Hey y’all.
Buford conquered Carrollton for the 6A state football championship last night, and the Wolves may just find themselves crowned unofficial national champs, too.
While we wait on today’s title tilts, prepare yourself to talk Hawks, the College Football Playoff, fandom in general and sports-related gift ideas — plus how we feel about the Braves’ offseason moves.
A VERY BRAVES OFFSEASON
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
It ain’t splashy, exactly. We’re talking about a primo reliever, a shortstop with an injury history and a couple of very good backups.
But you know what?
I dig what the Braves are doing — a lot.
- Robert Suarez, the aforementioned reliever, slots nicely (nastily?) into the eighth-inning role. And the ninth, too, if and when that’s necessary.
- Ha-Seong Kim, the shortstop we briefly met last season, is about the best the Braves could do (they were never going to break the bank for Bo Bichette, who’s probably changing positions anyway). They already announced a bobblehead night for Kim in July, too.
- Mauricio Dubon — a Gold Glove winner and, fun fact, just the second Honduran-born MLB player — can play pretty much everywhere but catcher.
- Mike Yastrzemski (grandson of the Red Sox legend and childhood Braves fan) figures to fit in nicely as a roving relief outfielder.
Beyond the specifics, though, it’s just nice to see more real, live big leaguers added to the mix.
You know what I mean.
No offense to, like, Eli White. Or any of the 4,000 different pitchers the Braves used as things skidded out of control last season.
But if you’re serious about chasing a title, those guys can’t be your first call off the bench. (Remember how depressing it was last season, trotting out lineups with three or four dudes you’d never heard of before?)
A healthy mix of established role players goes a long way — and the average age among Atlanta’s new additions falls just shy of 33 years old.
Cool. So what’s next, Alex?
- Another established bullpen arm wouldn’t hurt, but you can certainly do worse than rolling out Dylan Lee, Suarez and Raisel Iglesias to close out a game.
- And while Alex Anthopoulos previously deemed adding another starter a priority, our friend Gabe Burns points out that recent positive news on injured starters Grant Holmes and Reynaldo Lopez could render that issue less urgent. (Chris Bassitt — a 36-year-old innings eater who put up a 3.96 ERA with Toronto last season — is a popular theoretical target.)
Any of this being deemed successful, of course, depends on the context. Nothing works if the regulars don’t figure things out in regards to offense and injuries.
But consider me bullish.
✅ What do you think about the Braves offseason so far? Click here to weigh in.
THE HAWKS ARE JUST FINE AS IS, THANK YOU
Let me just say: I’m proud of y’all.
If you’ll recall, last week’s poll question involved a theoretical Hawks trade: Trae Young, Zaccharie Risacher and a boatload of draft picks for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Surprisingly, only a few of you bit. In fact …
… a full two-thirds of voters selected “Actually, I’d like to see how things play out with the current roster.”
And that’s why I’m proud. A willingness to wait shows both faith and patience — neither of which is easy to come by.
🤔 Meanwhile: The Hawks are 15-12 after a bit of a bumpy start to December, but Young should return to the lineup relatively soon. The health of Kristaps Porzingis is now the big question moving forward.
WHO WILL BE CROWNED CFP CHAMPS?
Alabama and Oklahoma get the College Football Playoff started Friday in Norman (8 p.m., ABC) before a trio of matchups take the stage Saturday:
- Miami at Texas A&M (noon, ABC)
- Tulane at Ole Miss (3:30 p.m., TNT; winner gets Georgia)
- James Madison at Oregon (7:30 p.m. on TNT)
A couple of good games, a couple of potential duds — but what we really want to know is who’s gonna win it all.
Accordingly, I asked high school football whiz Loren Maxwell if he could calculate the title odds for each team in the playoff field.
He did, factoring in records, seeding and special strength of resume calculations — then ran a computer simulation exactly 1 million times (really).
📈 Here’s where things landed:
- Indiana: 37.8% chance of winning the CFP
- Ohio State: 25%
- Texas Tech: 21.2%
- Georgia: 7.4%
- Oregon: 4.2%
- Ole Miss: 2.1%
- Texas A&M: 1.1%
The rest of the teams — Oklahoma, Miami, Alabama, Tulane, James Madison — have less than 1% chance to take the title, according to the projections. (James Madison is staring down to longest odds of all, at 21,420:1.)
Fun stuff … even if that Georgia number feels a little light.
📺 In nonplayoff news: Your Conference USA champion Kennesaw State Owls tackle MAC champ Western Michigan in Friday’s Myrtle Beach Bowl. Kickoff’s at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
A MINI FALCONS-RELATED SOAPBOX
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
D. Orlando Ledbetter, the AJC’s Hall of Fame Falcons beat writer, has a very specific idea of what constitutes a “real fan.”
“Real fans — like in Detroit and Cleveland — would stick with their teams through the tough times and not threaten ownership with economic withdrawal. Lions and Browns fans have stuck around no matter what. Either you are a real fan or a bandwagon jumper,” he wrote in last week’s Dirty Birds Dispatch, while responding to a reader.
The “economic withdrawal” thing is partly a response to Matt Chernoff, an afternoon drive host on 680 The Fan, calling for fans to skip upcoming Falcons home games.
D-Led added this when I asked for clarification: “There’s no such thing as boycotting and still claiming to be a fan.”
Fair enough. But not sure I agree.
- You don’t owe a team — or anything else you love — more time, money and emotion than you want to give.
- You’re still a fan if you nod off at halftime.
- You’re still a fan if you completely tune out for a game or two or six.
- You’re still a fan if you refuse to spend exorbitant amounts of money to, more often than not, make yourself miserable — while simultaneously rewarding the billionaire owner of a franchise defined by poor decisions.
As the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (fancy!) once said, “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.”
Translation: How you react to things is a defining part of life. It’s your choice to opt out (or in) to whatever degree you want. You can live and die with every Falcons game … or not.
You’re still a fan.
And it’s just football.
Live your life.
WHAT TO BUY FOR THE SPORTS FAN ON YOUR LIST
Just eight days left until Christmas, folks, and Hanukkah’s well underway. But it’s never too late to do a little shopping for the sports-loving lunatic in your life.
We perused the nether regions of the internet to offer a couple of gifting suggestions for each pro team in town.
🎁 FOR THE BRAVES FAN
- Silly: A red and blue WWE-style championship belt? A red and blue WWE-style championship belt.
- Sensible: Braves Fest returns to Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta on Jan. 31. Those tickets are free, but admission to special autograph sessions is not — so why not treat a loved one?
🎁 FOR THE DREAM FAN
- Silly: You could buy a hoodie flag. As in a flag … with a hood attached. So you can wear it and stretch your arms out to show off the flag part.
- Sensible: I would wear the heck out of this Outkast-y T-shirt (“So Fresh and So Dream”). This sweatshirt with Lucy from “Peanuts” is pretty good as well.
🎁 FOR THE FALCONS FAN
- Silly: Who wouldn’t want a big, flashy ring symbolizing all those … championships … the team … never won? And at just $1,224.99?
- Sensible: You know what goes well with Falcons games? Glasses to put alcohol in. These ones say, “We almost always almost win.”
🎁 FOR THE HAWKS FAN
- Silly: Someone out there wants their very own Hawks-branded Pop-A-Shot game. I know it.
- Sensible: This season’s Peachtree/City Edition swag is great (I may buy this hoodie for myself). These things kids put on their Crocs are cool, too.
🎁 FOR THE UNITED FAN
- Silly: Two words: Dog jersey. Three more words: Christmas tree topper.
- Sensible: How about some tickets for next season … or for the U.S. Men’s national team’s forthcoming friendlies with Belgium and Portugal? Much cheaper (and less complicated) than the World Cup.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Head coach Jarvis Jones (left) and the rest of Carver-Columbus’ coaching staff wore camo waders to the Class 2A state championship game.
Why? It was time to “hunt” Hapeville Charter.
The Tigers won 24-7 … and high school football remains the best.
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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