This latest beef between ESPN and YouTube has me thinking a lot about the late, great folk singer John Prine.
Specifically his suggestion to “blow up your TV.”
Anyway … wanna talk about the Braves’ new manager?
WHY NOT WALT?
Credit: Daniel Varnado for the AJC
Credit: Daniel Varnado for the AJC
I’m in.
I didn’t think I would enjoy the Braves hiring Walt Weiss — longtime bench coach under Brian Snitker — as their new manager. It seemed too predictable. Uninspired. Particularly after a few deeply disappointing seasons.
But you know what? As our friend Ken Sugiura wrote, there’s a lot about the soon-to-be-62-year-old to like. And upon deep personal reflection, I agree.
🤷♂️ First of all: Weiss is … kind of awesome?
- The field at his high school alma mater in Suffern, New York — about 35 miles northwest of Manhattan and a stone’s throw from the New Jersey line — is named after him.
- Won the 1988 American League Rookie of the Year award, becoming the third straight Oakland Athletic to take the honor. The first two? Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.
- Has a black belt in taekwondo and has done MMA. “I knew he was tough,” the legendary Tony La Russa, his manager in Oakland, once said. “I didn’t know he was nuts.”
- Played for the Braves from 1998-2000, a tenure that included an All-Star nod and this game-saving defensive play in the 1999 playoffs.
- Used the same beat up, stinky glove for most of his career. A teammate dubbed it “The Creature.”
- His managerial stint with the Rockies proved he wasn’t afraid to, say, smash a bat against a dugout wall. (He was ejected a total of seven times in four seasons.)
Man’s got an edge to him, no doubt.
“I would dare say he knows when to pat somebody on the back and he knows when somebody needs a foot in their rear end,” Braves great and former teammate Chipper Jones said on 680 The Fan. “And he will put his foot in their rear end.”
🤷♂️ And beyond all that? The so-called “Braves way” just works.
I know, I know. Tired. Silly. Lame. General manager Alex Anthopoulos even said Tuesday his search was about finding “the best person, period” — not hiring internally for the sake of hiring internally.
The info below ain’t nothing, though.
Credit: Rahul Deshpande
Credit: Rahul Deshpande
Lots of stuff contributes to the ~success~ of a baseball team — payroll, luck, general front office competence. (Data man Rahul and I also decided to exclude interim managers, to simplify the number crunching.)
Nevertheless:
- Since the start of the 1990 season, the Braves have had four managers (including the end of Russ Nixon, not including Weiss). That’s tied with the Twins for the least in MLB.
- And their winning percentage? That’s second best in the league, right behind the Yankees.
“But titles!” you say. And yes, two feels a tad light. Making the playoffs in 28 of 35 years — with a true rebuilding era mixed in there — is pretty good though.
“But the Rockies weren’t good under Weiss!” you say. Which is true. He should’ve won more, a decade-plus ago, with young Troy Tulowitzki, young Nolan Arenado and 400 pitchers with 7.00 ERAs.
Seriously, though, the key is this: Weiss knows the team, the vibes, the way things are done — but he’s his own man. A different manager, too.
- “I’ve evolved with the game,” Weiss said Tuesday, when asked about analytics and such. “I think if you don’t you’re a fool. My philosophy is, why would anybody, especially in a position of leadership, turn their back on information?”
Why indeed.
And why not Walt Weiss this time?
Agree? Disagree? Vote in the AJC poll or shoot me an email.
Which reminds me: About 47.5% of readers who responded to last week’s Win Column poll said they’re still very salty about Freddie Freeman’s Atlanta exodus. Another 42.5% said they weren’t salty at all.
STAY CALM AND PLAY ON
Credit: Karl D. DeBlaker/AP
Credit: Karl D. DeBlaker/AP
I know it hurts, Jacket fans.
Take care of business against NC State over the weekend, and you would’ve been right there. In the initial College Football Playoff bracket. Instead of Virginia. (Which is objectively not the best place for lovers, thank you.)
😉 But here’s the thing to remember: It does not matter.
You know who was in the first bracket last season? Miami and BYU, eventual playoff absentees.
You know who wasn’t in the first bracket last season? SMU and Arizona State, eventual playoff participants.
The whole week-by-week thing is merely about manufacturing content. It matters not in the long run. All Georgia Tech’s initial No. 17 ranking means is the Jackets need to take care of their business, and things will take care of themselves.
K? Good talk.
HEY. YOU. WANNA WIN A GIFT CARD?
High school football playoffs are here — and we’re offering you the chance to win an AJC Varsity gift pack that includes a $100 Visa gift card and some special edition gear. All you gotta do is fill out a bracket (or eight) and cross those fingers.
How it works:
- Go to AJC.com/playoffchallenge and complete your bracket by noon on Nov. 13. There’s a bracket for every classification, and you can make an entry for any or all of them — but only one per classification, please.
- You’ll get one point per correct pick in Rounds 1 and 2; two points per correct pick in Rounds 3 and 4; and four points per correct champion chosen.
- At the conclusion of the playoffs, the entrant with the highest total score within each classification will be declared the potential winner for that classification, subject to verification.
Should be fun — and don’t worry, my inevitably perfect brackets will not be eligible to win.
Legal stuff below.
ENTER NOW *NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of Georgia, 18+. Contest runs 12:00 p.m. ET 11/4/25–12:00 p.m. ET 11/13/25. Limit one entry per classification per person. Eight (8) winners each receive an AJC Varsity Gift Pack (ARV $215; total ARV $1,720). Gift cards subject to issuer terms. Void outside GA and where prohibited. Sponsor: Atlanta Journal-Constitution LLC, 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, GA 30328. See Official Rules.
ICH BIN EIN BERLINER
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Unless you count signing a practice squad O-lineman and pulling another kicker off the scrap heap, the Falcons did nothing before Tuesday afternoon’s trade deadline. They’re 3-5, third in the NFC South and offering little reason to believe they’ll turn things around in any meaningful way (current playoff probability, per NFL.com: 11%).
But, uh, Sunday’s game against the Colts in Germany should have a fun vibe at least?
Our buddy D. Led is already in Berlin — so I thought I’d go ahead and share a few German phrases he might find useful. You can enjoy them, too!
- Falcon: Falke.
- Steig auf: Rise up.
- Gibt den ball zu Bijan: Give the ball to Bijan.
- Warum hat er eine auszeit genommen?: Why did he call a timeout?
- Warum hat er eine auszeit nicht genommen?: Why didn’t he call a timeout?
- Absichtliche Erdung, wiede?: Intentional grounding, again?
- Ich bin so müde: I’m so tired.
Get practicing, and make sure to set your alarm — kickoff arrives at 9:30 a.m. EST on Fox 5 and NFL Network.
ASK A BEAT WRITER, TRAE YOUNG INJURY EDITION
The Hawks are 4-4 to start the season, and a campaign with much preseason promise has already hit a big-time bump in the road: Trae Young and his sprained MCL.
The star guard’s knee won’t even be reevaluated for about four weeks.
🤔 So how does Atlanta get things rolling in the meantime? I asked inimitable AJC beat writer Lauren Williams:
- “The keys to the Hawks having some success during Trae Young’s absence are constant communication, making quick decisive reads and continued commitment to playing defense. They’ll need to create as many opportunities as possible, and wreaking havoc in transition will be their biggest strength.”
Before the season, coach Quin Snyder felt pretty comfortable with guys like Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard running point when they have to. And while initial results without Young have been mixed, offensively speaking, last night’s spread-the-scoring-around win over Orlando suggests this squad is more than capable of competing.
We’ll see if they can do it for a minimum of 13 or 14 more games.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Rasslin’ comes in all shapes and sizes these days. Check out reporter Danielle Charbonneau’s deep dive on how ATL-based Deep South Wrestling is keeping the independent action alive.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of the Win Column. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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