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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Predictions: Falcons not worth watching anyway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
After weeks of negotiations with various humanitarian organizations, the Falcons on Thursday were given clearance to hold televised public stonings at halftime of their remaining games in the Georgia Dome as an attempt to increase attendance, so long as the first and second halves of games remained blacked out.
The team won’t disclose highlights of Sunday’s halftime festivities. But given the nostalgic feelings created by a 1-6 start, it likely will keep targets within the family. On a related note, Jeff George said this week he would like to return to football.
On Sunday, the day of rest, the Falcons snooze with San Francisco. Two teams with a combined record of 3-11 somehow could not persuade residents to purchase the final 3,000 tickets, even with the lure of free water.
The game is blacked out, and that would be the good news. Team officials delayed the announcement for as long as possible Thursday, apparently forgetting that as marketing problems go, 3,000 unsold tickets isn’t nearly as big as 20,000 unused tickets being swapped for maybe a sandwich outside the gates.
In the first in a series of distractions to avoid discussing football matters over the next nine weeks, officials revealed the Georgia Dome will be given a new color scheme. Bobby Petrino declined to comment on the painting plans, other than to say Rich McKay will be given a tarp and a roll of masking tape, but not the roller.
Which leads me to … You know what? I can’t do this. Falcons-49ers: It’s just too big. So first …
To the second-biggest game of the week! Indianapolis and New England play for possible home-field advantage in the AFC title game and the eventual right to dismember anybody from the NFC. The Colts are the defending Super Bowl champions. And undefeated. And at home. And five-point dogs.
OK, I get the whole New England is Godzilla thing. Tom Brady has 30 touchdowns. Bill Belichick has no soul. A perfect coach-quarterback marriage. But the other team ain’t bad and certainly has a better defense. Going against the grain here (again). Take the 5. And Colts in an upset.
Back To School
(Buy any two picks and win a copy of the “Halloween XII: South Bend.” In the most implausible sequel yet, Notre Dame starts 1-7 and hopes to avoid being beat up some more by Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford. Double your laughter: Come early and see highlights of Prairie View starting 5-2.)
Troy at Georgia: The Bulldogs sandwiched “Homecoming” against Troy between Florida and Auburn, which caused one Troy player, Marcus Richardson, to say this week he felt “disrespected,” momentarily forgetting he played for Troy. The good news for Richardson is Georgia scheduled Vanderbilt for “Homecoming” last year and, well, that didn’t turn out so good. So there’s hope. Or not. Dogs cover 16 1/2.
Saban Bowl: Nick-o-cchio faces LSU for the first time since returning to the SEC with a different blinded fan base. Accordingly, 6,000 Tigers fans making the trip to Tuscaloosa will be frisked at the border for weapons. Expect them to pick up rocks on the other side, which is fine because, like, they’ll blend. LSU covers 7.
Vanderbilt at Florida: The Gators are coming off a loss to Georgia. I think I may have typed that sentence once before, but it was in a prior life. Florida actually has lost three out of four since beating Mississippi by, well, only six. Guess somebody rerouted the parade. They’ll win, but they ain’t covering 15 1/2.
Pigs and Poultry: Speaking of faceplants, Steve Spurrier has gone from potential SEC title game to potential Shreveport. Blake Mitchell starts at QB again by default. Spurrier: “He’s looked about the same for three years.” Inspiring. Arkansas covers 41/2.
FSU at Boston College: B.C. officials were hoping the Red Sox parade would be routed through Chestnut Hill, just to get some foot traffic. Eagles over Noles, cover 6 1/2.
Pros, Cons
49ers at Falcons: Free psych evaluations to the first 10,000 fans. Yes, and your rabbit friend, Harvey, too. The teams invite all to picnic in either end zone. You’re safe there. Birds win, 9-3.
Jaguars at Saints: Grady Jackson was having a hard time finding his way around Jacksonville. So the coaching staff left a trail of cheeseburgers. (Thank you. Tip your waitress.) Saints cover 3.
Cowboys at Eagles: Dallas just gave Tony Romo, who has never won a playoff game, a six-year, $67.5 million contract. Methinks somebody tugged a little too hard during Jerry Jones’ last facelift. Upset watch: Take the gift three and Eagles straight up.
Packers at Chiefs: Brett Favre must be back on Vicodin because there’s no other explanation for the Packers being 6-1 behind that offensive line. Market correction: Chiefs over Cheese (and 2 is covered).
Broncos at Lions: Jon Kitna was criticized for dressing up as a naked man for Halloween, mimicking assistant coach Joe Cullen, who misinterpreted the whole Value Menu thing and once drove naked through Wendy’s. But Kitna figured it was a more believable costume than his first choice, which was to dress up as a starting quarterback. Take Broncos (and 3) in a road upset.
TOTEBOARD
Last week: 6-4 straight up, 4-6 against the line.
Bottom line: 56-36 straight up, 41-46-5 against the line.
Comeback: Just around the bend.
Permalink | Comments (61) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Hawks future looks bright
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Michael Gearon Jr. has a new agenda. After four years of talking up the Hawks when nobody else was talking about them at all, he’s trying to temper expectations. He won’t predict a playoff spot. Over lunch at his favored Blue Ridge Grill, he barely mentions the P-word at all. Instead he says this:
“I have high hopes but realistic expectations. We have a phenomenal nucleus that’s complementary to each other. We have very high hopes, but realistically we’re still in the early stages.”
A lifelong Atlantan, Gearon remembers well what happened the one and only time the Hawks promised they’d make the playoffs. They didn’t come close, and the man who issued the guarantee — coach Lon Kruger — got fired the day after Christmas.
Gearon and the other members of Atlanta Spirit made their bid to buy the team a year later, and ever since the investors have had little but grief in the way of a return.
That is, however, subject to immediate change. The Hawks look pretty good. (We’ll say it again for emphasis, more slowly this time: The … Hawks … look … pretty … good.) They have a chance to reach the postseason for the first time since 1999. Given the wobbly state of the Atlanta sports scene, they have a chance to become the city’s team of choice for the first time since the late ’80s.
Please understand: A chance isn’t the same as an assurance. Gearon again: “I don’t like guarantees. What I will say is that I’ll be disappointed if I don’t see us getting better. Our goal is to be one of the most competitive teams in the East over the next five to seven years.”
Given that the Hawks have scarcely registered on the NBA scene for the better part of the last decade, this would constitute a brassy upgrade, but not an entirely fanciful one. Few clubs have collected as many good young players, and even if Billy Knight hasn’t always drafted the absolute right man at the absolute right moment, he has built a roster of handsome pieces. At issue now: Can this assembled talent evolve into an actual team?
“If we can’t turn talent into a team,” Gearon says, “we have a problem.”
That’s why the June draft seemed to stand as a line of demarcation. Rather than simply picking more wings, Knight took gifted players who, wonder of wonders, fill the positions at which the Hawks have long been deficient. Al Horford is a power forward who can play center. (Of Horford, teammate Josh Smith says: “He’s a rebounding machine.”) Acie Law IV has taken to point guard even more quickly than the Hawks had hoped. Look for one if not both to be starting by New Year’s.
But don’t be shocked if the season’s first impression seems to augur more of the same. The Hawks’ first five games are against Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey, Phoenix and Boston. “A brutal first two weeks,” Gearon calls it, and that’s one of the reasons he’s careful not to oversell his product. No sense setting everyone up to be let down.
He prefers the longer view. What Gearon calls “the core of the team — Joe [Johnson], Marvin [Williams], the two Joshes [Smith and Childress] and Al and Acie — are an average of 22 years old.”
There’s finally enough skill at all five positions to believe this franchise’s misery is coming to its end. There’s also this: Luck, never to be underestimated, seems to have turned. The Hawks could have wound up without a first-round pick in June, but the lottery handed them two choices among the first 11. And it didn’t, significantly, afford them the No. 1 pick overall. If it had, they’d have done as Portland did: They’d have drafted Greg Oden, who’ll miss the season due to knee surgery.
“And what would people be saying then?” Gearon says, laughing. ” ‘The Hawks are under a black cloud.’ “
The gloom appears to have lifted. Here come the new Hawks, and here, wonder of wonders, comes the sun.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Mark Bradley
NBA questions and answers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Audience participation time. I ask the questions. Feel free to answer any or all.
1.How many games will the Hawks win?
2.Will they make the playoffs?
3.Will either Al Horford or Acie Law IV be starting by season’s end?
4.Will Kobe Bryant get traded?
5.Will the Celtics win the East? If not, who will?
6.Will the Mavericks win the West?
7.If the Hawks get off to a bad start, will Mike Woodson be fired?
8.Who’ll play more minutes this season — Greg Oden or Speedy Claxton?
And now, because I’m generous that way, here are my answers, at least one of which might turn out to be correct.
1.and 2.They’ll go 46-36, which will earn them the East’s sixth seed.
3.Law will start before Horford, but both will be starting by January.
4.No. He’ll stay with the Lakers and lead the league in scoring and whining. He couldn’t play with Shaq, and now he realizes he can’t win without him. Fitting, no?
5.No. Too many egos, not enough championship know-how. I like the Bulls, who are much younger and much more cohesive.
6.Yes. Because it’s simply too boring to pick San Antonio again.
7.No, because ownership realizes the schedule is front-loaded — it will be no shock if the Hawks don’t lose a lot early — and that nothing would be gained by dumping Woodson after a month having gone this long with him already. Put another way, ownership views Woodson differently than it did Bob Hartley.
8.A tough one, given that Oden won’t play any at all. So I’ll go with Speedy, who should have two or three quarters in him before he hurts himself again.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Quick Hit
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