THE FLETCH, check it out here before you pick it up!

Just because I give you a sneak peek here, you should STILL go to www.scoreatl.com to download the issue or stop by QuickTrip, Kroger or Blockbuster and pick up this week's issue. It comes out tomorrow.

If you caught Pollack & Bell on 790 the Zone last week, you may have heard Norm Hitzges from Dallas calling in to discuss the Ron Washington situation as well as the Dallas Cowboys. As I listened to the interview, only one thought ran through my head: what is that accent? I couldn’t put my finger on where that dude was from. It wasn’t a Texas accent and his cadence was slightly off. Then another thought popped into my head: thank goodness that guy doesn’t host a show in Atlanta. I could not listen to him on a regular basis. What as up with that voice. I felt bad for the people of Dallas. He did not represent the people of Dallas very well. I wonder what other people think of our radio hosts. Actually, I would hope that only two local hosts ever do over the phone interviews: 790 The Zone’s Chris Dimino and 680 The Fan’s John Kincade. These two are the only two in Atlanta that I would feel comfortable representing our city on other cities’ radio shows. Both are knowledgeable enough to discuss a variety of sports topics and neither relies on a shtick or a past athletic achievement to garner sports credibility. Both simply know what they are talking about and can deliver it professionally. Honestly, those are the only two that should get any sort of play in other markets and The Zone and The Fan should be lucky that each has a go-to-guy to represent their stations and their city.

Could the NCAA men’s basketball Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds be a littler more presidential this weekend? CBS Sports president Sean McManus said he would be open to putting President Obama into the broadcast booth in any way if the president was open to it. So far, Obama has not taken McManus up on his offer. Earlier this season Obama sat in on the network’s broadcast of the Georgetown/Duke game and was quite good. Obama also once again filled out a bracket and cut a segment for ESPN on his bracket. Obama’s picks: Kansas over Kentucky in the championship game. I gave Obama a bunch of flack last season for doing the SportsCenter segment and once again I think that maybe instead of filling out a bracket, perhaps the Commander-in-Chief could better spend the two hours perhaps trying to fix some problems he said he would tackle in the election process. I thought we were electing a president, not a First Fan of Basketball.

As long as we are talking about the NCAA tournament and CBS’s coverage of the “Big Dance,” have we determined whether a four-year-old with ADD or a chimp is at the main control center? Why in the world do we jump from situation to situation in MID-PLAY during crunch time of big games? Friday night I feel like I had whiplash as CBS jumped around to about three different games, and I believe we missed the crucial plays in all three. Yes, we got to see the end of all of the games (Cool! People dribbling out the clock!) but we missed the big layup and the game-winning shot one of the other ones. And on Sunday, we watch Xavier make a huge shot against Pittsburgh then Pittsburgh drive down and miss a shot, but .4 seconds is left. So CBS cuts to Texas A&M and Purdue with over one minute left. WHAT? HUH? I’m so confused. You couldn’t wait about, oh, I don’t know, .4 seconds before switching over?

Former Braves pitcher John Smoltz has gone on record and said that he isn’t retiring but he is moving to a new team: the media. The former Cy Young award winner will work this season for Peachtree TV, TBS and MLB network, calling games for all three networks. Smoltz will debut on MLB network, partnering Bob Costas to call Yankees/Red Sox game on April 6 then do a Braves game April 7. His PTV partners will include Ernie Johnson Jr., and Joe Simpson.

Speaking of Braves announcing, it is amateur hour for the Braves spring training games. After Buck & Kincade butchered their way through a few games for braves.com, Tony Schiavone and Leo Mazzone worked games last week. Leo actually offered some baseball insight when not trying to crack jokes about alcohol. Meanwhile Schiavone is the radio voice of the Gwinnett Braves, but even still all I could think of was during a call of Martin Prado’s home run was Schiavone screaming, “Prado rounding second and MY GOD! STING AND THE MACHO MAN ARE STOMPING PRADO in front on Hanley Ramirez. My GOD! Won’t anybody help him? WAIT! HERE COMES THE YETI! Won’t somebody please stop this? HERE COMES GOLDBERG, TO SAVE THE DAY!”

Mark Bradley of the AJC, who has been caught in an unfair war of words with Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, wrote a very on-point column about the Jackets season following the team’s bouncing from the NCAA tournament by the hand of Ohio State. Bradley correctly assessed that this team fell short of its high ceiling that its coach referenced during the season. With the talent that Hewitt accumulated, it is a wonder that Hewitt told the AJC that it was a “major accomplishment” to cap a “great year,” when his team made the field of 65. Really? I must agree with Bradley when he simply spouted off the facts that the team lost 13 games with two potential lottery picks and another McDonald’s high school All-American on its roster. I must agree with Bradley that this team should not have been a ten-seed due to a losing record in conference play. I must agree with Bradley that this team was, on whole, a massive underachieving disappointment. Bradley was right to question the team’s success (out of the tournament before the end of the first weekend), and he was unfairly called out by the coach recently when the coach got on Twitter and blasted him. I wonder if the coach also was angry at the recent Sports Illustrated article that poked fun of Hewitt over the Twittering.

CAN YOU BELIVE HE JUST SAID THAT!?!?
Speaking of Norm Hitzges from Dallas’s The Ticket 1310 AM… At one point during his interview last Wednesday on Pollack & Bell, he said “Is Wade Phillips like your Uncle Charlie after he’s had four too many beers at the family reunion? Yes!” This statement was met with uncomfortable laughter from P&B and with an eye roll from me. Dude, we don’t know your sense of humor and I’m not certain that was even funny. Build a rapport first before you bust out the bad jokes. At least when radio hosts from the ATL make bad jokes on the air, we are used to it and their shtick. That is who they are. Drop the “this works for me in Dallas, so OF COURSE it will work for me in Atlanta!” routine. It flatlined. Sorry Bro.

Midweek Entertainment report 3/24/10

The Human Torch becomes Captain America, Pirates replaces Keira with Penelope, Miley mentors the Idols and Ol' Joe drops the F-Bomb

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Midweek Entertainment report!

The crowd goes nuts, just like in Rex Manning's head!

Chris Evans has been cast as the new Captain America, set to be released in May 2011. The guy played the annoying Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies and was the Freddie Prinze knockoff in Not Another Teen Movie. Anyways, THIS GUY for Captain America? Over Chace Crawford? Really? But the crazy thing is that the movie studio signed Evans to a NINE picture deal. he is going to be in NINE MOVIES? Really? Throw him in an Iron Man sequel or something? WOW?! NINE MOVIES....

For the next Pirates movie, apparently Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are out and Johnny Depp gets a girlfriend. Yep, Penelope Cruz has signed on to be Capt Jack's love interest. OK, two beautiful people (and not the Gideon-type of BPs), I can see that. Also, Jack will go up against Blackbeard, played by Deadwood's Ian McShane. I never saw No.3, so I'm not certain how this one will turn out. No.2 was turribull enough to turn me off of the series.

Hey, Miley Cyrus was the Idol mentor last night. I wonder what advice she gave them: Have a quasi-famous one-hit-county-music-wonder, father who then forces you down Disney's throats so you then get hooked up with Nick Sparks? Is that how it works? I didn't watch, only because I will NOT support Miley's takeover of the world.

Finally, Joe Biden was caught on camera saying to Obama that the health care plan was a big f-ing deal. Joe, you aren't so good with the words and the saying things, are you big guy? Maybe you stop talking for a while?

Thanks everybody have a great day and tune in to NPR later for my Braves season preview, likely around 3:45ish on WABE 90.1 FM. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION!

Traffic correspondent Paul Mac weighs in on the traffic debate

Ever since Paul Mac once said Car-be-que while cutting a traffic promo for the radio station, I've always considered him something of an expert on traffic. So with SportsbyFletch now trying to fix the country's problems, we turn to Sleazy P for insight on traffic.

Ever notice how much easier it is in the Summer or Christmastime? All those freaking moms off the road. Can't really do anything about old people... but seriously traffic would move faster if everyone paid attention and drove with the courtesy in mind that the guy behind me might want to make it through the freaking light TOO!!!!
Driving your kid to school just makes more wusses.

SBF responded: yeah, how about the guy that has a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG line of cars behind himd when the light FINALLY turns green, but he decides to left the people who JUST HAD a green continue to turn right. Especially since odds are they are going to clog up the cycle and mess everything up for the folks behind him. Does he think he is being a nice guy? I don't get it. THEY JUST HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO GO. NOW IT IS OUR OPPORTUNITY TO GO.
I dunno, maybe he's too busy texting to realize the light is now green.

Paul Mac's solution: The instant the light is green you should be going... hopefully leaving one of those red-running douches out to dry in the middle of the intersection. If we're lucky enough they will be the recipient of a red light ticket when they don't make it out on that light. I can't stand that crap.
On on ramps to the highway.... in heavy traffic you let one car in.... it's common courtesy... one car then the next car lets one in it's like a freaking zipper... it's very fluid.
If there is a wreck... move that freaking hunk of crap out of the way and get on with it.

Traffic, which we here at SBF STILL don't understand would be helped by these steps. SBF's solution. JUST GO

SPOILER ALERT! Big B's Top senior Olinemen for 2010-11

Be sure to tune in tonight to 790 The Zone (or www.790thezone.com if you don't live in Atlanta), from 8-10 p.m. for Score Atlanta's Official Visit. Of course I will co-host along with birthday boy Scott Janovitz. Here is Brian Jones' top ten rising senior offensive linemen. Enjoy.

10. Justin Olderman

9. J.D. Jones

8. Justin Floyd

7. Kyle Harris

6. Quincy McKinney

5. Xavier Ward

4. Alan Posey

3. David Andrews

2. Thomas O’ Riley

1. Watts Dantzler

SBF...solving the county's problems? YES I AM!

I know typically I talk sports and/or pop culture or a combo of both, but today I've decided to step into politics and solve two (perhaps even three) of this county's problems.

Get rid of mail jeeps and have the mailmen-er-mail carriers walk. Boom. You are welcome.

Wait! What did you just do, SportsbyFletch?

Let me tell you. Cleaner air with fewer jeeps. We are using less gas and there is less smog across the country. Problem one.....SOLVED. Clean air!

But SBF, then the mail wouldn't be as efficient. Au contrare! You hire more mail carriers to walk and deliver the mail. Boom, unemployment is lessened and obesity is already starting to drop. TWO PROBLEMS! YOU ARE WELCOME.

But SBF, how will we pay for that? Umm, you could always cut mail service on Saturdays. I don't really need a bill delivered to me when I'm trying to have a nice weekend. And seriously, stamps used to cost one quarter. Now they are 42/43/46 cents (whatever they are now). Make them 48 cents. DONE.

Now that I've solved that problem, SBF will target Traffic, which SBF doesn't understand. JUST GO! PUSH THE GAS PEDAL!

Scanning the Dial? Please! This is THE FLETCH

Sorry about that. I didn't choose the new title. but let's go with it. Here is this week's THE FLETCH! On newsstands now!

Last week while calling the Class AAAAA and AAAA basketball semifinals for Georgia Public Broadcasting at the Gwinnett Arena, I ran into an old colleague from 790 The Zone, “Hometeam” Brandon Leak. After he was let go by 790 The Zone in September 2008 and replaced with David Pollack, Hometeam has managed to keep his hand in the local sports market through various media forms. Leak has done some voiceover work for the Atlanta Hawks and has made contributions to a blog on the Hawks webpage. “It is a great opportunity, working with the Hawks,” says Leak. “The way technology has improved, the web is the future of this business.” Leak also co-hosts HawkTalk on Comcast OnDemand with fellow former 790 The Zone personality Sandra Golden. Leak’s previous Comcast OnDemand experience came as he was the host of the Falcons Report during the 2009 season. Hometeam still considers himself a “Jack of All Trades,” who would love to get back into radio, perhaps with the Hawks. “I’ve been very fortunate that opportunities have presented themselves without leaving the city. Extremely fortunate.” As the playoffs near, check out Hometeam on HawkTalk on Comcast OnDemand.

Last Sunday on Score Atlanta Sports Sunday on Sports Radio 790 The Zone, our show followed the ACC Championship game, featuring Georgia Tech. As 790 is The Official Home of the Yellow Jackets, the game was aired and after a quick postgame from ISP, callers lit up the phone lines and the first hour and twenty minutes was just Tech fans calling in. What was strange was the range of callers’ opinions on the program. Some callers thought that Tech made up for a “crappy season” with an NCAA tournament appearance. More callers than not though were unhappy with the fact that Paul Hewitt likely saved his job with the appearance in the ACC title game and now a bid to the NCAA tournament. Several fans called for Hewitt to be fired the day after the ACC tournament ended before a contract roll-over was activated, and when I asked who would coach the team, one caller said, “the same person coaching it now: no one.” The Georgia Tech fan base, at least the 19 or so calls we took during those four segments were clearly unhappy with Hewitt’s performance over the past few seasons and the unpleasantness continued the follow day on Brandon & Woolvy’s show on The Zone. The range was a little wider with a few more folks calling Brandon and Jeff to voice support for Hewitt, but the ratio was still in the favor canning Hewitt. On Sunday eight out of ten wanted him gone but by Monday it was maybe just six of ten. How will Tech fans feel after the first weekend of the tournament? Tune in this Sunday from 2-5 p.m. for Score Atlanta Sports Sunday as we will take your calls yet again.

Doug Roberson of the AJC covers the Jackets and he appeared on Score Atlanta Sports Sunday, where he not only discussed the basketball team but also gave some insight into the football team. Roberson said that he believes that maybe only two or three true freshmen will see time this season and perhaps the defense may take some time to find the pieces to make the 3-4 work. He also went on to say that he thought Tevin Washington would take most of the first string snaps this spring with Josh Nesbitt injured and Jaybo Shaw having left the team to transfer to Georgia Southern.

As we all know by now, 680 The Fan is the new radio home of the Atlanta Braves. (Just listen. You’ll hear a promo saying that within eight minutes!) Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone of The Rude Awakening and the Braves pregame show has now taken up the mantle previously held by afternoon host Buck Belue as top Braves apologist. This is understandable as Mazzone used to be under the employ of the Braves and Bobby Cox is such a close friend, as are certainly many folks in the locker room, but some of the comments are a bit much. Sometimes we need to hear it as it is. Don’t just sugarcoat everything just because you don’t want to hurt feelings. This is why you were brought in I believe, to give the insight on baseball and that means sometimes delivering the hard line. We all know Leo has it in him. Remember Tim Spooneybarger? Perhaps after Cox leaves the Braves and the team doesn’t resemble the team it was with Leo rocking on the bench, maybe then honest, apology-free analysis will be offered up.

Speaking of morning shows, do they REALLY need a break THAT early in the program? Both The Rude Awakening and Mayhem in the AM regularly run interviews from the previous day around 6:30 or 6:50. Really? Just two or three segments in? Are the guys stopping for a coffee break? I understand wanting to replay big-time interviews, like when Buck & Kincade had Michael Vick on or when the Stews interviewed some of the big names at the Super Bowl, but some of the interviews that are re-aired…I didn’t want to hear them the FIRST time around. Seriously guys. You offer replays on the website. If I want to hear an interview I missed, I’ll go to the website. You don’t have to re-air them for me when I’d rather hear some fresh material on my way to the gym.

Finally, Michael Vick to appear on this season of Spike TV’s Pros vs Joes. The announcement was made a few days after Vick appeared on a St. Louis Radio station declaring that he’d love to play for the Rams. This was after he was on another radio interview saying he’d like to play for the Carolina Panthers. Umm, Michael, the last time I checked, the Philadelphia Eagles picked up your roster bonus and decided to keep you for the second year of the two-year deal that you signed. You are Eagles property until they decide to cut you or trade you. Quit pining to be on another team and show loyalty to the team that took the bullet to sign you. And maybe try and keep your head down and out of the media for a while. You know. Let people breath a little more after the whole “I killed dogs,” thing.

CAN YOU BELIEVE HE SAID THAT?
D. Orlando Ledbetter is the AJC Falcons beat writer and Mr. Ledbetter decided to release his own mock draft, which is cool. Everyone has one these days. The decision though for the Atlanta Falcons is what I think is bizarre. Ledbetter has Atlanta selecting Florida Gator center “LaShawn” Maurkice Pouncey at No.19. Ledbetter acknowledges that this selection, for the second straight week, has made some readers “irate” but he attempts to justify the pick by saying that the Falcons need interior offensive linemen, and it is noted that that Damien Woody went No.17 and Jeff Faine went No.21. To that I argue that Atlanta-native and Colts center Jeff Saturday was undrafted and current Falcons center Todd McClure was a seventh round pick. Yes Pouncey may be a quality center, but to take him at No.19? Seriously?

No blog today. Sorry. TOURNEY TIME BABY!

What did you expect? I'm watching the tournament.
Hoping for ZERO major upsets, only the ones I picked. I want UK vs. KU in the finals. That's all I want.

Oh, and go to www.scoreatl.com and check out THE FLETCH, my scanning the dial column got a name change. Enjoy. Or you can just read it here tomorrow.

Enjoy the bball!