Interesting Day in ATL Sports

Last night, in the span of about two hours some big things happened for Atlanta sports teams. Seeing as how I only root for my local teams here in Atlanta, I was intrigued by them.

First, the Falcons traded their first round, second round, and fourth round draft picks and next year's first and fourth round picks to move up 21 spots in the draft to get Julio Jones. I didn't even turn on the draft until about the 8th pick because I knew the Falcons weren't picking until late in the first round, and when I saw what they had done I was shocked. My initial reaction was that they gave up too much for a WR, and their offense is already really good. Then I thought, maybe adding an explosive playmaker like Julio Jones is enough to get a really good team to become a great team. And then I thought about why they probably made the move. Matt Ryan is young, Roddy White is in his prime, and Julio Jones is coming in as a rookie. For the next 5 years you'll have a pro bowl type QB and two pro bowl type WRs, and for the next 10 years you'll have Matt Ryan throwing to Julio Jones so it makes pretty good sense...the chances he'll be a bust based on his time at Alabama are about 3%, the guy is a stud. I think it was a pretty good move.

Then about an hour later the Hawks beat the Orlando Magic to close out the series and move on to the second round. After being demolished by the Magic in 4 games last year I am shocked they did what they did. I was kind of just hoping they would last 6 games let alone win it in 6 games. The Hawks have improved every year record-wise until this year, but this is the first time since '08 they came out in the playoffs with guns blazing ready to play. Hopefully they will continue the good effort in the next round vs. the Bulls. I don't expect them to win the series, but pushing them to the brink would be nice.

Then on a downer note Derek Lowe of the Braves got a DUI. This comes on the heels of Roger McDowell poking fun of a Giant's fan in San Francisco who is calling for an apology. I hope Friedi Gonzalez has got a grip on the team because Bobby wouldn't go for this kind of stuff. I think they are just isolated incidences and they will probably fine both guys and nothing more will ever happen, but I like my clean-cut Braves..I'm disappointed in Derek Lowe.

It was an eventful night for Atlanta sports. Somehow on the talk radio this morning they talked about the Falcon's move for an hour and the Hawks for 5 minutes, but football is king...even in the off-season and after the Hawks won a playoff series.

JB