AJC Sports Talk

Metro Atlanta fans tell the AJC that, partly as a result of the extended economic slump, they’ve cut back on buying tickets to sports events. Attractive rates for TV sports packages and convenient Internet access are also cited as factors keeping fans away from games.

The Braves, Hawks and Thrashers have all seen attendance decline, with the Thrashers showing the lowest drop at less than 1 percent. The Hawks saw the biggest drop in regular-season attendance, falling 5.4 percent from last season. The Falcons do not disclose season-ticket sales and renewal figures.

Tell us: Have you cut back on the number of sporting events you attend? Did you cancel season tickets for a favorite team? If so, was it because of the economy or better deals via TV or Internet?

Continue reading Why aren’t Atlanta fans buying sports tickets? »

Cliff Lee has reportedly opted to rejoin the Phillies. (Matt Slocum, AP)

Free-agent left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee has reportedly spurned the offerings of the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers and opted to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies – the team that traded him away to land Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay.

A fourth-round draft pick in 2000, Lee is 102-61 with a 3.85 ERA in nine major league seasons. He has excelled in the postseason, going 7-2 with a 2.13 ERA for Philadelphia and Texas in the past two years, including 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the Yankees.

According to the Associated Press, Lee has accepted the Phillies’ preliminary offer of a $100 million, five-year contract.

Lee passed up an extra $50 million from the New York Yankees to join a rotation that includes Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt.

How does that stack up against Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens?

The deal clearly makes Philadelphia the favorites to win the N.L. East …

Continue reading What will Braves do now that Phillies have Lee? »

College football fans in Georgia have lots to celebrate after the Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets and Panthers all emerged victorious from their Saturday matchups.

Here’s the rundown on how they won and how they looked on the gridiron doing it all:

UGA 43, Vanderbilt 0
– Game story: Georgia shuts out Vanderbilt | Photos
– Uga VIII officially debuts as new mascot | Photos

Georgia Tech 42, Middle Tenn. State 14
– Game story: Jackets pick off MTSU | Photos

Georgia State 20, North Carolina Central 17
– Game story: Panthers pull out OT win | Photos

TALK ABOUT IT: Share your thoughts on the UGA, Tech and GSU victory trifecta this Saturday.

Continue reading Winning weekend for UGA, Tech, GSU »

Braves’ third baseman Chipper Jones could only watch on Wednesday. (AP)

It was widely reported earlier in the season that Braves’ veteran Chipper Jones was contemplating retirement.

The 38-year-old third baseman suffered what could be a season-ending knee injury in Tuesday’s win over the Astros on a spectacular grab behind the bag and leaping throw.

Jones told the AJC’s David O’Brien that Tuesday’s injury was not like the ACL tear he suffered as a rookie in 1994.

Jones is batting .265 with 84 hits, 10 homers and 46 RBIs in 317 at-bats. He is hitting .400 with four homers in nine games in August. He is signed through the 2012 season.

An MRI on Thursday confirmed the six-time All-Star suffered a torn ACL on the play.

With a long-term rehab ahead, what do you think he will do? Play through the pain? Sit out the rest of season? Retire?

Continue reading What should Chipper do? »

The Braves scored seven runs in the ninth inning to stun the Reds Thursday at Turner Field.
We have three questions for you, Braves fans.

1 — Where were you? At work? At home? Listening on the radio?
2 — Did you give up when they were down 8-0 in the second inning and miss the whole comeback?
3 — If you watched it, is this the greatest comeback you’ve ever seen? What others would you compare it too?

If you did miss it, Sport South will replay the game at 11 p.m. tonight.

Also, here’s the view from photographer Curtis Compton: and a recap from the AJC’s Carroll Rogers.

Continue reading Did you see the Braves’ comeback? »

The Braves are hovering around the .500 mark as they reach the quarter point of the season. So what do you think?

 Loading …

It’s been an up-and-down first quarter of the season for the Braves. Highlights included Jason Heyward’s mammoth home run in his first at-bat in the big leagues and the continued emergence of Martin Prado as a star. Lowlights included a struggling offense that led to a nine-game slide in late April and Kenshin Kawakami’s 0-6 start to the season.
Even with all that, the Braves are still very much in the mix in the N.L. East.

The offense got off to an extremely slow start to the season.

 Loading …

As they reached the quarter point of the season, the Braves were batting .247 as a team and were ninth in the National League in runs scored. The offense started …

Continue reading Braves at the quarter point: Your take »

John Smoltz begins his quest to qualify for the U.S. Open today at the Marietta Country Club.

The ex-Brave and current baseball announcer will be among 144 golfers competing. The top nine golfers and two alternates at the Marietta Country Club advance to the sectional round of qualifying. The other local qualifying event will be held at Planterra Ridge Golf Club in Peachtree City.

If Smoltz, a plus-2 handicapper, survives the 18-hole event, the 36-hole sectional qualifier will be all that stands between him and a spot in the U.S. Open field.

The U.S. Open is June 14-20 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will have a reporter at Marietta Country Club, so check back to see how Smoltz fares.

–David Purdum

Continue reading U.S. Open qualifying: John Smoltz takes his shot »

So what if Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins went head-to-head– as 10-year-olds?

That’s the type of buzz these two kids are creating.

One is in Atlanta. The other, in Chicago.

 Loading …

NBA scouts are talking; high school and college coaches are courting.

In town, we have Dakota Simms, a fourth-grader from Norcross. He’s made 2,800 three-point shots in one week, done a shoot-around with Wilkins for a segment on CNN and been dubbed “Mini (Michael) Jordan” by Takvim.com, a Turkish publication.

In Chicago, there’s Jaylin Fleming, who’s already made a name for himself on the Amateur Athletic Union basketball circuit, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The fifth-grader has worked out with the Knicks and the Bulls’ Derrick Rose – and is considered by some as the most talented 10-year-old basketball player in the …

Continue reading Is the best 10-year-old basketball player in Atlanta — or Chicago? »

Kansas forward Marcus Morris is crushed. So were many Jayhawk supporters. (Rich Sugg, Kansas City Star)

The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks were ousted from the NCAA Tournament Saturday, and mostly likely the dreams of many who had them winning it all in the office pool.

Northern Iowa’s miraculous win was far from being the only upset of the day – St. Mary’s toppled Villanova – but likely had the largest implications.

Of the more than 5 million participants in ESPN’s bracket contest, only 0.57 percent had the Panthers moving to the Sweet Sixteen. Dare we say a much larger audience had Kansas going all the way, including one Commander in Chief.

Closer to home, AJC’s own Mark Bradley’s Final Four Fiaso … well, it’s just that. As he put it: he’s been burned by Kansas.

But not all hope is lost. Some AJC readers weren’t swayed by public opinion and are still alive in the contest.

How’s your bracket? Will you keep watching the tournament now? And if so, what’s your rooting …

Continue reading How badly did Kansas bust your bracket? »

This word cloud was created from the transcript of Tiger Woods’ speech using http://www.wordle.net/. The larger a word in the cloud, the more times that word appears in the transcript.

Tiger Woods took to the podium at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and issued an apology to all in his version of the facts from that fateful accident Thanksgiving weekend. It differed greatly from the apology leaked the day before.

In his first public statement in three months, Woods says it remains a private matter between he and his wife, Elin. And apologized for his infidelity to his friends and fans. Here are the photos to prove it.

He cleared his wife of any physical violence and said she did not strike him on Thanksgiving evening, before or thereafter.

In short, “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated.” But you can hear it straight from Tiger. Or see this video for the highlights. If you don’t feel like hearing Tiger, you …

Continue reading The World Wide Web of Tiger Woods »