MY WEEKEND

I must love my wife because on one of the biggest sports weekends in the history of Atlanta, I was vacationing in the North Carolina mountains (in all fairness, we were celebrating our first anniversary). This was the weekend of one of the biggest NFL drafts in Atlanta Falcons history as well as game three of the Hawks first playoff series in nine years and the first playoff game ever in Phillips Arena. My wonderful wife understood the importance of this weekend, so we watched the Hawks game together Saturday night and even got a chance to watch about an hour or two of draft coverage over the course of the weekend. It was truly a wonderful and much needed vacation. As it relates to the weekend’s sporting events, I was very disappointed (with the Falcons) early on Saturday. But by Saturday night I was very excited (thanks to the Hawks).

THE FALCONS DID IT AGAIN!!!! They passed on a potential Hall of Famer (the next Warren Sapp) in LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, for a mediocre quarterback in Matt Ryan from Boston College. The moment I saw the pick, I instantly had a flashback to the 1998 NFL draft. The Falcons had the 12th pick. Believe it or not, Randy Moss (a future Hall of Fame receiver, and in the discussion to determine the best receiver ever) was sitting on the board. But who do the Falcons choose? They pass on Moss and select Keith Brooking. In Brooking the Falcons got a slow linebacker who can't cover his bed with a blanket. I mean, have you seen his pathetic attempts at covering tight ends and running backs; there is no way that he deserved to make 5 Pro Bowls. However, this is not a Keith Brooking bashing session (I’ll save that for when I am low on material), but there is no way that an average linebacker should have been taken before a receiver of Moss' caliber. The Falcons have basically done the same thing again. They took a slightly better than average quarterback with the #3 overall pick, when the best defensive tackle of the past several drafts was still available. Matt Ryan’s own college coach said himself that “Matt Ryan was the next Matt Hasselbeck” (see blog entry entitled “SHUT UP COACH, YOU ARE NOT HELPING”). If he is correct then it looks like we drafted him 184 picks too early. Ask yourself, would you rather have Warren Sapp or Matt Hasselbeck? and If I am not mistaken don’t we already have a quarterback on our roster that was selected 3rd overall in Joey Harrington? How did that work out?

As much as I wanted to spend the evening wallowing in my frustration and disappointment in the Falcons' new General Manager Thomas Dimitroff, I couldn’t because I became distracted and a bit excited by the ATLANTA HAWKS DEFEAT OFTHE BOSTON CELTICS (103 – 92) in Game 3 of their first round playoff series. I know that I predicted that the Hawks would be swept by the Celtics in last week’s entry, but I WAS WRONG!!!! and I have never enjoyed being wrong so much in my entire life. This was by far the most exciting playoff game of this season. The Hawks played fast, intense, fearless, high energy basketball and it was a joy to witness. Josh Smith (my favorite Hawk) led the way with 27 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. He did all of this while holding Kevin Garnett to only 32 points. I know that sounds like a lot of points but he kept him from getting the 44 points that would have led to a Boston victory. No matter what happens the rest of the series or the rest of the playoffs, I am so proud of our Hawks. Just think this team just might be young and dumb enough to believe that they can win this thing and that could make them a dangerous opponent. I can’t wait until Monday night for Game 4. At least one Atlanta team is giving me something to be proud of.