young this year. He will join the Monday night football crowd for '06. I think he's an underrated analyst who's being underutilzed on ESPN/ABC, but that may be by his own accord. Sunday Countdown will feature Berman, Ditka, Irvin, and Tom Jackson. Atlanta-native Mort, will also be on the show along with Jaws and others. Speaking of Jaws, he will join his former head coach Dick Vermeil in calling the Chargers-Raiders game on ESPN's MNF opening night. It will be the second game on Sept. 11, @ 10:15.

CBS will have Bryant Gumble (or "Malcolm X" if Wayne Brady is around), Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, and Shannon Sharpe on The NFL Today.

I Knew Mayfield Was Wrecking On Purpose

Jeremy Mayfield sought an injunction against Evernham Motorsports so that Bill Elliot would not be able to replace him at Watkins Glen last week. The court sided with Mayfield and so Ray Evernham settled so that Bill Elliot would be able to race the no. 19. Due to the injuction, a couple of accusations were made:

In his complaint, filed Aug. 9, Mayfield alleges that "at some point in time, Ray Evernham had entered into a close personal relationship with a female driver he engages to drive on NASCAR's ARCA, Truck and Busch Series." That relationship, Mayfield said in his filing, has resulted in a disengagement of Evernham from the affairs and operation of Evernham Motorsports. By process of elimination, the female driver referred to in the complaint is Erin Crocker.

So. . . Evernham was distracted by an alleged AFFAIR and consequently Mayfield's rides were not good enough? Hmmm.

NOW comes my favorite part. In the affidavit Evernham filed in response to Mayfield's suit, Evernham accused Mayfield of intentionally wrecking at the Allstate 400 at Indy. That was his final race in the no.19.

"On Aug. 7, 2006 (the race actually took place on Aug. 6) at the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Speedway, I watched Mayfield wreck his car early in the race," Evernham's affidavit reads. "He slowed dramatically to let other cars pass the #19 Dodge in turn one and then brushed the wall at two places. The wreck was done in a manner to damage the #19 Dodge but not harm Mayfield. Based on my experience, Ibelieved that Mayfield's conduct in wrecking the car was on purpose."

The day after the Brickyard Mayfield dropped to 36th in owner points and his manager allegedlly received a phone call outlining two options of termination. What were they? They were the "easy way" and the "hard way." Mayfield decided to sue.

Mayfield is expected to race for Bill Davis Racing and Toyota next year and he has hopes of racing this year.

Weis Turns Up the Heat

Two-A-Day practices conclude this evening for Georgia Tech as the secondary and offensive line take shape. Three new starters will join Kenny Scott in the defensive backfield and David Brown has switched from the defensive line to the second team's right offensive tackle in order to get more playing time and increase the o-line's depth.

Sportsline.com has previewed Notre Dame's season and within the article, head coach Charlie Weis says that he is well aware of what is in store for the Irish on September 2nd. He already has the Irish practicing in an indoor facility with the heat turned up in an effort to replicate the playing conditions that they will face in two weeks.

Football is almost here!!!

Juiced Knuckler

Jose Canseco's pitching stats from his first start (8-2 loss) as a knuckleballer:

4.1 innings
4 walks
5 HBP
1 K
2 Hits, 1 HR
3 ER

"Overall, it felt pretty good," said Canseco, who joined the independent Golden Baseball League earlier this year. "It took me a little while to get a rhythm out there, and I walked too many guys. It should get better."

Kansas City may be interested in acquiring Canseco as he would be the only player on the team that actually can hit something. Even if it is the opposing batter.

Payless Shoes is foaming at the mouth.

In a bold attempt to move up into SI’s Fortunate 50, Stephon Marbury will endorse a new line of inexpensive sneakers named “Starbury One.” The sneaker has been designed by Steve & Barry’s University Sportswear and will hit the shelves at your finer sports apparel stores this Thursday. Doesn’t exactly give you the picture of Air Jordan’s, does it? The marketing strategy behind the design was genius. They created the ugliest shoe they possibly could and used the cheapest materials that they could find. That way the shoes can retail at the staggering price of $14.98, thus ruining any margin they could have developed if the shoe were to retail at, say, $16.72. Starbury’s “street cred” will never be higher. This could make it the cheapest basketball shoe since Converse’s Chuck Taylor Canvas design and one that is bound to increase the felony rate in inner city New York as anyone caught wearing these may get shot instantly. No word yet if the shoe has any built in feature that will increase the wearer’s ability to forget about his coach and teammates while attempting to shoot the ball 50 times a game. The version with ankle support will retail for $15.25.

16 Contenders, 8 Pretenders

Stewart Mandel and SI.com has come up with 16 teams with a chance to win the National Championship. He only took teams with a 7-5 record last year or better. Then they tried to figure out which teams had the best combination of a veteran quarterback, experienced offensive and defensive lines, proven playmakers, and a favorable schedule (they left out coaching). These are the 16 they came up with:
Auburn
Cal
Clemson
FSU
GT
Iowa
Louisville
Miami
Michigan
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Ohio State
South Carolina
USC
Utah
West Virginia

And for HIS PRETENDERS, he picks 8 teams which will fall short of expectations:
Texas
Florida
LSU
PSU
UGA
OU
Oregon
TCU

Bobby Knight Gets Patriotic

Warning!!!! Bobby Knight decided to make a video to help the youth of the nation explore their options with the Military. Now, he coached at the United States Military Academy so expect passion.


Military Recruiting Video

Fisticuffs

On August 8, the Kansas City T-Bones played the Schaumburg Flyers and when they take the field against one another you just know there is bound to be trouble. During the game a bench clearing brawl erupted. The ump was even run over. As far as baseball fights it's not bad. There are definitely a lot of players involved IN THE FIGHT.

C.R.E.A.M.

Fortunate 50

SI’s Fortunate 50 is composed of the 50 greatest earning athletes in America. You must be a U.S. citizen to qualify. The athlete’s final figure is composed of his salary, bonuses, winnings, endorsement money, and appearance fees for 2005.

Top 10
1.Eldrick
2.Phil Mickelson
3.Shaq
4.Kobe
5.Carson Palmer
6.Bron Bron
7.Jeter
8.ARod
9.Driver Number Eight
10.Mike Vick

Notable Numbers and Names from the List:
*Figures In Millions*

-Atlanta related athletes on the list include Mike Vick (10 from 5 last year), Chipper Jones (42), and former GT basketball star Stephon Marbury (29). Vick signed a 10-year $130 extension with the Falcons in '04. Chipper Jones made $15 in salary in '05. "Starbury" has a player option for '07 worth $20.1, so I doubt he will want to test the FA market until '08-09.

-No.1 Tiger Woods ($97, $87 in endorsements) made more than double what no.2 Phil Mickelson made ($46, $40 in endorsements).

-Lefty moved from no. 9 to 2 on the fortunate list and more than doubled his money in doing so. Last year his figure was $27.4.

-At 30, Tiger has over half a billion in earnings. Last year his figure was $86.

-Despite making less than $1 in endorsements Carson Palmer was the no.5 paid athlete last year.

-LeBron made the most endorsement money ($24) of the "big 3" sport athletes. He was followed by Kobe ($18), Shaq ($14), Peyton Manning($11.5), T.Brady($9), and T.Mac($7.5).

-The 3 Drivers on the top 50 were Junior (9), Gordon (17), and Stewart(34). Earnhardt only had winnings of $6, but he and Gordon made over $15 in endorsements, whereas Stewart only had $3 in endorsements.

-The only other non "big 3" athlete on the list was Agassi (18). He was no.2 last year.

-No women on the top 50 list. Possibilities in the future would include Danica Patrick and Michelle Wie. Wie made $10 in endorsements in '05 at age 16. Serena was no.17 last year.

-Finley (20) and Brian Grant (35) were paid by two different teams last year.

-Baseball's best position player (Pujols) was left out of the top 20 (21).

-Penny Hardaway, Jalen Rose, Brian Grant, and Keith Van Horn all made the list.

-The Knicks will have Starbury(29), Stevie Franchise (43), and Jalen Rose (37) on their team and had Penny (36) last year.

-The Bronx Bombers make up one fifth of the top 25 with Jeter (7), E-Rod(8), Giambi (21), Mussina (22), and the Big Unit (25).

-Jeff Bagwell and his $17 salary made him no. 30 for a year that included 4 doubles 3 HRs and one functioning arm.

-CWebb comes in @ no.16 thanks to a $19.1 salary. He signed a $127 conctract in ’01 while in Sacromento and he will be the NBA’s highest paid player in 07-08. But somehow the Kings actually were able to find a taker for his contract (thanks Billy King). Not only does King have Cwebb's contract but he also has no.14 Allen Iverson who will still have a $22 year on his contract three years from now.

-The average figure actually dropped $0.5 since last year.

-Oscar De La Hoya dropped from no. 4 after two fights in 04 to NR.

INTERNATIONAL 20
These are athletes who are not U.S. citizens.
1.Michael Shumacher - $80 - Auto
2.Valentino Rossi - $30 - Motorcycles
3.Ronaldinho
4.Sharapova
5.David Beckem
6.Ichiro
7.Roger Federer
8.Ronaldo
9.Hedeki Matsui
10.Christian Vieri

FORTUNATE 50 from si.com

INTERNATIONAL 20 from si.com

Point Gaurd U

Georgia Tech has reloaded once again at the 1 for 2006. Javaris Crittenton of Southwest Atlanta Christian and Atlanta Celtics fame is the next point guard at a university with a storied history of superb floor generals. In his senior season at SAC, Crittenton averaged 28 ppg., 6 apg, and 5 rpg. Coach Paul Hewitt and the Tech faithful have high hopes that he and freshman running mate Thad Young will bring home some hardware to the Thriller Dome.

Local Basketball Talent

Coach Paul Hewitt and Georgia Tech basketball program are sitting on a breeding ground for high-major basketball talent. The Atlanta Celtics teams have amassed 6 AAU National Championships since 1990. The alumni roster includes:

• Dion Glover
• Jumaine Jones
• Darrell “Crazy Bone” LaBarrie
• Antwuan Dixon, didn’t make a huge impact at FSU, but he used to hammer on us in high school ball at Wheeler so I thought I’d give a shout out
• Anthony Evans
• Travis Zachery (Clemson Football, RB)
  
  But let's take a quick look at the starting 5 from two years ago…
  1. Javaris Crittenton
  2. Senario Hillman?
  3. Josh Smith
  4. Dwight Howard
  5. Randolph Morris
  
  With this lineup, I'd have put my $ on the ATL Celtics giving 6 pts to the Boston Celtics.

Falcons Must Aquire WRs Via Trade

I wanted to expound on the proposed trade in the previous post.

N.Y. Jets may be without Curtis Martin this year. He is coming off of a knee surgury and probably won't make the first game. He has said recently that he intends on playing this year but it doesn't look definite. So without a proven backup the Jets may be looking for an overrated upright runnering veteran from the Big Ten, and since eddie george doesn't seem to be around anymore, why not T.J. Duckett?

ATL gives the Jets Duckett and a 4th rounder for 6 year vet Justin McCariens who has career highs of 56 catches and 800 yards. Last year Finneran had career highs of 50 and 600. The Jets may be willing because he is in the dog house with the new coach, Mangini. He is actually currently listed as a 2nd stringer. And then I came across THE problem -- it's nearly impossible to even add a kicker's salalary. And why? Well check out the ATL Falcons 2005 SALARY CAP NUMBERS and see if anyone's sticks out like a sore thumb. I'll give you a hint: it's Ron Mexico. McCariens signed a 7 year $31 million contract in 2004 but that includes a seven million dollar signing bonus that he recieved in 04. He counted 2 Million against the cap in 05 so with the subtraction of duckett's contract it might actually be able to happen.

I think Rich will do something before third or fourth preseason game because our four deep wide-out depth chart right now is Mike Jenkins, Roddy White, Jerome "I might not make the team" Pathon, and Adam Jennings. Jennings is 5-9 and is a 6th round rookie who was drafted primarily because of his kick returning skills. Crumpler's one of the best, though, so Mike's got his safetey valve there but his other saftey net, Finn, won't be there for the first time. It makes you almost, not really, but almost wish we had Peerless and his outragous Price tag back. Nope. Nevemind. Forget about a fifth reciever, hell forget about a fourth reciever, how can ATL open up with NFC Championship hopes and not have a viable 3rd option at wide out.

Finn signed a 4-year $8 million contract in 2006 after he had 50 catches in 2005.

Our NFC South Competion to the South may have a pretty strong foursome of recievers. Tampa has put together Joey Gallaway, Michael Clayton, Ike Hilliard, and the MAN BEAST David Boston. Boston, appears to be healthy for the first time in a while but I will believe that in week 15.

Are You Ready For Some preseason Football?

If you are looking for a breakout player in the Falcon's first preseason game August 11, Jerious Norwood may be your guy. He is in a battle with the T.J. Duckett for the second string RB, and he could be the long term answer after Warrick's career is Dunn. Duckett has seemed to shy away from contact over his tenure, especially for such a big man, and may have actually regressed last year. He had 380 yards at 3.1 per carry. Look for a motavated rookie in Norwood to try to prove his worth to the team in the preseason. Also look for the team to give Norwood plenty of opportunities.

Here are other reasons why Norwood may excel early and often:
-He runs a 4.33 sec 40 (fasted RB in the draft)
-He is apparantly as fast as advertised -- his speed translates to the field
-He started all 11 games as a senior -- NO FUMBLES
-He ran the west coast offense under Sylvester Croom(ex NFL off cor.) @ Miss. St.
-He returned punts and kicks in college
-He is reportedly a good reciever
-He is a "one of the highest charachter guys scouted" by the Falcons who "gives his all"

Norwood was ranked as the no.3 RB and no. 22 player overal by Rivals.com coming out of H.S. when he chose Miss St. Jerious gained 1,110 yards as a Sr. without much help and garnered 2nd team all-SEC. The Coon's selected him in the 3rd round this year. He joins Fullbacks Justin Griffith and Fred McCrary as Starkville Bulldog's in the Atlanta backfield. All reports out of camp on Norwood have been very positive. He doesn't offer the big back (he is 6'0 203lbs) to counter Warrick's small stature, but Dunn is a good runner between the tackles and at the goalline so it shouldn't matter. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams is similar to Dunn in that regard. He's a small guy but he's great between the tackles. So I think if Norwood lives up to the reports out of camp that he, Dunn, and Griffith will be servicable as a unit. The Falcons don't absolutely have to have a "Thunder" running back ala Natrone Means Buisness or "The Nigerian Nightmare" Christian Okoye on the roster (Duckett was awful last year in short yardage situations). Atlanta could package T.J. Duckett with something else (linebacker, draft pick) and try to get a decent veteren reciever (Justin McCareins?).

He Could Be Dawan

Baltimore Raven's Rookie Dawan Landry practiced with the first team defense on Sunday. If the former Yellow Jacket became the starter, he would join a secondary composed of Chris McCalister, Samari Rolle, and Ed Reed. Landry was a 5th round selection.

Bobby Knight

Warning, Bobby Knight truly enjoys to let expletives fly. Especially when he shoots an instuctional GOLF SHOW.

youtube.com

Clean Old Fashion Hate

A minute of LARRY MUNSON to remind you we are less than a month away from "Toe Meets Leather."

For Tech Fans.

youtube.com

I X-pect Better

The X Games are good - I have always watched them, but man how has ESPN not fixed some of the obvious kinks. First of all who decided Linda Cohn would be the sportscenter anchor in charge of XGs? This isn't her first year. Out of all the personalities to choose from to represent the "X" generation wouldn't you think she would be at the bottom? Other problems and thoughts:

-ESPN has rid itself of wakeboarding when it should have kept it and added wakeskating. They cited the problem of fans not being close to the action and the event not being close enought to the rest of the XGs. I say whoopty freakin doo. Surfing is still in the XGs and in fact, it is held in Mexico. Aren't you doing this for the TV audience anyways? There is now a PARKING LOT alternative for the wakeboarders.

-They have gone from six days in '03 to 4 in '06 for what, World Series of Darts? Bull Riding? Re-Runs of Satilites that ESPN tries to make people believe have something substantial to do with the world series of poker. There are not many sports in the summer, and it's not like they would have to pay more for two more days of rights.

-To kick of XG 12 espn showed 8 minutes of BMX dirt Finals. Wow. They showed 4 runs total. It was almost a why bother exersize. It is a sport that is still extreme and still progressing. Firsts this year: Nyquist: 720 barspin, White: triple tailwhip. But did you hear about either? If you were listening closely the second one was mentioned once I believe. Maybe if they would give it at least a half an hour, and mentions in recap shows the audience would build and the discipline wouldn't die.

-Street Skateboarding: Remember last year? Me neither. Because every year they just show a short recap with maybe 4 tricks. C'mon, if you're not going to give me live coverage at least give me a 15 minute recap.

-I think the XGs should bring back speed climbing. Make it more physical, more dangerous. Put Nitro and Diamond (of American Gladiator Fame) on the wall.

-ESPN likes to pick an athlete or two and the announcers talk about him the entire time and if an athlete other than the chosen one does something great it often takes a while, if ever, for the announcers to jump on board. There are exceptions, Tony Hawk being one. Tony Hawk is a fantastic announcer. He might be one of my favorites in any sport.

-Remember Street Luge? Street Luge was cool in some aspects but the fact that the guy who started last would always win kind of ruined it. The two competitors would just stop at the top of the hill and wait because neither wanted to go first because of the drafting aspect. Maybe they could shoot them out of gates like horses on a step decline and make it illegal to stop. Maybe I just miss hearing the name Biker Sherlock.

-Why isn't there an extreme downhill mountain bike? Probably hard to film but hey its the 21st centry.

-Inline Skating: Gone the way of the Dodo. Nice Work.

-Moto X Step Up: ESPN treats it like its skateboard vert and its not that exciting. They give it way too much air time. It must get great ratings but I don't understand why it would because it is just a high jump with a dirt bike. Step Up gets about an hour or more every year. That would be fine if wakeboard wasn't axed, BMX dirt wasn't relageted to 10 minutes, and so on. It also needs to be standerdized. Last year the height they started out at was 25ft. This years winning height was 23ft. That makes it only about the competion. They could also move the bar back a smidge so that the front tire would not knock it off so often and the riders would jump higher.

-I think there is too moto in the X-Games this year. I think Moto is awesome don't get me wrong. The Double Backflip, the first backflips, the body varial by Chuck Carothers, etc were all favorite moments for me in the X-Games. BUT there can be too much Moto. There is Moto best trick, Moto step up, Moto freestyle 1, Moto freestyle 2, SuperMoto (racing), and moto madness on PPV, and then in Winter they do it again. The Winter version waters it down. Moto Freestyle is the only event on that is on TV two seperate days.

-The 360 in Moto X: It is NOT a 360. It is an off axis backflip.

-GOOD NEWS: There is a new event called bmx big air which I think is where they jump off the GIANT ramp built by Danny Way and used last year for skateboarding only.
-BAD NEWS: It will be PPV only. Great. Who is the A-Hole who came up with the idea to make bmx big air a ppv event?

-Next year women will have tv time for the first time at the x games. This despite the trend of shrinking airtime for the x-games. ESPN did recieve a little pressure to give the women some help.

Dook???

The biggest thing to stand out to me in the preseason coaches poll, besides Tennessee being rated in the top 25 while their program ciircles the drain, is someone voted for Dook in the Others receiving votes! They went 1-10 last year...and they're Dook!

Other thoughts...

• WVU has about the easiest schedule one could imagine wit the lone exception of travelling to Louisville. I'd love for them to run the table, and get "Auburn'd."
• If Nebraska ever wanted to announce to the world that they are back, September 16th in Lincoln vs USC is the perfect chance. Regardless of how highly touted Booty/Sanchez are, they are bothe human and would be facing their first road start. With so much changeover at SC, I think the timing is right.
• Mirage has ND as the favorite to win the Nat'l Championship, 9/2....that's a mistake. 2nd will surprise you, WVU 5/1...GT rounds it out at 100/1. I get why they have the Domers so high, cause even though all the non-catholics hate them, ND is america's team, and massive amounts of money will be thrown on them. I don't however get WVU, maybe it's cause I don't get their fan base, or cause I grew up in a house without wheels.
• The hopes of asian football fans everywhere took a hit when the Ting boys from SC quit the team just this past week. They may have sucked and I had no idea why they were on the field in key situations vs UT, but other than Dat Nguyen, we got nothing (Samoans don't count). Never in a million years would I have put Dr Ting from the Bonds case with those kids, and based on their on the field performance, I'd have never pegged them as juicers.

Yo gtchris

Post the link below in a word so the blog will fit in the correct window and the crap on the right side will return to normal.

For example, please check out Mike's favorite website. As Cheers is to Norm, this website is to Mike.

As you were.

2007 FB Recruiting

Scout.com Editor Scott Kennedy on Georgia Tech's 2007 FB recruiting class.

"It's simply amazing. I can't stress enough how unbelievable the turnaround has been. . .I think Tech will sign more four-star players this season than they have in all of Gailey's classes combined,"

Here is the article from The Macon Telegraph.