Live from New York, about to watch the other Big Blue!
Two stadiums: We're in the one on the left. The new one opens in 2010. (Photo by M. Bradley)
East Rutherford, N.J. – I’d never say I’m smart or anything. For one thing, you folks know better. For another, I thought there was no way my alma mater would win in Athens last night. (When last my alma mater won in Athens, I was just out of school. And that was a long time ago.)
But I digress. This isn’t about Willie Martinez or Mark Richt. (I suspect we’ll get around to both these next few days.) This is about the Falcons, who are about to play the New York Giants, and the one thing I can say for sure is that they’re almost exactly where I expected them to be on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
I had them 5-4 at this point, and the only part I got wrong was I had the results of the Carolina games flipped. I also had them losing today. But I also had them winning the NFC South, which won’t happen, and finishing 10-6, which is still within reach even if they’re 5-5 when night falls on Manhattan. (Which is across the river, as you might know. And yes, I’m aware I’m not technically “live from New York,” but somehow “live from Jersey” doesn’t resonate.)
Before you ask, I should report that — as of 10:31 a.m. EST — there’s no word on the availability of Michael Turner or Jerious Norwood. Esteemed colleague D. Orlando Ledbetter is endeavoring to find out whether either or both will play, but I can’t see Turner doing much if he does anything. And how long has it been since Norwood did anything, period?
(UPDATE: Both Turner and Norwood are inactive.)
And that’s all I’ve got at the moment. Except for this: When last Kentucky won at Sanford Stadium, Prince Charles and James Brown were in attendance. (The year was 1977.) Kentucky would win 33-0 — the Big Blue finished 10-1 that year but couldn’t go to a bowl owing to, er, probation — and it was essentially a wretched day all around for Vincent J. Dooley. But one memory still makes him smile:
Dooley and Fran Curci, who was Kentucky’s coach and who had no great appreciation for the trappings of royalty, were standing at midfield before the game when the Prince of Wales was escorted up. Dooley said, “Your highness, this is Fran Curci.”
And Curci said, “Hey, Prince.”
I’ll advise if any princes happen by today. If they do, I’ll say hey for you. And I’ll be here to chat about anything — Falcons, Giants, Dogs, Cats, James Brown — until this one ends. Please join me, won’t you?
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1,676 comments Add your comment
bigstack19
November 22nd, 2009
5:42 pm
The Saints can win all of the regular season games they want, bit they will lose in the playoffs like they always do Remember, Drew Brees has less playoff victories than Michael Vick.
flafalcon
November 22nd, 2009
5:43 pm
We are not ready yet. D.B.’s kill us. No way to fix it this year I guess this years draft was a bust. Hope we can make up for it next year.Have given #12 every chance in the book and he keeps on costing us. Guess we should give Weem’s a shot. Not giving up hope we can still pull out a playoff spot. Been a long time fan, My Dad took me and my Brother to great the Falcons at Hartsfield 40 years ago today to great them on their 1st win against the Giants. GO Birds!
james
November 22nd, 2009
5:47 pm
For the first time ever, I only watched this game when the Falcons were on offense. Thank God for NFL Sunday Ticket. That includes the OT session that I refused to watch! Sadly, the Falcons are just that predictable!
Extremus
November 22nd, 2009
5:49 pm
Hey everyone,
If a nearly identical post to the one I made earlier comes up, I’m sorry if it ends up looking like I posted the same thing twice. I initially had trouble when I clicked “Submit” the first time, and it took several minutes for my first post to come up. I just felt so strongly about what I’d written, I took the time and wrote it out again. Like I said, I’d very much like to see a sense of civility and decency return to these forums.
GO FALCONS!!!!!
B-Rog
November 22nd, 2009
5:50 pm
Really dawg fan 49-7 UGA. Ha loser, who are you kidding. Is Cox going to throw more TD’S or PICKS
Men vs Boys
November 22nd, 2009
5:53 pm
Same ol Falcons. This franchise just cannot maintain any growth from season to season. Even the kicking position has vanished in a puff of smoke!
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2009
5:59 pm
Here’s the game column. Judging from your reaction, some of you will disagree with its premise.
Dump The Chump
November 22nd, 2009
6:01 pm
The more I read these boards the more I’m convinced the Falcons are cursed…by a few die-hard ANTI-FANS that work more tirelessly to disrupt the harmony and sense of community these forums were meant to have, and cheer more for the team’s failures, than the rest of us pull for them to succeed combined. This is ridiculous; as I scroll down through these discussions, every single time, it seems almost a third if not more of the posts are made by the same few (if not one) individuals, who are putting an unreal amount of time and effort simply into making other people miserable. I mean, at least the Braves and Hawks so far haven’t been afflicted with such a needlessly devisive situation (and I hope they never are). It’s sad when a player is remembered positively by a segment of the community without regard for his off-the-field actions simply because of the color of his skin, then the same people turn on a promising young replacement and applaud his struggles and mistakes because of racial hatred. It’s disgusting, and it needs to stop, now.
You want to be a race fan, go watch NASCAR. You want to cry “freedom of speech” and say it gives you just reason to wreak havoc on these boards, well I’ve got news for you; the basic individual and civil rights we enjoy in this nation (which are more precarious every day) are LIMITED to the extent that they DO NOT infringe on the rights of another citizen. That means Mark Bradley and the AJC are well within their rights to ban anyone coming on here and spewing vitriol and hatred for the sake of spewing vitriol and hatred.
That said, the loss today hurts, no doubt about it. But I believe the Falcons will come to play every single game from now through the end of the season, win or lose. If they don’t quite make the playoffs or break that stupid streak of non-consecutive winning seasons, well, that’s fine; it’s just a ballgame in the end, and there’s always next year to get healthy again and to get the pieces in place we clearly still need. When I think long-term I still see this team going to the Superbowl in the near future, and winning. By then hopefully all of this childish race-baiting will be a distant memory and these boards will be a place where Falcons fans can cheer on their team without people walking on their rights to do so without distraction.
———
Extremus. I luv you bro. You are the best. The AJC needs to simply eliminate the sports section. Between the bloggers and the sports writers all this pessimism is starting to wear on me. I am Matty Ice and although i can handle linemen, I can’t stand bloggers and sportswriters.
These folks have never played a down of football and yet they want to sit back and criticze me all the time. Joe Cox was right.
—
good job. here are some smiley faces for you.
Dump The Chump
November 22nd, 2009
6:02 pm
next week
Kane337
November 22nd, 2009
6:02 pm
I’ll be a big Bronco’s and Lion’s fan on Turkey day.
JSS
November 22nd, 2009
6:03 pm
To all of the whiners…
There is a pro/everything is happy/the Falcons are the greatest thing since the wheel forum over on Atlanta Falcons.com
The same thing can said on the Pro UGA blog.
The problem is that you want everyone to agree with your vision. Being myopic gives one that impression and perspective on matters. It is funny how many who call Vick Supporter and Matty “Choke” Ryan race baiters never say a thing about BugKiller, 45ACP, Cuz, Stendec, Chef Tim Dix, Bravesfan79, and Larry. I must admit, I find this silliness amusing most of the time. Arthur Blank could care less if you live or die; or if have a place to live. Moreover, he could care less about the general welfare of the community at large. He didn’t care when the previous coaching staff was here and he doesn’t care now. Now, you can love Matt Ryan if you like, bless your little souls. But you can not compel anybody else to like him. You can not make them speak favorably of him. You can not make them want to be him or like him… This is the same as the fans of Michael Vick could never make you do the same for him…
P.S. Roger Goodell and the owners of the NFL only care how much product you buy, games you attend, and games you watch!!! They don’t care about you!
BravesFan79
November 22nd, 2009
6:08 pm
This loss sucked, but i still think we have a chance this year. You fans that are giving up already are morons and can stay off the bandwagon as far as im concerned when we go to the super bowl in 2011 or 2012. We just need some defensive upgrades. I miss Morten Anderson… at least he was automatic inside the 40. Someone call him back out of retirment. This is not the same Jason Elam that i saw all those years kicking 50+ yard field goals in the wind of Mile High helping John Elway win.
catfish31015
November 22nd, 2009
6:24 pm
How many online forum group members does it take to change a lightbulb?
1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.
7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.
53 to flame the spell checkers.
41 to correct spelling/grammar flames.
6 to argue over whether it’s “lightbulb” or “light bulb”…another 6 to condemn those 6 as anal-retentive
2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is “lamp”.
15 know-it-alls who claim *they* were in the industry, and that “light bulb” is perfectly correct.
156 to email the participant’s ISPs complaining that they are in violation of their “acceptable use policy”.
109 to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb group
203 to demand that cross posting to hardware forum, off-topic forum, and lightbulb group about changing light bulbs be stopped.
111 to defend the posting to this group saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this group.
306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty.
27 to post URL’s where one can see examples of different light bulbs.
14 to post that the URL’s were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL’s.
3 to post about links they found from the URL’s that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group.
33 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add “Me too”.
12 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy.
19 to quote the “Me too’s” to say “Me three”.
4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.
44 to ask what is a “FAQ”.
4 to say “didn’t we go through this already a short time ago?”
143 to say “do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs”.
1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again….
BossMan
November 22nd, 2009
6:24 pm
Son, 31 points should win any Sunday! It’s plain for those who CAN see that the defense lost this game and that’s that. If you blame Ryan for this one then you need to learn the game. Have you even ever played organized football? Then again, there are some kids in here that like the attention.
Al
November 22nd, 2009
6:25 pm
JSS—
Thats a great post at 6:03.
Groundedfalcon
November 22nd, 2009
6:28 pm
Dear JSS/GOD!!!!
That sure is depresing. Thanks alot! I’m depressed enough after the game.
Excuse me now I’ve got to go hang myself.
Boo! hoo!!! THE END P.S. Get real! Oh Cynical one!
lamac66
November 22nd, 2009
6:32 pm
This is ridiculous; as I scroll down through these discussions, every single time, it seems almost a third if not more of the posts are made by the same few (if not one) individuals, who are putting an unreal amount of time and effort simply into making other people miserable.
LOL, the above diatribe is too funny to me. A blog can make someone miserable? Don’t read them!! Freedom of speech is great to some except when they do not like the speech that is excercised. Too funny to me.
Dump The Chump
November 22nd, 2009
6:33 pm
Son, 31 points should win any Sunday! It’s plain for those who CAN see that the defense lost this game and that’s that. If you blame Ryan for this one then you need to learn the game. Have you even ever played organized football? Then again, there are some kids in here that like the attention.
—–
Thankf or following the script and not mentioning that my fumble turned to seven points. We need to stick together as fans. Guaranteed W. next week. see you at the dome.
Groundedfalcon
November 22nd, 2009
6:42 pm
Hey, anybody remember when Rankin Smith was the owner and threatned to move the team if a Dome wasn’t built?
How did that saying go? Oh yeah, “Go Falcons and take the Braves and Hawks with you”.
james
November 22nd, 2009
6:54 pm
I will even take a Taliban field goal kicker if he’s able to make anything inside of 40 yards! Would love to awaken to the news that Elam is an ex-Falcon!
LOL
November 22nd, 2009
7:02 pm
Well falcon loyalist have fun reviewing the game the score will not change. Got to go they are talking to Saints and Colts.
Once "Recent" Reader
November 22nd, 2009
7:37 pm
Choke – I have to confess your posts have me actually rooting against Flacco . . .and for no other reason than your posts. I despise being so petty . . .but I was actually happy when I saw him throw that Int in or near the Red Zone with little time left . . and the Colts leading by only 2. Damn . . .I probably would have been rooting for the kid if he wasn’t your Poster Boy in the anti-Ryan bashing. And I used to think I was rational . . . . . . . . . …
Barkin'Dog
November 22nd, 2009
8:23 pm
Dump The Chump – November 22nd, 2009 – 6:01 pm
Well put, my man — couldn’t have said it better… and my feelings precisely. JSS… stick it where the sun don’t shine (I don’t consider BugKiller, 45ACP, Cuz, race-baiters, but classy posters. As for Stendec – he’s always been a foul-mouthed-writing jerk). I for one would love to simply chat about our teams without all of the ignorant, insulting garbage. But that would mean discriminating against the likes of JSS, Choke, m and others who know who you are. I’m a Flacon fan, a Dawg fan, a Hawks fan and a braves fan (and virtually any SEC team not playing the Dawgs that week)… and all the losing in the world won’t make me insult the team players or coaches. I have shown patience over many years for winning seasons, and have be rewarded with some. I can only hope for more. But, many of you self-centered individuals want instant gratification, and will bitch and moan until you get your way. That will never change… unfortunately. Get over yourselves and enjoy the games for what they are… GAMES!
lamac66
November 22nd, 2009
9:56 pm
High 5 JSS!!
JSS
November 23rd, 2009
2:51 am
Not looking for accolades, but thank you… You people who always delve into having to sodomize another human being (even if it is inferred) are incredible… I call them what they are, people who use code words for the darkest recesses of the human psyche… Then they actually have the nerve to call other people: “internet trolls,” when they post in excess of 20 times daily on multiple blogs themselves… Amazing, go pray at the altar of the played out Pat Riley hair gel product clone Jon Kincaid…
Barkin’ Dog, of course they are “classy posters,” low class posters… By the way, if I wanted instant gratification, I’d certainly not be a fan of any Atlanta sports franchise, that would just be self-emasculation!
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