No hard copy of Score Atlanta this week, so this is the ONLY place to find TheFletch. Enjoy!
While the Atlanta Hawks made it once again to the second round of the NBA playoffs and the Atlanta Braves loaded up at the trading deadline while trying to hold its lead in the NL East, if anyone doubted what truly ruled the airwaves and the local webworld, it is, without question, football. Everyone from the Athens Banner-Herald to the AJC to 790 The Zone to Score Atlanta was all over the recent training camp openings of the four local football teams. The Atlanta Falcons have been going hard at each other with two-a-days and scrimmages the last few weeks and Score Atlanta’s Brian Jones has been covering it all for Score’s website and he was able to drop knowledge on Score Atlanta Sports Sunday the last few weeks on Sports Radio 790 The Zone. By being right in the action and being present at the press conferences, Jones is able to give an insight that the average fan blogger cannot give. Jones was able to comment on the scuffle between offensive lineman Sam Baker and rookie linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, having seen the event firsthand.
Jones has been joined by the AJC of course and D. Orlando Ledbetter has been able to twitter updates of camp throughout the day. For anyone needing a Falcons or football fix, the team has certainly been covered locally and nationally as well. After ESPN’s Colin Cowherd proclaimed that the Falcons was his NFC pick to go to the Super Bowl, it seems more and more people are now jumping on the Atlanta bandwagon. It is now more common than not to hear folks predict that the Falcons will win the NFC South and Phil Simms said earlier this week on 680 The Fan’s The Rude Awakening that he thinks the Falcons could certainly be a sleeper that could make a run in the playoffs. 680 and 790 have both been live at training camp with various shows, once again proving that football rules in Georgia. Even 790 The Zone’s Pollack & Bell were live at North Gwinnett High School for the Atlanta Falcons’ Friday Night Lights scrimmage and fireworks display.
But the Falcons are not the only team getting love around the state. When the University of Georgia Bulldogs opened up its summer practices, 790 The Zone’s Mayhem in the AM was in Athens for the event. The Zone also covered Georgia Tech’s practice opening. And Georgia State was given a platform to discuss its practices leading up to the inaugural season of Panther football last week on Score Atlanta Sports Sunday. The voice of the Panthers Dave Cohen, who also writes for Score Atlanta, appeared on air and gave the lowdown of how summer practice is going. Cohen gave some behind-the-scenes insight, revealing that the team will give multiple looks on offense and noting that Star Jackson was not simply handed a starting spot upon his transfer from Alabama, but he is rather earning the spot right now over two players that have been in Coach Bill Curry’s offense for two years.
The Atlanta Hawks will spend the 2010-11 season without big man Shaquille O’Neal, who signed last week with the Boston Celtics, but to read the AJC, it seems O’Neal left the Hawks at the alter. According to a recent headline on ajc.com, Shaq was “said to choose Celtics over Hawks.” However, if one cruises to ESPN.com or the WFNY blog, he/she would find that the Hawks were maybe third or fourth on the list of contenders for the services of the Big Shaqtus. Though O’Neal told friends that he would be open to playing for the Hawks, it was also rumored that O’Neal would go to the Heat, the Lakers, the Spurs, and the Knicks. Before O’Neal signed with Boston, Atlanta was competing with the Knicks for O’Neal’s services, but even AJC Hawks writer Michael Cunningham admitted in his story that the team wouldn’t be willing to meet Shaq’s asking price of more than the minimum when the team’s mid-level exception was still available or a guaranteed starting spot. Cunningham isn’t to blame here, it is ONCE AGAIN the headline writer for the AJC’s website who comes up with yellow journalism-level headlines simply to get clicks to various stories. Shaq wasn’t coming to Atlanta. Don’t make it sound like the Hawks were RIGHT THERE. The site misleads potential readers all the time, but it keeps working in terms of driving readers. Congrats on tricking your customers. You guys are shameless.
One paper that doesn’t feel the need to hoodwink its readers is the Athens Banner-Herald. Marc Weiszer provides great info about Georgia football several times a day with great blogs (that don’t turn into Georgia Tech and Florida mockfests), complete with honest quotes from players and stats that actually back up his thesis of each entry. With all due respect to Tim Tucker of the AJC, I’d rather turn to Weiszer on www.onlineathens.com to get Georgia info. Both papers have the same quotes, but I don’t have to deal with extra AJC fluff with ABH pieces.
790 The Zone listeners received a real treat earlier this week when Pollack & Bell featured a different David filling in for Pollack. Dave Archer or “Arch” as he is referred to in the business subbed in during a broadcast at Falcons training camp, and I must say that it was the best edition of Pollack & Bell that I’ve heard in some time. Bell and Arch had real chemistry and there was zero fake laughter. It genuinely sounded like these guys were having fun. It wasn’t all laughs though; Arch knows all about football and was very confident and knowledgeable on other sports topics as well. And he just seemed to understand Bell as well. The show never came to a screeching halt with a Bell reference that was older than 15 years into the past. Not only did Arch seem to get all of Bell’s references, but he joined in as well. 790 should at least consider the idea of floating an offer past Arch to see if he wanted to join the show on a more full-time basis. He certainly needs to be included as the first-call for a sub when Pollack is out of town doing ESPN work.
Finally, Score Atlanta will soon be releasing the Score 44, a list of the top 44 senior football players in the state of Georgia that will trump every other list of 10 or 11 or 12 that is put out by another publication. The Score 44 will be broken down on Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit over the next few weeks and we’ll even include the 12 that just missed the list. Throughout the football season, Georgia Public Broadcast and Score Atlanta will be keeping tabs on the Score 44 in our various platforms such as a midweek webcast, a Saturday morning radio show, and of course, The Official Visit. We hope the Score 44 will really take off and players will be excited to be included in the Score 44 in future seasons.
Can you believe he said that?“When I tell my colleagues that you get dressed, you walk across and people just maul you and bother you and internet people grabbing helmets, 'Sign this,' and we don't have security saying, 'Get the heck out of here.' You'll see a lot more 'get the heck out of here' from now on and let the kids go practice and concentrate on football."
That was Urban Meyer recently to the Palm Beach Post. Meyer would also call these people scumbags, but I am sure he was not referring to FANS that gather outside of the practice fields, likely little kids that worship the Gators and want them to just high five them or sign their hat. Way to call six-year-olds “scum bags.” Urban Meyer is a CRAZY PERSON.
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