Heat Check: Falcons and seedings, Hawks and retreads
The Hawks' Jeff Teague amuses himself and others at Media Day. (Photo by David Tulis)
Our weekly Heat Check returns after, er, a week off. (Why the week off? Because I’ve again reached the point when I realize I have more vacation days remaining than there are workdays left in the calendar year.) So we’re playing catch-up hotness, as it were.
The Atlanta Falcons: They staged a huge rally in Charlotte to get to 8-5. On Thursday they play a Jacksonville team that has already dumped its coach. If the playoffs began tomorrow, they’d be the NFC’s No. 5 seed, which would mean they’d miss having to play in New Orleans twice in a 14-day span. Instead they’d get the winner of the NFC East in Round 1, and that winner will be the Giants or the Cowboys or maybe even the Eagles. Heat Index: No. 5 would suit this team just fine.
The Atlanta Hawks: They’re back at work. They’ve added Tracy McGrady, Jerry Stackhouse and Vladimir Radmanovic, none of whom is as good as he used to be but two of whom should be of use. Jamal Crawford still hasn’t found a job. Josh Smith still hasn’t gotten traded. And I believe you’re up to date. Heat Index: The buzz on this team isn’t exactly overwhelming; truth to tell, it isn’t even whelming.
The Atlanta Braves: They went to the Winter Meetings and came home without making a trade. The only thing I can think is that some impostor must have gone in Frank Wren’s stead. Heat Index: Is the Tyler Pastornicky Era indeed upon us?
The Georgia Bulldogs: Mark Richt is negotiating a new contract, presumably including a new Ford truck. A year ago, this wouldn’t have been seen as good news in most precincts. Today it has to be viewed as a just reward for a turnaround season. Heat Index: Is the Keith Marshall Era indeed upon us, and if so, what will we recall about the Isaiah Crowell Era?
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (different sport): Pretty significant win for Brian Gregory, who went to Athens and did in his first try what Paul Hewitt couldn’t manage in five trips — winning at Georgia. Add the November signing of Shiloh High big man Robert Carter, whom Georgia wanted very much, and it’s possible to wonder if the new Tech man hasn’t already begun to erode the in-state gains made by Mark Fox. Heat Index: On the other hand, the ACC schedule hasn’t yet commenced. If Tech finishes above .500, Gregory should get one of those Hewitt lifetime contracts. (Kidding! I’m kidding!)
Chris Paul: Both Los Angeles teams want this guy. Don’t know why. If he was so good, wouldn’t Billy Knight have drafted him? Heat Index: “I’m telling you — Marvin Williams is going to have a breakout season.” Heard that before?
Ryan Braun: The National League MVP has tested positive for a banned substance. Braun insists he did nothing untoward, and why shouldn’t we believe him? Because Bud Selig, who lives in Milwaukee, keeps telling us that baseball has weaned itself of steroids under his eagle-eyed aegis. Heat Index: In other news, Braun plays for the Milwaukee Brewers, the team Commissioner Selig used to own.
Charlie Weis: Just became the head coach at Kansas after a fine year’s work at Florida. Who else but a mastermind could have taken Urban Meyer’s leftovers and crafted the nation’s 102nd-most-productive offense? Heat Index: I can’t imagine many Gators will shed tears over Mr. Schematic Advantage’s departure. But maybe Georgia fans should.
By Mark Bradley
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134 comments Add your comment
dawg tired
December 13th, 2011
1:26 pm
Jeff Teague needs another tattoo. I see a square inch behind his left ear looking bare.
Nativebird
December 13th, 2011
1:31 pm
Good riddance Mr. left over Notre Dame couldnt get it done Charlie Weiss. The Gator-Nation, luckily, hardly knew ya.
PreyDawg
December 13th, 2011
2:04 pm
Mark,
How about a heat check on the current Bulldog basketball team. I know they have been horrible inside, but sometimes (in the first half) I see some glimpses. Any thoughts?
SawThat1nce
December 13th, 2011
3:08 pm
I hated to see Weis’s departure from Gatorland.
Herschel Talker
December 13th, 2011
3:12 pm
MB:
UGA will come to regret giving Richt a long term deal. Richt showed in the LSU game what happens when they play a good team. All the weak minded fans got so giddy after a run of wins against unranked teams. They still just squeezed by Vandy and Kentucky.
I see a bowl loss ahead. Sorry kool aid drinking fans. Another 10 years of mediocrity with a long term deal.
FIRE MARK RICHT!
HT
Dontavius Supremo
December 13th, 2011
3:23 pm
The klast time I checked, no one gave a flip about the NBA.
UGA Insider
December 13th, 2011
3:46 pm
Driving up to Atlanta tomorrow to see the Falcons and looking forward to it. It’s gonna be electric in the GA Dome.
Buckeye
December 13th, 2011
3:50 pm
Ah, a new Built Ford Tough for Win With’s football Saturdays. Can’t wait. I predict total baldness in the next three years. Shave or go w/ the dreads, I say. That’s what the dog homey’s want.
Buckeye
December 13th, 2011
3:51 pm
OMG, another athlete with tatts?? I thought we had a corner on that market!
Farnsworthy
December 13th, 2011
3:52 pm
Sports are a bust for the entire state of Georgia. The Braves had an embarrassing and historic choke, the Falcons are poised to disappoint, the Hawks fizzled, the Dogs got stomped by a bunch of Cajuns, and Tech both broke NCAA rules and fell short on the field.
It is so bad, the ice hockey team split to Canada.
Skeezix
December 13th, 2011
3:56 pm
Mark: If the charges against Braun hold up, will he be stripped of his MVP title? If gulity as charged, I think he should lose it.
Skeezix
December 13th, 2011
4:06 pm
I guess it’s my age, but I just don’t get why someone would want to have tatoos all over their body–especially in visible places. What happened to one or two small ones on the upper arm where no one sees them 99% of the time? I grew up in a Marine Corps family and a lot of young Marines would have USMC on their upper arms. I’m okay with something like that. However, I really hate to look at a bunch of stupid tatoos in exactly the same way I hate to look at paisley shirts or pants.
Kings of Mediocrity
December 13th, 2011
4:12 pm
The approach so far by the Braves management is hard to believe. They don’t seem to feel any urgency whatsoever to improve the team after it’s epic collapse.
Maybe it’s just that they can’t advertise the fact that their owners will not allow them to spend money.
But if they really believe that having the fouth best record at the end of August is explanation enough for not making big changes to find an offense, then get ready for several lousy years in the division.
LawDawg
December 13th, 2011
4:53 pm
Charlie Weis: The most overrated coach in history not named Norv.
Buckeye
December 13th, 2011
4:56 pm
Urban sends his Holiday regards from Columbus:
TIME OUT
TIME OUT
TIME OUT
All I remember is
December 13th, 2011
5:46 pm
Philips Arena is a dump.
Ben
December 13th, 2011
5:48 pm
Disagree that Richt had a really good year and can command a substantial contract extension. He lost to all 3 of the good teams he faced, did not play ‘Bama or Arkansas, and if he loses to Michigan State, which is a legitimate concern if they come in fired up, then he will be 0-4 against good teams. Maybe there is hope with so many starters returning and next year’s weak schedule excepting the trip to ‘Bama.
dawg4u
December 13th, 2011
6:15 pm
Mark Richt won the SEC CG in twice in his first five seasons and now has gone six seasons without winning it. The fact that we were ahead at halftime and then lost by 32 points just does not warrant a contract extension yet. We lost to the three best teams we played so please let’s just wait before giving him a contract extension and see what happens next year. The first five years were pretty good but the last six have produced not much of anything to write home about outside of the second half of the 2007 season.
Time
December 13th, 2011
7:06 pm
It’s a good thing Vince Dooley didn’t have to be judged in this type of environment. People like “Hershel Talker” here would have ran him out long before he won the mythical NC. It’s a mythical championship to begin with. Most smart football people know UGA had the best team in the country a couple years in Richt’s tenure, just hasn’t played out for us. YET. Grantham was a great hire, and his sticking with Bobo may actually be starting to pay off. This year was the first in quite some time where I didn’t have complaints about playcalling. Was very good for the most part. Give it some time and be patient and the NC will come. And all those who want him gone should probably look south to Tallahassee. They ain’t been so hot since Richt left. People ought to think about that.
Silly Bloggers
December 13th, 2011
7:24 pm
First off, UGA must either give Richt a contract extension or fire him. Why? Because no recruit of any substance is going to commit to a school where the coach is very likely gone in one or two years. Every competing coach would say, “Look at UGA…they didn’t extend Richt’s contract. He is on the way out. Don’t go to UGA”.
Second, who are you going to replace Richt with? Granted, they got killed by LSU, but who didn’t outside of Bama. And you can’t blame the coaches for King and Mitchell dropping balls. Chances are LSU would have won anyway, but 21 – 0 could have changed the entire dynamic. USCe should have been won, but it wasn’t. Do you truly not think UGA would have beat USCe later in the year? Personally, I am pleased with the overall coaching job. The play calling was iffy at times, but Bobo didn’t have a lot to work with as far as a running game. The defense was lights out most of the year. Even against LSU, they weren’t bad in the second half if you consider poor special teams play and turning the ball over. The 1st half speaks for itself. Seriously, outside of LSU and Bama, what SEC team would you want to switch positions with?
dawg4u
December 13th, 2011
7:51 pm
Mark Richt’s contract runs through the 2013 season. If you use the argument that you have to either extend his contract or fire him then that would be good if he had won anything in the past six years. He has not. A recruit in many instances will sign with the school where he feels he has the best chance to get significant playing time. Let’s not forget that the last three years before this season we regressed under Richt. We are currently at 10-3 pending the outcome of the bowl game with Michigan State. The fact is that we still lost to the three best teams we played. A recruiting tactic that I would have if I were at UGA would be to let the player know how valuable he is to the program and that we can really get better if he signs with us. The prospective recruit knows that this coach has won nothing in the past six years. I say that if you extend Richt’s contract then only do it for a couple of years or so. You have to evaluate the coaches based on performance not on whether or not not extending a contract will damage the recruiting process!
MitchC
December 13th, 2011
8:52 pm
Mark, of the things you mentioned.
Unless Wren gets his head out of his.. you know.. the Braves could realistically be looking at a third place finish, and a non contending team in 2012.
The Phillies are the Phillies, and the Marlins improved with Reyes, even though they didnt get Albert. The Braves will still have the hangover from The Collapse. Please tell me how this team contends for a wild card, even though Schultz thinks they will.
I think Wren has to do something, psychologically. If the Braves dont make the playoffs in 2012, it will be time for Wren to go, and probably to take Fredi G along with him.
Nativebird
December 13th, 2011
9:24 pm
Ha, yeah. and I got my Falcon’s “Playoff” tickets Invoice in the mail today from Arthur Blank. Are you kidding me? The Birds have as much chance at a home playoff game as a they do at stopping a Aaron Rogers slant pass over the middle turning into a 70 yard touchdown strike…..zippo. The attempt at banking (gouging) your season ticket holders cash for worthless playoff tickets comes off particularly distasteful when it’s clear you run a franchise simply to be “relevent” versus win championships. The Lip-service is wearing thin Arthur!
Bird
December 14th, 2011
12:02 am
LSU 42 GEORGIA 10
real
December 14th, 2011
1:30 am
Please just get rid of Marvin Williams…give him away for free…just get him out of our uniform
pj
December 14th, 2011
2:14 am
Mark – welcome back. Idle time is the devil’s playground. Dawgs are scorching. Chip’s depth chart article got me all giggly. Best WR group we have ever had in – well ever. And Tim Tebow is the heat master right now, so shake off the rust and get your “Timmaaay!!” On.
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ZinoDawg
December 14th, 2011
6:59 am
Kansas loves FAT coaches!
Terrell
December 14th, 2011
5:16 pm
PaulieOldSchool
Insanity can’t be used when you describe the Hawks. They have made changes. It may not be the ones you want but there are changes. Also isn’t it insane to gut up your team to get one All Star player? We’ve seen teams do it in the past and it has kicked them in the the butt more times than none. Suppose we just get rid of everybody and start over then nobody’s going to want to play for the Hawks. We can’t get an All Star player because it requires giving up All Star talent. Since we don’t have that we have to give up really good talent to get one person and then we’re back at where we were when we gutted the team a few years back. Now that’s insanity.
falc fan
If the Falcons were the 6th seed they would play Green Bay regardless because the #1 seed always plays the lowest seeded team in the 2nd round. At least as a 5th seed there’s a chance that the 6th seed wins their game and if we win ours we will play either the 49ers or the Saints (whoever gets that 2nd seed).
William Casey
December 16th, 2011
1:07 am
I’m a GT fan of fifty years but just don’t get some UGA “fans’” critical of Coach Richt. The Dawgs played for the SEC title in spite of chaos at tailback in a tailback oriented system. It’s not out of the question for UGA to compete for the National Championship but Herschel Walker was a once in a lifetime impact player. Delusions of grandeur. Maybe don’t extend the contract until after next year but give the man some credit for bringing the Dawgs back from the dead this year. LSU simply had WAY more talent. Coach Richt’s game plan had UGA in the game for a half.
Jack P
December 18th, 2011
11:33 am
With Crawford gone, unless Joe Johnson wakes up from that deep sleep he was in during last season, the Hawks are destined to be among the “also rans” this season. Looks to me like that $123 million contract Johnson received last season was one of the dumbest decisions the Hawks have made in quite sometime. However, here’s hoping that Joe is going to be the player he can be and join the ranks among the NBA’s best.
Wren's Retreads
December 18th, 2011
4:02 pm
Well I guess the off season is going to pass on by and we will be left with reading pitiful stories about Wren’s Losing Retreads………
JGralton
December 18th, 2011
10:07 pm
ATL Insight Blog: Atlanta’s Top 20 Athletes – http://bit.ly/atlblog