What’s up, goobers and goobettes?
By the time we chat next week, the Braves will be working out the kinks in North Port, the Winter Olympics will be officially underway and the Super Bowl will be mere memory.
Let’s start with that last part.
DEFINITELY NOT THE PATRIOTS, AMIRITE?
Let’s be clear here: You should never, ever root for the New England Patriots.
They spied, deflated and Falcon-ed their way to a dynasty. After hitting a brief, Mac Jones-shaped speed bump, they’re right back in the Super Bowl.
Real obnoxious stuff — and I didn’t even mention the whole “owner who hired Jeff Epstein’s lawyer after catching prostitution charges” thing. (Those charges were later dropped.)
Fortunately, the Seattle Seahawks offer an imminently rootable alternative for us Atlantans.
And not just because we love our birds around here.
1️⃣ The coach: New England coach Mike Vrabel (three-time Super Bowl champion linebacker and occasional pass-catcher) is cool and all. The Mike Macdonald story is where it’s at, though.
- Seattle’s 38-year-old head man graduated from Roswell’s Centennial High, enrolled in business school at UGA … and promptly volunteered to coach at Cedar Shoals High in Athens.
- As our DawgNation friends recently explored at length, Macdonald later joined Mark Richt’s staff as a graduate assistant and analyst.
- Holy-rolling Richt even cursed(!) when describing him: “I just remember Mike being a really bright guy, and obviously he has turned out to be a pretty damn good leader, too.”
From there: Baltimore Ravens intern, then position coach; back to college as Michigan’s defensive coordinator; and a triumphant return to Baltimore, this time as the whiz kid DC.
After the hometown Falcons interviewed him and passed, he landed the Seahawks gig ahead of the 2024-25 season.
He’d be just the third coach to win a Super Bowl before the age of 40.
2️⃣ The quarterback: Drake “Drake Maye” Maye is a fun story with a nonsensical nickname. The Patriots drafted him third overall in 2024, five picks before the Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr.
You gotta be pulling for Sam Darnold though.
Third overall pick subjected to three seasons of Jet-dom. Struggles in Carolina. Lands in Minnesota and wins 14 games — then gets dumped again.
Scooped up by Seattle, puts up another 14-win season and then cooks in four straight biggest-games-of-his-life.
Cinema, as they say.
3️⃣ The (other) local angles: Jared Wilson, the Patriots’ rookie left guard, is the only former Georgia Bulldog on either team’s active roster — making 25 straight years an ex-Dawg has played in the big game.
New England also has a couple former Falcons on its active roster, including tight end Austin Hooper (who caught a touchdown against the Patriots in an important game we shan’t discuss).
Seattle, meanwhile, boasts the most prominent product of a Georgia high school: tackle-leading linebacker Ernest Jones. He’s from Ware County, down there near the swamp.
- Per our friend Todd Holcomb, Super Bowl II (1968) remains the only installment that didn’t include someone who played high school ball in the Peach State.
That’s a rad little factoid. So we’re giving Seattle the edge here — and overall as well.
Not that there was another option.
The illustrious D. Orlando Ledbetter is in Santa Clara to cover the Super Bowl. Check out tomorrow’s Dirty Birds Dispatch for all the latest.
Meanwhile, in nonfootball coverage:
- Build a Super Bowl spread for under $100
- Meet Atlanta’s Puppy Bowl representative
- Celebrate Bad Bunny’s halftime show
- Get an early look at the commercials
AN ALL-STAR’S ALL-AROUND DOMINANCE
Jalen Johnson is an NBA All-Star.
Finally.
The former 20th overall pick has put it all together (and stayed healthy) in Year 5 — and the results are spectacular, if not particularly surprising.
Sarah Spencer writes a little bit of everything for the AJC sports desk these days. But back when Johnson was a rookie, she covered the Hawks.
- “I remember talking with Jalen Johnson at Summer League after the Hawks drafted him, and he told me he wanted to be one of those guys who could ‘affect the game in every way possible,’” Sarah told me this week. “That’s the biggest thing I remember about those early days; how much he prioritized developing every single part of his game. Years later, you can see how that mindset paid off.”
Indeed it has. Perhaps even better than Johnson imagined.
To wit: Before this season, our man JJ had two career triple-doubles (in this case, 10 or more points, rebounds and assists in a single game).
He’s put up nine more triple-doubles this year — enough to eclipse Mookie Blaylock’s career Hawks record of seven.
His season total also ranked second in the NBA, trailing only Nikola Jokic.
Perhaps you’ve heard of him?
🗓️ The NBA All-Star Game is set for Feb. 15 in L.A. and will feature the debut of a three-team, U.S. vs. the World format. Johnson landed on a squad with Atlanta native Anthony Edwards.
- Also of note: The trade deadline hits at 3 p.m. Thursday. Don’t expect the Hawks to do much.
EMOTIONAL OLYMPIC BACKSTORY ALERT
Best we can tell, exactly one Olympian from Georgia (the state) will suit up when things kick off over in Italy on Friday.
And she’s basically an icon.
Douglasville’s own Elana Meyers Taylor, bobsledder extraordinaire, will compete in her fifth Olympics. Now 41, she’s perhaps lost a step or two on the track.
But as the AJC’s David Aaro writes in his lovely profile, things are about more than medals this time. She wants her sons — one autistic, both deaf — to see her defy the odds.
“They live in a space where, at the ages of 3 and 5, many people have told them no, they won’t be able to do X, Y and Z,” Taylor said. “So I want to be the living example of how even though people tell you no, that doesn’t mean you have to listen.”
📺 Opening ceremonies: Watch live on Peacock (if you have it) starting at noon Friday. NBC will reair them starting at 8 p.m.
- Peacock will also air the NFL Red Zone-inspired “Gold Zone” with host Scott Hanson. Highly recommended.
- New events include the absolutely miserable-sounding “ski mountaineering.”
FREE BRAVES STUFF (INCLUDING BROADCASTS, MAYBE?)
After officially cutting bait with the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network, the Braves say they are “well on our way towards launching a new era in Braves broadcasting” — and pinky-promised they’ll be up-and-running by the start of the season.
While we wait on the details (our pal Ken Sugiura explores one very enticing possibility here), how about running through another bit of fan-centric news?
🚩 Namely: Bobbleheads and other free things.
The giveaways start with those coveted magnetic schedules, handed out March 27 and 28. From there …
- Scheduled bobbleheads include a Drake Baldwin Rookie of the Year offering (March 31); Michael Harris II and his dog Cash (May 13); David Justice, 1995 World Series home run (June 2); Ha-Seong Kim (July 21); Andruw Jones, Hall of Fame (July 30); Javy Lopez (Aug. 12); and Andres Galarraga (Aug. 14).
I would have not guessed that Money Mike had a goldendoodle. Name feels pretty appropriate, though.
Anyway … lots of non-bobblehead stuff to look forward to as well, including the third edition of hipster-y vinyl records curated by Spencer Strider.
1 SERIOUS THING, 2 SILLY THINGS
🙏 Wanna do some good? This verified GoFundMe page is collecting money for the soccer team at DeKalb County’s Cedar Grove High School. Someone recently stole all of their equipment.
😮 I recently learned the phrase “SEGABABA” (or “second game of a back-to-back”) from Hawks beat writer Lauren Williams, and frankly … I love it. But it’ll take more than that to top baseball’s TOOTBLAN (“thrown out on the base paths like a nincompoop”) in the sports acronym hierarchy.
🍌 Olympics travesty: Copyright issues are forcing the only figure skater daring enough to 1) dress as a cartoon “minion” and 2) do his thing to a medley of their “music” to find a new soundtrack for the Games. How do you say “travesty” in Minion-ese?
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Hey, it’s new Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham, looking (and sounding) pretty stoked to be here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Both of these guys are Philly tough; I'm an offensive lineman, so it's music to my ears to hear them (talk football).
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of the Win Column. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
Tyler Estep hosts the AJC Win Column, Atlanta's new weekly destination for all things sports. He also shepherds the Sports Daily and Braves Report newsletters to your inbox.
