Around the perimeter of the Atlanta sports world.
The Braves are really shaking up their lineup on Wednesday night. Not only are Michael Bourn and Chipper Jones taking the night off to rest, but the typical batting order has been completely switched around by manager Fredi Gonzalez.
The biggest news? Jason Heyward is starting in center field for the first time in his career. You'll probably be surprised by who is batting leadoff, too.
We have the full lineup after the jump...
The Falcons under Mike Smith and led by Matt Ryan have been absolutely harangued by national pundits for their postseason failures, some of it justified, and some of it just piling on. Atlanta is 0-3 in the NFC Playoffs in the Dimitroff/Smith/Ryan era - the first loss in Ryan's rookie season on the road in Arizona, the other two to eventual Super Bowl Champions.
The Atlanta Falcons all-time leader in passing yardage and touchdowns has received yet another honor, this time for his excellence at the collegiate level.
The Atlanta Braves are like many around the country who struggle getting the work week started on Monday. Atlanta's series opening 3-1 loss Monday night drops Atlanta's record to 0-6 on Monday's this season. The Braves are 22-8 on all other days. Atlanta's offense has been a present surprise this season but the Braves have totaled just 11 runs in six Monday games this season.
AOL Sporting News has ranked 114 college football head coaches, and Georgia's Mark Richt comes in at No. 14 overall and Paul Johnson at No. 19. While lists such as these are entirely arbitrary (and designed to elicit posts just like these debating them), there's some curiosity ranking Richt behind such coaches like Michigan State's Mark D'Antonio (No. 13) and TCU's Gary Patterson (No. 7), neither of which have won a major conference title.
Jason Kirk and Spencer Hall prepare us for the Football Apocalypse in this week's edition of Shutdown Fullback
Rookie minicamp for the Atlanta Falcons gets underway on Friday but most of the participants reported on Thursday to get formalities out of the way and also to get fit for equipment. The Falcons' official site has quite a photo gallery showing many of the players putting on Atlanta helmets for the first time. Notice there are no decals on the sides of the helmets, those must be earned which is what this weekend is all about.
For more on the Falcons visit The Falcoholic.
You spent years tied up in court squabbling with yourselves. You signed Joe Johnson to a dreadful contract. You allowed Don Waddell to kill hockey in Atlanta, then sold the team to out-of-state buyers. All that said, if you're going to rip on both Kevin Garnett for being dirty and the national media for applying a different standard to the Hawks' injuries as opposed to those of higher profile teams, then I am willing to forgive you ... a little. Take it away, Michael Gearon Jr.:
Roddy White's Twitter feed has all the timeliness and lack of sensititivy that any top cable news program would - Hurricane Katrina, homosexuality and labor relations are all addressed with brutal honesty and little forethought. So it was a matter of time until the issue of player saftety, long term brain injuries and the lawsuit from among 1,500 former NFL players against the league would cross White's radar (it is NBA Playoff season, so you'll have to forgive his delay)
Rajon Rondo was in no mood to be interviewed or apparently even filmed following Atlanta's 87-86 Game 5 win over the Boston Celtics. The series shifts back to Boston for Game 6 on Thursday.
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Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.
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