Falcons Lose Their Way...

Falcons' general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith have made an awful mistake that could have lasting negative effects. In last night's first round of the NFL draft the Falcons swapped first round picks with the Cleveland Browns to move up 21 spots and select Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones. Sounds good right, getting a high level wide receiver? Well, add in the fact they also had to give up this year's second and fourth round picks along with next year's first and fourth rounders. AWFUL! Especially considering Julio Jones wasn't who they really wanted. They wanted Georgia wide receiver AJ Green but had to settle for Jones when the typically ignorant Bengals wouldn't bite at four.

An organization that has preached building a foundation just threw that very foundation away. This move goes completely against everything they've done to build long-term success through depth. They, of course, will point to the fact that next year's first round pick should fall in the range of the last 6 picks or so and therefore will not be felt. While doing so, they'll ignore the fact that long-term stability and success in the NFL is built through the draft. However, this fact is not the most egregious aspect of this move. Nope, the Falcons flat out ignored their greatest weakness altogether.

A stroll down memory lane will surely guide Falcons' fans back to the Georgia Dome in January when Aaron Rodgers and crew were torching the Falcons' defense to the tune of humiliation and disgrace. Anyone with taking a breath that can spell football is crystal clear on where the Falcons consistently falter. Unfortunately, the people that matter most, those running the organization, have lost sight of that in order to make a splash and appear to be bold.

If anyone thinks this team is set-up for a deeper run in the playoffs by adding Julio Jones over any number of defensive players is out of their mind. This team, as a Championship contender, is no better today than they were the night the Packers took their pride and soul. Additionally, for those banking on free agency, good luck with that. No one has a clue how this labor situation is going to play out, including those at the highest level in the NFL.

The Falcons desperately needed defensive help; they didn't get it; didn't even try. The Falcons had a pretty good building process in place; they didn't follow it; tossed it to the side. The Falcons accomplished only one thing in last night's first round; they lost their way.

Georgia Basketball: End of Season Review

Let me start by saying I am glad Mark Fox is the coach of my favorite basketball team. He has done a very good job in bringing Georgia Basketball back to national relevance. I say national relevance because they are legitimately in the discussion of in or out of the NCAA tournament.

That being said, my view is that the things that were weaknesses/struggles at the beginning of the season remained through out the season/never improved. In correlation, this team should not be sitting at home with what should be A LOT of worry about whether or not they're in. For what it's worth, I don't think they're in nor do I think they should be in. I'm a firm believer in winning your way in and the 2011 Georgia basketball team did not do that.

Chief among the aspects that never improved for Georgia is the fact that Fox allowed guard Gerald Robinson to play out of control for several possessions in several different clusters in many games. Robinson would try, at times, to take the game over with dribble drives ending in highly contested shots and/or virtual trick shots, which turned into crucial misses or turnovers. Georgia is a better team with Gerald Robinson no doubt but, he also hurt them in quite a few games.

Free throw shooting; especially Trey Tompkins. Somehow, some way, free throw shooting has to be close to/virtually automatic. No legitimate reason for it not to be. This doesn't warrant any in-depth discussion. Bottom line, make your free throws.

Execution against the press. One could argue that it got better later in the season by way of number of turnovers (of which the Dawgs had A LOT versus the press) but, turnovers due to the press are merely one aspect of beating the press. When facing the press it comes down to getting across half court then running the offense. When they did get it across half court they were so out of rhythm that the half court offense went nowhere and possessions were basically lost.

2nd half implosions. We all know this song, not just in chorus, but verse by verse. Needless to say, improvement was basically non-existent. And the chance at a tournament berth ended with another 2nd half implosion.

I believe the Dawgs are NIT bound which is probably best for them to have a chance at playing more than one game. If they get in the tournament they will be no better than a 12 seed and will probably be one and done. As a matter of fact, they are likely to be a "First Four" participant if they get in and may never make it to a Thursday/Friday game. Georgia earned the NIT, bottom line.

Top 5 Sports Post Seasons

1. College Football: Bowls/BCS- In my head, I'm a playoff guy. HOWEVER, in my HEART, I'm a college football guy above any and all else. I want a college football playoff to crown a national champion BUT, I love the bowl system for those not in the NC mix. The bowl system gives us more, more, more by way of games to watch than a strict playoff system would. And, lets all be honest, we LOVE the debate created by the BCS. It brings about A LOT of attention and emotion.

2. College Baseball: College World Series/Omaha- I like the regional/Super Regional format as it offers some really good college baseball overall. Not to mention the Coellege World Series which, for me, is the one event that each year I feel like I'm there even though I'm watching it on TV. There is an emotional aspect by players and coaches that I've not noticed/felt at any other level of baseball. I hate they're leaving Rosenblatt and I worry that the loss of Rosenblatt will change some of the unbelievably unique atmosphere. However, as a simple post season, I can't imagine it would be passed by any below.

3. Major League Baseball: Playoffs/World Series- It was really hard for me to decide between MLB and NFL post seasons in the three and four slots. In the end, I went with the MLB post season because it offers more fluidity in that it offers weekday games. Additionally, the World Series still has a magic to it that few others have. I love football much more than baseball but, I get more on a fluid scale from MLB than the NFL offers. Additionally, as you'll read below, I feel the NFL goes too far with the Super Bowl.

4. NFL: Playoffs/Super Bowl- Some call the Super Bowl the greatest singular sporting event in America, some say the World. I'm not quite that poetic with the Super Bowl. For one, I get REALLY tired of the two week build up that merely turns into rhetoric to fill air time for NFL TV affiliates. It's simply too much: too many talking heads that build up story lines for the game that rarely come through. As for the playoffs as a whole, they're good most years and offer some good weekends, but overall they tend to be a little to cut and dry for me.

5.NCAA Basketball: March Madness- Let me start by saying I'm not a basketball fan as a whole. I pull for Georgia, and that's where it ends. However, I am not ignorant to what March Madness is as a post season event. It is exciting and it does draw me in annually for short periods of time. I love filling out a bracket and Cinderella stories as well as learning who got what seeds and who made the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. The Championship Game itself is something I may not watch altogether.

Toomer's Corner: A tragedy...

One of the most integral aspects of college football is tradition.

From Georgia's "ringing the Victory Bell", to Ole Miss' walk through "The Grove"traditions in college football are as important as the games. Right up there with the best of those traditions is Auburn's "Toomer's Corner", where students roll the two giant trees after wins.

The fact that some moron decided to poison those trees is heart breaking because of the immensely negative effect on the great tradition that is rolling Toomer's Corner. And I say that as a proud Georgia fan whose team has been the reason for plenty of Toomer's rollings I can assure you.

At the end of the day, this is a tremendous loss for Auburn specifically, and a big loss for college football in general. A very sad loss. It truly does sicken me that such a gem may be, more than likely will be, lost.

Sportz2Day Blog Back Open...

I've been debating for a while now whether to jump back in.

However, there are things I want to say that don't fit my contributor's role with the GREAT southern college football site chuckoliver.net. If you want the most in-depth southern college football coverage (SEC, ACC, CUSA) go there, http://dev.chuckoliver.net/ ,it is at the top of the list of great collegeg football information sites.

Anyway, I've decided to return to the sportz2day blog to talk all things sports.