The above headline is proof-positive that I should never be a copywriter. [Further evidence]

Actual, pertinent story here.

This is neither a Falcon nor a Tuna. Discuss.

Oh, Falcons, will you ever return aspire to glory?

UPDATE: Miami Dolphin puns are even better, so at least this whole debacle isn’t a total loss.

Yesterday I had a post all queued up about the Hawks season so far. They’d reached .500 (10-10) had reeled off 3 straight wins – the last against one of the East’s hottest teams, Orlando – and they seemed ready to make the leap to the next level.

Then this happened:

My wife and I were actually watching live as Raptors guard TJ Ford stole a ball and went in for a layup when rookie Hawk Al Horford fouled him hard in the face, sending Ford to the floor where he struck his head against the court.

My synopsis doesn’t really do it justice. Watch the video. I saw it live and I could hardly believe it.

It really sucks for TJ, a talented young player who already missed an entire season (2004-2005) with back and neck problems. Our thoughts and prayers are with TJ and his family.

Poor guy got the business end of a lazy defensive effort by an equally young and talented, though inconsistent, big man in Al Horford. Yet another reason (for me, anyway) to hate Florida Gators. Horford was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul.

This is a big turning point for the Hawks. How do they overcome this event and the loss of their streak? And what about Toronto?

Oh, and since we’re on sports, the Falcons lost head coach Bobby Petrino to the University of Arkansas.

Is it Baseball season yet? How are the Thrashers even doing?

as i walked into the office this morning i gave the security guard at the desk my obligatory, “how you doing today?”

his response, rather than the usual “well,” was, “a hell of a lot better than arthur blank.”

and you gotta say even with billions you almost have to feel bad for the week the guy is having.

first the qb he bet his franchise on and once pushed around in a wheelchair is sentenced to 23 months in prison in what has to be the most spectacular fall of any professional athelete.

then you go on tv to talk about it and say something that almost instantly gets the race card going.

and then finally your coach quits with no warning and shows up the next day in ARKANSAS of all places, taking another job.

which i guess all goes to show that it’s probably a million times easier to build a multi-national retail corporation than raise the atlanta falcons to prominence.

All over the homepages of CNN.com and SI.com.

This Friday marks the 100th football game played between the University of Georgia Bulldogs (my alma mater’s team) and the hometown Georgia Institute of Technology Yellow Jackets.

It’s a game they call Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate for a reason.

UGA fans calls GT “gnats”, “nerds” or “techies” and refer to their school as “GTU” or an “Institution”

GT fans calls UGA puppies, refer to UGA as “”The University (sic) of Georgia” and teaches their sons, per their fight song:

But if I had a son sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do:
He would yell, “To Hell With Georgia!” like his daddy used to do.

Needless to say there isn’t a lot of love lost between these two schools, fan-bases or teams.

So fire up your TV set for some post-Thanksgiving blood-letting. The game is on Friday Saturday (I won’t be lucky enough to attend this year, but the game is at Bobby Dodd) at 3:30 on ABC.

Go Dawgs!

Atlanta has been awarded a WNBA team for 2008!

It will be privately owned by J. Ronald Terwilliger. I didn’t know who Terwilliger was, but I knew he had to be pretty important if he goes by J. Ronald. (All the important folks drop the first name and just hang with the initial.) Turns out he was former chair of the Urban Land Institute. More about him here.

Anyway, I know there are a lot of folks who don’t bother supporting women’s sports, but I will always be a fan at heart. Sports give young girls great confidence and life skills and it is wonderful to see some of those girls go on to play their sport as grown women.

No word yet on team name, coach, colors, logos, etc., but you can already buy season tix.

okay, a bit of a rant here, but this sunday i went to witness the hawks implosion against the washington wizards, and per my pledge i decided to ride marta to phillips arena.

ugh.

first thing, all of the sporting events are off-peak so if you miss the train by 30 seconds as we did you are totally screwed while you wait another twenty minutes to get the next one.

and then when the game lets out there are absolutely NO trains waiting at the station.

what sucks about this is i know how much better it could be done. in dc, when there is a major event, they run extra trains leading up to the game on the line that runs to the mci center.

and when a game is over? there are trains just waiting, WAITING, to take the crowds home.

seriously, i really want to not drive. i want to do the responsible thing and not drive, but c’mon, can’t marta give a little?

and i would think that atlanta spirit would get on board too. if it was easier to get to, don’t you think that more people would actually go to the games????

okay, i’m done ranting….tell me why i am a fool.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but given the Hawks record (2-2 overall, 2-0 at home, 0-2 on the road, 2-0 versus the West, 0-2 versus the East) maybe we’d do better in the Western Conference where all our young guns could just run, run, run.

In any event, the Hawks try to get their first road win tonight in Boston against the new and improved Boston Celtics, another unbeaten Eastern Conference foe.

And really, the Hawks have been in all 4 of their contests, even leading in the 4th quarter at Detroit. Tonight should be a good test in this young season for a team that seems like they’re getting better all the time.

Besides, someone has to rain on the Boston sports parade, what with all the winning the Sox, Pats, Celts & BC have been doing.

Go Hawks!

i tried to tell you guys. i tried to get some of you on the bandwagon.

last night, the atlanta hawks beat last season’s holder of the best regular season record, the dallas mavericks, 101-94.

yes you heard me right. the hawks beat the mavericks.

they looked good too. they were playing hard, hustling for every ball and taking everything dallas had to throw at them. the rookies, acie law and al horford looked good – horford was dominating dirk nowitzki until he came out with foul trouble – and joe johnson and josh smith played lights out.

that picture, unfortunately taken from my iphone because the batteries on my camera died, is the scene in phillips arena right after joe johnson scored to put the hawks up by five and seal the game. it was amazing, the whole place was on their feet, waving the flags they gave out and screaming their lungs out for THE HAWKS.

do you believe yet?

and while you are at it, get your kids on boad too. my new favorite nba team, the atlanta hawks are going to be hosting an event called “Paint the Town” at the new world of coke tomorrow.

the event kicks off with interactive games out in front of the building at no charge. starting at 2 pm, hawks players and coaches will be working alongside the coke ambassadors inside the building, so with a paid admission you can head on in and spend some time chatting with them before you check out the exhibits. from 3:15 to 4 the players will be outside of the new world of coke signing autographs (no charge.)

so head down and check it out.

btw – the hawks won again last night. unbeaten in the preseason. seriously, you need to get on this bandwagon NOW.