Wednesday Football Two-A-Days

The Greatest Generation in one of their most iconic moments. OOH-RAH!!!

Falcons Could Be Playing Outside in Six Years

Arthur Blank has a dream, and when a man like Arthur Blank dreams, the man who invented the big box hardware story where all your DIY dreams come true, he dreams BIG.

You see, Mr. Blank, erstwhile owner of the Atlanta Falcons, dreams of one of those shiny new outdoor stadiums for his football team, and all of the untapped revenue streams that he gets no part of in the current lease agreement with the Georgia Dome. Mr. Blank understands the economics of the game of football. He knows that to truly make money, his teams need to win, and they need to make it into the playoffs.

There is no margin for error for Blank in Atlanta right now, unlike in say, Cincinnati, where the worst owner in the NFL, Mike Brown, owns his own stadium. Brown may refuse to sell the naming rights, but he still receives every red cent from the stadium (including other bookings beyond football, like concerts). Does anyone here think Mike Brown is worried that he has one of the worst teams in football year in, year out due to his cheap ways? Do you think Mike Brown sweats when the Bengals do not make the playoffs… again? Of course he does not sweat. Mike Brown owns his own his stadium! In the NFL, having a new stadium and the revenue stream that comes from it is better than printing your own money.

While the Georgia Dome is approaching its 20th season of operation this year (it opened in 1992), for an older stadium, it is not a bad venue for football. The seating bowl compares favorably to any new stadium; there is not a bad seat in the house. The Georgia World Congress Center, which owns the Dome, plans on keeping and maintaining the building, even after the Falcons vacate for their new stadium just a few blocks away. This of course makes the most sense, as the Dome is needed for the SEC Championship Game in football, the SEC Basketball Tournament, the NCAA Final Four which comes to Atlanta every five years or so, and the Chik-Fil-A Bowl & Kick-Off games. None of these events, which demand the need for a controlled environment, can be held in the Falcons’ new stadium, which begs the question: are Arthur Blanks’ dreams not big enough?

A retractable roof stadium would be more expensive than the simple, open-air stadium Blank wants, but by forgoing a roof, Blank forgoes the voluminous amounts of revenue a large, roofed structure would provide him, for years and years down the line. The SEC Championship football game alone is one of the biggest moneymakers in all of sports. I think Blank might be wanting to shoot himself a few years after his new stadium opens, as he sees all of those events continue to fill the Georgia Dome, events that could have played in his new stadium if he had just ponied up an extra 100 million or so for a retractable roof.

In the end, Mr. Blank could have been penny wise, but dollar foolish.

Aaron Murray Gives Bulldog Nation a Scare

Over the weekend, Georgia Bulldog rising sophomore phenom Aaron Murray sprained his ankle while playing a pick-up soccer game on campus, nearly causing the heart-stopping deaths of about half of Bulldog Nation.

I am all for kids being kids, having fun with your friends, and of course, getting some exercise is never a bad thing. But Murray is not like a regular college kid. As much as the NCAA likes to pretend that student athletes are exactly like regular college kids, the student athletes in the money sports (football and men’s basketball) are not. They just are not. They have signed contracts (scholarships) to receive an expensive education with all expenses paid by an Athletic Association, which is a business affiliated with, but not a part of, the parent university. Running around an athletic field with your buddies is not the best thing a person in Murray’s situation could do.

More thought needs to be taken by kids who play football and basketball, particularly by the team leaders, especially the starting QB, on the best way to exercise or spend their time outside of football activities. Quarterbacks are supposed to be the smartest, most mature players on the field. Smart, mature players do not put their health or the team’s health in jeopardy by doing stupid things. Tom Brady is not playing pick-up soccer on Boston Common. Matt Ryan does not ride a scooter through traffic in downtown Atlanta. I do not want to come off as a wet blanket, but Murray needs to be smarter.

I hope that after this injury scare so close to the start of spring practice (which he will be able to attend) Murray is smarter.

Today in History

On 23 February 1945, one of the most iconic moments in United States Marine Corps history was captured on film for all to see and remember, for all time.

On the fifth day of the Battle of Iwo Jima, five Marines and a Navy corpsman reached the summit of Mount Suribachi and took part in the famous (second) flag raising on this day, a moment captured in Pulitzer Prize-winning photographic form by Joe Rosenthal and recreated for the USMC War Memorial in Washington, DC.

It is true that this was the second flag raising of the day, as the first flag was thought of as too small and hard to see by the Marines still fighting to control the island, so a bigger flag was found and Rosenthal was grabbed to document the occasion. To this day, Iwo Jima remains one of the longest and costliest battles in American history. Many Marines died fighting for that little spit of land, which was needed for a forward landing strip for an upcoming invasion of Okinawa as well as the bombing of the Japanese home islands.

So please, if you find yourself drinking a beer or an alcoholic beverage of some type tonight, raise your bottle or glass in honor of the Marines who fought and died 66 years ago on Iwo Jima.

TV Dinner

I do not think of myself as someone who particularly likes to beg or plead. It is unbecoming and makes one appear weak.

However, I am here, prepared to prostrate myself before you gentle reader on behalf of a television show that should be a success on par with the first six or seven seasons of The X-Files. Remember The X-Files? That show was FOX’s breakout sci-fi hit in the mid-90’s. A show with a singular vision that was well written, well acted, and contained a kind of built-in mythology that rewarded long-time fans when mysteries were solved, riddles answered. People would have X-Phile Parties to gather and watch Mulder and Scully search for the truth that was “out there.” The show also existed on Friday night for years, a night on which it prospered and grew, and it became a cultural cornerstone for both the network and fans.

I bring all of this up (FOX, well written and acted science fiction show, involved mythology, Friday night, likable leads) because there is another show that FOX has moved to Friday night (now considered a “death slot”) that continues the great spirit of The X-Files, but is in danger of being cancelled well before its time, and that show is Fringe.

Fringe is every bit as good as the earliest years of The X-Files, if not better. The personal histories of the main characters are inter-woven into the show’s mythology in ways The X-Files only hinted, but never realized. Fringe brings us the stories of Dr. Walter Bishop, a still-brilliant but mentally unstable scientist whose work existed on the “fringes” of scientific theory, his brilliant-but-troubled son, Peter, and their FBI handler/partner, Olivia Dunham, who has ties to the Bishops she is unaware of, and secrets of her own.

This show is not like many other science fiction shows through time. It is an action-orientated show, it is a drama, it is funny as hell, and it is all of these things while using some of the trappings of science fiction to advance the stories of the characters.

The show is produced by JJ Abrahms, and I can only think that many fans are staying away because of his connection to Lost, and they don’t want to be left hanging in the way Lost disappointed many people. The thing is though; Fringe answers most of the questions the show poses, frequently within an episode or two. The show is very rewarding in that way, having learned from the mistakes Lost made in keeping people on the hook for too long.

The fact is, Fringe is worth your time and effort. In a television landscape that is full of garbage like Jersey Shore or lame NCIS and Criminal Minds spin-offs, Fringe is a wholly unique and thrilling experience on TV today. Go out an rent the first two seasons on DVD. Then find streaming sources online for the first few episodes of this third season that HULU.com no longer carries, and then pick-up watching the third season as it moves towards its thrilling conclusion in May.

Trust me, you will not be sorry you did. Fringe is worth your time. I promise.

Smart Quote

In honor of the continued struggle in northern Africa for freedom:

All free men remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Inaugural Address

Hey, Check This Out!

Here is a good trailer from before the premier of Fringe’s first season.

Hey, don't forget to follow me on Twitter at UGABugKiller. Thanks!

Wednesday Football Two-A-Days

Arthur Blank Could Find Bon Jovi is Good Medicine

There is a confirmed report from ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen that rock legend Jon Bon Jovi is interested in purchasing a 15% stake in the Atlanta Falcons for 150 million dollars.

This story has big implications for Falcons fans as it shows majority owner Arthur Blank is looking for outside capital to build the outdoor stadium he longs for (and the revenue that would be the team’s alone, not shared with the state), and that he is beginning to understand that he may have to build the stadium himself, like Bob Kraft did in New England.

Unfortunately, what should have been seen as welcome news to the Atlanta sports media was instead given a snarky, uninformed, and just plain ignorant rebuke by noted Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist Mark Bradley. Mr. Bradley goes as far in his ignorance as to compare Bon Jovi, who made over 100 million dollars last year with his eponymous band, to one-hit-wonder rapper Vanilla Ice, who now flips houses on the DIY Network. To Mr. Bradley, because he has, “never met anyone” who enjoys Bon Jovi’s string of top-10 hits and platinum-selling records, this of course must mean that Bon Jovi is a, “dull celebrity” who “may be the one musician in the world in which I have the least interest.”

Mr. Bradley goes out of his way to insult a prospective owner for the Falcons who could bring much-needed money into the franchise to help secure its place amongst the NFL elite as well as help the team learn how to market itself better, you know, considering that Mr. Bon Jovi has done an outstanding job in marketing himself, his band, and his music for a quarter century. Quick people, name me bands from the 1980s that have stayed as relevant (meaning they’re still together, still selling albums, and still selling out venues world-wide) as Bon Jovi has. I’ll wait as you try and figure it out.

What disappoints me the most after having read Mr. Bradley’s column is that it is sloppy. Instead of offering any real journalism or substance, such as information about Jon Bon Jovi the successful sports team owner, we’re instead treated to Mark Bradley wishing Jack White could buy a piece of the Falcons. Not once did Mr. Bradley mention that Bon Jovi was a principle owner of the Philadelphia Soul Arena League franchise, which won the league’s championship in 2008. He doesn’t mention the fact that Bon Jovi oversees and controls almost all aspects of his music; how it is produced, marketed, and sold, and that is unfortunate.

What’s most amazing to me is Bon Jovi’s marketing acumen, keeping his band relevant for over two decades. Yet, instead of reading about that, we read how Mr. Bradley may be the one person in the world who didn’t hate that the Black-Eyed Peas murdered Sweet Child of Mine (a crime against humanity, by the way) during the Super Bowl. That fact alone calls into question Mr. Bradley’s ability to critique Bon Jovi and his music.

Bon Jovi was never known as a wild partier, like frontmen from other bands of the 80s and 90s. He doesn’t have a lurid-drug-filled past. He’s respected in the music industry, and although the Arena League folded due to the recession and bad economy, he ran his team well, and was respected in that field by the other owners, too. Instead of offering his readers any of that pertinent information, Mr. Bradley rambles on about missing the days of MC Hammer on the Falcons sideline. He even goes as far as to wonder why perpetual dumpster fire and public relations disaster Kanye West couldn’t be interested in buying a stake in the Falcons.

I guess to Mark Bradley, a man who can still make 100 million dollars a year selling out stadiums the world over two decades after his band’s big debut, who has run a sports team of his own, who is a savvy marketer, and who never does anything to embarrass himself, his family, his friends, or his business associates (the way Kanye West routinely does) isn’t good enough to buy into the Falcons because well, Mark Bradley simply doesn’t care for his music.

The fact is, for all of the reasons I outlined (and Mark Bradley did not), the Atlanta Falcons organization and fans should be ECSTATIC to have Mr. Bon Jovi join Arthur Blank as an owner, and maybe one day, as a majority owner (NFL league rules stipulate a stake of 30% to be a majority owner). Here’s hoping the sale goes through quickly.

I’ll be honest, I expected far better from Mark Bradley, who I’ve read since I first learned to read. As a columnist it's fine to let your readers know that you don't like Bon Jovi's music. We read because of the opinions. But after making that qualifying statement, Falcons fans should have been able to read about how this deal would be good, or bad, for the team, not continued piling-on by Mr. Bradley and his lack of caring for Bon Jovi's music.

Everyone is allowed a mulligan every once in awhile, because we all make mistakes, fallible humans that we are.

Mr. Bradley, I’d call for a mulligan on that column if I were you. No harm, no foul. But you have to call for it.

2010 Bulldogs’ Leading Rusher in Trouble… AGAIN

Bulldog running back Washaun Ealey has been suspended indefinitely from the football team and all team activities by head coach Mark Richt for missing punishment runs, as reported Tuesday on AJC.com by Tim Tucker, the Georgia beat writer.

This is not the first time Ealey has been in Richt’s dog house in the last 12 months, as he sustained a suspended driver’s license, was explicitly told by coaches to not drive, and then was involved in a hit-and-run accident on a parked car in which he was the driver. To go with his severe lack of discipline off the field, Ealey’s career on the field has suffered as well, as his ill timed fumbles against South Carolina and Mississippi State directly helped to contribute to those back-breaking losses in the worst Bulldog football season in 15 years.

Ealey was seen as the heir-presumptive to the exciting Knowshon Moreno during the last half of the 2009 season, ending with a performance for the ages in an upset win on the road at the hated soon-to-be ACC Champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. But since that great day, Ealey has caused nothing but consternation for his coaches and Bulldog fans, and it appears as his time in Athens may be coming to an end. There is a persistent rumor circulating on campus that Ealey will transfer to Georgia Southern to finish his eligibility, of which he has two years left.

As Mark Richt is trying to save his job and create an new air of accountability in his program that has been lacking for years, this Bulldog fan hopes Coach Richt helps facilitate the knuckle-headed Ealey’s way out of town and down to Statesboro.

Today in History

On 09 February 1964, The Beatles made their famous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The boys from Liverpool played their hits All My Lovin’, ‘Till There Was You, and She Loves You to a studio audience filled with screaming teenaged girls, and a television audience of 73 million people, which at the time set the record for most people watching a single program.

This appearance is considered culturally significant as it launched the British Invasion of the American rock and roll scene, forever changing the landscape of popular music in America… and the world. Other acts would follow The Beatles across the pond, including The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and Dusty Springfield. Music, and life, would never be the same.

TV Dinner

There is a show all of y’all need to watch if you’re not. It’s on FX and it’s called Justified. It is just about the coolest thing on television since Battlestar Galactica and The Wire finished their runs.

Justified is based on an Elmore Leonard short story and stars Deadwood bad ass Timothy Olyphant as bad ass US Marshall Raylan Givens, sent to his home state of Kentucky after shooting a Miami hitman. The first season of the show was top-notch, featuring an outstanding supporting role created by Walton Goggins, a vet from The Shield. Goggins played Raylan’s childhood friend now enemy Boyd Crowder, and the first episode doesn’t end their relationship in quite the way you’d expect it to. Besides two great performances from Olyphant and Goggins, Justified doesn’t play by the same rules as all of the other police procedurals on television do. First off, the show is set in rural Kentucky, not New York, Chicago, or L.A. The setting is country, as are the people, which bring interesting twists to what could be tired issues facing our “heroes.” The show has action for sure, as Raylan is known for his quick draw, and quicker trigger finger, but there is a great undercurrent of dark humor running through the show’s writing, much like in Dexter, the show I recommended last week.

Now, if you’ve never seen the show, the second season starts today, so I recommend DVRing the first couple of episodes while you catch up on the first season, which is out now on DVD and BluRay.

If you’re a fan cracker-jack action littered with snappy dialogue and great performances all-around, Justified is the show for you. See it. Season Pass it. Give it a shot. You won’t be sorry you did.

Smart Quote

This one’s for you, Mark Bradley.

When you have a song, that becomes part of people's lives, forever marking memories, it's nothing short of magic. It's the closest thing to immortality we'll ever know.

Jon Bon Jovi

Hey, Check This Out!

Also in honor of Mr. Bradley, here’s Barney Stinson showing us what song leads off his “Get Psyched Mix.”

Hey, Check This Out! (Bonus Edition)

And because that little taste of Bon Jovi is nowhere near enough (except for Mr. Bradley), here’s the full music video. Man… I miss the 80s! (btdubs, might have to watch advertisement)