Freaky Friday........................

Braves officially eleminated from post season

It's official...........The Atlanta Braves were eliminated from post season play with the 6-4 loss at Philly last night. This is now back to back seasons the Bravos have not been invited to the play-off party. Who's to blame? Bobby Cox? John Schuerhotz? Starting pitching? The bullpen? All of the above? Having watched, in full or in part, most of the 159 games so far..............It's hard to tell. Sure Cox makes you squirm with some his game management decisions. And Schuerhotz didn't win any favor with us when he traded away the future in the Saltalamacchia- Teixeira trade. The starting pitching was awful. Outside of Smoltz and Hudson, there was no adequate #3, #4, and forget a #5 starter. The bullpen as a team has 36 saves. There are 5 pitchers with more. This team has a lot of decisions to make. Andruw Jones is in the last year of his contract and has been horrible in clutch situations.........Sure, he has 26 homers and 94 rbi's.......but his .222 batting average raises concern. Plus......this is the first year I've seen 'Dru not make the catches in center-field that he has made his entire career. Just within inches......but missed just the same. Andruw just turned 30 in August of this year, but you have to wonder if all the pounding he's taken has taken it's toll. Remember, he started his career at age 19! Speaking of age, the Braves have a lot of good young players....ie Yunel Escobar and Matt Diaz. Both were .300+ hitters, even while being platooned. The up side for the Atl is that they are still a model organization with a great farm system. But the Braves must find a decent starting rotation and a "lights-out" bullpen to contend in '08.

Hump day Ramblings....

Michael.........this is so unfortunate.......Mike Vick has reportedly failed a drug test two weeks ago, administered as part of his plea agreement. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-vick-marijuana&prov=ap&type=lgns. Open letter to Mike............Drink a beer.....take a shot of E&J..........Go get laid..........anything that's not illegal!! This makes him look so bad in light of him....."finding Jesus"...........and telling the world he will make himself a better person of himself. This comes on the heel of an ESPN Sports Center special call "The Vick Divide". I watched some of it. They had Neal Boortz, the Atlanta libertarian mouth-piece, Terrance Moore, of the AJC, former players, Terrance Mathis and Chuck Smith..........and some woman from the New York Times. The venerable Bob Ley of "Outside the lines" was the host. The crowd was ...of course pro Vick. And they really showed their ignorance many times by booing and jeering any meaningful dialogue. I just wonder where Mike goes from here.......(maybe straight to jail). And I wonder who are the morans giving him guidance and advice......My services are available.........Mike ......give me a call.

Awful Announcing: Mike Patrick Has Important Things On His Mind

Awful Announcing: Mike Patrick Has Important Things On His Mind

Fall.......is Here!!

It's the first day of fall.....and all is well. Great week-end of college football. Great day yesterday for sports on TV. Things we learned yesterday....

Florida looks beatable on the road. Ole Miss played the gators tighter than anyone imagined. I said it here last week.......Louisville, with it's "freaky-leaky" defense is not that good. But to lose to Syracuse? GA Tech looked inept once again on the road, while Georgia grew up a little in Tuscaloosa.

Mark Richt is 23-3 in SEC road games. Alabama is now 0-5 when ESPN's Gameday comes to town. Notre Dame is now 0-4! Ouch!!

Sunday Morning Headlines..................

Week end Updates

It looks like the end of the line for Barry Bonds in San Francisco. The Giants have informed Mr. Bonds his services are no longer needed in the bay city. I almost feel sorry for BB. Yes, he has been an arrogant SOB over the years and has been the soul poster boy for Stroids, he did make SF relevant again . Where does Bonds go from here? What team would want this kind of baggage? This was evident over the winter when no teams, besides the Giants, showed any interest in Barry. I think Bonds should take his 760+ homers and ride off into the sunset of retirement. Happy Trails, Barry!

Guest Blog of the Week

These guys are pretty good.......check 'em out

Nation Of Islam Sportsblog

Dejavu....all over again

Here we go.........here we go. The O. J. Simpson fiasco has taken center stage again. White people, enraged 9 years ago when he was acquitted on murder charges, see this as poetic justice. Black folks just want OJ to disappear. No matter the outcome, you can best believe Fox News will be all over this.
Simpson Charged With 7 Felonies, Including Kidnapping, In a Vegas Hotel robbery , remained held without bond through Tuesday.

All about the benjamins....baby!

Date line : Jacksonville, FA. Jaguars fail to sell-out stadium for first time in 6 years. Yes, this past Sunday's game between the Falcons and the 'cats was blacked-out in Jacksonville due to NFL rules stating games must be solded out by the Friday before. Would not have been that bad.....but. NFL rules specify a 75 mile radius outside JX'ville.....so that included Savannah, GA also. No Jaguars......no Falcons for a substantial portion of north Florida and south Georgia.

Luckily for the Falcons, all games are sold out this year....but the embarressments will come with the no shows on nationally scheduled games. They have a Thanksgiving night game on the NFL Network and a Monday Nighter against the Saints. Which brings us back to Vick. No matter which side you 're on regarding Vick the person, you have to know that without him, the Falcons will be hurting and home teams the ATL plays will not sell as many tickets. There is no way if Vick was playing this past weekend in JX'ville, it would have been a sell-out.

Fall....Is in the Air!

College football is at that stage where around this time of year, the cream starts rising. And...as the cream of the crops emerges, so does the scum of the earth. This week-end brought us a lot of answers to pre-season questions.....and a lot of questions that still need answering.

First of all, before everybody jumps on the Kentucky bandwagon, that team from Louisville is NOT that good. Their defense sucks...ie (middle tenn state). Auburn .....well ........the Tigers must be rebuilding....if this is such a thing in the SEC. My hats off to the "Croom-master". Alabama dominated the 1st qtr of the Arkansas game , but was lucky to come back and win. Florida is scarry. Tennessee is slow, and Urban Meyer is an idiot for leaving Tebow in. Prediction: Tebow does not last the season.

GA Tech did what it normally does........Get's the ATL all excited with a couple of nice wins, only to fall back to reality checks with home losses. Notre Dame........Notre Dame.....notre dame........God, have the mighty taken a fall.......And OH.......do I love it. This is the University that fired Ty Willingham after just 3 seasons because he was'nt steering them in the right direction. Exactly...which direction is Charlie Tuna leading the in? WTF is with UCLA? Utah mopped the floor up with these guys. They went from 11 to un-ranked. Say what you want about the pre-season polls........but USC sure is looking good. And they did it on the road.

Sunday Morning Headlines............

Hump day Ramblings

Love those New York Headlines...............

I think this Rutgers basketball player came to her senses....enough already .....get a life.....You've had your 5 minutes of fame.

Rutgers Player Withdraws Imus Lawsuit ajc.com

Boy Mark Shultz of the AJC has it in for Georgia football coach Richt. But I must agree with him on this one. The Dawgs are soft. On an a pure athletic talent scale, there is no way South Carolina should compete with UGA. However, Richt has a way of coaching down talent as opposed to the "ole ball coach of USC, who has really coached up these guys from Carolina. It's further amazing that half of the Gamecock roster is filled with Georgia boys who were'nt taken by UGA.

Jeff Schultz: Bulldogs too soft, coach lacks fire Sports Columnists ajc.com

Michiganed

You know you've made it when your name is used in a verb form. Example....."Google" . Just google it.

Now, thanks to Lloyd Carr, college programs across the USA are now preparing there teams to "not get michiganed when playing a division 1-aa team. Years from now, you can envision players in a tight game with a 1-aa team saying, "Man, let's get going here.....We sho' don't wanna get michiganed!!!

Five thoughts on a Tuesday Night:

(1). I closed the coffin on my beloved Atlanta Braves...May They rest in peace.
(2). I thought the Ravens got robbed last night.
(3). Harold McReynolds just may have a case against ESPN.
(4). Pimp my Ride is still a great show.
(5). 9/11/2001............where were you???

5 on five