Top Braves Prospect Suspended for HGH

Even though Major League Baseball doesn't have a perfected testing system for identifying HGH usage, they've apparently found that the Braves' Jordan Schafer is guilty of taking HGH, and have suspended him for 50 games. Schafer ranks as one of the top prospects in all of baseball, and was thought to have a shot at being called up to play some center field this summer. This obviously throws those plans into serious jeopardy. One can only hope that other prospects and high school kids are taking notice of these incidents and avoiding going down the same path. As always, I remain skeptical that such will be the case. Everyone is looking for an edge, and until the threat of permanent removal from the sport is upon them, many players will continue to flout the rules that have been set forth. It's a sad spectacle, but not that much different from what we see in society as a whole.

Hawks In Good Shape; Thrashers Not So Much

So back on Valentine's Day, I made my "bold" predictions of how the Hawks and Thrashers would fare the rest of the way. The gist:

Projected finish:

Hawks: 13-20, for a final record of 34-48
Thrashers: 25 points, for a total of 85
[...]
My final predictions: The Hawks have about a 30% chance of making the postseason, and the Thrashers I'd put at 45%. If the Thrashers do deal Marian Hossa, and depending on what they get for him, those numbers will obviously change some.

Well, the Thrashers DID make the deal to move Hossa, but they were heading down the drain before the move. They currently sit at 70 points for the year, eliminated from playoff contention, and mathematically incapable of reaching my 85-point prediction. At least I gave them short playoff odds.

The Hawks, on the other hand, now sit at 31-40, winners of two straight, 6 of their last 10, and currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. If they can avoid a 3-8 finish (cross your fingers, it could happen), they'll beat my prediction. If they can go 6-5 down the stretch, they're probably into the playoffs, where they'll face the top-seeded Boston Celtics.

So basically, I was a horrible prognosticator for these teams. But I'm glad that one of the local winter teams looks like it is a playoff participant this year.

I'll have my Braves/MLB predictions up this weekend.

Alternate Plans for March Madness

First of all, everyone should know that I absolutely love March Madness. It's one of my favorite times of the sports calendar. But there seems to be more discussion than usual this year of expansion, even some that are saying to expand the field to 128. For those with less bracket experience, that would only mean one additional round, so it's not as bad as it sounds. But I have a hard time thinking that 128 teams have a feasible shot at a national title. The problem lies in the 30 automatic bids that are assigned to conference tournament winners. No plan for changing or expanding the tournament can "mess with" the small conference champs; they're the Cinderellas.

So I have an alternative. Since there's already one play-in game between the 64th and 65th teams into the field, why not expand on this idea? Take the 16 worst conference tournament champions and have them each play a "play-in" game against each other. Then take the winners of these 8 games and place them against the 1 and 2 seeds from each region. This would allow an extra 8 teams "on the bubble" to be placed into the tournament, while still allowing each of the 16 small-conference teams to play a tournament game.

For example, this year's 16 bottom conference champs might look like this:
- Maryland-Baltimore County - Mt. St. Mary's
- Belmont - Austin Peay
- Portland State - American
- CS Fullerton - Georgia
- George Mason - Oral Roberts
- Cornell - Mississippi Valley St.
- Siena - Boise State
- Coppin State - Texas-Arlington

Are you going to tell me it wouldn't be a high-quality tournament from the get-go if we cut that list down to 8 teams by the round of 64, and replaced them with 8 teams with nice resumes that just missed the cut? I think that would be incredible. So much so that I created my OWN bracket, which you can see here (I assumed that the 15-16 seeds won their first-round games for ease of creating this bracket):

NCAA New Bracket

Please note the difference in the opponents for the 3-5 seeds. There's suddenly a whole new level of games being played there. I think this would go a long way toward improving the overall quality of the event.

Georgia Wins SEC Title

In a stunning conclusion to a bizarre weekend, the bottom-seeded Georgia Bulldogs won as many conference games in four days as they had all season to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Many congratulations are to be extended, chiefly to head coach Dennis Felton, who likely saved his job with this unexpected run. Having backed Felton in the past, I'm glad to see him make a run like this, even if it came at the expense of my beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs.

As a follow-up, the Georgia Bulldogs now get a 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will face a tough Xavier squad in the first round.

I'll be back later to post my bracket and predictions for the Dance, but in the meantime, here are some responses to Georgia's run from around the blogosphere:

Steve at Seventh Inning Stretch:

Realistically, I would have to say Georgia is a long shot to win a game in the thing . . . at best.

But hey, it’s a bright spot in an otherwise dismal UGA basketball season. I’m not going to rule out a Cinderella story.

Razorback Expats:

First things first: Congratulations to the Georgia Bulldogs. That was an incredible tournament run. What a story. They certainly deserve all of the attention and praise they are getting tonight. (And being surrounded by Georgia fans here in Atlanta, that’s not the easiest thing for me to say.)

Canes Rising:

Georgia's achievement over the last four days far exceeds anything I have seen in a power conference in the last 25 or so years. The Bulldogs have been reduced to seven scholarship players for most of the season, have a coach in Dennis Felton that was about to be fired and had to play four straight games against teams either that made the NCAAs or just missed. Add to that the storm that ripped apart the Georgia Dome, the two games against two NCAA bound teams that had both gone 12-4 a few hours apart on the same day, and the fact that the last place Dawgs were forced to play on their biggest rivals home court for the re-scheduled games. Dickie V may go on about Jimmy V's 1983 and 1987 ACC Tourney runs with NC State but the reality is this: In those days the ACC had 8 teams and NC State was essentially an NCAA bubble team entering both tournaments. Georgia was a last place team with injuries and scholarship limitations because of NCAA probation due to Jim Harrick. This Bulldog Championship is the most improbable in the recent history of a power conference.

A Winning Night in Atlanta

It's true, I haven't blogged in a while. The main reason is that the Atlanta sports scene has become increasingly depressing. But last night, a brief beacon of light shone out: Georgia Tech and Georgia both won their opening conference tournament games, and the Thrashers won at Philips. I haven't had time to do the research, but I'm fairly confident those three teams haven't all won on the same night in quite a while.

It's way too late for any of these teams, short of a miracle run of some kind, but a win always takes the edge off. Anyway, this is just to tide me over until the Braves start in a few weeks.

Falcons Sign Michael Turner

The Atlanta Falcons made headlines on Sunday, coming to terms with former San Diego Chargers running back Michael Turner. While this likely signals the end of Warrick Dunn's time here in Atlanta, the real debate is over whether the Falcons overpaid to land Turner:

A source told ESPN.com's Michael Smith that Turner agreed to a six-year contract believed to be worth $34.5 million, with approximately $15 million guaranteed.

The guy has tons of upside, but he's still unproven as a starter, and it'll be interesting to see how he handles a normal running back's workload. Of course, that's also true of Jerious Norwood, the incumbent backup running back who has put up statistics comparable to Turner's in San Diego in similarly limited carries.

Also, there's the issue of the Falcons' offensive line. Until this gaping hole in the Falcons personnel is addressed, it doesn't matter what running backs or quarterbacks we sign, draft, or trade for. Michael Vick's elusiveness covered up this glaring weakness somewhat while he was our starter, but the reality is that we don't protect our skill players here in Atlanta. That has to change, either via the draft, a trade, or signing free agents.

Thrashers Trade Hossa

So the Thrashers made the deal. Just in time, too. Just a couple of minutes before the 3pm EST deadline, Atlanta traded Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to the Pittsburgh Penguins:

The Penguins acquired Hossa and winger Pascal Dupuis from the Atlanta Thrashers for prospect Angelo Esposito, forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen and a first-round pick.

Esposito was the Pen's first-rounder from last year, and we get another first-rounder from them, so hopefully we'll see some fruitfulness from this move. Looking at it laterally so far, though, it goes like this: Dany Heatley --> Marian Hossa --> Angelo Esposito. I don't know what you think of that. I know that seems like we're moving backwards down the trade ladder. I hope Mr. Esposito proves me wrong, along with the other elements of this trade.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't take the time to thank Pascal Dupuis and Marian Hossa for their time here in Atlanta. They both contributed greatly to our playoff appearance last year. In a perfect world, they'd both be sticking around. Best of luck, Marian and Pascal.

NHL Trade Deadline Today

The Thrashers have just a few more hours to make any moves this year. Primarily, we're looking at Marian Hossa leaving, but recent reports have indicated that we're also shopping Bobby Holik, Mark Recchi, and Alexei Zhitnik. I see both sides of this. These moves would hopefully bring in a lot of young potential to reinvigorate the organization. On the other hand, we're still just six points out of the postseason right now, and sending away three or four veterans would likely be writing this season off. While that might be the right decision in the long run, it's kind of frustrating to witness.

I'm really hoping that Hossa gets dealt. It's nothing personal; Hoss has been really good for us. But it looks like we have zero chance of re-signing him after the season, so we might as well get return on our investment.

I'll be by to post updates, either by editing this post or posting new stories, as events unfold today. Good luck, Don Waddell. This will not be a fun day.

Bryan Brothers Volley Drill

Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with Atlanta sports, but I am a huge tennis fan, and I came across this clip today. This is the Bryan brothers, the top-ranked doubles pairing in the world, practicing their net game. This is absolutely insane. Courtesy of 30love.net.

Georgia High School Basketball Playoffs

Per a commenter's request, I decided to post some hoops predictions for Georgia's upcoming state playoffs. Brackets can be found here. I'm sticking with just the top classification, but know that there are lots of good games going on across the state at all levels over the next three weeks.

Round 1:
Coffee over Groves
Stephenson over Newnan
Johnson over Lowndes
ML King over Hiram
Berkmar over Sprayberry
Campbell over South Forsyth
Wheeler over Parkview
McEachern over Peachtree Ridge
Redan over Mundy's Mill
Savannah over Tift
Douglass over Morrow
Beach over Valdosta
Marietta over Collins Hill
Northview over Central Gwinnett
Norcross over Harrison
Centennial over Meadowcreek

Round 2:
Coffee over Stephenson
ML King over Johnson
Campbell over Berkmar
Wheeler over McEachern
Savannah over Redan
Beach over Douglass
Marietta over Northview
Norcross over Centennial

Round 3:
Coffee over ML King
Wheeler over Campbell
Savannah over Beach
Norcross over Marietta

Round 4:
Wheeler over Coffee
Norcross over Savannah

That makes for a final of Norcross vs. Wheeler, which is what everyone in the state is hoping for, anyway. I watched Wheeler play in person this weekend, and while they aren't a perfect squad, they are pretty amazing for the high school level. I think Wheeler will take the state title this year. I'll be watching a couple of rounds in person if possible. I'm also hoping my predictions are totally wrong, since Norcross plays my alma mater Harrison High School in the first round. Shock the world, Hoyas!!