NASCAR COMING TO ATLANTA! SEE BACK PAGE FEBRUARY 18-24, 2009 ATLANTA’S WEEKLY SPORTS TALK NEWSPAPER VOL 5 NO 4 02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM FEBRUARY 18-24, 2009 SCORE ATLANTA I 03 ™ STARTING LINEUP IN YOUR PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg FACE… MANAGING EDITOR Tad Arapoglou ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Gaudio WEBMASTER Alex Ewalt VIDEO MANAGER/PREP EDITOR Scott Janovitz BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Falcons), Stephen Black (Kennesaw State), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Johnny Crosskey (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Scott Janovitz (Hawks/Recruiting), Fletcher Proctor (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 DESIGN INTERNS Chris Nunn, Bob Weldon CONTRIBUTORS Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, Mitch Evans, 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, Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff 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, Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom ™ SCHOOL LISTING CHEROKEE/FORSYTH: Cherokee, Creekview, Etowah, Forsyth Central, North Forsyth, Sequoyah, South Forsyth, West Forsyth, Woodstock COBB: Allatoona, Campbell, Harrison, Kell, Kennesaw Mountain, Lassiter, Marietta, McEachern, N. Cobb, N. Cobb Christian, Pebblebrook, Pope, S. Cobb, Sprayberry, Walton, Wheeler WE MISS YOU: We’re feeling the DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius Valentine’s Day hangover now, as Briana (pictured) and X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker the A-Town Dancers won’t be back at Philips Arena for FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, a while. The Hawks have four more road games before Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy finally returning on Feb. 27. The good news? The GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Hawks have a stretch of 11 of 12 games being played Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, at home from March 7-29. We’ll see you then, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan Dancers! Photo courtesy of David Carnes/Photographic Arts. WWW.SCOREATL.COM 5 I.J. Rosenberg believes Major League Baseball can still be restored as our national pastime – but certain steps must be taken to ensure that happens. ______________________________________________________ 7 C.C. says Alex Rodriguez (pictured), Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens belong in Cooperstown, for they are still a part of the game’s history. _________________________________________________________ 12 Recruiting expert Scott Janovitz grades the recruiting classes for Georgia and Georgia Tech. Also, check out our full list of metro signees on page 11. _________________________________________________________ 19 Stephen Black writes on the Atlanta Jr. Knights, a local hockey club which has proved it can hang with some of the top hockey talent across the nation. A SCORE UPDATE: Can’t make it to Gwinnett Arena this weekend to watch the GHSA Individual Wrestling State Championships? Score Atlanta and PlayOn! Sports have got you covered. Visit Scoreatl.com or GHSA.net on Saturday at 5 p.m., as we will broadcast the finals in all five classifications with LIVE streaming video coverage. Don’t miss a second of the action as the state’s most recent champs are crowned! TEAM PAGES I COLUMNS COVER DESIGN BY DAVID GAUDIO. 5 CHEAP SEATS 6 DUE UP-SCORE LIST 7 SPIN-C.C. 9 HS SPORTS REPORT 14 HAWKS-THRASHERS-FALCONS 15 DAWGS-JACKETS 16 BRAVES-OWLS-PANTHERS 17 JANOVITZ-EWALT 18 CALENDAR 19 AD INDEX WWW.SCOREATL.COM 04 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM FEBRUARY 18-24, 2009 SCORE ATLANTA I 05 Baseball no longer our pastime but steps can be taken to return it to glory love the game of baseball; always have. happened to baseball’s out-of-whack com- • I would hire an outside marketing firm I For an eight-year period, I covered almost pensation situation, has to go. to come in and take a hard look at how the 1,500 Braves games for the Atlanta Journal- Here is an example: Third baseman sport is doing everything off the field. For Constitution, which included everything from Garrett Atkins plays for Colorado, the best instance, there has to be a way to make the the college exhibition that opens spring train- park in baseball for hitters. He hit .286 last All-Star Game meaningful again. The NBA R season with 21 home runs and 99 RBIs. He ing to Game 7 in the 1991 World Series. does it. I would also do a better job selling E It is with that experience that I say what asked for $7.95 million in arbitration while the MLB brand, just as the NFL does with has happened to this sport over the last 10 the club was offering him $6.65 million. I am their advertising and the many different pro- V years is sickening. guessing they will meet in the middle. grams they have put in place. The marketing Not only is it no longer this country’s Ridiculous. The Braves’ Jeff Francoeur, for the game is way too fragmented. O national pastime, it now sits behind the NBA going into his fourth full season, asked for • And finally, baseball has to find a way in addition to the mighty NFL. It has become $3.95 million (club offering $2.8 million) to bring more African-Americans to the C a marketing disaster and a league the fans after hitting .239 with 11 homers and 71 game. Look at many of the stars in the NFL RBIs. This system is silly and needs to be and NBA; they are black and the sports have can’t trust (sort of like our banking system). E The news that commissioner Bud Selig’s replaced in a bigger salary cap package. huge black audiences. Baseball does not. This appointed prince of the game, Alex • Go to a true salary cap instead of this is a major problem, one that baseball recog- H ridiculous luxury deal where teams have to nizes but does little to help fix. Baseball Rodriguez, was doing steroid cocktails dur- T ing some of his most productive seasons was, pay a penalty if they go over a certain salary needs to dig in here and get some of these for me, the final straw. And while baseball figure. The NFL, and for that matter the athletes on the baseball diamond. If it were NBA, have done extremely well by having me, I would focus on the huge impact that insists that its balance sheet is much healthi- N er than a decade ago and that people are still strict caps and it has done wonders for black players have made on the game, players coming through the turnstiles, look at the tel- O evision numbers for the World Series between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay last year. They were terrible, though baseball Barry Bonds owns both the single-season would argue, “Well, those were not big-mar- and career home run records but is ket teams.” Excuse me? Arizona (and Pittsburgh, for that matter), a much smaller believed to have used performance- market team than Philly or Tampa, was sup- enhancing drugs in San Francisco. posed to be the worst team to ever play in the Things only took a turn for the worse for Super Bowl but the TV numbers went Major League Baseball last week when through the roof. The reason is that the NFL has a brand slugger Alex Rodriguez admitted he took and the Super Bowl is a must-watch. banned substances from 2001-03. With The World Series, and for that matter the TV ratings spiraling and attendance num- entire league, has become a bad reality show. bers down for most teams, is there any Seriously. Something needs to be done quickly before A-Rod is hosting … way the game can become our national So, taking the knowledge I gathered pastime again? Score Atlanta publisher during my time spent around the game cov- I.J. Rosenberg says it’s possible – but ering a great organization, here is how I changes need to be made. Our cover would fix the game: • First and foremost, I would get rid of (pictured above) was designed by our art Selig. I know Bud and wouldn’t have a prob- director David Gaudio. lem letting him take my kids with him to a ballgame. But nice guys can’t cut it (check PLAYTIME’S OVER: The All-Star break is behind us and now it’s time to get serious again. Marvin Williams (left) What has happened over time is that out NFL commissioner Roger Goodell) when football and basketball have become more they are facing a union like professional and Al Horford have each had breakout years for the Hawks thus far, and they will have to continue to do so if the desirable for the black athlete because base- baseball’s, which is the strongest in all of team hopes to host a first-round playoff series. The Hawks entered the break winning four of their last five – does sports. Selig needs to step down. ball has ignored that part of our population.