Things I’m thankful for; update on NGFL

This is our fourth Thanksgiving at Score Atlanta and I always begin my column this week with what I am thankful for. For many, these last few months have been difficult and the economy is not likely to get better anytime soon. Still, there are so many things we can all appreciate and here are a few of mine …

I am thankful for two daughters in high school who spend most of their time on a basketball court and a track, giving their ol’ dad fewer hours to worry about what they are doing.

I am thankful Arthur Blank found two football men named Thomas Dimitroff and Mike Smith.

I am thankful that AJC great Furman Bisher gave me the idea of writing this column, one he has been doing for, I would say, easily more than 50 years.

I am thankful for a cold, frosty beer on the hottest of summer days. 

I am thankful for those rainy. dreary days when everything else also seems to be going wrong.

I am thankful for a partner like 790 The Zone, who has stayed behind us every step of the way.

I am thankful for a big family in town, which includes a great mom and a mother-in-law who is not your typical mother-in-law.

I am thankful for the lemonade at Chick-fil-A, the iced tea at Pig-N-Chik and the small-bottled Cokes you can buy at Costco.

I am thankful for having a father who is still as opinionated about sports as he was when I was 12.

I am thankful for a basketball player named Al Horford, who is a throwback to the days when the game was played at full speed for 48 minutes.

I am thankful for a father-in-law who can work in the same office with me.

I am thankful Georgia Tech finally has a coach who may be able to beat Georgia and make it a competitive in-state rivalry.

I am thankful for Friday nights and the high school football it brings.

I am thankful someone finally got smart and realized that there is no reason to be paying more than $4 a gallon for gas.

I am thankful (even though I didn’t vote for him) that this country finally has gotten to a point where it can elect a president without regard to the color of his skin.

I am thankful (even though I voted for him twice) that Bush has only a month or so left in the White House.

I am thankful for a son that can step back in a passing pocket, take the heat and throw a 30-yard bullet to a moving target.

I am thankful for a Score staff member who talks to his mother several times a day, allowing me to constantly get on his case about it.

I am thankful for a wife who has learned to love sports and even now finds herself immersed in it.

I am thankful for a managing editor who went to Miami but understands their glory days are far behind them.

I am thankful for Google and the ability to look up anything at any time.

I am thankful for a Mountain Dew on a sleepy morning.

I am thankful for a quarterback named Matt Ryan, who has made for a compelling NFL season in what many thought would be a three- to four-win season.

I am thankful on those weekday mornings when Georgia 400 actually allows me drive at more than 20 miles per hour.

I am thankful for a little nephew who makes everyone laugh and who is giving my brother a little payback for when he was that age.

I am thankful for the fried chicken at The Brickery.

I am thankful for our thousands of readers, and now internet users, who continue to support a company that is trying to give Atlanta the true local flavor of sports.

I am thankful for another Thanksgiving and the turkey that comes with it, but especially the family and the warmth the day brings.

And, I almost forgot, I am thankful for the redneck onion dip (from the soup pouch) that my wife makes me for an early snack before everyone comes over on Thanksgiving.

FOLLOW-UP ON NGFL CONTROVERSY            

It seems like the piece I did on the North Georgia Football League last week touched a nerve, as I was overwhelmed with emails that were very critical of the league for suspending a player in the “No Child Left Behind Program” as well as making Roswell forfeit their eighth-grade playoff game. Well, here are some updates. First of all, the league made the Roswell team forfeit its division championship and all of its games, meaning second-place Centennial won the division, which by the way was a team my son played for and a coaching staff I was a part of. But during the trophy ceremony, a very classy Centennial head coach Lee Jenkins accepted the trophy in the name of Roswell and handed it to their coach, Paul Beidel. Also, Roswell attorneys sent the NGFL leadership over a copy of a civil suit but said they would not proceed legally if they could sit down with the league and mediate the situation. I am also hearing there may be a discrimination suit coming from the family. I do want to point out that I had an error in my column last week when I said that Roswell had sent a court reporter to the meeting a week ago Sunday where Roswell appealed the case and lost; actually, it was the NGFL that brought in the court reporter and I apologize to Tosha Seaney, who was there copiously taking notes for the record. Also, I did get some interesting emails from a couple of coaches in the NGFL, and it’s safe to say they didn’t appreciate my fictitious court scene (you can still read it at ScoreAtl.com under the tab “Columnist Pages”) in which I implied the group was a bunch of rednecks. First of all, that is what you call sarcasm and I was only talking about those that actually voted against Roswell. I did hear, however, that they were selling NGFL-branded overalls and train engineer hats at the championship games last week, which were hosted by Kennesaw Mountain. I wonder if they had some Yoo-hoo on ice …

A LATE PREDICTION            

I have avoided doing a lot of predictions this season, though I did say the Falcons would be better than many thought. But I have to throw in a line about the Tech-Georgia game on Saturday. There is a new sheriff in town and his name is Paul Johnson. The Jackets win a great game, 28-24.

Rosenberg can be reached at ijrosenberg@scoreatl.com and 404-256-1572.