As our local shiny-headed sports radio heavyweight Steak Shapiro of 790 The Zone likes to say, “Here’s what I learned” over the last week …
• Veteran linebacker Keith Brooking is gone, headed to play in Dallas after signing a three-year deal with the Cowboys. The Falcons wanted to keep Brooking but pay him less and put him in a reserve role. Though Brooking brought a lot to the Falcons with his play on the field and his foundation off of it, it’s time for the team to go young at the linebacker position. I trust general manager Thomas Dimitroff has a pretty solid plan here not only to replace Brooking but also Michael Boley, who bolted for free agency. Many felt Boley would be a star here but something happened last season and now he is signed to the New York Giants. As far as Brooking is concerned, for me he was an overachiever and should not be remembered for the mistake he made late in the Arizona playoff game but instead for season after season of consistent play. Middle linebackers are not typically flashy and Brooking did his job about as well as anyone that has played that spot here since Tommy Nobis retied in 1977. The Georgia Tech and East Coweta High School alum also raised a lot of money off the field through his foundation, something that we at Score helped him market. I wish him the best of luck in Dallas, where hopefully he can bring some stability to a messy locker room.
• Anyone notice why the Braves didn’t push hard to bring back Andruw Jones? As of Monday, he had nine at-bats in major league spring games for the Texas Rangers and had struck out eight times. It’s a shame but it looks like his career may be over, which surprises me because I remember a conversation I had with Braves superscout Paul Snyder back in 1994 in West Palm Beach. Jones was only 17 then and took the field for the first time for the Braves in their minor camp. Snyder nudged me while pointing at what then was a very skinny Jones and said, “I.J., he will be in Cooperstown some day.” Jones had all the talent in the world to get to the Hall of Fame but in the end it will be his work ethic and stubbornness that will keep him from getting in. His career power numbers (371 home runs, 1,131 RBIs) arecertainly respectable and he was one of the greatest defensive players of the last 25 years but an overall .259 average and a complete fall from grace these last two years (I don’t even want to mention stats) will keep him from ever becoming considered one of the game’s best outfielders.
• How bad is it really getting at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that in Sunday’s edition they did a question-and-answer session with Speedy Claxton? Speedy who? That’s not going to sell papers.
• After seeing LeBron James come to Atlanta Sunday night, I ask if, other than Tiger Woods, there is a more dominating player in all of sports. Physically, James must be 285 pounds and is the most imposing athlete I have ever seen – and I have seen quite a few. I do wonder how much time the tattoo artist had to spend to put that drawing on his arm. I mean, when did LeBron have time to do that?
• On the other hand (or perhaps other arm), I really like Hawks guard Joe Johnson. Joe just shows up, doesn’t ever make a fuss about anything and just plays great basketball almost every night. Interestingly, if he would have hit that final shot to beat the Cavs on Sunday—a shot which just clanged off the rim—he would have imbedded himself in Atlanta sports lore. But Joe still has plenty of time to do so.
• There is no bigger ticking time bomb in sports than Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin. AJC.com’s Michael Carvell wrote a great blog about Kiffin and his staff getting quite vocal last weekend when some of the best high school juniors in the country were visiting the school. Check out Carvell’s blog from March 2. Kiffin is nuts!
• The Braves had been broadcasting their games on FM on county station 94.9 The Bull but next year will move to Project 9-6-1. Their AM station will continue to be 640 WGST. Actually I sort of liked the Braves on The Bull, giving me my first glimpse into country music. “Hear the lonesome whippoorwill; He sounds too blue to fly; The midnight train is whining low; I’m so lonesome I could cry.” That’s some Hank Williams for you.
• About 3 p.m. on Monday, I was checking out the sports headlines and saw where Stan Kasten had named himself general manager of the Washington Nationals. This came after Jim Bowden resigned as the president and Kasten, the team president, said, “I’m in charge. … I’ve done this before. I’m doing what we need to do to keep the franchise moving forward.” Kasten actually has been a GM before, with the Hawks from 1979-90 and of course was the Braves’ president during their great run in the 1990s. But Kasten would do well to do what he did back in 1991 when he hired John Schuerholz to be the GM of the Braves. He needs someone to come in and turn around what is easily the worst franchise in baseball, going 59-102 last year.
• Score is very excited about webcasting the Class 5A and 4A basketball semifinal games for both the boys and girls. Our webcasting viewer numbers from the GHSA wrestling finals were tremendous and you will be able to watch the games both live and on demand. Visit Scoreatl.com and GHSA.net for more as we do the games on March 11-12 from Gwinnett Arena.
Rosenberg can be heard every Sunday on 790 The Zone on Score Sports Sunday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Score also hosts a high school recruiting show on 790 every Sunday from 1-3 p.m. Rosenberg can be reached at ijrosenberg@scoreatl.com and 404-256-1572. Also, don’t forget to check out SCOREATL.COM for all the high school playoff basketball scores.
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