i promise, promise, that i will get off of this topic soon, but….

a few days ago, i implied, somewhat tounge-in-cheek that my open letter to zaza pachulia may have been the reason he opted to sign a four year deal with the atlanta hawks*.

well, this sunday, while touring around with the fam, i opened up twitter and i found this tweet from none other than zaza pachulia (who tweets as @zaza27):

@jeherv hey buddy read your letter and want to tell you that you are the best.would love to invite you on the games ones the season starts

wow. you could say i was suitably shocked. so while $18 mil may have had more to do with it, maybe my letter did help out a bit.

even more impressive is to see that zaza is actually reading and responding to things that are being sent to him by his fans. that says a lot about the power of social media for sure, that i could write a blog post about an athlete, communicate it by twitter and get a response, but it says even more about why zaza is a fan favorite here in the atl.

and it could mean a lot of good things for this town basketball-wise for the next four years.

thanks zaza!!!

the hawks would be atlanta’s resurgent nba franchise; big z would be one zaza pachulia, #27; and the local blogger would be me.

sekou smith reported yesterday that the hawks and zaza have come to terms on a new deal that will keep the big georgian here in atlanta, where he has become a fan favorite, for four more years.

i am really excited about this.

and i can’t help but notice this happened right after a certain blogger published a letter to zaza right here on these pages.

coincidence?

you decide.

photo by Chris Nelson (click pic for link)

we love you here in atlanta. for the last two years i have watched you battle with heart and grit and determination. i watched you give up a starting slot to al horford with nary a complaint. i watched you stare down kevin garnett and almost come up the better.

sure, i know the arenas are empty sometime. i remember one game against the t’wolves last season where i thought we were at a minor league hockey game. but, we are building something here. finally, here in atlanta, we are building a winner.

and we love you. here you are ZAAAAAAZAAAAAAAA PACHUUUUUUUUUUULLIA. fans stand on their feet and scream when you come in. go to another city, you may just be another east european big guy with a funny name.

i know the hawks are talking to you. sekou smith told me so. i hope you really, really think hard about their offer. this is going to be a great basketball town. and i know from your tweets that you love the city. i also know from your tweets that you are in new york. do you think those knick fans will love you like we do? do you think anyone in nyc would name a blog after you like hawks blogger drew d. once did?

i’ll take you for ice cream, i’ll petition the city council to have zaza pachulia day. i’ll sit on a downtown billboard in a zaza jersey.

so please stay. let’s get it done. tell me what us hawks fans need to do to keep you here. because we want you to. of that i can assure you.

please.

yours,

james

it’s all over.

the cavs swept the hawks at phillips last night to end atlanta’s post season run; a post-season run that saw atlanta win it’s first road playoff game and first playoff series in more than decade.

there will be plenty of time in the off-season to chew over what moves the hawks should make; do they get a big-name coach? do they trade josh smith? resign bibby? all of these questions will be out there.

but today, this fan just wants to say thank you. thanks to coach woodson, and joe, and josh and mike and al and marvin and zaza and flip and mo, even acie and mario and solo and the others that came off of the bench.

it was a great ride. i became a hawks fan two seasons ago because i wanted a hometown team to root for and i loved the idea of following some scrappy young underdogs. i became a fan last season, this season i fell in love.

i watched you guys play so many great games this season. i went to more than 20 and probably watched more than 20 on tv. and you never failed to entertain me and keep me coming back for more. at the beginning of the season no one gave you a chance. they laughed at you because j-chills had decided the greek league was more promising than atlanta. they questioned the off-season pickups of flip and mo.

but a few of us believed and so did you. and you went farther than anyone would have ever guessed. you brought us the fourth best record in the east, a home playoff series, a series win, and a chance to see the best team in basketball.

and last night you proved you could still play with heart and determination even with your backs against the wall.

so thanks. i am sold. most likely a fan for life.

and NOW YOU KNOW!!!!!!

(ed. note – we’d put some cool promotional video here, but we can’t get vidder to embed, so if you feel like helping the agency that created it earn their payday you can click here)

okay, so maybe while my beloved atlanta hawks are embroiled in a heated series with the cavs isn’t the best time to be bringing to town a promotion featuring lebron james, but you can’t blame the nba for throwing it’s most marketable player out there.

anyway, if you are a fan of roundball and looking for something to do in between playoff games this weekend, i suggest you head over to the sweet auburn festival this weekend and check out the sprite nba amateur dunk contest, which is apparently, “lebron james certified,” (which must be an interesting certification program.)

should be a damn good time, and the folks at the nba assure me this is free to attend, and you can even participate by voting for your favorite amateur dunker via text message.

the winners are going to head to the all-start game in dallas next year to compete for a pretty big prize package, so your vote could be huge.

you can also submit your dunk by video if you can’t make it but you think you have a little josh smith in you, by visiting nba.com/dunk.

i plan on checking it out if i can on saturday and posting some pics.

should be a blast.

sprite slam dunk showdown
friday, may 8: 5PM – 10PM
saturday, may 9: 11AM – 9PM
sunday, may 10: 2PM – 8PM
sweet auburn festival
auburn ave

i got on board last season. i wanted a local team to root for and i don’t like football and i have a baseball team and the thrashers just seemed so bland. so i picked the hawks; the much-maligned consistently bad atlanta hawks.

and over the course of a season i fell in love. honestly i feel in love the day of the home opener when the hawks shocked the dallas maveriks. i watched a team scrap and claw and barely make it into the playoffs last year and the take the eventual nba champs to seven games.

there was more decrying of the hawks in the off-season, as they were unable to keep 6th man josh childress from departing altanta for greece. greece. apparently j-chill preferred to be out of the nba than in atlanta.

and then the season started. and this hawks team has been good. i have watched more than 2/3 of the hawks game this year, in person or on tv, and i have really fallen hard this season. they came out of the gate with a bang and have played up to par since then.

last week, against the paces they clinched the fourth seed in the nba’s eastern conference. we will be hosting a home playoff series and have a very good chance of winning and moving on to the second round of the nba playoffs.

this team is fun too. with no showy superstars, they go out and play every night, getting great contributions from the starters, but also from the trio that has come off the bench with a gusto this year; flip murray, mo evans, and of course, zaza pachulia.

so how about it atlanta? the hawks have lived up their part this season. now it’s your turn. get on the bandwagon. let’s get some buzz going. believe in these hawks.

NOW YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!

since i decided to adopt the atlanta hawks before last season i have become a pretty rabid fan. i love this team and i absolutely love going to phillips arena (aka the highlight factory) to see games. in fact i’ll be heading there tonight to see the hawks play the grizzlies and hopefully catch the return of star forward josh smith (who had been out for more than a dozen games with an ankle sprain.)

i’ll be blogging a bit about my hawks-love (inlcuding big man-crushes on al horford and joe johnson) here but i am by no means a savvy basketball writer. so if you want to catch hawks fever with me, i figured i would take a brief moment and direct you to some places where you can pick up some really good hawks analysis and news.

to start with, the blog of ajc hawks beat writer sekou smith is the most important. sekou is one of the best beat writers i have ever read and if it is going down in the nba and it realtes to the hawks, sekou will report it.

continuing on with the official blogs to read, micah hart writes the hawks basketblog on hawks.com. as the team’s official “blogger” hart has lots of access to players for interviews, practice sessions and other behind-the-scenes goodies. well worth reading.

on the unofficial side i highly recommend peachtree hoops a dedicated hawks blog. peacthree hoops carries a preview before each game as well as a game report after each game with very good insight, analysis and other links. well worth reading.

i also really like zaza’s playground. it may not be as technical as p’tree hoops, but the author’s passion for the hawks is evident, as is his basketball i.q., and he can just be downright hilarious. if he gets on a mike woodson rant, watch out.

i also just start reading heavy koncak. it seems to be updated much less and i don’t have an impression of it yet, but with that name how can you go wrong?

so there ya’ go.

happy reading and LET’S GO HAWKS!!!

i love the hawks. my affair with atlanta’s once-hapless basketball franchise started last year. i decided to become a hawks fan because i a) wanted a local team to root for and i already had a baseball team, didn’t like football and thought the thrashers were boring and b) the hawks seemed like the kind of lovable losers that i could get behind (see aforementioned baseball team cubs, chicago.)

a funny thing happened on the way to the highlight factory though, i really fell in love with this team. first, live basketball is just great. it has an energy and intensity that comes from so much scoring and an intimacy that comes from their being no barriers between athletes and spectators that no other professional sport matches. second, the hawks are a good team. they have good, caliber players who play hard, don’t showboat and seem to get that they are there for the fans.

oh and we are good this year. 7-4 good with key injuries. have beaten top teams like the hornets and the magic good. played the world champs to a one point loss on their home court good.

so here is my plea to atlanta’s fans.

STAY TO THE END OF THE GAME!!!

seriously. is it that much to ask? last night the hawks played the wiz in a tight game. midway through the fourth quarter the hawks had battled back and the game was virtually deadlocked. marvin wiliams had come to play, the hawks needed a win bad after 4 straight losses and a god 1/3 of the crowd (many of whom had arrived late to being with) took off and left.

and then with 50 seconds left, game on the line, more people left.

and then we wonder why we don’t get taken seriously as a sports town…

p.s. – the hawks won. and i saw every moment including marvin wiliams burying a clutch three to seal the game with only seconds left on the clock.

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…..