LastWeek's TheFletch: Was Deion more Falcon than Cowboy?

The Great “Neon” Deion Sanders, aka PrimeTime was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last weekend, becoming the first Falcon to receive a bust in Canton, OH. Leading up to the induction ceremony, the AJC ran a great piece about Vince Dooley’ recruiting efforts to nab Sanders out of high school. According to the piece, Dooley and UGA lost out on Sanders when the dreaded “R” word was uttered: Redshirt. Needless to say “PrimeTime” would not redshirt as he matriculated to Florida State.
Sanders would eventually go on to make his mark in the state of Georgia, starring for both the Falcons as well as the Atlanta Braves in the early 90s. It would be well chronicled about Sanders playing in an NFL game in 1992, then flying to join his Atlanta teammates in Pittsburgh for a playoff game, though he did not appear in the NLCS game. Sanders would once score a touchdown in 1989 then hit a home run in the same week. He was truly a superstar and he still is one as he remains around the game working for the NFL Network. His speech was saved for last in Canton but there is just one question I must ask of Sanders’ legacy. I know he changed the game in terms of how cover cornerbacks play, but do people OUTSIDE of Atlanta remember him as a Falcon? He will always be loved in Atlanta (because time heals all wounds that he may have caused in how he left and his first trip back to the Georgia Dome in 1994), but were people surprised that he went into the Hall of Fame representing the Falcons organization? Sanders left Atlanta before I arrived down here but growing up during Deion’s heyday, I honestly thought he would have gone in as a Cowboy or as a 49er. He spent five seasons with the Cowboys just as he had with Atlanta but his best season may have been with the 49ers in 1994 when he helped San Francisco win the Super Bowl. More power to Deion for deciding to go into the Hall as a Falcon and it is good for the organization to finally get into Canton. Falcons fans though should look forward to the day when a no-brainer Falcon gets elected to the Hall. Several members of the current roster (Roddy White, Matt Ryan) have a shot if they continue to play well.

Speaking of the AJC, the paper’s D. Orlando Ledbetter also wrote two nice pieces that the GHSF Daily linked to in a recent newsletter about Richard Dent and Shannon Sharpe, both also inducted along with Sanders. Dent and Sharpe both played high school football in the Peach State.

The eyes of the golf universe are once again on the state of Georgia, Atlanta in particular as the 93rd PGA Championship takes place this week at the Atlanta Athletic Club. 680 The Fan is the radio “home of the tournament,” though I am not sure what that means. One would think that being the “home of the PGA Championship,” would mean you’d hear play-by-play and nothing gets my toe a tapping quite like golf play-by-play on the radio. That would be tricky though, considering 680 The Fan is also the home of the Atlanta Braves. As of last Monday leading up to the tournament, all of the local shows were at AAC and being the “home” of the championship will likely mean random scoring reports from the event leading up to Braves coverage. I am not sure why you pump up that you are the “home” of the championship if you are just doing your shows from there and occasionally giving out scores, but 680 is the “home,” so there you go.

790 The Zone’s Chris Dimino, a real “baseball man,” brought up an interesting point for Braves fans earlier this week on Mayhem in the AM. If you a true member of Braves Country, according to Dimino, you should be rooting for Braves to get into playoffs, period. Even if that means rooting for Philadelphia, as in the Phillies beating the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Cardinals to help the Braves win the Wild Card. As crazy as it sounds initially, logically it makes total sense. Odds are the Braves won’t be able to make up the NL East deficit over the remaining month and one half but the playoffs are still a very likely possibility due to the wild card. As wild as it sounds, Go Phillies, as long as you aren’t playing the Braves.

The Hawks have been “delivered” from the Atlanta Spirit Group as a new owner was able to raise enough dough to pull the Atlanta NBA franchise from the oven. The AJC was all over Alex Meruelo’s plan to buy the Hawks. Meruelo, who will be the first Hispanic majority owner, recently joined in on a conference call with two AJC writers and the lovefest was on in an article from Mark Bradley. In fact, you almost have to love the sale for Jeff Schultz and Bradley. Yipee, the Atlanta Spirit Group is finally done (in a majority ownership sense), I sort of feel bad for those two. What will Schultz and Bradley carp about now that they cannot complain about ASG? Oh, well I guess there is still Mark Richt to bang on for Bradley. He’s had a rough year with Hewitt getting canned and ASG selling the Thrashers and the Hawks. Watch out Fredi Gonzalez and Larry Drew: Bradley will soon be coming for you!

Finally, Football Night in Atlanta has had an hour added on to it, so now you will get two hours of Falcons and NFL talk every weeknight with John Michaels on 790 The Zone. The Zone loves to boast that football lives (there) and with the added hour, it is certainly seeming more and more like football has in fact established a residence at 790.

Can You Believe He Said That
“I will be in complete control of the team.”
That was new Hawks primary owner Alex Meruelo in an interview with the AJC. Hawks fans should be happy to hear that, knowing that the ASG won’t be making itself the NBA’s biggest laughingstock ANYMORE! Now the Hawks will just be made fun of for paying Joe Johnson more than LeBron James makes.