I keep waiting for the team to make an inevitable collapse, a jaded feeling in my heart that has been crafted by years of witnessing uninspired, awful play. However, my brain is telling me that this team is for real and that we will be in the top 4-5 of the Eastern Conference when it’s all said and done. The team finally has real depth and is getting outstanding play from newcomers Flip Murray and Mo Evans (J-Chill who?). The starters are all playing well and are now playing as hard every night as they did in last year’s Playoffs (something that they didn’t seem to do consistently during the ’07-’08 Regular Season).  

CNNSI had the Hawks in the #2 slot in the Power Rankings; ESPN.com had a cover story on the Hawks this morning, even though they lost. Everyone seems to be drinking the Hawks Kool-Aid and sees this team as legitimate. What a difference a year makes. As a Hawks fan, did you ever think that you’d see the day?

I hope that this Post is still relevant in January.

The Islanders scored two minutes in on a Power Play, but then Slava Kozlov equalized two minutes later. In the 2nd Period, the Thashers allowed the Isles two goals seventeen seconds apart and the Period ended with the Isles up 3-1. Judging from the first two periods, it looked like another loss from yet another flat performance from the Thrashers. Then, in the 3rd Period, the team miraculously woke up. Kozlov scored his second goal of the game thirty seconds into the restart. A minute later, the Thrashers picked up a Power Play and new pick-up Jason Williams scored to tie it up at three. About this time, a friend of Bret’s came down to our seats and had some tickets for us to go up to one of the Corporate Suites. We got to watch the last fifteen minutes from the Box; it was cool to be up there and Ismail really enjoyed it, but I actually preferred the seats as I felt somewhat detached from the action in the Box. With nine minutes left, Defensemen scored his first goal of the Season for the Thrashers, giving Atlanta their first lead of the game. Despite a late push from New York, the Thrashers held up their end defensively and earned the 4-3 victory.

Overall, it was a fun night and it had a lot of unexpected twists and turns to make it even more interesting than we anticipated.

Everyone had a lot of fun, but a better game would’ve been nicer since it was many of my family’s first time seeing a hockey game. My cousins that went with me to the Home Opener also came last night, so they’ve now seen the best and worst that the Thrashers have to offer. Hopefully, the next time I get another family event together, maybe we’ll be lucky and the Thrashers will bother to show up and play.

I’m going for the Rays; it’s a good story and it reminds me a lot of the 1991 Braves. The Worst-to-First, the young arms, the good young hitters-it’s eerily similar to ‘91. Maybe the Rays can take it a step further than the Braves did.

My prediction is that the Rays will win it all in seven games. While I think that the Phillies are playing good baseball right now, the Rays seem to have destiny on their side. They have solid pitching and timely hitting; I think that their only real weakness is on defense. If they can keep the errors to a minimum and continue to get solid starting and relief pitching and hitting from their lineup, I think they’ll take the Series.

It sucks that Willie Aybar didn’t work out for the Braves; he’s playing really well for the Rays. That trade doesn’t look too good these days.

I realize that the team was probably looking ahead to the Clemson game the next weekend, but you simply can’t play that way against a team like Gardner-Webb. I guess the Pollsters were right in not voting Tech into the Top 25 the week before; I was surprised to see that they still received votes this week considering the lackluster win.

The Opening Night crowd was great; it was a sellout and the fans were really into it. My cousins had a great time and are already looking forward to going to more games. A high-scoring affair like that was a great introduction to the game.

The Spin: I don’t know if it’s gone for good, but the wheel was not set up. They’ve done a major overhaul to that whole area- the hockey simulator was shut off, there’s some sort of Taco Mac house where the stage used to be and they turned the slam dunk area into a full-service bar. Needless to say, Ismail was disappointed about the hockey and basketball areas being shut down and I was not pleased about not getting to spin.

That schedule at the end of the season looks rough, especially since there are so many road games. I don’t think they’ll make it through undefeated, but they probably will make it to the SEC Championship and a possible BCS bid.