WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE DEAL WE HATCHED SEE BACK PAGE SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2008 ATLANTA’SATLANTA’S WEEKLY SPORTS SPORTS TALK TALK NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER VOL 4 NO 36 02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2008 SCORE ATLANTA I 03 ™ STARTING LINEUP IN YOUR PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg FACE… MANAGING EDITOR Tad Arapoglou DIRECTOR OF SALES/MARKETING John Duke ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Gaudio GRAPHIC DESIGNER D.J. Galbiati WEBMASTER Alex Ewalt VIDEO MANAGER/PREP EDITOR Scott Janovitz WWW.SCOREATL.COM BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick SALES Zander Lentz, Brian Pruett 14 With the Falcons kicking off the 2008 season on Sunday, beat writer Erik PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Cunningham Horne gives readers the inside scoop on the players, coaches and schedule. OFFICE MANAGER Nakia Washington _______________________________________________________________ BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Dream), Stephen Black (Silverbacks), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler 15 Tad Arapoglou breaks down each of the NFL divisions. Braylon (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Johnny Crosskey Edwards (pictured) and the Browns could surprise people in (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Erik Horne (Falcons), Scott the AFC North once again. Janovitz (Hawks/Recruiting), Fletcher Proctor (Braves) ________________________________________________________ STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Keilah Johnson, Zander Lentz, Corey Mitchell, Jessica Parker, 23 Kevin Dankosky lists four reasons why the Falcons “won’t be Leighton Savary, Keafer Triplett, Derek Wiley bad” this year, and Brian Jones writes on rookie quarterback CONTRIBUTORS Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, Mitch Evans, Matt Ryan getting his first start. Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond, Joe Haines, Brian ___________________________________________________________ Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, Fred Kalil, Nick Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg Smith, Steak Shapiro, 26 Yellow Jackets beat writer Johnny Crosskey was impressed Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Chuck Oliver, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, with the team’s opening win but says the REAL season Matt Chernoff, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff starts Saturday against Boston College. Woolverton, Chris Voss, Bob Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill Hartman, Chuck Dowdle, Shannon Alderman, Dan Kamal, Dennis Scott, C.C., Hal Lanier, Jeff Batten, Micah Hart, Ben Wright, A SCORE UPDATE: Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones Want the best Friday night high school football SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry h scoreboard in town? Then go to Scoreatl.com and check out our flash scoreboard, which will update you with scores from around the state every ™ SCHOOL Friday night beginning at 7:30 p.m. You can also LISTING check out all the state college football scores on Saturday. CHEROKEE/FORSYTH: Cherokee, Creekview, Etowah, Forsyth Central, North Forsyth, Sequoyah, South Forsyth, West Forsyth, Woodstock COBB: Allatoona, Campbell, Harrison, Kell, Kennesaw Mountain, Lassiter, TEAM PAGES I COLUMNS Marietta, McEachern, N. Cobb, N. Cobb Christian, Pebblebrook, Pope, S. Cobb, Sprayberry, Walton, Wheeler PRIME TIME: There are plenty of new DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, COVER DESIGN BY DAVID GAUDIO; COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF JIMMY CRIBB/ATLANTA FALCONS. Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius faces on the Falcons this season, but will any of X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker them have as much of an impact as “Neon” Deion FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Sanders did from 1989-93? Not only was he Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, 4 MEMORY LANE 5 ROSENBERG 6 DUE UP 7 SPIN-C.C. Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy arguably the game’s greatest cornerback (and per- GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins haps worst rapper), Sanders even played for both 8 GOLF-YEARS PAST 10 DREAM 11 OLIVER 17 FALCONS Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill the Falcons and Braves … on the same day. Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan Sanders is now a commentator for the NFL 18 BRAVES 19 HAWKS-THRASHERS-’BACKS 20 BULLDOGS Network. Photo courtesy of Don Jackson/Photographic Arts. 21 JACKETS 22 PANTHERS 24-25 CALENDAR 26 AD INDEX WWW.SCOREATL.COM 04 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! Former SEC stars; Griffey’s 600th longball ollege football is back in the South. As the Buffalo Sabres. Is it worth anything? Ccurrent fans debate which team is best in Dear Hockey Nut: This is a popular pro- the SEC, longtime college football fans can gram with Atlanta Flames collectors. It was always take a look back at yesteryear. See who the first sporting event held at the Omni and the fans rate as the greatest SEC football play- the first home game program of the Atlanta er this week on the online auction report. Flames. It retails for $75. The Flames’ first NHL game was against the New York • Bo Jackson University of Auburn Islanders in New York. That program retails Autographed Helmet for $150. Incidentally, the Flames-Sabres • Herschel Walker University of Georgia game ended in a 1-1 tie. Autographed Helmet Dean Dean: I have a couple of 1940s • Steve Spurrier University of Florida baseball cards, but I recently compared them Autographed Helmet to a friend of mine’s and they have a different • Peyton Manning University of look to them. The photos on the cards I have Tennessee Autographed Helmet are a bit grainy. My friend suggested they • Don Hutson University of Alabama may be counterfeits. Can you give me any Autographed Photo information? Dear Second Generation: Typically with He never won a national championship any original card, a dot matrix pattern is not or a Heisman, but the Peyton Manning hel- readily visible. Only when any original card met tops the list, bringing in $350. It was a is reprinted or reproduced is a distinctive dot close battle for second between Bo Jackson matrix pattern apparent. When an image is and Herschel Walker, but the University of reproduced, the quality of the photo is slight- Auburn running back came out on top $275 to $250. The Don Hutson photo brought in ly deteriorated, causing the dot matrix pat- $200. Rounding out this week’s top five is tern to be more apparent. This can also cause the Steve Spurrier University of Florida a fuzzy image, among other issues. A good signed helmet that nailed down $150. example is if you take an original photo and Going, going, gone. Ken Griffey Jr.’s 600th make a copy of it. The second-generation home run baseball was sold at auction by photo will appear grainier and a dot matrix Mastro Auction (www.mastroauctions.com) in pattern is easy to see. From your description, their August sports auction. When the hammer the cards sound a little suspect, but without finally fell, the baseball brought in $35,000. seeing them I obviously can’t say for sure. Want to know what your item is worth or FROM THE MAILBAG … have a question about a particular sports Dear Dean: I have an Oct. 14, 1972 item? Email me, Dean Zindler, at Atlanta Flames Hockey program. They played [email protected]. REMEMBER WHEN… BEHIND CENTER: Falcons fans can only hope that Matt Ryan’s career ends up on the same level as Joe Montana’s from 1979-94. Montana is con- sidered by many to be the greatest quarterback in NFL history, and it is hard to argue against it. “Joe Cool” was an eight-time Pro-Bowler, a four-time Super Bowl champ and a three-time Super Bowl MVP. Photo courtesy of Scott Cunningham. WWW.SCOREATL.COM SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2008 SCORE ATLANTA I 05 Some predictions for our local football teams and a send-off to Mariotti decided to wait a week until I made my Falcons being competitive, losing close look at what very popular Sun-Times movie Iseason predictions for Georgia Tech, games. The Falcons then come home and critic Roger Ebert wrote in a letter distributed Georgia and the Falcons. The Bulldogs and beat the Bears, lose to Philadelphia on the to employees at the paper: Yellow Jackets already have a win under their road before getting their first road win of the “What an ugly way to leave the Sun-Times. R belts, both coming against I-AA teams. season in Oakland. At this point, the Falcons It does not speak well for you. Your timing was Nothing unexpected there. are 4-4. The team then plays three tough exquisite. You signed a new contract, waited until E So here we go. Make your plans for games at home against New Orleans, Denver days after the newspaper had paid for your trip to V Vegas and you can bet on my picks; just don’t and Carolina. I see a win over the Saints and Beijing at great cost, and then resigned with a call me if they’re wrong. a loss to the Broncos before a big win over two-word e-mail: ‘I quit.’ You saved your expla- O Starting with Georgia, I don’t think they the Panthers. The team is now 6-5 with an nation for a local television station. C will win a national championship. I do think, outside shot at the playoffs, but the schedule “As someone who was working here for 24 however, that they will win the SEC. The gets too tough, as losses at San Diego and years before you arrived, I think you owed us E schedule is just too tough to take it all and New Orleans, a win here against Tampa Bay, more than that. You owed us decency. The fact they have already lost two good linemen. H For sure, the Bulldogs will go into their T game against Alabama on Sept.