It may have been one of the biggest upsets in Georgia professional sports history but football rules so believe it or not the NBA playoffs were pushed to the back burner last week. During one two-hour stretch last week, the Atlanta Hawks finished off a first-round NBA playoffs upset of the Orlando Magic while the Atlanta Falcons traded four picks for the right to swap first round picks this year with the Cleveland Browns and select Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones. While the Hawks was probably bigger news nationally, the city of Atlanta seemed more interested in the Falcons draft-night trade. Immediately after the Hawks finished off the Magic at the Highlight Factory, a quick check of Twitter revealed that most of the Atlanta sports media was still buzzing about the trade for the right to pick Jones.
The next day seemed to confirm that football rules Georgia and Atlanta specifically. The AJC’s website had the Falcons’ move above the Hawks’ victory on the front page and several sports radio shows had Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff on to discuss the pick. The Rude Awakening had the Falcons general manager on to talk about the big move and 680 The Fan’s Chuck & Chernoff had Dimitroff on within the first six minutes of the show. Chuck and Chernoff led with the Falcons trade and then discussed the draft for a few minutes before even mentioning the Hawks big win. The Zone’s Pollack & Bell likewise had the draft on the brain as the new Falcons’ flagship station secured an interview with Julio Jones right off the bat of the drive-home show’s first hour.
Not all of the entities went this way however. The Rude Awakening, despite having Dimitroff on did spend a very early segment discussing the Hawks and the huge playoff-series victory though the first call taken did switch the topic to the trade.
Score Atlanta’s website also led with the Hawks in the headline banner and featured a game-recap as well as a column on the series win. Of course we also covered the Falcons’ trade as we recognize that people live and die with football.
So how will this trade be viewed as the Falcons gave up all of those picks in order to get the chance to draft Jones? The viewpoints have certainly varied in just one week. Some hosts have argued that the Falcons gave up far too much in order to get a wide receiver for an already-loaded offense while the defense still has holes (Perry Laurentino of 680 The Fan). Others believe that this trade made the Falcons more explosive and the team is striking while the iron is hot (Jeff Schultz of the AJC). Mel Kiper Jr., of ESPN gave the Falcons a C+ while Toddy McShay questioned the trade for Jones. The AJC’s Mark Bradley though came to the Falcons defense, giving Atlanta an A and NFL.com’s Steve Wyche also praised the Falcons move.
It seems funny that a draft-night trade would be given just as much, if not more coverage than a huge playoff upset victory, but that is the day and age we are currently living in. The NFL lockout is given daily updates like it was a hostage situation, and to some people it is. They love their football and nothing else matters. While I live football, I do consider myself a well-rounded sports fan, and I was watching as the Hawks finished off the Magic, nearly blowing a huge lead in game six which would have sent the series back to Orlando. I read the story from Jeff Schultz of the AJC and I tend to agree with him when he, before game five, put a potential Hawks upset of Orlando in the top six postseason moments/upsets in Atlanta professional sports history. While the Atlanta Hawks simply won a first-round playoff series, something it has done for the last two seasons, this one felt different, perhaps because the team for the first time in several years DIDN’T win more games than the season prior and this time wasn’t favored to win round one. Everyone was already making plans for a Chicago/Orlando conference semi-final matchup, but the Hawks wouldn’t let that happen, winning game one in Orlando and dominating the Magic en route to a date with Derrick Rose. The upset win sparked interest in Atlanta and finally gave some of the critics a little bit of crow to eat and force the networks to dig up some positive stories on the Hawks…at least for a while.
The return of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Sports Central XL was official this past Tuesday as the internet’s best Georgia high school webcast spent an hour discussing some of the top stories involving the Peach State’s spring sports. If you missed the show, you can watch it on-demand anytime at www.gaprepnews.com or at www.gpb.org/sports/xl. There will be two more webcasts this year as the spring championships continue. The next webcast will be on May 17 and the final show of the year will be May 31.
Finally the Official Visit has been given a new time slot on Sports Radio 790 The Zone. The show still airs Monday nights but has been pushed back an hour and now airs from 8-10 p.m., following John Michaels’ new show Football Night in Atlanta. Be sure to tune in this Monday from 8-10 as Scott Janovitz and Fletcher Proctor interview some of the top in-state talent as well as break down the week’s recruiting news. In regards to Football Night in Atlanta, the “Soon-to-be-Famous” John Michaels will add this hour-long show five nights a week to his ever-growing airtime at 790. The show will focus on the NFL, with Michaels broaching relevant topics and taking phone calls and texts. Michaels has worked his way up at 790, starting as an intern and it is nice that The Zone has rewarded his commitment to the station.
Can You Believe He Said That
“Do you think Madison Avenue wants a Memphis/Atlanta Finals? That will never happen. It will always be at least one big market.”
That was national sports radio host Peter Brown on The Sporting News Radio last week talking about how the NBA always seems to get one big market in the NBA Finals for television numbers. He mentioned Atlanta several times as a small market, I guess not realizing that Atlanta is the No. 7 TV market in America. Atlanta is suddenly a small market? Probably the fifth biggest market currently in the playoffs. Gimme a break.
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