The Atlanta Hawks

Joe Johnson is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week and the Hawks have won 5 games in a row!

It's a great time to be a Hawks fan!

Four in a Row!

The Hawks beat the Washington Wizards tonight. What a nice way to go into the holiday break! We've won 4 in a row, and we are 2 games over .500. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present from the Hawks. Hopefully they'll keep it up when Indiana comes to town the day after Christmas.

Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat

The Hawks beat the sorry ass Miami Heat tonight. The game went into an overtime that never should have happened, but I'm kind of used to us making games harder than they have to be. There are so many things worth mentioning about this game, that I don't know if I'll have time (or bother) to get to them all.
I have to start somewhere so I may as well start with the facts. The Heat wouldn't have been in the game were it not for the ridiculous amount of free throws they shot all night. I believe they had 24 attempts in the first half. D Wade did his best Finals MVP imitation and shot 22 himself. It was ridiculous. They ended up shooting 49 all together. We shot 38, but we had to play catch up in order to get those. Shaq is old. Zo got hurt and might be done for the season/career. Ricky Davis likes to shoot. That's enough facts.
Just a few thoughts about our 13-12 Atlanta Hawks: We have way too many players sitting on the bench in their Sunday suits. I'm afraid the 9 healthy bodies we have available will be worn out by the All Star break! These injuries are a gift and curse in a way. I think Woody is a better coach because of them. They've taken away his option to do strange things with his substitutions. It's probably just because he doesn't have the players available to screw with whatever is working on the floor, but I'm going to give him a little credit anyway.
Marvin Williams is starting to play like the #2 overall pick. He's been really, really good! No one has been harder on him than I have, but I have to acknowledge the improvements he's made. I'm still not sure the team wouldn't be better off with Chris Paul or Deron Williams, but if Marvin continues to play the way he's been playing, I'll get over myself.
Anthony Johnson has been the second best player on this team the past couple of games. That's a scary thought if you're a Hawks fan. First of all, he's 53 years old and he's playing an obscene amount of minutes. The fact that we need him to play those minutes is troubling. Second, it's unfair to him that we are working him like a mule. He's just months away from getting his AARP card, so we need to get this man some help to make sure his transition into retirement is smooth. Seriously, he's playing like a spry 22 year old. Gotta love that.
The team is over .500 for the first time this late in a season in a long time. I hope our healthy players remain healthy, and our unhealthy players get healthy.

Back From New York, Hawks Win.

I'm back from my summer vacation! I missed quite a few things, but I'll get back in the swing of things soon.
The Hawks beat the Jazz last night. Boozer gave us 39 and 12, but we weathered that storm. The game was too close in the end, but we won and that's all that matters. We only had 9 players dressed and only 8 of them played. Anthony Johnson looked like the Anthony Johnson of 1953. He had his young legs on last night! I think the real Joe Johnson has made his way back to the team. It couldn't have come at a better time. The sorry ass Miami Heat are coming to town Wednesday. That's a game we must win. We're better than they are and we need to play like it.

The Mitchell Report, Useless Senators

So the long awaited Mitchell Report is due out any minute now. Personally, I think this is a waste of time because its not going to change anything when we find out that Barry Bonds wasn't the only player taking steroids. I know that's going to be a shocking development for most media types, but oh well. Word on the street is that Roger Clemens used roids. I've been saying it for 10 damn years! (that's not true) But I have wondered aloud why no one even bothered to consider that he might have. I'll have more on this when the names come out, but just know that I think the whole 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series team got juiced up during the ALCS when they came back and beat my Yankees. None of their names will be listed considering the guy doing the investigation works for them.
John Kerry is up in arms because the game between the Pats and Giants (which is 3 weeks away) won't be seen by those who don't have the NFL network. Basically he thinks that a game of that magnitude should made available to the masses. He's assuming the Pats will be trying to wrap up their pursuit of perfection. Now I see why he lost the Presidency. He's a moron! You mean to tell me that our Senators have NOTHING better to do than worry about a damn football game! Really?? I hope the whole Patriots team tests positive for HGH and they're all suspended so they have to forfeit the game. I'm just sayin.....

Hawks, Petrino, LeBron

The Hawks lost to the Dinosaurs (as one little boy called the Raptors) last night. Fresh off of an Eastern Conference player of the week award Josh was horrible! He was in foul trouble and he turned into that jump shooter that we all know and hate. Not a good look at all for the young fellow. T J Ford was having his way with the Hawks, but unfortunately when the game was winding down, he got a breakaway steal and Al fouled him on the layup attempt and knocked him to floor. He was down about 10 minutes and he had to be taken off on a stretcher. He does have movement in all of his extremities so hopefully he won't miss any real time. It wasn't a dirty play by Al, it was just one those freak incidents. Sam Mitchell ran across the court like he wanted to swing on Al. He don't want it for real. I think Woody could take him, I really do.
Bobby Petrino resigned yesterday. This is not what he signed up for, and I'm sure he figured next year won't be any better than this year so he had to do what he had to do. I'll have more on this later.
LeBron James finally returned to action after missing two months with a sprained finger on his non-shooting hand. Okay, it wasn't really 2 months, but he did miss about 6 games. He might need to toughen up a little bit. I'm sure A I was somewhere shaking his head in disbelief that a little sprained finger could keep this guy out for half the season. I personally think LeBron is tired and he just needed a little break. This was his opportunity to get it.

Random Stuff, Hawks of Course

7 got sentenced to 23 months in prison. I'm sure that's a bit more time than he anticipated when he turned himself in just days before Thanksgiving. Bless his lil heart. His football career might actually be over. Then again, he can lift weights and stay in shape while he's in the joint. It's not like he has anything else to do.
The Patriots beat the Steelers yesterday. I'm totally rooting against the Pats even harder than I was before. I hate forgone conclusions so I don't want them to win the Super Bowl. I'm a hater.
The Hawks take on the Orlando Magic this evening. This would be a great win for us and it would put us at .500. Orlando does look like a great team, but I think we can beat them. That's not just the fan in me talking. I really do think we can beat them. Hopefully our running team will show up in Florida.
Update: We beat the Magic. Josh out Dwight Howarded Dwight Howard, but just by a little bit. The Joe Johnson impersonator had a big game and Shelden Williams even contributed to the win. Tonight they take on the Raptors.

Hawks vs. Wolves

Tonight the Hawks take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. This is a game they absolutely MUST win! A loss should cost someone his job. I'm just sayin......
Update: The Hawks won on a buzzer beater by the Joe Johnson impersonator. As usual they made the game way harder than it had to be, but a win is a win I guess.

Hawks Lose. Again

Sigh. The Hawks lost to the Pistons yesterday. I'm not even going to waste my time telling you all the things they did wrong. Just know they did damn near everything wrong. We're almost 20 games into the season and I'm still not convinced that this team is any better this year than they were last year. The more I watch them the more I realize two things that are very possible. 1) Mike Woodson really doesn't want to coach this team anymore. He can't be as bad as some of his substitutions, play calling, and clock management would lead us to believe. He just can't be! He's obviously trying to get the organization to put him out of his misery. 2) This group of guys are either not really that good, or they're just not really that good together. Sometimes they look like they don't have a damn clue what's going on out there on the court! Even though the coach is bad, he isn't on the court so sometimes they should ignore his genius and do the right thing.
Maybe this team as currently constructed will never be more than a 30 win team. I know a lot of our players have been consistently injured, but so what. The Usual Suspects have been there. Actually, that isn't even true. I don't know who this man is that's been impersonating Joe Johnson this season! The Hawks are only capable of limited success with a great Joe Johnson. There's no way in hell they'll get anywhere if he keeps playing like he's been playing! This team seemingly searches for new ways to disappoint me from game to game. Something needs to change very soon. I told ya'll last season that the Hawks have about 2 more years of my unconditional support. I am not going to be THAT fan forever. I want to see results! I've been patient, but patience doesn't last forever. They do show Chicago Bulls games here in Atlanta, they might get to be my new favorite team. Hell, they should have Kobe in a couple of years and he's one of my favorite players. I wouldn't mind being a Bulls fan at all. I'm near the end of my rope with this hawks team. I'm just sayin............

Sean Taylor

I've been thinking a lot about the Sean Taylor situation and I just can't get past the way the media acted when they found out he was killed. They basically think he had it coming. So, let me make sure I understand this correctly. If you’ve ever had any kind of run-in with the law you should expect to be murdered while someone is trying to burglarize your home. Now I'm really worried about all those speeding tickets I've gotten! That seems a bit ridiculous to me, but if you’ve listened to a lot of the national media, this is exactly the sentiment they expressed surrounding the death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor. “Sadly, this doesn’t surprise me”. That’s how several pundits responded before the facts were revealed when asked how they felt about Taylor’s death. I’m shocked that it doesn’t surprise people that four men could break into a man’s home while he and his family are asleep and shoot him over worldly possessions. If it takes more than that to surprise you, then maybe you need to take a long hard look at the kind of life you live and change some things. You're obviously around some effed up situations on a daily basis. Sean Taylor made a questionable decision or two in his life just like most young people do, but that has nothing to do with why he was murdered. He was murdered because of the good things he’d accomplished in life. He played for one of the most revered college football teams ever (The "U") and made himself worthy of being the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. There are millions of dollars that come along with being drafted so high, and unfortunately those millions of dollars ultimately led to the end of this young man’s life. For a lot of NFL players, being a superb athlete is a gift and a curse. It allows you to take care of yourself and your family, but it also breeds a tremendous amount of envy. It makes a lot of them targets for unscrupulous people who are unwilling to work for the things they want. Four assholes decided to try to steal valuable things from this wealthy man's home. The suspects were under the assumption that Taylor would be away, so I guess you could say he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If being at home asleep is the wrong place, then there is no right place. Pundits have been insisting for years that athletes would be perfectly safe if they just stayed at home away from clubs and parties and etc. That doesn't really seem to be the case here lately considering all of the athletes who have been victimized in their own homes. These men need to really consider getting some sort of protection for themselves. Jealousy leads people to do some crazy things and there are few people who have more haters than professional athletes. Most common-folk think they're overpaid and spoiled. This could very well be true, but don't hate the player, hate the game. When situations like this arise it makes it easier for me to understand why athletes are standoffish. They can never be too careful! Hell, they can't even be asleep at home without the fear of someone trying to come in and do them harm. So the next time you wonder why an athlete has a section of a restaurant roped off, or he has an exclusive party at a club that you can't get into, think about Sean Taylor. He had money and four broke ass dudes felt like they deserved some of it. They didn't, but that doesn't matter now.