In the Braves’ attempts to acquire a quality Starter, left-handed reliever and possibly Mark Teixeira, Salty and Yunel’s names have been popping up as possible trade bait.

Today’s question is this: Who would you rather keep and why?

I’ve gotta go with Yunel as he’s very versatile defensively, he has good speed and is a very patient hitter. Also, if you saw last night’s Arizona game where he stole second on Valverde, he’s very opportunistic.

I like Salty, but since we have McCann locked up long-term, i’m not sure where he fits in. First Base is a possibility, but he doesn’t have a lot of experience at the position.

Besides Hampton, who’s been the most useless Brave on this year’s roster? Past winners include Pete Orr, Brad Clontz, Chris Reitsma and Greg McMichael.

 While Yates, Villarreal and Ledezma come to mind and are all worthy candidates, I think that it’s Chris Woodward, hands down. The guy is supposed to be a good fielder and a solid hitter. He hasn’t hit all season, either in a starting role or pinch-hitting,  and is shaky at best in the various infield positions. Anyone see that throw on the DP attempt right into Bonds’ back two nights ago? Classic Woodward. While I enjoy seeing Bonds get beaned, I didn’t need to see that at that juncture; at least hit him in the neck so that there’s some partial paralysis.  

All indications are that Vick will never play for the Falcons again.  Given that, Who would you prefer play QB for the team, Harrington or Shockley?  I’ll say Shockley for no other reason than I could get a Falcons ‘Shocker’ foam finger…fingers.

I bring this up because the only place that Bonds will be saluted for breaking the record is in SF. As I watching the game last night, I was wondering if all of the fans are supportive of Bonds and if they exception to his alleged steroids use.  

I would have a hard time cheering for Bonds if he was on the Braves (almost happened, BTW) and broke Hank’s record. The steroid thing is just too obvious (look at that melon) and Hank went through so much shit to break it that it doesn’t seem right that the one who breaks Hank’s record would cheat to do it.

In your opinion, what owners/players/front offices have had the most negative impact on each of Atlanta’s sports franchises?

 Hawks- The Knighmare. While Pete Babcock is a VERY close second, at least he had some playoff teams under his belt and brought in some good players. Billy-Ball has shown very little, if any, improvement in his four years. OK, so the team went from 13 to 26 to 30 wins over the past three years. To me, this is like being the Valedictorian in a Sped class- you might have shown major improvement, but you’re still among the dregs.

Falcons- The Smiths or Vick? This is also a tough one. The Smiths kept this franchise down for almost forty years and were so tight-fisted with their wealth that we couldn’t ever build upon our limited successes.

While Vick has killed us over the past two seasons and over this off-season, we can still make amends by getting rid of him (Is there a clause in his contract to cut him if he can’t behave?). If we do that, we’ll only be a few players away from being a playoff team again.

Braves- Even though he also did some great things for the Braves, there are some major decisions made by Ted Turner that have killed the Braves. For one, he axed a good young manager in Joe Torre in 1984 after taking a perennial loser to the playoffs in ‘82, 2nd place in ‘83 and 3rd place in ‘84. Turner brought in Chuck Tanner and Tanner effectively ran the team into the ground. The team was a last place place team every season for six straight years, until Schuerholz and Cox were able to turn things around in 1991.

Another detrimental decision that Turner made was selling the Braves to fucking AOL/Time Warner. Why did you do that to us Ted? From that point on, the payroll shrunk and we haven’t been able to attract high-level free agents. I don’t think that it’s just a coincidence that we haven’t been to a World Series since AOL/TW took over.

Thrashers- Hard to say much here, since the franchise is so young. I guess Heatley’s road race down Lenox Rd. didn’t do much for us. Hossa ended up being a fair swap, but to lose the life of another player in the process is not worth it.

Tech- Not a pro franchise, but I’ve got to throw it in. Of course, everyone that knows me knows that i’m going to say ….Dave Braine. Thought it was going to be Gailey, right? I blame Braine for hiring Gailey’s mediocre ass in the first place and continuing to reward him for 7-6 and 6-6 type seasons by giving him contract extensions. You can’t really blame Gailey for taking the extension-who wouldn’t take all of that money? The things that I do blame Gailey for is his horrible in-game management, poor pre-game preparation and his conserative play-calling when it’s not needed. However, a loser like Braine should’ve set higher standards for the school’s Athletic goals and provided better coaching than Gailey for the school’s student-athletes, not make comments about how we have the best that we can get and that we can never compete with the big boys.

Based on the federal indictment of Micheal Vick (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0717072vick1.html), I think all of us here need cool dog-fighting monikers.  Mine’s ‘C-yo.’

Ismail and I went to the Force vs. Columbus game this afternoon. The game was for the Conference Championship and a spot in the Arena Bowl in two weeks. The Force were 9-0 at home this season and were coming off a impressive victory over Philadelphia the previous weekend. The one factor not working in the Force’s favor was that their best receiver, Troy Bergeron, got hurt in the previous game and would not suit up. However, the Force had enough depth in their receiving corps to compensate somewhat for Bergeron’s absence.

As Ismail and I were waiting in line to buy tickets, a woman came up and gave us two tickets for free. She worked for Russell Athletic (Official Sponsor of the AFL) and she’d gotten them from her company as Comps. When we got to our seats, we found ourselves on the 7th row behind the Force bench on the 20 yd. line (25 is the midfield line) right by the players’ entrance. The view from this position was incredible and we could really see and hear all of the action.

The Force played horribly in the first half. They turned the ball over on their first two possessions and Columbus capitalized on them. At the Half, Columbus led 35-21 and was by far the more dominant team. The Force’s defense, supposedly one of the better in the league, did not show up to play and their Secondary was getting used.

The beginning of the 2nd Half looked much like the 1st when Columbus scored twice in its first two possessions to put the score at 48-28. This was the moment where the Force’s defense finally stepped up, creating a few turnovers and losses of downs to keep the score within reach. The offense shined, with receivers Chris “Don’t call me Mahmoud” Jackson and Derek “Not a Cubbie” Lee making several sensational catches. The Force came back in a hurry and led 49-48 with ten minutes left in the 4th Quarter.

As i’ve learned over the years from being a sports fan, teams that make furious comebacks in the 3rd Quarter almost always fall short in the latter stages of the 4th Quarter. Unfortunately, this game was no different. A couple of interceptions thrown by the Force’s QB Greisen pretty much killed the comeback, along with some bad Special Teams coverage. The Force fell 66-56 to Columbus and missed out on the chance to go to their 2nd Arena Bowl in three years. People will always look back on this game and wonder if the result would’ve been different had Bergeron played. Although the Receivers did a good job, they really missed Troy on kickoffs and he might’ve been the difference-maker.

A fine season for the Force, but it’s gotta be a disappointment for them considering they were 14-2 and the clear favorite to win the Arena Bowl.

After the game, Ismail got an elbow brace from WR Hillery. He almost got a glove as well, but some bastard kind of pushed him out of the way and grabbed it. We had a great time overall, especially with the premium seats being gifted to us, but the end result sort of put a damper on things.

There’s always next year.

1. Mike Lum (Braves)

2. Ed Olwine (Braves)

3. Scott Hastings (Hawks)

4. Dave Boisvert (GT Hoops)

5. Jim Nystrom (GT Hoops)

Matt  =

JJ Putz

I’ve never seen this guy before since he’s out in Seattle and in the AL, but this was such an obvious call when they introduced him tonight at the All-Star Game.

I’ll be adding my report in the near future, but I thought i’d go ahead and create this thread to encourage others to chime in about the Braves at the All-Star Break.