AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > December > 12 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: Joe Johnson was injured and the Hawks lost at Sacramento by 25. If you wanted to know what was wrong with the team, there it is. Right now it’s a one-man show - and I shudder to think how that one man is going to be moving in a couple of months.
9: I know the potential downside. I know it’s not going to happen. But let me just throw this out there one more time: Allen Iverson. And before answering, “You’re whack,” can you really say that he wouldn’t make the Hawks better?
8: Deltha O’Neal has pled not guilty to drunk driving charges. Well, yeah. I mean, given that he plays the Bengals, I’m sure he’ll be given the benefit of the doubt.
7: Cincinnati has had eight players arrested this season. BetUS.com, an online sportsbook, has posted odds on their final total this season (through Dec. 31). The odds on 12 arrests are only 6-5. You can also wager on what position the next arrestee plays. The favorite: wide receiver at 1-2. Longshot: kicker or linebacker at 20-1.
6: Let me just say that, as someone who grew up driving on the Ventura Freeway, I can’t understand how Nicole Richie missed the sign, “If using cocaine, marijuana and Vicodin, please use surface streets.”
5: It just wouldn’t be right to drug test whatever poor soul finally takes the Alabama job. No man can live in that reality.
4: Can somebody please tell me how Brady Quinn won something called the Maxwell Award as the nation’s best college football player over Heisman winner Troy Smith? I mean, outside of the whole Notre Dame, quarterback, and possibly white, thing.
3: Here’s a number for you, puckheads. The Thrashers have 41 points in 31 games. Even if they go only .500 the rest of the season (51 more games), they will finish with 92 points. Last season, Tampa Bay took the last playoff spot in the East - with 92 points.
2: Newsflash: Greg Knapp has been contacted about the Stanford opening. OK. So who gets to be the first to phone in an endorsement?
1: Knapp’s interest in the Stanford is logical. Great school, great area, great conference. Also this: He may have three games left in his current job. Chances of him being kept longer than one more season are as emaciated as Richie.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Jeff Schultz
Comments
By BirdDawg
December 12, 2006 12:21 PM | Link to this
Jeff, please email the following to the Stanford AD:
We fans of the Atlanta Falcons absolutely love Greg Knapp! He is one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of the game!
Greg Knapp is in no way an unimaginative and predicatable playcalling OC. In fact, Greg Knapp excells at taking advantage of his player’s strengths. Just ask Dan Reeves how well Greg has used Michael Vick.
Greg Knapp is a one of a kind coach. He is the only offensive coordinator in the NFL who doesn’t let his QBs audible at the line of scrimage simply because they would never need to. He is such a playcalling genius, that he knows EXACTLY what the other team is going to run, so he always puts his offense in the correct play to succeed, and giving his QBs the ability to audible would just undermine his briliance.
Greg Knapp can take any player and make them better. Although we ask that you please ignore the career paths of the following players - Michael Vick, Ashlie Lelie, Michael Jenkins, and Roddy White.
Greg Knapp is the best coach that the Falcons have. He is a fan favorite, and although every single Atlanta Falcon fan would be anguished to see him leave just as this offense has hit rock bottom, I mean, its zenith, we only want what’s best for Greg.
And you know what, it just seems natural for a coach of Greg Knapp’s calibur to lead a football team in your joke of a, I mean, powerhouse, football conference.
So a fond farewell, Greg.
We’ll miss you like we’ve missed Jeff George!
By mark
December 12, 2006 12:56 PM | Link to this
I’m confused. 1) How do you not even win the best QB award but you win the Maxwell award, which is the best college football player. 2) If the Maxwell award is for the best college football player then what is the Heisman award for?
By Doug
December 12, 2006 01:01 PM | Link to this
It’s actually “wack” (crazy), not “whack” (to hit or strike), but otherwise, no, you’re not wack. There are worse things that could happen to a franchise like the Hawks than picking up AI.
But I don’t want Knapp to go to Stanford — as a Georgia alum, my preference is for that position to be filled by Auburn OC Al Borges. I’m clutching my rosary beads tight in the hopes that Santa brings me a Borges-to-Stanford/Cutcliffe-to-UAB/Tenuta-to-Texas/Calvin-Johnson-to-the-Falcons quadrifecta for Christmas. (Wonder what odds BetUS.com would lay for that?)
By Soiuthpaw
December 12, 2006 01:07 PM | Link to this
I’ve never seen so much bias against a team like Notre Dame. They are not getting the respect they deserve and have earned. They should have had a shot against Texas in the national championship in 2005 but were robbed in the last few seconds by bad officiating in the USC game. Brady Quinn will once again prove he is the best leader and quarterback in the larger picture, the NFL when juxtaposed to Leinart, Young, and Smith.
By BirdDawg
December 12, 2006 01:20 PM | Link to this
Notre Dame deserves respect?
What ranked team have they beaten in the last few years?
Here’s the answer: few to none. Tech wasn’t ranked when they beat them.
People say that the SEC hurts itself by scheduling patsies to play one stinking game a year.
How come Notre Dame doesn’t get hurt for scheduling 6 or 7 patsies to play every year?
In the SEC, you’re going to play 6 to 8 tough games if you go to the Championship Game. Not to mention, SEC teams will also play their in-state rivalries, so we have to play the Bugs, Florida plays FSU, and sometimes Miami. SC plays Clemson. Kentucky plays Louisville. So what if we schedule a directional school to play at the beginning of the year?
Notre Dame plays two decent schools every year, and they got blown out by those two schools this year.
Notre Dame deserves respect?
Last year they were blown out by Ohio State. This year it was USC and Michigan. Those three teams are the only decent teams that Notre Lame has played this calender year.
Here’s the newsflash… Notre Lame is the most overrated team in college football. They don’t deserve to play in a BCS game, but since college football sold its soul to the devil, they make it easier than hell for this crappy team to play in a big bowl, where they will promptly be blown out.
How many years has it been since Notre Lame has won a bowl game?
Oh yeah… 13 freaking years!
Notre Lame needs to earn some damn respect before it can be given some respect.
MOST OVERRATED TEAM EVER!!!
By War Eagle
December 12, 2006 02:58 PM | Link to this
Birddawg, I did not write the post you were so critical to me, on Mike Vick. Although, I believe he will never be a big winner as a Falcons, I never voice names as those to anybody except BuLLdawg…sorry
By Big Rx
December 12, 2006 03:22 PM | Link to this
Doug: I hear what you are saying, but as a Dawg fan I don’t fear Calvin Johnson. He never showed us anything. He plays big against Duke and NC State,etc. but check his career against UGA.
By Wedgie Evans
December 12, 2006 03:32 PM | Link to this
Yeah, the Hawks will be better if they trade for AI. Better, as in consistently locked into 45 wins for the foreseeable future. Will they be a playoff team? Sure. Will they have a chance to win a title with AI and Joe Johnson? Absolutely not. I’m a huge AI fan, but he needs to be on a team where he is the ONLY guy who needs the ball in his hands to make an impact. That’s why Minnesota would be a great destination for him, because KG is a guy who can be a primary scorer but who also can make an impact on the game without the ball in his hands. This is not the right team for AI. Joe Johnson is our #1 option and should stay that way.
By mark
December 12, 2006 03:50 PM | Link to this
Birddawg-I actually agree with every thing you said! How can a team play all 4 service academies, stanford, unc, etc, get their behinds handed to them by the only 2 ranked teams they played all year and be in a BCS bowl? This team plays nobody and they still are on t.v. every Saturday! Please! Notre Lame (by the way birddawg, i’m going to have to take credit for thinking up that nickname a while ago) is THE most overrated team in the country, for quite a few years now. Here’s an idea, pick a conference instead of playing the worst of everybody else’s conference!
Terence Moore- if you don’t think an undefeated team in the SEC, with 2 top 5 picks, 3 in the top 10 and 5 in the first round deserves a shot at the NC, then buddie you a lot more clueless than I thought!!
By frankie b
December 12, 2006 04:10 PM | Link to this
you guys attack young black athletes and rappers as thugs because of they way they act,dress and talk. Even though most come from a poor,violent and single-parent home environment.But whats nicole richie,paris hilton,britney spears,lindsey lohan,and other spoiled rich,drunk,drug-addict,anorexics excuse?
By Roswell Ed
December 12, 2006 04:22 PM | Link to this
Do you know what overratted gets you?
A trip to the Sugar Bowl!!
Is it true that Ultra Lame(just made that up!!) is 0-8 in their last 8 bowl games.
By Roswell Ed
December 12, 2006 04:31 PM | Link to this
You’ve got a great point there frankie.
You never read any bad press about those idiots do you?
They get a free pass and are well respected throuout our society.
If I was a thug and you compared me to any of those $lut$ I’d pop a cap in you..
What a bunch of tramps. They make THE thUg players look like choir boys.
By Roswell Ed
December 12, 2006 04:34 PM | Link to this
I’d still have $ex with all those tramps a long long long long time before I would with a member of THE thUg!!
The beav gets you a lot more passes than the willy or have you never met anyone from the opposite sex?
By frankie b
December 12, 2006 04:56 PM | Link to this
…also why do rich athletes & entertainers like nicole ritchie,mel gibson & members of the Bengals hire a driver when they go out for a night of partying,drinking & drugs?
By Brendan
December 12, 2006 05:39 PM | Link to this
Someone give Nicole Ritchie a cheeseburger with a doughnut chaser, and a nice tall glass of Gatorade. Or Coca-Cola Classic. D*mn girl, at 85-pounds, you might get swept away by a stiff breeze.
Folks, the Atlanta Thrashers are a good team. Not quite upper echelon, though they’ll have the chance to prove it Wednesday night, when the team with the NHL’s best-record visits Philips Arena, with a 23-3-6 (pending tonight’s action vs. Florida) record. Go Thrashers!
And finally, what I don’t know about basketball could fill a warehouse, okay? So, you’ll forgive these remarks. How could Iverson not improve this team? JEFF SCHULTZ, I AGREE with you. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Hawks made the playoff AHEAD of schedule? I think the Atlanta Spirit Group, LLC would like to earn some FREE MONEY with some postseason action. To date, the only playoff games ever playeed at Philips Arena pertained to Arena Football (Georgia Force). Wait, where do the Atlanta Xplosion play their games? I know Atlanta won the Super Bowl last year. So, do you love women’s professional football yet?
By Ron Roberts
December 12, 2006 11:05 PM | Link to this
Greg Knapp is PERFECT!!! for Stanford. They couldn’t get in the endzone all season, either.
By Doc Dawg
December 13, 2006 08:30 AM | Link to this
C’mon, a pretty pedestrian (sorry Mites) Tech team coulda woulda shoulda beat Notre Dame. It took a headset going on Gailey in the 4th quarter and a iffy at best officiating call for Tech to lose. Quinn looked lost for most of that game.
By Julia Wallace
December 13, 2006 02:08 PM | Link to this
Um, Jeff. It’s pleaded guilty. Pled is not a word. Thanks and don’t let it happen again.
By Doug
December 13, 2006 03:05 PM | Link to this
Yeah, I’m not all that afraid of CJ either, BigRx. I just enjoy reveling in the misery of Techies.