Archive – Page 78 – The Recycle Bin

Falcons have Pro Bowlers. Does anyone care?

Congratulations to Roddy White and Michael Turner, who earlier this week were selected as NFC All Pros.

Turner has rushed for 1,421 yards this season, second in the NFL. He also has set the Falcons’ single-season rushing touchdown mark with 15 and has two games left. He signed a six-year $34.5 million free-agent contract with the Falcons in March.

White has 1,301 yards receiving, which is second in NFL, with 84 catches.

Surprisingly, defensive end John Abraham, who is third in the league with 15.5 sacks, did not make the team. Carolina’s Julius Peppers, Minnesota’s Jared Allen and New York’s Justin Tuck were the Pro Bowl picks.

Abraham got screwed. While he may no longer be an every down player, he has been just short of spectacular as a pass rusher. The injustice was sort of corrected when Abraham was named as an alternate, but really, who tracks being named as an NFC All Pro alternate selection?

Matt Ryan was also named as an alternate. Ryan has put together a solid rookie year, but is he really Pro Bowl worthy, even as an alternate?

One final point, before I blow my wad on this post. Does anyone really give a damn about the Pro Bowl? Seriously, I do not think I have watched a Pro Bowl game since my childhood days. It is completely irrelevant, and a waste of time. The NFL should just stick with naming All Pros and do away with the Pro Bowl.

Do the Braves have a case of the bad back blues?

Why are the Braves going after SS Rafael Furcal and his bad back? I do not get this one. Could they really be considering signing Furcal as the precursor to trading current SS Yunel Escobar? Please say it’s not true!

Rumors are flying. Furcal to 2B, and current 2B Kelly Johnson to left field. I am not sure WTF the Braves are thinking, but when desperation sets in, the wolves get careless. Crazy talk. Unprotected sex. Whatever you want to call it, call it bad news.

I could see the Braves putting Escobar as the centerpiece of a deal to trade for a number two pitcher. You know, a reach. The Braves are not going to land a top flight ace of the rotation, so the front off brass will grit their teeth, and pull off a horrendous deal that may set the Braves back for years.

Falcons still in the playoff hunt.

At the beginning of the year, if you would have asked me if I would be happy with a nine win season, I would have said heck yes. Funny how things change …

Atlanta is now sitting at 9-5, good for their first winning season since 2004. And oh by the way, they have never had back-to-back winning seasons, which is pretty incredulous if you stop for a minute to think about what that really means. So suffering Falcons fans are use to misery. It is part of our calling cards. We expect the worse. But a winning season? No one could have predicted such a great year. Playoffs? No way Bob, but here are our Falcons, sitting smack in the middle of the playoff hunt.

The only probably is that Atlanta is on the outside looking in at the playoffs, which brings me full circle. Am I happy with a nine win season? What about a ten or eleven win season? Could the Falcons possibly win eleven games and not make the playoffs? The sad reality is that the Falcons need to win out, but they will still need a ton of help to make a post season appearance.

Trying to understand all the scenarios and tie-breakers is enough to make your head swim, but to make it simple, the Falcons need to win out against the Vikings and Rams, and hope (no, pray) for Tampa or Dallas to cough up a loss. Lurking in the mist are the resurgent Eagles, and thanks to a piss poor call, they own a tie-breaker over the Falcons. Never mind that the Falcons may not have beaten the Eagles, but that muffed punt non-fumble call is now part of revisionist history.

Atlanta’s probability of going 2-0: 75%.
I think the Falcons should be able to win on the road at Minnesota, while the last game of the season against St. Louis is at home, and should be a freebie.

Tampa Bay’s probability of going 2-0: 90%.
Not good news for Falcons fans looking for the Buccaneers to slide. Tampa Bay’s last two games are at home against the Chargers and Raiders. The Chargers are still in the playoff hunt (at least mathematically), but they are having a disappointing year. The Raiders? Well, they suck.

Dallas’ probability of going 2-0: 65%.
Looking for Dallas to slip out of the playoff picture is more promising, but they seem to be on a roll. They finish up the year at home against a tough Baltimore team, and on the road against Philadelphia. If Philadelphia is still in the hunt, you have to like their chances, but that scenario may further complicate Atlanta’s playoff hopes.

Never tell me the odds …

Trading down from Tommy.

I am really not sure what Auburn was thinking when they fired … err … forced Tommy Tuberville to resign … err … accepted Tuberville’s decision to step down … um … paid Tuberville 5 million plus to get the hell out of dodge.

So the best Auburn could do was Gene Chizik. WTF is a Chizik? God bless you!

I really do not get this one. I can understand that the alumni are disenfranchised with Tuberville, and want to go in a different direction. I can even understand calling on a former Auburn coach. All that is well and good, but is Chizik the best Auburn could do? How in the world is his hiring going to energize the fan base? Are the recruits going to start singing the “I needs me some Chizik” song and dance, and come running to the Plains of Alabama? Not likely.

OK, let me get this out. I have nothing against Chizik. Probably a good man and his credentials certainly peg him as a damn good assistant coach. Key word is assistant – it is not like he was on everyone’s radar as the next great head coach.

Alas, poor Auburn is going to look back on this one in a few years and long for the days of Tuberville. Funny how fast the faithful forget 13-0 seasons.

Jilted Braves are lucky to be spurned by Burnett.

So A.J. Burnett decided to play closer to home, and opted to sign with the Yankees instead of the Braves. Good for the Braves.

ESPN.com reported the Yankees’ offer to Burnett was worth $82.5 million. The Braves’ offer was believed to be worth $80 million, after the Braves increased an initial four-year, $64 million offer by turning a fifth-year option into a guarantee.

Burnett, who will be 32 in January, struggled with injuries throughout his career before having his best season for the Blue Jays. He never had more than 12 wins before 2008.

I can understand there is a shortage of good arms, but I think it would have been a poor move to give Burnett such a huge contract. It may turn out that Burnett is worth every penny, but I like where a writer from the Boston Herald (right, no bias here) takes this one.

The Yankees have committed five years, with an average annual value (AAV) of $16.5 million to a pitcher who has won more than 12 games exactly once in his major league career. That’s a curiously modest track record for someone with Burnett’s stuff.

But there are times – too many times – when Burnett looks like a classic underachiever. Despite the quality of stuff, he’s a mere 11 games over .500 in his 10-year career. And durability is hardly his calling card, topping 200 innings only three times.

So the premise here is that Burnett has great stuff, is frequently injured, and only pitches big in contract years. Sounds like a perfect fit for the Yankees.

Now maybe the Braves will focus on trying to shore up the farm, and only signing (or trading for) a value pitcher instead of going after an overvalued big name pitcher.

Decisions. Head scratching, bad decisions.

How is Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith still justifying his decision to punt on forth down in the closing minutes of last week’s loss to the Saints?

Smith believed the Falcons’ defense was smart and stout enough to force a three-and-out and let rookie quarterback Matt Ryan try for a miraculous finish, but the Saints never gave back the ball.

“I’ve got no reservations about it,” Smith said Monday. “With 3:15 to go, fourth-and-5 from our 35, I felt like we’d punt them back, which we did. Michael (Koenen) hit a big punt. They had the ball first-and-10 on the 13 with 3:15 to go. We had two timeouts and the two-minute (warning). If we are able to stop them, we were going to get the ball back to our offense in better field position than if we’d taken the gamble on fourth down.”

Hello! What a piss poor call. You are down by 4 so a field goal is not going to hurt you, and you are just as likely have having the Saints run out the clock. The defense did not stop the f’ing Saint all day, so I have no idea why Smith thought his defense was get pick up some magic IQ points.

After the game, this dumb ass had the audacity to compare Ryan to Vick. Let’s don’t go there. He could have gotten his point across without the needless comparison.

Anyhow, tomorrow’s game versus the dreaded Buckaroos from Tampa Bay ought to be a good one. When I purchased my season tickets this year, I never would have predicted that the Falcons would be in prime playoff position with three games to play. What a great turnaround!

Trading the Farm …

Atlanta Braves Logo
Can the Braves recapture any of the glory days from their early 90’s run? The Braves recent mistakes and their current pursuit of free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett does not bode well for an immediate recovery in the 2009 season.

Case in point, an interesting article from the ajc.com discusses the Braves trading away the farm.

“In the past season the Braves have traded away a busload of prospects for, in one case, a mere flirtation with Mark Teixiera, who was merely passing through town. They did happen to pick up an inexpensive Casey Kotchman in the deal, but back to Vazquez again, they traded a hot number with power, Tyler Flowers, for him. And Tyler can play first base, and has power.”

Here is the rub. In the past, the Braves won with pitching, most of which was home grown. Now they are going for quick hits (Vazquez and Burnett), which would not be some horrible if the Braves did not have to trade away the farm in the process.

Eight was too much to ask.

The scoreboard said Georgia Tech 45 – Georgia 42, but the real score was 26 – 0, as the Bumble Bees beat the living tar out of the Dawgs in the third quarter. What an awful quarter of football.

Georgia played four bad quarters of football this year. Alabama raced out to a 31 – 0 lead in the first half during the infamous “Blackout”, and Florida kicked the Dawgs tails 21 – 0 in the third quarter in Jacksonville. I think the poor third quarter play yesterday between the hedges against Tech ranks right up there in a season full of disappointments.

Seven years in a row was a nice run. The sun is still coming up in a few minutes …

Home Beta

A few minutes ago I noticed that I had several PlayStation Network emails in my gmail inbox. I do not normally read the PlayStation emails; I have a gmail filter to send archive them to a specific folder. For whatever reason Sony is canceling the Underground service, which means the from address is now PlayStation Network, so a new gmail filter is in order.

I was curious, so I looked in my Underground archive and saw the email about being invited to the Home Beta. I cannot remember how or why I signed up. Maybe part of Qore? Who the hell knows? I am only a couple months behind on my Qore downloads, and I have not signed on to the PS3 in a six to eight weeks.

So maybe tomorrow I will have a reason to power up the PS3 to see what Home is all about.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been a while since I posted anything, and today was as good a place to start again as any. Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Well, that was embarrassing, and then painful.

Ouch. Not sure what else I can say about the good ole fashion ass whipping Florida put on Georgia to the tune of 49-10. The better team won, but I will say that I hope Georgia sends the game tape to the SEC office, because there were some seriously piss poor calls. I do not think a better officiated game would have changed the results, but the score could have been a lot different.

Painful loss for Texas, which culminated in a weak effort by a Texas defender trying to stop Crabtree on the final play of the game. It is one thing to defend a perfectly thrown ball, it is another think to push someone four inches out of bounds. Just like that, Texas’ dream season came to a crashing halt at the hands of the Raid Raiders, 39-33.

Bummer of a college football weekend.

College weekend week 9 final takes.

Texas Helmet Everyone is going to say that (1) Texas escaped (6) Oklahoma St, 28-24, and by looking at the score, I would say they are correct. Thanks to ABC for not showing us a decent game, but I digress. Maybe the Cowboys are a better than decent team. Texas cannot put up a boatload of points on every opponent, and after a tough run of Oklahoma and Missouri, Texas was bound to come back to earth. Next week features another tough test, when the Longhorns visit Top 10 Texas Tech. Hopefully Texas can survive the Red Raiders. Hook ’em!

Vanderbilt falling 10-7 at home to Duke has to be the biggest disappointment of the weekend for SEC fans. After a 5-0 start, the Commodores have dropped three in a row, and trying to get bowl eligible does not get any easier. Vanderbilt’s remaining schedule features home dates with Florida and Tennessee, with road trips to Kentucky and Wake Forest.

Big Ten football is pathetic. The (3) Penn St at (9) Ohio St game was not even watchable. (5) USC squeaked by Arizona. (2) Alabama also took down the lowly Volunteers.

How are Oklahoma, USC, and Oklahoma State all in front of Georgia? I can see a case for Oklahoma … maybe. USC? No way their strength of schedule has been better than Georgia’s. How can Florida be in front of Georgia in any poll? I think a loss to Alabama is better than a loss to Ole Miss. I am sure Texas Tech will jump over Georgia, and who the hell has Penn State played? Much like the Alabama game, if the Bulldogs do not take care of business in Jacksonville, none of this matters.

Georgia puts up 52.

Traditional Georgia Bulldog Normally I would say if you give up 30+ points, you do not deserve to win. The Tigers of LSU put up 38 on Georgia, but the last 14 were really garbage points, resulting in a 52-38 ass kicking of the paper Tigers.

If I thought things were bad with Georgia’s defense, it must suck to be an LSU fan this morning. The Tiger’s defense has giving up 103 combined points to Georgia and Florida this year. Holy smokes, that is bad!

I don’t think we can use this game for any sort of barometer for the upcoming clash in Jacksonville. One would think a lot of points will light up the scoreboard; the over will have to be 65+ … but for some reason I think this one may turn into a good ole fashion defensive struggle.

#50 Darryl Gamble played great, and had two interceptions for touchdowns. The first was a 40 yard return on the opening play from scrimmage. The second was a 53 yard backbreaker deep in the fourth quarter. While Gamble has filled in very capably for #32 Dannell Ellerbe, I think Ellerbe could make a difference if he can get on the field against the Gators. If nothing else, Georgia becomes very deep at LB, or they can play some different schemes with Gamble and Ellerbe.

Bring on the Gators! Go Dawgs!

RWS Superpoint Extra pellets save the day.

RWS Superpoint Extra .22 Our story begins with a pesky tree rat problem. A raider of two of the three backyard feeders, this sneaky tree rat is a real pest. The little varmint has figured out the sound of a window being raised means it is time to start moving along. What about the sound of the R1 being cocked? Mrs. Tree Rat knows it is past time to make haste and get the hell away from the feeders.

This morning I saw the tree rat in one of the feeders, and took out the R1 and some RWS Superpoint Extra pellets (14.5 gr). As I lifted the window, to take a shot from the comforts of my house, the tree rat jumped from the feeder and scurried up the pecan tree. Seems she knew I had ill intentions for her. She was right; I was dead serious this time.

I waited and waited, and she finally came down the tree, and started for the yum-yum in the feeder. Silly tree rat, this bird feeder is reserved for a family of cardinals, not rats with long bushy tails. I made the mistake of taking a Superpoint pellet and cocking the R1. The tree rat split. Ah, but this time I was serious about ending this problem once and for all.

This same tree rat (no, I really do not know that it is the same one, but it makes for a better story) has been raiding the feeders all week. In times of economic crisis, the bird seed is 100% for the birds; not for tree rats.

So I waited. After about 10 minutes the little pests come crawling in the backyard, this time towards the shepherd’s hook feeder. The R1 was loaded and ready for action.

I set the Elite 3200 for x10 zoom, and 20 yards. I track the tree rat for a good 10 minutes waiting for the perfect opportunity. I could have taken several shots, and almost did, but I wanted to end this game once and for all. Nice and clean.

After the tree rat had it fill of seeds around the bottom of the feeder, she started to make for open territory. This was going to be my last chance this morning to enforce the no tree rat zone. I set the scope for 15 yards, aimed, and let loose leaded thunder. Right in the neck! The tree rat fell over on impact, quickly expired, as its life spilled out of it onto the dew covered ground. Nice and clean.

Further examination of the tree rat shows that the RWS Superpoint Extra pellet entered the left side of her neck with a nice clean hole, and exited with an equally clean howl around the right shoulder. No blood on the exit, but a small river on the entrance. I do not have enough kills with the R1 to really draw conclusions, but the Crosman Premier pellets have not been passing through their varmint targets. This shot was placed so well that the pass through did not really matter.

The no tree rat zone has been enforced, thanks to the R1, and the RWS Superpoint Extra pellets showing their worth. All in all, a great morning of pest control with the R1. Sorry, this one is really too graphic for pictures; words will have to do.

Until next time. May your birdfeeders remain free of tree rats!

ABC regional college football coverage sucks.

Speaking of things that suck, the regional game on ABC this afternoon features a real winner. A match-up for the ages. Better make sure that we all sit down to watch the clash of the titans, because when Virginia St takes on Florida St, we are going to have some must see TV.

Oh boy, love me some ACC football.

Cheese and crackers. Screw this regional crap. Even if I was not a Texas fan, I would expect to see a game featuring the number one team in the land hosting another undefeated Top 10 opponent.

Add ABC regional college football to the list of things that suck. Now featuring an economy that is completely in the toilet, and one of the worst Presidential races in recent memory.