Sports Daily: Lay off the grass, man

Get this, you guys: The Braves won last night.

They hit a couple homers in the fifth, then tacked on in the eighth and ninth. Chris Sale dominated and the bullpen didn’t blow it.

Losing streak over or not, we’ll see how y’all voted in yesterday’s vibe check momentarily.

But first: landscaping!

Quick links: Falcons minicamp depth chart | Hawks eye execs | GHSA targets transfers

SOD STRATEGY

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Atlanta’s portion of the Club World Cup — a showdown featuring (wait for it) the top soccer clubs in the world — kicks off next week when Chelsea takes on Los Angeles FC.

And the folks at Mercedes-Benz Stadium are rolling out the green carpet.

Well, not carpet.

The opposite of carpet, really.

Grass.

They’re installing grass.

And they promise it’s gonna be better than the last time.

When the Benz replaced its usual artificial turf with natural grass last year for Copa America matches, players and coaches complained that the surface was, to use scientific terms, a tad bouncy.

So our friend and Atlanta United beat writer Doug Roberson got some dirt on the process this time around. Here’s where things lie:

🌱 Prior methods essentially involved throwing plastic subflooring and then Bermuda grass on top of the turf. Now they’re taking out the turf altogether.

🌱 From there, “an aluminum subfloor, slightly thicker than a baking sheet,” goes down. Then 3 inches of sand.

🌱 Next comes the grass: a hybrid of Kentucky blue and perennial rye (plus some plastic fibers woven in for added stability) grown in Colorado and driven to Atlanta in refrigerated trucks.

🌱 Installation is scheduled to be done today, six days before the games begin.

Cool! So, uh … why are we talking about this?

Well, it’s fun to get in the weeds sometimes (sorry). It’s also kind of shocking how much work goes into something like this.

And getting it right is pretty crucial ahead of next year’s even bigger test: the real, live, no-Club-in-the-title World Cup.

(If you’re wondering: The grass will be gone long before Falcons season, with more reinstalled afterward in an even more elaborate fashion.)

“It’s not an easy task,” said Adam Fullerton, MBS’ vice president of stadium operations. “But we’ve got a lot of really good eyes and brains behind the grass operation, things we’re doing a little bit differently this year.”

Dive into Doug’s story for even more details. And if you’re interested in catching a Club World Cup match, tickets are still available.

ON TAP TODAY

The Falcons start mandatory minicamp this morning in Flowery Branch. As we discussed yesterday, backup quarterback Kirk Cousins is expected to attend.

🏈 Here’s how the rest of the depth chart stacks up.

🏈 Stay tuned to ajc.com/falcons and @DOrlandoAJC for all the latest.

The Atlanta Dream host the Indiana Fever again tonight (7:30 p.m. on PeachtreeTV). Three big differences from the last time they met in the Peach State:

🏀 This one goes down on the Dream’s usual home court, Gateway Center Arena.

🏀 It’s another installment of the in-season Commissioner’s Cup tournament.

🏀 And Indiana star Caitlin Clark isn’t playing.

BASHING THE BRAVES

Credit: Aaron Gash/AP

The Braves, meanwhile, will continue their series in Milwaukee (7:40 p.m. first pitch on FanDuel Sports). And last night’s win notwithstanding, a lot of y’all seem to have given up hope on the home team.

About 50 readers emailed responses to our poll on whether the Braves are officially cooked — and all but eight said they’re “well done” or “already eaten and digested.”

From Gary: “Complete lack of leadership, which is what happens when you keep letting all of your leaders go to other teams.”
From Bill: “Six teams make the playoffs. The Phillies and the Mets, the winner of the Central division and the Dodgers, Padres and probably the Giants. All are good teams. No matter what kind of great run the Braves may make they won’t catch those teams.”
From Jon: “After the San Francisco series, their only path to the playoffs is buying tickets.”

Feels a little harsh. But funny. And probably true.

THE BIG NUMBER: 59,000

That’s (roughly) how many Georgia high school athletes were transfers this past academic year — about one-eighth of the total number of participants.

As our Todd Holcomb reports, new bylaws expected to be adopted next month would make athletes who change schools twice after ninth grade ineligible for competition — unless they can prove the moves were legitimate and not purely for sports.

Could get messy!

ALSO INTERESTING

🤔 The Hawks are poised to hire not one but two new front office executives. They’re apparently still looking for a president of basketball operations, too. Getting crowded over there.

😮 Qwan’tez Stiggers, a former BEST Academy standout, made his way to the NFL — without playing college football. D. Orlando Ledbetter’s interview with him is worth your time.

😬 Kirby Smart foresees a few issues with the new House vs. NCAA settlement that allows colleges to directly compensate athletes (among other things).

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Credit: Jason Allen for the AJC

Georgia Tech formally introduced its new baseball coach on Monday. James Ramsey — a Wesleyan School graduate who’s been at Tech since 2019 — has the unenviable task of filling Danny Hall’s legendary cleats.

He doesn’t seem intimidated, though.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The standard I have is to have this program be in Omaha and to win a national championship. People need to hear that. It's not something that we're gonna shy away from.

- Ramsey during his introductory press conference

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.

Until next time.

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