The Win Column: Good job. Do it again.

Last night I went to a concert.

This morning I discovered that I’m officially too old to stand for three hours and expect my back and knees to remain functional.

These typing fingers still work though!

WORDS TO THE WISE …

Ken Sugiura’s latest column is a good reminder of what every discerning Falcons fan knows deep down in their cold, repeatedly broken heart: Don’t get your hopes up. Pain is born of expectation, and this franchise has rarely met expectations in any consistent fashion.

But ready the “Dumb and Dumber” memes — because I’m saying there’s a chance.

Sort of.

Maybe?

OK, fine, I’ll put it this way: The Dirty Birds would be in really bad shape if they’d lost a third straight “home” game and fallen to 2-5. Instead, they avoided a full Falcon-ing and moved to 3-4 — a half-game back of Carolina for the NFC South lead.

• How’s ‘resiliency to its fullest’ for an identity?
• Weekend Reflections: A mature performance from Penix

Kendal Daniels’ game-saving interception may have saved the season, too.

For, uh … for now.

📈 The Falcons have 10 games left. Four of them are within the division. Another comes against Dan Quinn’s woeful Washington Commanders.

📈 The other half? Minnesota, Kansas City, Cleveland, Cincinnati (in Spain!) and Detroit. Those teams are a combined 24-7 this season.

📈 Our friends at Tankathon.com rank Atlanta’s remaining slate the seventh-toughest in the NFL.

The Panthers slot in just above the Falcons, but they may not prove the real threat in this very unserious division. Tampa Bay — the Falcons’ next foe — got quarterback Baker Mayfield back from injury Sunday and promptly ran all over Carolina to move to 2-5.

Tampa’s remaining strength of schedule: third-easiest in the NFL.

“We’ve got the right people in the room,” veteran Falcons linebacker Samson Ebukam. “We’ve got the right team. We just have to put it all together every single week and just go 1-0.”

Maybe! But we’ve been here before.

Proceed with caution.

📊 Oh, and some poll results: As it turns out, most fans don’t particularly dislike former Falcons head coach Raheem Morris. The most popular answer in Friday’s poll was “Let’s just make it through without getting embarrassed, k?” That’s the fan base I know and love.

🚨 GIFT LINK OF THE DAY 🚨

Does Falcons great Roddy White want to work for the team like his old buddies Matt Ryan and Todd McClure?

Not necessarily, but if they ask nicely …

MORE GOOD STUFF TO KNOW

⚾ The Brewers try to take a commanding 3-0 World Series lead tonight in Tampa (8 p.m., Fox). Former Brewer Freddy Peralta gets the start for the Rays.

• And not for nothing: Ex-Brave William Contreras is hitting .571 through two games.

🥃 Georgia opens the week at No. 3 in the AP poll and a 10.5-point favorite over 17th-ranked Florida. The Cocktail Party makes its inaugural appearance in Atlanta on Saturday.

• More college football fun in a bit.

🤘 Country music star Luke Bryan has a son named Bo. Bo’s a high school quarterback from Nashville. Bo’s gonna be a Bulldog.

🐝 The Yellow Jackets, meanwhile, remain mired in a very miserable season. After Saturday’s abomination against Boston College, they’ll need to win four of their last five just to be bowl eligible. A trip to Pitt’s up next.

😯 The top-10 chalk held in Georgia high school football over the weekend, with no new teams entering the rankings. Here’s a closer look at more surprises.

• Also, some good news: Everyone hurt in the weekend bus crash involving Salem High has now left the hospital.

🏀 The Hawks beat the Hornets by 47 points (a franchise record) on Friday. A day later, they couldn’t quite muster a comeback against Kevin Durant and the Rockets … but they get another shot tonight in Houston.

Tipoff arrives at 8:30 p.m. on Atlanta News First.

DO IT FOR THE DREAM, Y’ALL

The Atlanta Dream and their pursuit of a WNBA title are in precarious position.

• After Saturday’s let-down loss, the series is tied 2-2 and headed back to Golden State for must-win(ish) Game 5. (Tipoff: 8 p.m., USA and Peacock)
• Also: Nobody’s quite sure where or when Game 6 will take place.

The multilayered scheduling considerations for the latter make my head hurt, frankly. But the gist is this: The Dream are scheduled to host Game 6 on Thursday night. The Hawks are scheduled to host the Cavaliers at State Farm Arena on Thursday night.

Can’t do both.

Worst come to worst, the Dream can play at Gateway Center Arena. That’d be a major bummer, though, because its capacity is approximately one-fifth of State Farm’s.

😬 So here’s the official Win Column request: Go ahead and bump that game back to Friday, Hawks.

Yes, it’s a pain. With a road game in New Orleans set for Saturday, it’d also create a less-than-ideal back-to-back situation. The Cavs and their TV partners would have to agree too.

It’s complicated, no doubt — and you don’t owe the Dream a thing.

But wouldn’t it feel real nice to help save the day?

I can even promise a harmless-but-kinda-inappropriate declaration of civic pride, in your honor.

PICK THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL LOSER(S)

Three more top-10 college football teams (BYU, Ole Miss, Texas Tech) lost over the weekend. Nos. 11, 14, 15 and 16 (Tennessee, Houston, Iowa and USC, respectively) fell as well.

We’re only through Week 8, and just three FBS teams remain undefeated.

Wanna have some fun with it?

Every Monday from here on out (or until we collectively decide it’s stupid), I’m gonna offer a list of upcoming games involving ranked teams. You click on the fancy form, pick the one (or three) you think are ripest for unusual results — and by Friday, we’ll have an official Win Column Upset Pick of the Week to share with everyone.

Make sense? OK, here’s this week’s list of games:

• No. 5 Notre Dame at Navy
• No. 22 Arizona at No. 13 Texas Tech
• No 19 SMU at Syracuse
• No. 25 Wisconsin at Iowa
• Auburn at No. 12 Ole Miss
• No. 17 Florida vs. No. 3 Georgia 
• Minnesota at No. 4 Indiana
• Arizona State at No. 8 BYU
• No. 20 Northwestern at Oregon
• No. 6 Utah at Cincinnati
• Virginia at No. 14 Wake Forest
• Nevada at No. 7 UCLA
• No. 24 Oklahoma State at Iowa State
• No. 1 Miami at North Carolina
• No. 2 Ohio State at USC
• Mississippi State at No. 11 Texas
• No. 23 Missouri at Arkansas
• Texas State at No. 20 Boise State