Sports Columnists

By mo

February 13, 2007 11:31 AM | Link to this

Jeff,

First up, I agree and see no difference in Liberty Media and Time Warner. There will be no accountability and I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut payroll and sell the team after 2-3 years. All in all, the 90s are gone. The Braves are now merely an asset on a spreadsheet somewhere, and some CFO is secretly running the team.

Next, Marty Schottenheimer should have been fired in January. Wait. I’m sorry, he was too busy trying to win a playoff game.

14-2 record and get FIRED?! (I wish the Falcons were 14-2.)

Anyway it goes, Marty will be coaching very soon.

Next,

By John

February 13, 2007 12:59 PM | Link to this

Tech goes to the Tourney. We know Duke won’t last long, so it’s not like we’ll have to watch them again and again.

By Myopia

February 13, 2007 01:11 PM | Link to this

Could’ve been worse. Arthur Blank could have bought them and made someone a manager killer.

By Brian

February 13, 2007 01:14 PM | Link to this

Tech makes it. Easy.

GO JACKETS!

By Braves20

February 13, 2007 01:21 PM | Link to this

Tech and Duke both make it. Duke goes further than Tech - what’s new? The Chargers are a class-less organization. If they were going to ax Marty do it at season’s end when two or three teams would have scooped him up - not after every spot has been filled

By Rawhide

February 13, 2007 01:43 PM | Link to this

Is it too late to fire Paterno and hire Shotteneimer???

By Rawhide

February 13, 2007 01:44 PM | Link to this

Errr,…ah,…I mean “Petrino”…

By David

February 13, 2007 02:51 PM | Link to this

Liberty Media has to hold the Braves for 5 years to get the tax benefit out of this deal? So, they will hold on for 5 years. By that time JS, BC, and Chipper, Andruw, Smoltz, maybe Francie will all be gone and be replaced by who? Bargain basement players. Don’t see how this means anything but the start of a long slow trek to the bottom of the division.

By DrH

February 13, 2007 02:53 PM | Link to this

Darn Schultz, just when I’m ready to write you off as irrelevant forever, and stop reading your stuff, you throw out a jewel like the Grammy summation…

Beautiful commentary!

By Ron Roberts

February 13, 2007 03:13 PM | Link to this

We’ve had six years of Dixie-Chick bashing, thankyouverymuch. And uh, they were right. As were the French.

By GT80

February 13, 2007 03:35 PM | Link to this

I just hope I still get my free tickets for Braves games. Who cares who really owns the team.

And do we really have to ask if Tech people would rather see us in the tourney or Duke? But Duke will make it even if Tech has a better record and beats them twice (or 3 times with a win in the ACC tourney) because the NCAA doesn’t want to hear Coach K whining about how they really should have been in.

By braves fan

February 13, 2007 03:42 PM | Link to this

Methinks Jeff Schultz should stick to what he does best and leave the music comments to himself. Sadly though, sports are not his fortay either, so where does that leave us?

Hmmmm, let me take a crack at a Grammy summary. Let’s look at the tale of the tape (as my friend Nick Bakay would say) since the London comments of Natalie Maines.

Bush: still losing war in Iraq, lied about the justification for the war, lost control of Congress, has members of his administration on trial for perjury, and has approval ratings as bad as the only president to resign.

Dixie Chicks: made a movie, sold 20 million records and won 5 Grammy’s despite not having any radio play to speak of.

Sounds like an a s s whippin to me. Too much Dixie Chicks on the Grammys? I don’t think so. 3 hours of vindication vs. 4 years of being vilified by uninformed rednecks. Still not enough.

By TheSouthernJackAss

February 13, 2007 03:47 PM | Link to this

Schultz—glad to hear that you finally came out of the closet!…

By ron mexico

February 13, 2007 03:51 PM | Link to this

I see no diff. between the two owners. Both are driven by the bottom line, and the bottom line has nothing to do with winning baseball games.

Any word on whether McGuirk is part of deal?

By Ronny

February 13, 2007 04:08 PM | Link to this

First, I’m afraid there are dark clouds on the horizon for the Braves. I hope I’m wrong. But a transaction involving stocks and tax advantages for the new owner stinks. And Liberty is not known for its generosity. Second, as a Chargers fan, I’m dissapointed for Marty. But why couldn’t two grown men sit down and try to iron out their differences? And there’s no way the Chargers should have lost to the Patriots on the Charger’s turf. Too much talent. But they’re not the first team to be embarrassed by the Patriots. So now what? There are reports that GM A.J. Smith is a “close” friend of Jimmy Johnson. And the Spanos family is loaded— in the Arthur Blank category, if not higher. So maybe they could throw tons of money at Jimmy and get him there. After all, San Diego is not a bad place to be.

By Sir Stealth

February 13, 2007 04:11 PM | Link to this

You almost have to admire the irrationality of people like GT80. Duke’s record is 2 full games better than Tech’s with 5 to go. Duke’s strength of schedule is rated number 4, and they have a relatively large number of marquis wins. Georgia Tech’s strength of schedule is 55, and their marquis wins are against Memphis and….Duke.

But of course if someone is better than you, it has to be the result of some conspiracy theory. This is the mentality of losers. If you adopt this mentality without thinking rationally, then you are a loser.

By Drexel Gal

February 13, 2007 04:49 PM | Link to this

Please, San Diego Chargers, CALL CHAN!!!

By Todd

February 13, 2007 04:56 PM | Link to this

Just keep your fingers crossed that Liberty doesn’t hold onto the Braves any longer than a year. If someone like Blank or Terwilliger could swoop in and buy the Braves soon (in the next year, we can almost expect to lose Andruw, Chipper and Smoltz!), the franchise might be saved. If Liberty has anyone with brains working on this deal, they’ll know to act fast while the team still has some value. If they hold onto the team long enough for those 3 players to move to other teams, the value of the Braves to another buyer plummets (if we lose Andruw, Chipper and Smoltz, we’re basically the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL East). If they sell the team before losing those guys, they’ll obviously be able to sell at a higher price, but it puts the responsibility of re-signing those guys in the hands of the new owner.

By Dr.Doom

February 13, 2007 05:01 PM | Link to this

At least the Chargers aren’t stuck with an incapable thug at quarterback like Atlanta is.

By Matthew at the SLC

February 13, 2007 05:09 PM | Link to this

Uh, Ron Roberts, the French were right?

You do realize that in the first month in Iraq, our troops, specifically the 3rd Marine Division, found warehouses full of BRAND SPANKIN NEW French and German munitions. Bombs. Grenades. Mortars. Rounds. Weapons Systems. Yeah, the French and the Germans were right about everything, and the fact that they were illegally dealing with Saddam’s government had NOTHING to do with their opposition to us moving against Iraq.

Ron Roberts, you need to get a freaking clue. Nothing is as simple as 1) the media makes it out to be and 2) our government makes it out to be. Why do you think, the media didn’t report more about the French and German munitions found in Iraq or the whole Iraq Oil for Food Scandal which should have rocked Kofi Annan and the UN back to the stone age? Maybe because it doesn’t help their position and personal ideology. Just maybe.

The Dixie Chicks, well hey, they’re welcome to their own opinions, but it was cowardly to say what the said to a foreign audience. Say that here, in America, to an American Audience. Bill Mahr has shown you can have a very good career making fun of Bush and his Administration. But here’s the thing… who the hell cares what the Dixie Chicks think? Why does their fame give them a bigger voice than the rest of us, or make their opinions more vallad? Are any of those women educated in any way? Do they have any real ideas to back up what they say, or are they just 3 a-holes with an opinion?

The French were right, WTF. Dude, hate on Bush all you want, but when you start backing the French, then it is time for you to start kicking your own a—, nancy boy. Hey did you hear, Jaques Chirac watched WALKER TEXAS RANGER once, and decided to surrender to Chuck Norris just to be on the safe side? Did you know, Ron Roberts, that in the French language, they have over 100 different ways to say, “I SURRENDER!”

Oh yeah, Liberty Media buying the Braves is just another symptom of just how badly MLB is a broken sport. There is a reason that in the NFL conglomerates are not allowed to buy NFL teams. You can blame this squarely at the feet of the ignoble fool, the puppet behind the power, the Supreme Idiot of Idiots, The Used Car Salesmen, the man who has ruined baseball forever… Bud Selig. Bud Selig, if he were competant in any way, would have innacted rules to make sure this kind of thing could never have happened, and that corportate ownership would end forever. You can also blame Ted Turner for selling out. Yes, sold out, not just sold. That man is such a flaming hypocrite it’s not funny. Isn’t it a little strange to be such a capitalist as well as such a raging Marxist? But I digress. He didn’t have to package the Braves, Hawks, and Thrashers with his deal with Time Warner. He could have sold them to local people. He could have kept them. But he sold out. Liberty Media is going to make AOL/Time Warner look like that awesome owner that the Angels have. This is going to get much, much worse before it gets any better. And it only gets better when Liberty is able to sell the Braves after their no-sell period is over.

By Not-A-Blogger

February 13, 2007 05:19 PM | Link to this

Right, Matthew.

And in our rush to Baghdad, we marched right by those munitions dumps. Now those weapons are killing American boys every day.

Brilliant.

By Brandon Ford

February 13, 2007 05:20 PM | Link to this

Excellent summation of the Grammy’s - or was it the political statement music spectacular?….btw - CA can sing!

By Skydawg

February 13, 2007 06:11 PM | Link to this

I second what Matthew said..whole-heartedly!! Very well put. It amazes me how these idiots don’t look at facts as opposed to being brainwashed by the mainstream liberal sissy-a* media. Where were all these jagoffs when Clinton was bombing Iraq and pill factories in the Sudan or how about Kosovo. Anything to fit an agenda other than what’s best for this country and our children. IDIOTS!!!!!

By Matthew at the SLC

February 13, 2007 06:11 PM | Link to this

No, we secured them. We found them after we entered Baghdad.

Dude, like Ron Roberts, I suggest you find this clue you both are missing.

By sgfgdgfd

February 13, 2007 06:32 PM | Link to this

It seems we forget how the U.S. used to sell weapons to the Iraqi’s. I’m sure those same weapons were never used against us in the first gulf war…

Heck, I’m sure they aren’t a few that are still around being used against us today…

By Matthew at the SLC

February 13, 2007 09:01 PM | Link to this

Y’all are missing the point… I don’t care what y’all’s opinions are… all ideologies are for sheep anyway. Don’t care if you love Bush or hate him. Don’t care if you’re gay, straight, or kidding yourself. Don’t care if you like red, blue, or green. Don’t care if you like babies or want to kill em all. That’s not what I was talking about. This is not meant to be a referrendum on the War, or even the Dixie Chicks being a bunch of cowards in saying what they said to a foreign audience in a time of war. This is about one man sticking up for France, for God’s sake! FRANCE!

Anyone who wants to side with France on ANYTHING needs to get booted out of the Good Ole U S of A, and have it done ASAFP. And they also need to have their man cards revoked. I think that is a Miller Lite Man Law.

By Matthew at the SLC

February 13, 2007 09:22 PM | Link to this

Besides… y’all need to get a sense of humor. Did no one notice the “Chuck Norris Law” I added to my post? Tongue in cheek, boys. Tongue in cheek. Accept for the Frenchie love. Being anti-French is the only true allowable prejudice left, right? Well, that goes for us normal people. If you read a Falcons Blog, you find that many, many people still think certain forms of prejudice are still socially acceptable. Then again, those same people look at the calender and see April 1861, no matter what month or what year it is. So you know, grain of salt and all that.

But the Frenchies, yeah, we can still hate on them.

By Najeh Davenpoop

February 13, 2007 10:50 PM | Link to this

Schottenheimer was fired because he couldn’t get along with the general manager, not because he was a bad coach.

Since when did this become a politics blog anyway?

By Ron Roberts

February 13, 2007 11:40 PM | Link to this

Matthew,

First, get your facts straight. Did I say the French or Germans were or weren’t dealing with Saddam, under the table? Uh, no. Hell, truth be told, there had to be some AMERICAN iteams in military storage in Iraq, too, or do you so easily forget that we once were ALLIES with Saddam before we were his sworn enemy?

What the French were (and frankly, the international community, in general) was that our leadership overspoke when it came to Iraq being an imminent threat to our security. There were not, weren’t even close, and did not possess nuclear weaponry.

To say otherwise would be a slap in the face to our men and women who served over the Iraqi no-fly zone for nearly a decade, for the military who oversaw Iraq between wars to make sure there was no nuclear program in Iraq, and of course, to ignore what the international monitoring agency and fleeing Iraqi atomic officials were saying all along.

Iraq had no nuclear program to speak of, because the post-1991 sanctions were working and our military was doing its job, keeping a close eye on Saddam all this time.

So yeah, in that regard, the French were right.

Do you, for once, think what the freaking Dixie Chicks said, no matter where it was said, wasn’t going to get back to U.S. ears? Do you think, for one moment, they thought so, either? Cowardly? Did they come home and back down from it? Back away from the statements? Apologize and kiss right-wing a** after the fallout?

No. They took their lumps, stood their ground, and, in the end, wound up being correct.

And if nobody cares what they said, then what was up w/all the boycotting by people who apparently did care? Funny how simple-minded folks can dismiss what somebody says when they disagree with them, but applaud ‘em whole-heartedly when they feel the same way. But sure, nobody cared. Nobody cared so much that country radio stations across the country had to stop playing their music. Right.

It amazes me there are still 34% (give or take) in this country who still swill the kool-aid coming from the White House. Amazing. Sign your kids up for the surge.

By the way… we’d be paying taxes to the British were it not for the French; I realize this is ancient history, but facts are still facts.

By br

February 14, 2007 09:01 AM | Link to this

Since when do the Chicks with Dix have anything to do with sports? Please Mr Schultz, stick to sports, don’t involve music or politics!

By Papa

February 14, 2007 10:47 AM | Link to this

Tech in; loses in Rnd. 2 to Final Four team. And who cares about @ pro football, Grammy stuff, corporate whoody-who? Bring on March Madness, Augusta National, Indy and the Derby.

By DKM

February 14, 2007 11:14 AM | Link to this

Ron, how many cruise ships or airliners have been highjacked since President Bush initiated his war on terror? How many American civilians have been killed by these criminals since our twice-elected President stood up and was counted despite the political fall-out. The answer is none. He told us very clearly that it would be a long and difficult struggle. His diplomatic triumph in North Korea yesterday is another example of his vision for making the world a safer place versus the general assembly of the united nations’ view. His leadership in holding the line on the Iranian nuclear build up is working as finally others and yes, including the disfunctional French, are finally following his lead and the Iranian mullahs are telling their idiot leader to back down. We are experiencing the strongest economy in decades and our deficit will be non-existent in a few years if the Democrats don’t mess with it too much. Plus anyone who wants to work can get a job. Finally, how many cruise ships, military installations, diplomatic missions, airliners, and citizens were highjacked, bombed, attacked, or killed in eight years of the previous administration? The answer is many. There was a total lack of vision and strength to the point of cowardice! Leadership is making the tough decisions no matter the political consequences. One last question, Mr. Clinton what was your plan for Kosovo and when are our troops coming home? It is said that a president’s performance cannot be judged until 30 years have passed. I believe that we are viewing a turning point in history and our President will be viewed as a rare leader who made a real difference and be ranked with the likes of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, and Reagan! His perception issues may be because he is being compared to weak, do-nothing presidents like Carter and Clinton.

By DKM

February 14, 2007 11:28 AM | Link to this

Duke out! Tech will win the ACC next year and be at least a top eight team in the NCAAs when Clinch comes back! Dixie Chicks not relevant as they have lost their audience(many venues cancelled or cut back on latest tour). Braves can compete with their farm system if they get a younger manager and allow Bobby to retire or consult with team or run the farm system. Current management living on past success. Hire Marlins ex manager and watch this team win!

By GaTech faithful

February 14, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this

Sir Stealth…even if duke has more wins (overall), GaTech and Duke now share the SAME conference record after last nights win over FSU. So if GaTech beats duke sunday you can pretty much kiss their chances of making the big dance unless they make an ACC tourney run. I love the 4-game winning streak…lets ride it thru cammeron indoor! if we can get 3 of last 5 we and get at least 1 in the ACC tourney i believe we get in! if we do 4 out of 5 we are for sure in! Go Jackets! Bring on the madness baby!!

By Ron Roberts

February 14, 2007 12:38 PM | Link to this

DKM…. you’re kidding, right?

Ask the folks in London and Madrid how many folks have died since we invaded Iraq.

And how many cruise ships and airliners were attacked the five years prior to invading Iraq, too?

That right-wing talking point is as irrelevant as can be.

That’s an almost slick way of avoiding the facts: we invaded a soveriegn nation and upended it, without just cause, without nary a plan for long-term occupation, and apparenlty without an exit strategy, either.

Heck, I’d be amazed if, in thirty years, Iraq has any semblance of progress for Bush to be judged on. Instead, over 3200 American lives have been lost because we all wrapped the flag around us and proclaimed we had to invade Iraq for our national security. Truth was, we lost 3200 American lives because a powerful poltiical family just had it out for a guy they used to be allies with.

That’s leadership, alright.

By br

February 14, 2007 01:55 PM | Link to this

Ron Roberts,

Enough already! Remember, this is a SPORTS blog, I think we all know YOUR stance on political issues. Just because someone else sees it differently doesn’t mean you have to attack them. You ever hear of the phrase “opinions are like @$$holes, everyone has one?”

By Ron Roberts

February 14, 2007 02:49 PM | Link to this

Uh, br, it goes both ways… so if you wanna launch anti-political attacks, how about trying to aim in both directions?

By Matthew at the SLC

February 14, 2007 03:41 PM | Link to this

Ron Roberts,

That was what I was TRYING to do, but like most on the far flungs of political ideology (your’s happens to be on the left) you missed the point because you have no sense of humor when it comes to political thought. And as a history major, I know all about the French in the Revolution. And Mr. Roberts, I also know, as you should, that we have more than repaid them, in fact, they owe US, but we’ve never collected. As far as Madrid and London, as another reader has pointed out, we’ve had no attacks here, because of the PATRIOT Act and things of that nature. But you’d never hear anyone opposed to the Act to admit to it. In places like London and Madrid, they have no such provisions, and no strong will to battle terrorism (especially in Madrid, where they’ve capitulated to terroristic demands).

Anyway, man, like I said, it’s time to get a clue. Buy one if you can, or just perk up your common sense. If you do, a clue is bound to find you sooner or later. It is possible to disagree with the President, which I do on many issues (like keeping Rumsfeld around WAY too long), but to also see that good has been done. Like Dennis Miller said on Leno, “The only thing I judge Bush on is how many attacks we’ve had on our soil in thr 2010 days since 11 September 2001.”

So dude, why don’t you leave your sheeptastic political ideology at home (and that goes too, for any liberal, conservative, socialist, or fascist sports fan (or writer) out there) and stick to sports, okay?

And yes, for continuing to stand up for France, I hereby, as a man, revoke your Man Card, and all privledges and rights granted therein. You’ve been disenfranchised as a man, Ron Roberts. You can earn your way back, but to do so would be to renounce love of all things France and Dixie Chicks.

Man Law!