two things i love:

1. twitter
2. the atlanta hawks

and one thing that brings me immense glee is the powerful combination of the two. two hawks players tweet with pretty serious regularity, centers al horford (@al_horford) and zaza pachulia (@zaza27). you may remember that zaza even responded to me by twitter this summer when i wrote him a letter on this blog urging him to resign with atlanta (i still take credit for his ultimate resigning too!!)

al horford has been a very engaged twitterer, giving away tickets and hosting q&a sessions with fans. he has even responded to me twice by direct message. fwiw, this is why al is fast becoming a favorite among the hawks faithful. great play, great effort, great personality and being engaged with fans and the community.

in addition, hawks vp of communications, arthur triche (@hawksprman), is active on twitter and will often respond to slam magazine executive editor lang whitaker (@langwhitaker – himself a diehard hawks fan) in 140 character bursts.

add to that hawks tv play-by-play man bob rathburn (@hawksvoice) and several hawks bloggers (@peachtreehoops, @hawkstr8talk) and the official hawks twitter account (@atlanta_hawks) and the hawks twitter community has become an active part of being a fan for me.

so get on board, and don’t forget to follow the hawks banished mascot @spiritthehawk (not official but hillarious none the less.)

follow these people and NOW YOU KNOW!!!!

Atlanta is a good sports town, but not a great one.  No one would put it up there with the great sports towns like Boston, New York, Chicago, or LA.  I wonder if you have to be a great metropolis to be a great sports town, but that is a different post.  This one is about what is missing that prevents Atlanta from being a great sports town rather than just a good one.

I started thinking about this while watching the Hawks lose a close one to Boston last night with James.  None of the Hawks players really have the kind of star power that you get with someone like Kevin Garnett, and it seems like teams in great sports cities either need or attract players with star power.  Kobe, Jordan, Ewing, Garnett, Magic, Bird.  The fact that guys like Karl Malone and John Stockton were big stars in places like Utah are practically the exception that proved the rule – they were notable as much for being stars in out of the way places.  I think you see this across the board in sports.  Obviously the Yankees, but teams like the Cubs and the Red Sox have a certain cachet because they have a great following.  Ditto for the Bears and the Giants.  You can go ahead and substitute the USC football team and its impressive list of stars for this discussion.  

Atlanta has had its stars, of course.  Smoltz, Herschel, ‘Nique, Aaron.  Vick.  The players and teams don’t really stack up with the other towns, though, in terms of city-making icon status.  I’m talking about the folks that the town embraces, stars that become the face of the city.  Jordan/Chicago, Bird/Boston, Ewing/New York, Kobe and Magic/LA.  The stars themselves seem to effuse big-city glamour and prestige.  

Of course, these stars also come with ginormous egos.  Tabloid stories about gambling, or infidelity, who they are dating, etc.  Isn’t that part of what goes along with being a great sports town?  An unhealthy obsession with stars?  

I’m not saying that Atlanta needs all that, or even aspires to be a great sports town.  I’m more just meditating on what exactly it means to be a great sports town.  I think larger than life sports figures are a requirement.

You know how you don’t really appreciate something until it’s gone? Let’s not let it get that far.

Wordsmith’s Books, just off the square in Decatur, is a rare and wonderful thing: a lively local bookstore. I’ll admit, I don’t take advantage of having a store like it around, because I don’t get to spend as much money on books as I’d like. But seeing that we might lose our only Wordsmith’s Books—the only Wordsmith’s Books—has me wanting to make the place a part of my regular existence. I’m going to start tonight, and so can you. Help us out.

(I would’ve mentioned this earlier, but I just found out about it third-hand through the grapevine of area robot-makers. Seriously.)

Tonight, the store is hosting a reading, a musical performance, and a silent auction in an effort to raise enough money to keep the place in business. What’s being auctioned? Robots. Robots, people! How can you not want to get in on that?! These are handmade, locally crafted robots, each one (to the best of my knowledge) unique. Plus, local darlings, the Sealions, will be playing their music when Jack Pendarvis isn’t reading from his new novel, Awesome. Don’t let this opportunity slip by. Read more about this weekend’s Wordsmith’s-saving events at the Wordsmith’s blog.

More to the point, don’t let Wordsmith’s Books slip away. The place has a reputation in the book business—a rep from one of the country’s major publishers mentioned it to me as a great local bookstore, and he’d never been to Atlanta. Wordsmith’s is alive with signing and reading events, local poetry, and special events. If we let it get away then we will just be one more city that doesn’t cherish its independent and local booksellers. Instead, let’s be a city with a noteworthy one-of-a-kind bookshop. Let’s save Wordsmith’s.

One of the greatest shortcomings, so I’m told out here in the suburbs, of Atlanta is that you have to drive everywhere to do anything. Too much of a sprawl. Not a great downtown.

It’s just as true about the truly ex-urb nature of the OTP crowd as well. Folks have to get in a car.

Now the beltline is a good step to start attracting folks in-town and our own james has turned me around about using Marta more regularly (which would rate as “at all” for things not involving the airport of seeing the Braves, Hawks, Falcons or Thrashers) but what people really get moving for is Tennis.

Follow with me.

ALTA is purportedly the world’s largest member tennis organization, the largest recreational community tennis league in the world, says WikiPedia, though a citation is needed.

In any case, folks will drive to play tennis. They will come to tennis facilities in the city to play their matches. My folks, who live in Newnan (charitably an Atlanta suburb), play at least one or two matches at Bitsy Grant each season.

So with all the budgetary problems in the City of Atlanta why not just ask ALTA (or tell them) to pay more to use these public facilities? Why have a dark day when you can charge an incremental fee for those folks who don’t actually live in the city but use the facilities?

I’m not the first person to suggest that suburbanites like myself who work in the city contribute in some way financially (I’m not sure taxation is the right nomenclature here, but it’ll do) to support the infrastructure that benefits their lifestyle. It would make sense that if the city can’t keep up the facilities on their current base then they should either scrap the courts (which is overreaching), close on some days (the current plan) or figure out an alternative source of revenue to keep them open.

The one defining characteristic of Atlantans – at least all the ones I knew in the suburbs as a child and the ones I work with now as an adult – they ALL eventually play tennis for at least a season or two.

I’m no economist or pundit but it seems to me that if there’s an issue that would really get folks who normally don’t think about City of Atlanta problems (other than to complain about crime or congestion), tennis is your ticket (racket?) to think about their impact and role within the city itself and not just as an interloper.

But what do I know? I’m trying to solve a shortfall through tennis. I need my head examined.

Climb on your own soapbox in the comments and rail against suburbanites like me, the Mayor’s office or tennis. We don’t mind; we encourage it.

Now I’m not a sports fan or even that wholly knowledgeable about basketball, but when you’re a new franchise team for a major sports organization and your first season record so far is 0-9…that’s bad, right?

Atlanta Magazine has a poll on their website asking their readers if they would follow the Atlanta Dream. 58% said no, and I’m imagining unless they can pull out a win this season, that percentage may increase. The Dream is working to get fans involved though — right now, you can apply to be an Atlanta Dream fan blogger. Too bad they don’t throw in any nice perks like a free ticket to the game, though. I bet that’d get a lot more people interested.

Atlanta Metroblogging readers, have you been to an Atlanta Dream game this season? What did you think? And do you think the Dream can garner hometown support considering Atlanta’s already fickle relationship with the Hawks?

i tried to tell you a long time ago. our hawks ended the nba’s longest playoff drought and snuck in as an 8 seed in the eastern conference finals.

the hawks open tonight against the celtics in boston. sekou smith has the match-ups, and you can see how hard it will be. the hawks have lost all the regular season games against the celtics by 10 points or more, getting blown out by 23 in the first meeting.

the celtics are arguably the best team in the nba, and one blogger is seriously hoping the hawks can just win ONE game.

the hawks are 15.5 point underdogs, which according to some is probably a good bet. i’d offer to bet my friends over at the boston metblogs but i am a realist.

either way they are in the dance and it’s nice to say i told you so…..

Oh, yes. In prison.

Via Extra Mustard, who have the money quote:

What are the chances of ESPN televising one of these games? We’d bet it’d get better ratings than Arena Foootball.

Should I just stop mentioning Vick?

apparently the revolt is on after the thrashers were eliminated from playoff contention

check out this season ticket holder burning his promo pack for next season.

(i have tried like hell to embed that video, but i just cant make it work :-O)

yikes.

btw – the hawks? still alive, still vying for the playoffs.

h/t to the falconer for the find.

Well helloooo mah babies. Do you know what time it is?

No? Don’t fret. I’ll tell ya.

It’s time for everyones favorite: the “Georgia Rides To The Capitol” event!

Okay, not yet, but the website has been updated with 2008 event information, and registration is now open as well. Registration is free and also entitles the first 2,000 participants to a free light lunch at the event.

Mmmmm. Free light lunch. Sounds delicious.

During the third annual “Georgia Rides to the Capitol” event, cyclists will embark on rides to the Capitol in order to raise support for improved conditions for cycling, including the development of regional systems of bicycling and pedestrian networks.

The event will be Tuesday, March 11, 2008, during the state legislative session. Estimated time of arrival at the Capitol is 11:40 a.m. Your starting time will depend on which city or auxiliary location you choose to start at or which route you choose to join along the way.

For more info, please see: http://www.GeorgiaRidesToTheCapitol.org

Right on, ride on.

but after rattling off an overtime victory last night against shaq and the miami heat, the hawks are now 1 game above .500.

the win extends the hawks winning streak to three games and a quick look at the nba standings show the hawks with a clear route to the playoffs.

i tried to tell you, i tried to tell you again.

do you believe yet?