Jeff Schultz

Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and the Hawks are looking smaller by the game. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

It would be unfair to assume that the Hawks are crumbling after three consecutive home debacles, just as it would’ve been presumptuous to believe that a team without Al Horford (and his backup) could maintain a 16-6 pace for the rest of the NBA season.

But at the very least, this basketball team has slipped into that uncomfortable zone between concern and panic. I call it: trouble.

They look fatigued. They look disinterested or lost or, worst of all, hopeless. They certainly look short. A team loses the 6-foot-10 Horford and the 7-0 Jason Collins, and suddenly you half-expect 6-8 “center” Ivan Johnson and two members of the Lollipop Guild to run on to the court wearing colored shorts and striped leggings and start singing to Dorothy.

Yes. It’s only three games. If the Hawks can rebound and defeat Indiana on Wednesday night in their half-empty home of Philips Arena, they will be 17-9 …

Continue reading Hawks can’t take on world when they look like Munchkins »

Joe Johnson and the Hawks have fallen flat the last three games after a 16-6 start. (AP photo)

One week ago, the Hawks won a game by 23 points in Toronto. They went 4-1 on a road trip — their most successful trip in 43 years — and held one of the best records in the NBA at 16-6.

Then the team came home, and it was like watching Sybil change personalities.

The Hawks lost to the 9-14 Phoenix Suns, 99-90, on Monday night at Philips Arena. That makes three straight home losses to Memphis, Philadelphia and Phoenix. They’ve trailed by 20-plus points in all three games.

The one thread in the three losses has been a mixed effort.

There are several reasons why this may have happened. The most obvious: Being undersized without two centers, Al Horford (potentially out for the season) and Jason Collins (sidelined for two weeks), has led to physical fatigue, which has led to mental fatigue.

Players are not nearly as aggressive as they were earlier in the season. They’re not sharing the …

Continue reading Hawks lose again — and it’s clear they need some help »

Brent Grimes has proven to be the best cornerback on Falcons' roster. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)

(This is the third in a series of blogs in which I’ll focus on some high-profile Falcons’ veterans and their respective uncertain future with the team.)

The Falcons might try to find some solace in the fact that they lost in the playoffs two straight years to the ultimate Super Bowl champion.But that somewhat falls into the lipstick-on-a-pig category. That defense would carry more weight if the team had played like a legitimate contender in the playoffs and not lost by lopsided scores of 48-21 (Green Bay) and 24-2 (New York).

In this corner in the past few weeks, we’ve focused on a few possible ways the Falcons can fix their roster. We debated the future of running back Michael Turner and whether his salary ($5 million) and his age (30) next season and signs of wear merited him being brought back.

We also focused on five high-profile acquisitions (two draft, three free agency) …

Continue reading Falcons’ fixes (part 3): Sign Grimes, Lofton; balk on Abe »

This thumbs up by Mark Richt came long before the recent offseason incidents by his players. (AP photo)

(Second update at 10:45 a.m. with third player being kicked off team and Mark Richt’s statement.)

So much for the feel good atmosphere in Athens.

After a bounce-back season and another strong recruiting class, the relative serenity of the football program has been blown up.

Three freshmen players, defensive back Nick Marshall, wide receiver Sanford Seay and defensive back Chris Sanders, have been kicked off the team.  Marshall and Seay reportedly stole money, possible from teammates. It wasn’t immediately known if Sanders was linked to the same incident.

Our Chip Towers confirmed Marshall was dismissed after speaking with the player’s former Wilcox County High School coach, Mark Ledford. Seay’s exit was first reported by Seth Emerson of the Macon Telegraph.

All of this comes only two weeks after the arrest of starting cornerback Sanders Commings, who was booked by campus …

Continue reading Georgia (dismissals, arrest) setting bad offseason pace (update II) »

Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White seemed to enjoy themselves at the Pro Bowl. (AP photo)

(UPDATED: 4:45 p.m.)

Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said Thursday that next season probably will be his last — though it’s not the first offseason he has said that, nor does should it come as a surprise.

Gonzalez, who last month signed a one-year, $6.9 million contract extension with the idea that the 2012 season might be his last one, oddly made Thursday’s declaration not through the team or his agent but rather on an ESPN/Facebook chat, which can be found by clicking here. He is in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl and has been doing interviews on radio row.

Approximately five minutes into the Facebook chat, Gonzalez was asked, “How much longer will you be in the NFL?”

His response: “One year. I said that last year though, and the year before. But I really do believe this is it. First of all, this is the first time my wife came to me and said, ‘You’re only going to play one more year, …

Continue reading Tony Gonzalez says (again) next season will be his last (UPDATED) »

Paul Johnson would like a few months of peace, but no such luck. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)

(UPDATED: 7:45 p.m.)

On a day generally reserved for recruits having their hat-switching, Pepsodent-smiling, ESPN moment, when college football fans amusingly obsess over questions like, “Ooh-ooh, how many stars?” Georgia Tech added a hard-news element to the circus.

Seven months after getting hit by NCAA probation and being stripped of its 2009 ACC title (pending appeal), the Jackets finally officially confirmed that offensive line coach Todd Spencer had “resigned” (read: fired) over matters of excessive texting to recruits (read: stupid) and threw itself on the mercy of NCAA investigators (read: tea leaves?).

This shouldn’t take away from the 17 high school seniors who signed their letters of intent with Tech on Wednesday. It shouldn’t detract from the decisions of talented recruits such as Justin Thomas (quarterback), Marcus Allen (running back/linebacker) and Francis Kallon …

Continue reading Tech’s signing party doused by another brain lapse (updated) »

Orlando has lost four straight and Dwight Howard looks like he has checked out, which can't please coach Stan Van Gundy. (AP photo)

Dwight Howard is good. Really good. He is one of the five best players in the world. He is the best center in the world. He is so good that he is in that special I-only-need-one-damn-name-because-THAT’S-how-good-I-am category. (Others: LeBron, Kobe, Dwyane.)

But here’s another thing about Dwight Howard, superstar, Olympian, Atlanta native, solid citizen, blahblahblah: He has jumped the rails. He can – and almost certainly will – opt out of his contract with the Orlando Magic following this season, assuming the team doesn’t trade him before that happens.

The Magic should have dealt Howard before the season. They have not handled this situation well, and now the Magic appear in the midst of an early-season crumble, having lost four straight and six of eight. But there’s one person who looks worse than anybody in the Orlando front office …

Continue reading Dwight Howard’s diva tendencies are not a good sign »

If this was Pledge of Allegiance, Janet would have right hand over her heart, not left hand over … you know.

Like most people in the regular and underworlds, The Count likes the Super Bowl, not for the game but for the food and the commercials, and that rare occasion when the the NFL halftime show morphs into a night at the “Club Hubba Hubba,” less for the split-second look at part of one of Janet Jackson’s breastacles (I saw it! I saw it!) but because it looked like somebody had just connected jumper cables to the toes of then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who said, “We were extremely disappointed by the MTV-produced halftime show. The show was offensive, inappropriate and embarrassing to us and our fans.” After which the league showed more commercials to help you get drunk and correct erectile dysfunction. (”Daddy, why did mommy laugh at the Viagra commercial?”) Any way, this is Super Bowl week, and that means more new commercials and hopefully nothing to surprising at …

Continue reading Countdown: Super ads, PETA’s wings, Saban’s job offer? »

It took a while for Fredi Gonzalez to let go of last season's collapse. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

Four months after the last game, the last loss, the 20th loss in 30 games, it still doesn’t make sense. Players get hurt. Players slump. But does one get one’s mind around the worst collapse in franchise history and one of the worst ever in sports?

“You go over it in your mind a million times. You ask yourself, ‘Is there something I could have done better?’” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “After a while, it drives you crazy. This is really the first time I’ve talked about this, although I’m sure I’ll be asked 200 times at spring training. But we tried things. We had meetings. We had meetings for everything. We had meetings to decide about meetings. After a while it’s like, ‘How many times can I perform an autopsy?’”

Four months after the last game, the last loss, the spiral that crushed a team and its fan base, Gonzalez is going to struggle to convince …

Continue reading Fredi Gonzalez says Braves’ autopsy over — he’s moving on »

Georgia recruit Chester Brown (left) had scholarship hopes derailed by the state's policy on illegal immigrants and undocumented students. (Photo by 247Sports.com)

Don Balfour picked up the phone and said the first thing that you would expect when a Georgia state senator gets a phone call from a sportswriter.

“I don’t normally talk to sportswriters,” he said.

To which I responded that I don’t normally talk to politicians, unless you count commissioners, owners, general managers, coaches, some athletes, their agents, public-relations directors … on second thought, never mind.

Sports and politics overlapped this week. Chester Brown, a 6-foot-5, 340-pound mountain of a teenager, was forced to withdraw his  commitment to the Georgia football team because of an immigration issue.

This is where things get kind of screwy. Brown is the son of Samoan immigrants. His mother says Brown was born in the United States, not Samoa, and is a citizen, but the family apparently …

Continue reading Board of Regents can’t alter immigration policy for one Bulldog »