AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > March > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
(An online weekly stream of unconsciousness)
10: They’re building a “Hooters” in Tel Aviv. Oy.
9: You know, I have roots in Israel. Never did realize the “Promised Land” actually referred to a day of hope, when we could all orders wings from Bambi and stare at breastacles. Hey, look over there! There’s Abraham, Isaac and Jacob splitting a pitcher! Exodus. Stage left.
8: I’m Jewish but my wife is Catholic. Needless to say, I had to point out to her that Yeshiva won as many games in the NCAA tournament as Notre Dame. (Reminds me of a joke: A Bar Mitzvah is the day a boy realizes he can own a sports team, he just can’t play for one.)
7: (Transition) And speaking of sports teams: Kudos to Georgia State for the hiring of hoops coach Rod Barnes, formerly of Mississippi. Barnes has coached a team to the Sweet 16, and State has long had untapped potential to build a strong intown program. Lefty Dreisell realized some of that potential, but the administration wasn’t committed, in terms of dollars or facilities. It needs to be committed now.
6: I realize it’s not a scientific indicator of a conference’s strength. But I’m assuming the ACC isn’t going to brag about having only one school (North Carolina) in the Sweet 16, especially with the SEC getting three (Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt). And you KNOW conference officials and coaches would be gloating if they had three in.
5: Kentucky is not going to embrace Tubby Smith until he gets back to a Final Four, which may not happen any time soon. If I’m him, I resign to take the first good job that becomes available.
4: Instead of being upset with Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter for punching the Bengals’ Levi Jones, shouldn’t we celebrate the NFL player who didn’t bust up a bar, assault his spouse or get caught in a drug sting? Besides, it was a Bengal.
3: Nothing against Keith Tkachuk, whose acquisition gave the Thrashers a needed edge and a big body (an American body!) in front of the net on the power play. But Alexei Zhitnik has brought - and will continue to bring - more to the team than any other new player. He directs the power play, kills penalties, immediately became part of the first defense pairing (with Niclas Havelid, to the chagrin of plummeting Andy Sutton) and is averaging over 26 minutes per game in 10 games (two goals, 10 assists, seven points on the power play).
2: So if I understand this correctly, the Hawks only get to keep their first-round pick if they’re in the top three in the draft lottery. Otherwise, the pick goes to Phoenix as part of the Joe Johnson trade. Question: Anybody posting odds on them getting the fourth pick?
1: Would writing a prayer on a Hooters napkin for the Wailing Wall be deemed inappropriate?
Permalink | Comments (32) | Post your comment | Categories: Jeff Schultz
Comments
By Michael Scharff
March 20, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
Jeff, as Maude used to say, “God will get you for that…”
By Randy
March 20, 2007 12:20 PM | Link to this
Jeff, Not sure why the photo highlighted Shanghai’s Hooters without a reference to the Chinese location in your column, but I must say as a native Atlantan living here in Shanghai, I felt (almost) right at home as the artificially endowed Chinese Hooter’s girls gave us their best, “Hey, y’all.” And while we are on the subject: although most people don’t know it, Shanghai once had a large and distinguished Jewish population that greatly shaped its culture and growth.
By Me
March 20, 2007 12:23 PM | Link to this
Jeff - why did you intermarry? The future of the Jewish people is in the hands of those who choose to perpetuate us, not marry shiksas who have goyish kids.
By Skip
March 20, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this
Your columns are made for speed reading. Whenever you write one about the thrashers, or include an item about them in the countdown, I skip right over it.
By Lord Doom
March 20, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Jeff,
Why do you put up with such idiocy from your readers?
By The Mayor
March 20, 2007 1:16 PM | Link to this
Mr. Scharff, nice work on that one, especially given the ajc’s column on Maude Sunday.
Skip, looks like you’ll be doing a lot of speed reading in the coming weeks as the Thrashers head into the playoffs. I’m sure you’ll be more interested in keeping up with Chipper’s injuries and whoever blows a tar and hits the wall driving in circles.
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 1:17 PM | Link to this
Jeff, Please trash Patrick Kerney like you would Michael Vick, had the incident happened at Vick’s house. Please be consistent. Dont be a hypocritical biggot!
“I do hate myself, but it has nothing to do with being Jewish”. - Larry David
By GT Baby!!!
March 20, 2007 1:29 PM | Link to this
I do as well see the Hawks getting the fourth pick in the lottery but hey who needs luck?
By Jeff Schultz
March 20, 2007 2:32 PM | Link to this
Mr Adams, since you want to turn yet something else into a race issue, try to follow this: If this alleged rape had occurred in the home of Warrick Dunn (who, like Vick, is African American), everybody would have given Dunn the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because Warrick has a pristine reputation. He has never even had anybody in his entourage get in trouble, not that he even has an enourage. The same can’t be said for Mike. He has been involved in things and so have his friends and brother, Marcus. So it follows that in this case, yes you are correct, that Mike probably would not be given the benefit of the doubt by many, but understand that Warrick would. It’s not about skin color, at least not with me. Would the reaction in this case have been different if a rape had been alleged in the home of Lawrence Phillips as opposed to the home of Julius Erving. Do you follow? So when you ask me why I don’t reference Patrick Kerney and resort to name calling in the process, there’s why. Kerney hasn’t been connected to anything. Never has. That’s even before you get into the fact that the alleged victim IMMEDIATELY came out and said Kerney was NOT INVOLVED and that the entire circumstances of the cases are different. Now, I’m sure you’ll figure out some other way to come back at me and call me a bigot, racist or something else. But that’s as much as I can say on this subject. And, please, folks, let’s not have this be the start of another race-fueled blog-off. It’s such a nice day. Jeff
By Wedgie Evans
March 20, 2007 2:57 PM | Link to this
The Hawks also get the Pacers’ first-round pick, provided it’s not in the top 10.
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this
I said ‘don’t be a hypocritical biggot’. Last night, in your hockey column, I did call you one. I apologize. You, however, need to apologize for your rush to judgment on Michael Vick involving the water bottle. I don’t try to turn ‘everything’ into a race issue. I am a white Republican, and I HATE when the race card is used liberaly; but as a Falcon Season ticket holder and daily AJC reader, some things can’t be denied. You need to man-up and admit your mistake. I started following your columns since 1996. I still refer to the Dallas Cowboys as Pompei, which gives me weird looks, and my Favorite,Georgia Yech. I enjoy your writing, but the way you handled the Michael Vick incident was inexcusable.
By Matthew At The SLC
March 20, 2007 3:17 PM | Link to this
Leave Jeff alone. He caught his Elaine Benes. And Jeff, I’m with you on (Holy!) Zhitnik. The man is an anchor for this team. Tkachuk brings leadership and presence to the lockeroom. He is still awesome on the ice, but I guarantee you that in the lockeroom and at practice is where Tkachuk is truly most valuable to this team. Also, I think I must take a moment to declare, once again, on how the SEC gets screwed in NCAA seeding. Duke gets a 6th seed? The ACC (most overrated conference in all of basketball) gets 7 teams in? It’s like in football, where because of the Northeastern bias, the writers are all on the Big 11’s (learn how to count, idiots) jock, even though they never deserve it. Michigan and Ohio State are the two most overrated teams every year in college football, and being the only two decent teams in a terrible football conference (still waiting on Iowa and the “great” Kirk Ferentz to break through Stew Mandel), they are guaranteed 10 wins a year. It’s like the Big XII. Oklahoma didn’t deserve to play in 2 straight Mythical National Championship Games, and they were promptly blown out. It’s like Troy Smith. Pro scouts realize that he never beat any team of consequence, so they realize that his college career leaves something to be desired, even though all the idiot northeastern writers handed him the Heisman Trophy over McFadden and (it pains me to say it) and Calvin Johnson. McFadden deserved to win because he played against the best athletes in college football every week, and Johnson deserved it because he still managed to have a great year despite playing with the worst 4-year starter in the history of NCAA football at QB.
As long as ESPN is around, the ACC will continue to be overrated when it comes to basketball and the Big 11 will continue to be overrated when it comes to football. And the SEC gets screwed no matter what.
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 3:25 PM | Link to this
One more thing. Enough of the ‘Do you follow”s. Im neither blind, illiterate,a Democrat or retarded. I understood your point. My point is, whether you agree with what happened or not, Michael Vick had NO charges filed against him, yet you love to pepper your articles with references to Dade Countie’s police work (March 13) and ‘particulates’ in water bottles. Let it go and apologize.
“Judy-ism….Judy-ism, where are you Judy-ism”? - Larry David
By Matthew At The SLC
March 20, 2007 3:34 PM | Link to this
James, I’m one to give benefits of the doubt. And while Jeff maybe did jump the gun (Cut Vick? Were you drunk, Jeff?) in his column, you have to admit, much like with Barry Bonds and steriods, all appearances point to this issue with Vick having more to it than it seems, or was reported by the authorities. Bonds is guilty. I’m sorry, but he is. A person who has a modicum of perspective can see that. Any realist can see that. It’s only the naive, the ignorant, the Pollyanna’s, and the people who are just kidding themselves (most of whom live in SanFran) that refuse to believe that Bonds never did steriods. Any doctor worth his salt can look at Bonds, look at pictures of Bonds from his days with Pirates and his first couple of years with Giants up to 1999 - 2000, and then pictures after that and tell you that Bonds definately used HGH and anabolic steriods (both illegal to use without a valid perscription in the U.S., so don’t tell me they weren’t “illegal” in baseball, last I checked, when something is illegal in the U.S. it’s a crime). So Bonds is not only a cheater, he’s a criminal. That brings me to Vick whom, once again, I am a big fan of, but who has made some bad choices in his life. He surrounds himself with hangers-on from back home to “keep it real.” And when guys are “keeping it real,” it’s usually not a good thing, considering Mike came from one of the most poor and criminaly active areas of Virginia. Does Mike smoke pot? It wouldn’t surprise me. Do about 60% of the student population at UGA? Yeah. Did I drink regularly under the age of 21? Every night, just about. People do dumb things like that all the time. What worries me about Vick is that if he is doing this, he should know better. He’s too old to continue to live that kind of college lifestyle. If he enjoyed it so much, he shouldn’t have left so early. He has responsibilities that should not allow him to “keep it real” with the guys he knew from back home. I think Little Jimmy Mora and Artie Blank’s coddling attitude towards Vick contributes to Vick’s obvious bad decisions. But is he a bad guy? No. Is Jeff a bad guy for jumping the gun? No. Things happen. Let it go, dude. But if you seriously think that Vick wasn’t the beneficiary of Jock Justice in Miami, then James Adams, I have a particular property in Brooklyn I want to sell to you. Yeah. You know the one.
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 3:49 PM | Link to this
Ill take it. I agree with most of what you say. MY point is, most, all if Im not mistaken, of what Vick has done has been just bad decisions, nothing criminal. Vick HAS been oddled too much, I agree. I can’t speak of who he hangs out with, Ive never met them. His brother does seem to be a scumbag, but Vick is not his brother’s keeper. I’ve smoked pot, Ive driven drunk, so I can’t be a hypocrit and speak on things like that. It is humorous to me though, Vick gives a woman herpes and hes slandered and made fun of. Tom Brady fathers a bastard child, dumps the girl after he finds out shes pregnant, aand barely a whisper about his ‘character’. Remember John Elways little foray into the world of cocaine? It wasnt given NEARLY as much press as Vick’s water bottle/Ron Mexico fiasco. I just want consistency. Ive got five bucks for the bridge….wheres my deed?
By Apology
March 20, 2007 4:08 PM | Link to this
Jeff S. ususally was pretty funny but since the Vick thing, it is hard to get pass for many, the suspect double standard. He is actually experiencing what Vick has, people taking little things and piling on. Thus, every word he writes will be scrutinized to no end. I think its at a point where the blogs are now being censored which is wild coming from the press. Jeff I am sure does not like being portrayed as something he is not, thats why they say let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Jeff threw that stone, and thus opened himself up to analysis. Irony, huh?
By Matthew At The SLC
March 20, 2007 4:17 PM | Link to this
It’s in the mail. But I do agree on the Brady thing. Then again, we know for a fact that Brady got the chick pregnant. We don’t know about the herpes, which is still just an allegtion. I’m more inclined to believe that Vick smoked pot than I am ready to believe that one. Much like with Kobe Bryant in Colorado, all it takes is a spurned woman to put a filthy lie like that out there. But the bottle thing, yeah, I’m inclined to use my common sense on that one. The world does work differently for people with darker skin pigmentation (and women). Brady isn’t going to be raked over the coals. It sucks, but there it is. Then again, if Vick has a couple of Super Bowls under his belt, I don’t think the bottle thing gets a lot of play, either. So, if you’re successful and popular (like Elway), no matter what your skin color is, the media and public are going to forgive and or ignore your transgressions. See: Bill Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, Jack Nicholson, John Daly, Ray Lewis, etc. It is what it is. This is the society we have created.
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 4:24 PM | Link to this
BTW, that Bar Mitzvah comment was pretty good. As a Baptist, Ive been to a couple, and man were they fun. All we do is drink grape juice and have casseroles after service. Thanks for the convo Matt.
By Cairo
March 20, 2007 4:27 PM | Link to this
Jeff,
That was a lame a$$ excuse. You still have not apologized for being wrong. Who knows what PK has done. He is not held under a microscope like MV. He does not sell like MV. He is NOT a ligthing rod like MV. Your spin on if it was WD is dumb and numbing to those with half the intellect of my 3 year old. So if this was Danny Heatley’s house, what would you said???
By Matthew At The SLC
March 20, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Cairo, give it up.
No problem, James. See, people with divergent thought can have conversations on blogs without devolving into a Sanders - Rison Slapfest.
Now, if we can just get the Idiot Redneck Faction on board, we might have something going.
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 5:49 PM | Link to this
Again, Jeff, I apologize for name calling. I just get defensive when it comes to Vick. Ive been through so many Jeff George-Scott Campbell-Dave Archer-….I need to stop. I just dont want to run such a talented guy off.
By Brendan
March 20, 2007 6:27 PM | Link to this
Zhitnik won the poll on Craig Custance’s Thrashers blog about which of Don Waddell’s trades has been the most impactful. Allright, the question actually was, “If you could only make one (1) of the four trades he did, which one would it be.”
Zhitnik for Coburn was the overwhelming favorite.
By DrH
March 20, 2007 6:32 PM | Link to this
Did Mr. Schultz actually write a column today? Or does he just post his byline and wait on the Vick threads to begin?
Half of me thinks Mr. Schultz would give anything to take back that one Vick column…the other half thinks this is the Howard Stern approach (the radio guy, not Anna Nicole’s lawyer) and we’re all falling for it - i.e. keep ‘em tuning in by seeing how controversial you can be…???
The Vick crap is getting old though. Both Matthew and James have valid viewpoints, half of us share them, half of us don’t, that’s the way it is and will forever be, and Schultz will never “apologize” for anything because he’s made it clear where he stands. Repeatedly. Next?
By James Adams
March 20, 2007 6:37 PM | Link to this
Dr.H..I keep having this dream about an antelope and my Third Grade teacher…whats up with that?
By DrH
March 20, 2007 6:43 PM | Link to this
Jim, you might want to cut back on the Aquafina, especially before bedtime.
By Lord Doom
March 20, 2007 7:14 PM | Link to this
Jeff,
What’s wrong with Isaac, Jacob, and Abraham looking at a nice pair of t**?
By Brian
March 20, 2007 7:20 PM | Link to this
Hey Jeff, Notre Dame might have lost but Xavier won, Georgetown is still winning, and Niagara even won the play-in game.
P.S. - Zhitnik
By Skip
March 20, 2007 8:18 PM | Link to this
Dang straight Madame Mayor.
By Deep Thoughts
March 20, 2007 11:18 PM | Link to this
Lord Doom should be renamed Lord Dooma$$.
Terrence Mo’ likes men.
By Mr. Food
March 21, 2007 10:46 AM | Link to this
I find it INDESCRIBABLY delicious that the pathetic jock sniffers who worship at Vick’s throne are the very people who are keeping the “water bottle” controversy alive.
BTW, have any of these people ever explained why Vick needed a “trick” water bottle in the first place?
P.S. Cairo, if you can’t comprehend the Warrick Dunn example that Mr. Schultz used, then I truly pity your child for having such a dense parent.
Ta-ta!
By Michael
March 21, 2007 1:14 PM | Link to this
Jeff, I hope you now realize that you only empowered these idiots by responding to them.
By James Adams
March 21, 2007 1:46 PM | Link to this
Michael, quit sucking up to the sportswriter. Moron.
Mr.Food, I would respond to your insult, but anyone who uses the words ‘indescribably delicious’ in a sports blog…well, you just have to respect that.