While the Atlanta Hawks once again made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs and the Atlanta Braves loaded up at the trading deadline while trying to hold its lead in the NL East, if anyone doubted what truly ruled the airwaves and the local web world, it is, without question, football. Everyone from the Athens Banner-Herald to the AJC to 790 The Zone to Score Atlanta was all over the recent training camp openings of the four local football teams. The Atlanta Falcons have been going hard at each other with two-a-days and scrimmages the last few weeks and Score Atlanta’s Brian Jones has been covering it all for Score’s website and he was able to drop knowledge on Score Atlanta Sports Sunday the last few weeks on Sports Radio 790 The Zone. By being right in the action and being present at the press conferences, Jones is able to give an insight that the average fan blogger cannot give. Jones was able to comment on the scuffle between offensive lineman Sam Baker and rookie linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, having seen the event firsthand.
Jones has been joined by the AJC of course and D. Orlando Ledbetter has been able to twitter updates of camp throughout the day. For anyone needing a Falcons or football fix, the team has certainly been covered locally and nationally as well. After ESPN’s Colin Cowherd proclaimed that the Falcons was his NFC pick to go to the Super Bowl, it seems more and more people are now jumping on the Atlanta bandwagon. It is now more common than not to hear folks predict that the Falcons will win the NFC South and Phil Simms said earlier this week on 680 The Fan’s The Rude Awakening that he thinks the Falcons could certainly be a sleeper that could make a run in the playoffs. 680 and 790 have both been live at training camp with various shows, once again proving that football rules in Georgia. Even 790 The Zone’s Pollack & Bell were live at North Gwinnett High School for the Atlanta Falcons’ Friday Night Lights scrimmage and fireworks display.
But the Falcons are not the only team getting love around the state. When the University of Georgia Bulldogs opened up its summer practices, 790 The Zone’s Mayhem in the AM was in Athens for the event. The Zone also covered Georgia Tech’s practice opening. And Georgia State was given a platform to discuss its practices leading up to the inaugural season of Panther football last week on Score Atlanta Sports Sunday. The voice of the Panthers Dave Cohen, who also writes for Score Atlanta, appeared on air and gave the lowdown of how summer practice is going. Cohen gave some behind-the-scenes insight, revealing that the team will give multiple looks on offense and noting that Star Jackson was not simply handed a starting spot upon his transfer from Alabama, but he is rather earning the spot right now over two players that have been in Coach Bill Curry’s offense for two years.
The Atlanta Hawks will spend the 2010-11 season without big man Shaquille O’Neal, who signed last week with the Boston Celtics, but to read the AJC, it seems O’Neal left the Hawks at the alter. According to a recent headline on ajc.com, Shaq was “said to choose Celtics over Hawks.” However, if one cruises to ESPN.com or the WFNY blog, he/she would find that the Hawks were maybe third or fourth on the list of contenders for the services of the Big Shaqtus. Though O’Neal told friends that he would be open to playing for the Hawks, it was also rumored that O’Neal would go to the Heat, the Lakers, the Spurs, and the Knicks. Before O’Neal signed with Boston, Atlanta was competing with the Knicks for O’Neal’s services, but even AJC Hawks writer Michael Cunningham admitted in his story that the team wouldn’t be willing to meet Shaq’s asking price of more than the minimum when the team’s mid-level exception was still available or a guaranteed starting spot. Cunningham isn’t to blame here, it is ONCE AGAIN the headline writer for the AJC’s website who comes up with yellow journalism-level headlines simply to get clicks to various stories. Shaq wasn’t coming to Atlanta. Don’t make it sound like the Hawks were RIGHT THERE. The site misleads potential readers all the time, but it keeps working in terms of driving readers. Congrats on tricking your customers. You guys are shameless.
One paper that doesn’t feel the need to hoodwink its readers is the Athens Banner-Herald. Marc Weiszer provides great info about Georgia football several times a day with great blogs (that don’t turn into Georgia Tech and Florida mockfests), complete with honest quotes from players and stats that actually back up his thesis of each entry. With all due respect to Tim Tucker of the AJC, I’d rather turn to Weiszer on www.onlineathens.com to get Georgia info. Both papers have the same quotes, but I don’t have to deal with extra AJC fluff with ABH pieces.
Finally, Score Atlanta will soon be releasing the Score 44, a list of the top 44 senior football players in the state of Georgia that will trump every other list of 10 or 11 or 12 that is put out by another publication. The Score 44 will be broken down on Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit over the next few weeks and we’ll even include the 12 that just missed the list. Throughout the football season, Georgia Public Broadcast and Score Atlanta will be keeping tabs on the Score 44 in our various platforms such as a midweek webcast, a Saturday morning radio show, and of course, The Official Visit. We hope the Score 44 will really take off and players will be excited to be included in the Score 44 in future seasons.
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