PETIT LE MANS IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER SEE BACK PAGE SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2008 ATLANTA’SATLANTA’S WEEKLY SPORTS SPORTS TALK TALK NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER VOL 4 NO 37 SPORTS PERFORMANCE TRAINING Speed and agility • Strength and Power • Injury Prevention • Self-Confidence PRIVATE AND GROUP INSTRUCTION Baseball • Softball • Football • Lacrosse • Soccer • Basketball BIRTHDAY PARTIES, BAR MITZVAHS & SPECIAL EVENTS NEW! ADULT FITNESS PROGRAMS 2 GREAT LOCATIONS! EAST COBB – SPORTS A RAMA We Help Young Athletes Get Better ™ BUCKHEAD – TOP DOG SPORTS Fountains of Old Town • 736 Johnson Ferry Rd. 24345 Adams Dr. • Atlanta, GA 30318 Marietta, GA 30068 www.topdogsports.com 404.355.9700 770.977.9789 02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM SEPTEMBER 10-16, 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 WWW.SCOREATL.COM VIDEO MANAGER/PREP EDITOR Scott Janovitz BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick SALES Zander Lentz, Brian Pruett 5 I.J. Rosenberg praises Arthur Blank, Thomas Dimitroff and the rest PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Cunningham of the Falcons organization for giving the city of Atlanta something OFFICE MANAGER Nakia Washington to cheer about. BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Dream), Stephen Black _____________________________________________________________ (Silverbacks), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Johnny Crosskey 14 790 The Zone’s Chuck Oliver talks Auburn Tigers football. (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Erik Horne (Falcons), Scott Can the team prove preseason critics wrong and win the Janovitz (Hawks/Recruiting), Fletcher Proctor (Braves) Southeastern Conference title? STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Keilah ______________________________________________________________ Johnson, Zander Lentz, Andrew McCarron, Corey Mitchell, Jessica Parker, Leighton Savary, Keafer Triplett, Derek Wiley 15 Mike Smith (pictured) and the Falcons emerged victorious in CONTRIBUTORS Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, Mitch Evans, their season opener, so check out our beat page for full results Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond, Joe Haines, Brian Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, Fred Kalil, Nick and photos from the game! Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg Smith, Steak Shapiro, ____________________________________________________________ Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Chuck Oliver, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, Matt Chernoff, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff 22 The Ultimate Fighting Championship held its pay-per-view Woolverton, Chris Voss, Bob Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill event last Saturday at Philips Arena and Stephen Black has Hartman, Chuck Dowdle, Shannon Alderman, Dan Kamal, Dennis all of the results. Scott, C.C., Hal Lanier, Jeff Batten, Micah Hart, Ben Wright, Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones A SCORE UPDATE: SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom Score is looking for more interns to handle everything from writing, editing, graphics, web work and webcasting as well as selling advertising. ™ SCHOOL For more information, call Tad Arapoglou at 404-256-1572 or email him LISTING at [email protected]. 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 BACK HOME: As proud as we were DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, COVER DESIGN BY DAVID GAUDIO; COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF DON JACKSON/PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS. Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius to see the Falcons take out Detroit last Sunday, X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker there was one opposing player we couldn’t help FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, but cheer for. Former Tech standout Calvin Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, 4 BABE OF THE WEEK 6 DUE UP-SCORE LIST 7 SPIN-C.C. Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy Johnson had a great game in his return to GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Atlanta, hauling in a game-high seven receptions 8 GOLF-YEARS PAST 10 PANTHERS 12 DREAM 15 FALCONS Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill for 107 yards. We were happy to see Johnson Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan pad his stats … and even happier that his team 16 BRAVES 17 HAWKS-THRASHERS-’BACKS 18 DAWGS did not win. Photo courtesy of Don Jackson/Photographic Arts. 19 JACKETS 20-21 CALENDAR 22 MEDIA-AD INDEX WWW.SCOREATL.COM 04 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! REMEMBER WHEN… MAN IN CHARGE: Think Chad Johnson legally changing his last name to Ocho Cinco is odd? Don’t forget that former Braves owner Ted Turner (pic- tured) once asked Andy Messersmith, who wore No. 17, to change his last name to “Channel,” so his jersey would read “Channel 17” to help promote Turner’s TBS. Luckily, Major League Baseball nixed that idea. Photo courtesy of Scott Cunningham. WWW.SCOREATL.COM SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2008 SCORE ATLANTA I 05 Blank, Falcons prove ‘nightmare is over’ and Johnson was right hire at Tech hen it was all over Sunday and the tainly looks as though Johnson was the right carried the station when it came to the Hawks WFalcons had finished whipping the pick to replace Chan Gailey. and did so as well through some other tough Detroit Lions, I felt good for the team, espe- times. I hope someone else in town picks up cially Arthur Blank. AND FINALLY … Leak immediately. He deserves a break. R Last season had been a nightmare for the The Zone will add former Georgia great Falcons’ boss and his franchise. What David Pollack to their afternoon show, putting AND FINALLY ONE MORE TIME … E Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino put the team the former first-round NFL pick in the studio I just have to point out that I was 3-0 on my V and this city through was despicable. with Mike Bell and Chuck Oliver. Now, this local predictions this weekend, going with the But the cloud has finally lifted and the should be interesting, though Pollack sounded Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets and Falcons. I needed O good in the few auditions he did. The key for that and, by the way, Chris Dimino, one of the pieces Blank has put in place appear to be in C good working order. him is not to sit there and just answer questions morning guys over at 790, spent last week talking but actually be one of the hosts, setting topics about how Detroit was going to come in here and His new general manager, Thomas E Dimitroff, watched his free-agent signings and certainly giving an athlete’s perspective on kill the Falcons. While Dimino joins Chuck and draft picks help carry the team against what is going on. The move on Pollack is in Oliver as the most knowledgeable hosts over at H the Lions. T His new head coach, Mike Smith, and his staff devised a gameplan that led to 21 N first-quarter points and then held up against a pretty good passing offense. O His new quarterback, Matt Ryan, not only threw a touchdown on his first official Right now, Atlanta fans are on Cloud 9. NFL pass, but made very few mistakes in a game in which the Lions came flying back in In their first games as Falcons, Michael the second quarter. Turner torched Detroit’s defense for And finally, his big free-agent signing, 220 rushing yards and two touch- the former San Diego backup Michael downs, while rookie Matt Ryan (pic- Turner, looked every bit as good as any back that took the field in the first week of the tured) threw a touchdown to Michael NFL season. Jenkins on his first NFL pass. This While it was just one victory and they Sunday, the Birds hit the road to face will face a tough Tampa Bay team on the the Tampa Bay Bucs. Can the team con- road this Sunday, I think everyone can see a team that definitely has the blocks in place to tinue its momentum and pick up a key build for the future. Because I do a three- early-season win over an NFC South hour radio show on 790 The Zone during the rival? The above photo of Ryan and Falcons games, I didn’t get to see Blank cover shot of Turner are each courtesy afterwards. But knowing him and reading some of the reports, I heard he was one giddy of Don Jackson/Photographic Arts. man – and he deserves it. A self-made bil- lionaire who has put endless energy and STANDING ROOM ONLY: Falcons fans came out in full force last Sunday to watch Atlanta kick off the season on changes it makes, keeps building up the hopes of money into this franchise (and Arthur, great the right foot with a victory over Detroit. Oddly enough, the game was in danger of missing out on a sellout just its lifelong fans and smashing them to job on the new-look Dome), Blank had to hours before Thursday’s deadline. Luckily, the remaining tickets were purchased and with the energy in the stands smithereens.” Ochten must be an AJC subscriber. On another note, friend Mitch Albom of sleep well Sunday night, perhaps for the first and solid play on the field, expect to see a lot more sellouts this season. Photo courtesy of Don Jackson/Photographic Arts. time in almost a year. He certainly has this the Detroit Free Press was in town Sunday and franchise, an organization filled with good wrote this about his Lions: “Did that really people and no DeAngelo Halls, going in the CATCH I.J.