WINGS, FOOTBALL AND BABES SEE BACK PAGE OCTOBER 15-21, 2008 ATLANTA’S WEEKLY SPORTS TALK NEWSPAPER VOL 4 NO 42 02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM OCTOBER 15-21, 2008 SCORE ATLANTA I 03 ™ STARTING LINEUP IN YOUR PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg FACE… MANAGING EDITOR Tad Arapoglou 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 Travis Ball, Brian Pruett, Charles Rose 4 Kevin Dankosky wonders how fans will be able to afford heading to profes- OFFICE MANAGER Nakia Washington sional and college sporting events while the nation endures an economic crisis. BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Falcons), Stephen Black ____________________________________________________________ (Kennesaw State), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Johnny Crosskey 5 After a last-second victory over Chicago, I.J. Rosenberg praises (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Scott Janovitz the Falcons and compares this team to the 1991 (Hawks/Recruiting), Fletcher Proctor (Braves) worst-to-first Braves. STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Ricky Dimon, __________________________________________________ Rajesh Gupta, Zander Lentz, Andrew McCarron, Corey Mitchell, Jessica Parker, Leighton Savary, Keafer Triplett, Derek Wiley 16 Ilya Kovalchuk (pictured) and the Thrashers have kicked CONTRIBUTORS Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, Mitch Evans, off the new season, so check out our beat page to read Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond, Joe Haines, Brian about their thrilling season-opener! Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, Fred Kalil, Nick ___________________________________________ Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg Smith, Steak Shapiro, 22 Alex Ewalt, a.k.a. the “Mayor of Prepland,” Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Chuck Oliver, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, brings readers the results from last week’s Matt Chernoff, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff high school football scene and previews Woolverton, Chris Voss, Bob Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill big matchups coming up. 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 If you can’t make it out to a high school football game on Friday night, visit SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom Scoreatl.com for live updates for every game in the state! Whether it’s metro area, South Georgia or anywhere else, Scoreatl.com’s flash scoreboard will have ™ SCHOOL the results from start to finish. If you are interested in reporting scores for local LISTING games, call 404-256-1572. 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 FED UP FULMER: Head coach DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, COVER DESIGN BY DAVID GAUDIO; COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID MCGREGOR/PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS. Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius Phil Fulmer was livid last Saturday after X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker Tennessee’s 26-14 loss to Georgia, the FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, Volunteers’ third loss in four games. With a record 4 MEMORY LANE 6 DUE UP-SCORE LIST 7 SPIN-C.C. Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy of 2-4, the Volunteers are surprisingly the last- GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill place team in the SEC and still have No. 2 Alabama 10 GA STATE 11 HS RANKINGS 12 REMEMBER WHEN 13 KSU Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan and No. 22 Vanderbilt left on the schedule. Is 15 FALCONS 16 THRASHERS 17 HAWKS-BRAVES Fulmer’s job in jeopardy? Photo courtesy of Rob Saye. 18 UGA 19 TECH 20-21 CALENDAR 22 AD INDEX WWW.SCOREATL.COM 04 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! In these tough times, who will bail out fans? Postseason signed balls; new sets for Topps ith the economy in a nose dive and game nowadays is a luxury in and of itself to he Major League Baseball postseason is in FROM THE MAILBAG … Wprices rising on everything, the profes- many of us normal Joes. When the broad- full gear and only one team will emerge sional sports industry is entering uncharted casting money started coming in, profession- T Dear Dean: I recently came across a waters. Only time will tell if professional al sports teams started to follow the money victorious. Which team was the fan favorite pair of football stickers I can’t identify. These teams are able to count on fan attendance scent and began catering to the needs of cor- this week on the online auction report? cloth stickers are copyright dated 1972 and when disposable income is now a luxury porate America rather than the average fans. measure 1 3/4” x 2 3/8”. Any information? more than a reality. The truth is, as long as The results ranged from corporate sponsor- • 2008 Tampa Bay Rays Team there are televisions, it really doesn’t matter ship of stadiums, construction of luxury Dear Stuck in the Seventies: The stick- what happens to attendance. Owning a sports suites and in park advertisements galore Autographed Baseball ers were issued in both Sunbeam and franchise is a good business to be in no mat- before, after and during games. • 2008 Boston Red Sox Team Schwebel Bread products in 1975. There is a ter what the economy does. Autographed Baseball helmet sticker for each team. They sell for Just think; 60 years ago, there were just MODERN TIMES … • 2008 Philadelphia Phillies Team over 100,000 television sets across the entire Fast forward to today. I think the new between $3-5 each, depending on the team. nation. Now, every household has 2.3 televi- Miller beer ad hits the nail on the head. The Autographed Baseball From 1972-75, Fleer also had a similar issue sion sets (the .3 must be new TV options on beer truck driver is delivering beer to a luxu- • 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers Team out, but their cloth stickers measure a bit cell phones). With nearly 300 million televi- ry suite at a baseball game. When he walks in Autographed Baseball larger (2 1/2” x 3 1/2”) and they were issued sion sets, no matter how bad the economy he notices all these suit types using their in packs of cards with gum. gets, professional sports will always be avail- PDAs and talking about work. “What’s the able to John Q. Public via the airwaves. If the score?” he asks. No one has a clue, so he The fan-favorite to win is the Tampa Dear Dean: I have a Steve Avery 1991 attendance at games drops, television ratings takes the beer away and brings it out to the Bay Rays, whose team-signed baseball World Series autographed baseball. What’s will go up. Since the majority of the revenue nosebleed seats where the “real fans” were pulled in an impressive $500, followed it worth? teams make come from broadcasting rights, sitting. I’m not saying you can’t be a corpo- closely by the Los Angeles Dodgers base- Dear Worst to First: Anyone who was in having fans in the seats is just gravy for the rate type and love the game. You just won’t goose. And how can you blame fans for not see many guys in suites with their bodies ball with $475. The Red Sox autographed Atlanta in 1991 will remember the magic of flocking to games? painted and wearing funny hats. baseball knocked down $250. Rounding the worst-to-first season. Avery played a big A recent Team Marketing report shows Winning teams will have no trouble fill- out this week’s top four was the part in helping Atlanta to its first World that it costs more than ever to attend a profes- ing seats and those seats are going to be expen- Philadelphia Phillies autographed baseball, Series going 18-8 during the season and win- sional sports event. According to the report it sive. It’s a simple result of supply and demand takes about $400 for a family of four to as everyone wants to see a winner. In that grabbing $225. ning the NLCS MVP award. In 1996, injuries attend an NFL game, $282 dollars for the regard, Falcons tickets and UGA tickets will be Hot off the press. Topps has released began to hamper Avery’s pitching. He subse- NBA and $192 for MLB (and that doesn’t at a premium this year. I hope the Thrashers, its 2008 boxed football card complete sets. quently was traded to the Boston Red Sox in include gas). The popular saying “show me Hawks and Braves get off to good starts in Suggested retail price is $44.95. Topps has 1997. Although he will always be remem- the money” has a brand new meaning. their upcoming seasons because if not, there’s Common sense would dictate that when going to be plenty of leg room in the stands. In also released special-edition sets for the bered fondly in Atlanta, your ball in this part given the choice of going to a game or buy- the long run, pro teams should always remem- New England Patriots, New York Giants, of the world is worth $50. It is still a great ing groceries for the family, the family ber that the fans built their league and that if Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.