Time for football season…Time for picks

ACC                            SEC

Coastal  UNC             East        Florida

Atlantic FSU                West      LSU  

Champs UNC             Champs Florida

NFL

NFCE              Dallas               AFCE              New England

NFCN             Minnesota        AFCN             Pittsburgh

NFCS              Atlanta             AFCS              Tennessee

NFCW                        Arizona            AFCW             San Diego

Wildcard 1       Philadelphia      Wildcard 1       Miami

Wildcard 2       NY Giants        Wildcard 2       Denver

NFC Champs   Dallas               AFC Champs   Tennessee

                                    Champs

                                    Tennessee

CBS has won the Vick sweepstakes. James Brown will sit down with the ex-convict on 60 minutes Sunday. The 60 minutes camera crew followed Vick to a speaking engagement over the weekend where he spoke about violence towards animals. I imagine it was like Jose Canseco talking about steroids.

Two things have happened since Vick was released from prison.

One, his sole focus has been getting back on the football field. His new mentor, Tony Dungy, says Vick needs to get with a football family. As I have stated before, football should be the furthest thing on his mind. It’s not. This situation is like bad parenting. Vick did something wrong. Then he lied about it. Then his toy was taken away. Are timeout and an apology enough to get the toy back? Not when the kid tortures the puppy. That's when you go to "specialist" to fix a the problem. Vick’s actions were evil and now were supposed to just forget? I need more evidence. Saying the right thing to get back on a football field isn’t enough. Rehabilitate as a human being, because it’s the right thing to do, not because you just want to play football.

Two, all the big time national sports outlets have played nice so far. I think that’s over now. There was plenty of hiney kissing going on. Everyone wanted the exclusive interview. James Brown won the sweepstakes and now everyone else is free to tee off. Let’s face it. Why would a team want to sign a 29 year old who hasn’t played it two seasons? It’s not like he was a great quarterback. Ever since the Philadelphia Eagles embarrassed him in the 2004 NFC title game, he was mediocre. There were some great performances against AFC teams not accustomed to facing him during that time. Plus, it’s a long term investment and a P.R. nightmare.

I’ll play advisor to Vick. Keep a low profile, stay out of trouble (not off to a good start), and go to the UFL where you can play quarterback. There you won’t be a “wildcat” sideshow or a backup. A year from now, you’ll be fully prepared to make the comeback. Most people aren’t going to forgive you two months out of prison. Healing takes time. Do yourself a favor. Go be a quarterback and give people that time. You should listen to me. I have nothing to gain from your success.

The Falcons are rebuilding their depth at WR. Today they signed Robert Ferguson and Marty Booker. Rumors are flying that Ike Hilliard will be in the fold by night’s end. This comes on the day we learn Harry Douglas is out for the year and Roddy White’s holdout continues.

I understand White’s holdout. His agent is to blame in my book. He never should have signed a five year deal as a rookie. If White continues to build on his last two season, both without Mike Vick throwing him the ball, he can cash in at the end of the season. Injuries are the only thing standing in Roddy White’s way.

The Falcons also lost William Moore today. He'll be out 2-4 weeks. The questions about the safety spot just got a lot louder.

The first week of camp has been disastrous. I may just be a life long fan panicking, but the history of the franchise is undeniable. Things never seem to work out. First it was Jeremy Newberry, then Roddy White, now Harry Douglas. We need something good to happen in Detroit. Falcon nation will be uneasy going into that game. We need to exercise the demon of never having back to back winning seasons.

FALCONS

Roddy White’s absence is giving some young guys more reps.

BRAVES

The real homerun king, Hank Aaron, says baseball should release the names on the infamous list from 2003.

Braves hope to get Ryan Church back tonight.

The Braves’ bats woke up in San Diego. Javier Vazquez was dominant.

Tommy Hanson will get a chance to pitch in front of family and friends this afternoon in San Diego.

GEORGIA TECH

Jonathan Dwyer has been name to the Doak Walker watch list. On Monday, Josh Nesbitt was named to the Davey O’Brien watch list.

BLOG AT THE END THAT DOESN'T HAVE CUTE NAME, YET

ESPN has told it’s employees when and how and what they can tweet. I have told people for years that ESPN in not a good source for sports “news”. The problem, though, is not ESPN. The problem is a lack of competition. On television, ESPN is all we have. For a brief moment in time, we had news from ESPN people thanks to twitter. Ric Bucher is someone I follow, and I had the inside scoop on whatever summer league he happened to be at. He and others have been shut down. Why? I can tell you why. Notice all the NASCAR coverage lately. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that FOX and TNT have turned their coverage over to ESPN. Wait until the fall; you will not hear people complaining about ESPN ignoring the SEC. You know why? They just paid 3 billion dollars to televise it. ESPN is a constant cycle of self promotion disguised as sports news. In order not to jeopardize that, they have cut off the only real connection we had to their reporters, twitter. Do not worry though. Just find the beat writer of your favorite team, and follow them. I think ESPN is starting to realize the sports world would be just fine without them. In the meantime, I will be waiting for the Fox news to ESPN’s CNN.

NCAA FOOTBALL

The UGA football team reported to camp last night one player short.

GT picked up a verbal commitment last night

Coley Harvey of the Macon Telegraph has day one of Georgia Tech practice covered.

More from Coley.

BRAVES

The Braves lost last night 4-2. The offense struggled despite the return of Yunel Escobar. They are 2-5 in their last seven. Another week like that and it's over. I hate to say that in early August, but there are too many teams in the hunt.

ODDS and ENDS

Urban Meyer is filthy stinking rich. The Gator’s coach (he’ll be that for a while) will get 4 million dollars per for 6 years. Meyer must be recession proof. I’m still awaiting the backlash.

Plaxico Burress is going to jail. Here is the honest take. Buress is going to jail because he is an idiot. Life is not about the mistakes you make, but how you deal with them. Donte Stallworth met his trouble head on. He took responsibility for his actions. He did not show remorse, because he was remorseful. Think about that last sentence, really think about it. There is a big difference there. Buress did neither. Stallworth, most likely, will not play in the NFL this year, but that was not his biggest concern. Burress, on the other hand, only cared about getting back on the football field. He did everything he could this summer to play again. He probably does not think he did anything wrong. Ignorance of or disagreement with a law does not change that law. There is more to life than football. Instead of turning this incident into a positive life changing experience, Burress fought a tough gun law, so he could play football again. Now, he is going to prison. Had he accepted a plea deal, indicating he had taken responsibility for his actions; his football career would not be over.

NCAA FOOTBALL

Marc Wieser has 5 burning questions about UGA football.

Tim Tucker says UGA has some unfinished business. Not trying to be a smart ---, but are they planning on winning it all this year? I don’t doubt the team goes into practice today thinking about winning every game. One year ago today, this was the number one team in the country. That would be the unfinished business right? Good luck with that schedule.

Doug Roberson looks at 5 potential leaders for Georgia Tech’s defense. From what I’ve heard, Morgan Burnet is the undoubtedly the leader of that group. This unit will be fun to watch.

BRAVES

The Braves lost to the Dodgers last night. How clutch was Greg Norton’s hit on Saturday? Without that the Bravos get swept. Hopefully Yunel will be ready to go tonight. This team is, as you saw this weekend, going nowhere without him.

FINAL THOUGHT

It sounds like the Arena Football League is done. It lasted 20 years. You’ve got to give the league credit for that. I never really got into it. I’m more of a two tight end/strong D kind of guy. The AFL was like professional back yard football. It was the gimmick that lasted a generation. Kudos to the AFL.

I’ll have more later….

NFL

Here’s all you’ll need to know about Falcon’s training camp. Brent Grimes had a good day from what I’ve read/heard. Coy Wire made some plays as well. I’m not sure if the newly acquired linebacker Jamie Winborn was there. Roddy White is still a no show.

Falcons say Roddy White’s hold out won’t be a distraction. I just don’t see how it couldn’t be. Right now, sure it’s no big deal. Once preseason games start, they have to have him in there. Timing and chemistry are important.

Vikings QB Tavaris Jackson sprained his knee yesterday. The Vikings said they are not going to pursue any other QB’s. The Steelers and Browns have said in the last 24 hours they’re not going to pursue Michael Vick. Wow, the NFL pacifies the second chance crowd and no team wants him. That’s what I call a win win. It’s going to take more than getting out of prison for me to forgive Mike Vick. He hanged, electrocuted, and drowned dogs. Those aren’t mistakes and NFL owners agree. Good luck Mike. I hope you’ve rehabilitated your self as a human being, but you don’t deserve to walk out of prison and make hundreds of thousands of dollars when most of us are struggling. You will though. The UFL will pay nearly 600,000, maybe more. What a messed up country. There are good, hard working people out there without jobs and this guy’s going to walk out of federal prison and make six figures. I seriously doubt he has the mental compacity to understand how lucky he is.

BRAVES

Greg Norton and Diory Hernandez come up clutch as Braves beat Dodgers. LaRoche not too shabby either. I can’t wait to see the lineup with McCann and Escobar in it. It looks like the Braves will be playing meaningful baseball in August and September. This is going to be the most fun Braves fans have had in a long time.

Tim Hudson says his groin injury is a minor set back. Since the Braves didn’t deal a starter at the deadline, there’s no hurry to get Hudson back. It will be interesting to see what Bobby Cox decides to do with him when he returns.

TUBIN'

We got Marlins/Cubs on WGN at 2. We got Giants/Phils at 4 on that station that used to show the Braves. We got the Braves and Dodgers at 8 on the 4 letter network. I'm going to try and watch all 27 innings. Wish me luck.

Later peeps....