Georgia Tech Vs Virginia Tech

Well folks, the Yellow Jackets are legit. There is no denying it. At 6-1, the Jackets may be poised to make a run at an ACC title. Tonight's game certainly tested where my allegiance is. Both my mother and my cousin went to Virginia Tech. I have no relatives that call Georgia Tech their alma mator. However, I have only been to a handful of college football games and all of them have been Jackets games. I'm really not a gigantic college sports fan. March madness/bracket madness is awesome and college football certainly has its positives. Simply, the traditions, from Bevo, the Texas Longhorn, to the flight of the Auburn War eagle before games. That being said, I couldn't sit here and spit out stats and an in depth look about which team is better, so I won't. What I do know is that GT's defense really stepped it up, giving up only 23 points after allowing 44 the week before. Josh Nesbitt looked like Tyrod Taylor, only better and both looked like Michael Vick.

Who was I rooting for? As previously mentioned, I have only been to Georgia Tech football games. I lived close to campus when I was a little kid, and specifically remember how cool the intown neighborhoods and dorms are, located right in midtown Atlanta. The sheer pride of Atlanta was what drove me to root for the bees tonight. Heck, it payed off. As fans stormed the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium, I thought, maybe just maybe I would finally fall into my right of allegiance to my Southern roots and become a yelling, screaming college football fan. Then again, that's what I said at the beginning of the season too, and the season before that etc. As we move closer to the "postseason", yes in quotation marks of the college football season, we shall see. Let's hope the fine people of the BCS will adhere to the statement, "Anything can happen."

courtesy: espn.com, collegefootball.about.com, ramblinwreck.com
photo courtesy of ajc.com

Ron Hainsey interview

Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey was interviewed recently on Hockey this Morning. It's worth a listen. He in particular speaks about the thrashers key offensive players including Evander Kane, and mentions a topic that I talked about recently, which is the thrashers schedule. Enjoy

http://www.xmhomeice.com/audio/09-10-15%20Ron%20Hainsey%20on%20HTM.mp3

courtesy: bluelandblog.wordpress.com, xmhomeice.com http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Montreal+Canadiens+v+Atlanta+Thrashers+0QkXyfzb3MZl.jpg

To kick off the first post on the Brave Bird, I thought I would give an update on where we're at in ATL sports. After a run that included at one point a 16 of 19 winning stretch, the Braves called it quits in an ugly way. (tough to get swept by the Nationals).
Jair Jurrjens was named the National League pitcher of the month for September when he went 4-1 with a 1.25 ERA. This highlights a terrific starting rotation for the Braves. If they can keep everybody healthy, they should once again be towards the top of the National League in ERA next season.

The question is what to do about hitting. My take on it is that the Braves have a lot of guys who are decent 270-280 hitters. They also have very few hitters (maybe Greg Norton) whom if at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, you would say oh crap, we're finished. The Braves have overall good fielding but might want to find some more speed for baserunning. Bobby cox also needs to be more confident in letting his guys steal bases. Nate Mclouth had 19 stolen bases and Matt Diaz, 12. However the fact that Yunel Escobar only had five and Omar Infante had two is unacceptable. Anyway, it might seem like a long winter for Braves fans, but spring is right around the corner (kind of) and it will be interesting to see what kind of deals are made to boost this team for what will be Bobby Cox's final season managing the club.

Now, on to the Thrashers. I am very proud with how this team has played thus far. Offensively, we're looking sharp. Kovalchuk is being Kovalchuk, scoring 5 goals in his first three games. Ondrei Pavelec has looked stellar? Did i just say that? Well, it's false. But he's looked decent . I am not going to pretend like a hockey old timer who knows a ton about the game. Heck, I can barely stand on a pair of skates. That being said, i don't quite understand why Pavelec has seemed to be coming off his line so much and leaving clear open net space for a hard slap shot. Perhaps, I am just naive in the ways of hockey goaltending. It will be interesting to see how the Thrashers defense fares against Zack Parise when they travel to Jersey on Friday night. Parise has been relatively quiet to start off the year, with 4 points in 5 games and only one goal. Either he's been quiet or I'm just too used to Kovalchuk. One final hockey note: I understand that the NHL has had to tweak its schedule because of the winter olympics that are coming up. However, it seems odd to me how the thrashers scheduling has been to start off the season:

opener against Tampa: Saturday Night
at Blues: Thursday
at Ottawa: Saturday
at New Jersey: the following Friday
at Buffalo: Saturday
at Montreal: Tuesday

There are a couple of huge spaces between games, one with 6 days between games. Then, there are 3 games in 5 days. It is strange but once again, perhaps it has to do with the Olympics.

Finally, to wrap up this post, lets talk Falcons!
The birds are off to a 3-1 start and exploded on Sunday with a 45-10 win against the 49ers. What good teams to is turn all the positive talk about one team into negative talk. That is exactly what the Falcons did with the Niners. Everyone was raving about their defense. Well, I can tell you that giving up 45 points doesn't exactly help the old fantasy team. My favorite play of the game was when Dre Bly intercepted a pass from Matt Ryan and then as he was celebrating the pick, was forced to the ground, fumbled the ball and the Falcons got the ball back simply having to deal with lost yards on the play. This happened while the falcons were winning 35-10 and the game was already out of the hands of San Francisco. It was enough to make any Falcons fan laugh and any 49ers fan cringe.

Personal Note: Just to be clear, I am currently living in a connecticut suburb of New York City, not in my true hometown of Atlanta, GA. I say this to convey the fact that I have limited broadcasting availability of Atlanta sports. I have already been able to watch two Falcons games(patriots, 49ers this season and am hoping to have a few more (including this week on Sunday Night Football against the Bears.)

information courtesy: nhl.com, braves.com, The Associated Press