This blog has moved! Yes, already!
As of Thursday, Feb. 12, this little blog has relocated to a new home on AJC.com. It’s the same newspaper, the same Web site and the same writer (feel free to groan) — there’s just a new URL.
New features: Bigger type, more graphics, comments that load 10 times faster and a larger and more recent photo that makes me look pretty doggone old. I think you’ll like it (the blog, not the photo). But I am, as we know too well, often wrong.
Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > August > 16
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Aggravation? No, aggregation!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A word or two of explanation
What you behold is a new endeavor wherein I write less — hooray, I can hear you shouting — and read more. We technical mavens are calling this an “aggregator,” which means it’s a collection of links that the aggregator-in-chief finds cuttingly incisive. Or, failing that, mildly amusing.
I make no promises beyond this: Unlike most sports aggregators you’ll find on the Web, this will not be a serial East Coast offender. Meaning, no Yankees and Red Sox; no Brady and Bundchen. (Speaking of which, here’s ESPN’s forthright ombudswoman Le Anne Schreiber trying, not entirely successfully, to come to terms with the Worldwide Leader’s East Coast bias.)
The idea in this space is to focus on our local sports scene, which I will faithfully do. Unless I can’t find anything worthwhile, in which case I might just drench you with Peter King’s latest musings about coffee. (Last week the SI.com NFL scribe gave passing marks to Panera Bread’s house brand.)
No. 1 in the nation, No. 2 in the SEC East
You’re aware that Associated Press voters followed the lead of the coaches in the USA Today poll — not to mention the Sporting News — and anointed Georgia No. 1 in the land. Matt Hayes of Sporting News begins his Georgia preview with another recap of an on-field Bulldog celebration, but not that celebration. Hayes leads with the Vanderbilt logo-stomping before getting around to you-know-what in you-know-where.
Speaking of you-know-who … Hayes’ look at the hated Gators begins with the memory of the Urban Crier ripping his players after they lost to Michigan in the Gator Bowl, and it closes with a fairly chilling number: Florida ranked 98th in Division I-A in pass defense last season.
I’ve never seen a bad defensive team win this conference. Ergo, I can’t see the Crier’s team finishing ahead of Georgia, which the Gators were picked to do during the SEC media convocation in Birmingham last month. (Me, I’ve never put much stock in anything that comes out of Birmingham.) Don’t be surprised if the Gators finish third — not first, not even second — in their division. Don’t be surprised if Tennessee beats them in Knoxville on Sept. 20.
The next next Herschel? Not!
In a lengthy post that manages to mention both Trinton Sturdivant and Paul Johnson, Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com also calls Knowshon Moreno “the next Herschel Walker in Cadillac Williams’ body.” And that, I’m sorry to say, is simply wrong. Not the last part. The first.
Moreno is a very good collegiate back. Herschel was the greatest collegian ever. There have been as many Next Herschels as Next Dylans and Next Jordans, and every one has simply reproved the point: The original cannot be matched.
Starting prospect Ryan
Visiting a practice at Flowery Branch last week was enough to prompt Don Banks of SI.com to write that the Falcons are leaning toward starting Matt Ryan in Week 1 of the regular season. I, on the other hand, believe the Falcons are still trying to fight that powerful impulse.
They might well wind up losing the fight, but they don’t want to mess up the next 10 years by rushing Ryan this next month. That, I submit, is the chief reason they didn’t start Ryan in their home exhibition opener Saturday: There’s no need to make this any harder for a rookie quarterback than it already is.
Bankrupting prisoner Vick
At this late date, it’s possible to ask: Did Michael Vick make even one sound decision, money-wise? Lester Munson, ESPN’s legal analyst, takes a long look at Vick’s deteriorating finances and pronounces him “insolvent.” (Not so long ago, the aggregator-in-chief wrote a little something that posed the $130 million question: Where’s the money? And I’d still love to know, although I suspect we’ll never know, where it all went.)
Toward that end, I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to the aforementioned Peter King’s post in SI.com regarding the possibility of Vick playing next season in the upcoming United Football League, in which, King writes, quarterbacks will earn between $1 million and $4 million a year.
The UFL will have six teams — Orlando is the only one within 500 miles of Atlanta — and is scheduled to begin play next August. Let’s say Vick indeed lands with Orlando: Will local folks who insist on AJC.com blogs that they’re Vick fans forever make the trek down I-75 to see No. 7 in person?
Hey, big spender! (And I don’t mean you, Michael Vick)
Braves chairman Terry McGuirk — he used to be the president, but now John Schuerholz holds that title, which leads me to ask: What the heck does Schuerholz do, anyway? — has said he looks forward to spending serious money this winter to restock this rapidly disintegrating club. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Writing for SI.com, Jon Heyman breaks down the probable price tags of the top seven free agents, and it’s not at all encouraging if you’re a Braves’ fan. I mean, $17 million a year for Ben Sheets, who could, health-wise, be the next Mike Hampton? And $25 million per annum for CC Sabathia? No way Liberty Media shells out that much. No way, I say.
Then again, I’m sure Albie Lopez would again be happy to sign for a mere $4 million.
Another vote of confidence for your Atlanta Spirit
Someone named Fred “The F-Bomb” Richani, writing on something called LayupDrill.com, has dubbed the Hawks the NBA’s worst franchise. I confess that I’d never heard of the site until I stumbled across this posting, but I pass it along for sheer entertainment value.
Also because it enables me to do something I haven’t done all summer — say something nice about the Hawks. So here goes: The Hawks are not the NBA’s worst franchise. (They did make the playoffs.) The Clippers are still worse. At least the Hawks won’t have to play against Josh Childress next season; the poor Clips figure to see Elton Brand in person twice.
Making friends the Internet way
From my pals at The Hive, the Tech message board, comes this burning discussion: “Do we bury the hatchet with Mark Bradley?” Opinion seems split, which is what a hatchet usually does.
Permalink | Comments (66) | Post your comment | Categories: Bradley's Buzz
