Good times are here again!
Because February really bites. Post-Super Bowl, what's the month good for? You've got the NHL All Star game (yawn) and the NBA's Ugly Uniform Show (er...All Star game) (yawn) and of course their festivities - slam dunk contest, etc.
Speaking of etc., those festivities were actually entertaining this year. Check out the highlights:
Sick nasty.
But that's not really sports. That's more of the "E" in ESPN.
Which brings me back to the "S". As in Sports and Spring. Those two words were designed for each other.
One promises hope. New life. The other promises a fight, a challenge, the unexpected.
So what do I hope for this Spring for Atlanta Sports?
-I hope that the Falcons take Derek Anderson in Free Agency, drop Joey Harrington, and give D.J. Shockley an actual chance to be the number two guy.
Derek Anderson, still technically of the Browns, just dropped a bombshell on Cleveland last night when he turned down their contract offer to test free agency. But, he's restricted, which means a team will have to give up a first and third round draft pick if they sign him.
Here's how it can work: The Falcons should trade the talented but disgruntled and destructive DeAngelo Hall to the Giants for a first round pick and (plenty of) cash or a player. They'd then have the Giants pick, Round 1, #31, that they could give to the Browns and still keep the number three overall pick, with which they would no longer feel compelled to draft an overrated QB like Matt Ryan and instead take one of the better players in the draft - Jake Long or Glenn Dorsey or Darren McFadden.
The QB pool in this draft isn't the best in recent years, but I'd much rather see them wait till round two or three and draft Chad Henne than waste a first-rounder on Ryan. They'd be wise to draft a lineman. Of course, I've said that before. And I'm not paid to make those decisions.
And I don't really feel the need to say why they should sign Anderson. I'll just share this: He's a tall dude - 6'6", 230 whose got a great vision of the field and a good arm. And that, my friend, produces numbers like these when he got a chance to be a starter (and star): 3787 passing yds and 29 TD's. Good stuff. Better than what we've got or anything else we can get. Go get him.
But I doubt Thomas Dimitroff reads this.
***It doesn't matter now. I just heard that Cleveland managed to re-sign Anderson today, just hours after he declared free agency. So goes that pipe-dream.
What's the next best option? Still a big fat NO to Matt Ryan.
If I'm Dimitroff, I have Redman and Shockley go for the number one spot, with Redman penciled in up top. I draft Chad Henne or John David Booty in the second or third round to be your number three and (potential) future guy. And I still draft a lineman (Long) with the number 3 pick.***
-I hope that the Hawks make the playoffs (because I gotta root for Atlanta teams) and they still fire Mike Woodson and Billy Knight and hire real, living basketball guys for coach and GM (because I gotta root for Atlanta teams).
Who should they hire? I don't care. Hire Bobby Knight. Hire Billy Donovan. Heck, hire Billy Madison.
Just do something. Anything's gotta be an improvement.
-I hope that the Thrasher's do the same with Don Waddell.
In June he'll celebrate his ten-year anniversary with the Thrashers. In June Thashers' fans will mourn for a decade of this:
Waddell's blank stares at how to run a hockey team.
-And finally, hope of all hopes, I hope the Braves return to the postseason and - gasp - win The Series.
Big hopes, you say? Big dreams?
Yeah, well, those were bigger hopes in 1991 when they still came one run shy of winning the greatest World Series of all time.
They were big hopes in 1995. The strike saved the Braves from falling to Montreal in 1994's division race and who knew if the same would happen in '95? But a Justice home run here, a Glavine masterpiece there and Mark Wholers save to cap it off and the Braves were celebrating in old Fulton County Stadium.
They've got a lineup that I believe rivals any in the East. (Yes, I really do believe that. Having your 3 and 4 hitters both being high-average, run-producing, homer-hitting and SWITCH-HITTING bashers is huge. Not too many teams (do any?) have back-to-back solid switch hitters in the most important spots in the lineup.) Johnson, Escobar, Chipper, Teixeira, Francouer, McCann, Kotsay, Diaz... Solid.
They've got stud pitching even if Hampton doesn't come back. And he will.
They've got the makeup of a team that can make a serious run at October. And I'm not just talking as a fan here.
So, hope of all hopes, I hope the Braves can stay healthy this year. And if they do, you'll see them in the Classic.
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