GodsendJen

Its NFL draft time and the Falcon's don't have a real shot at landing a marquee player that fans will actually care about. So instead of talking draft Falcon's fans are talking Dog Fights.  No, we don't mean the kind of dog fighter you watch with fascination at the end of Top Gun.  We mean the literal thing.  Dog versus dog, starvation induced limb-ripping action.  All this stems from the recent reports that a Virginia house owned by Michael Vick is apparently the site of dog fights, or at least appears to house a number of neglected abused dogs that look like they are primed for fighting.  Here is some insight provided by the AJC:

The Humane Society of the United States issued the following statement from Wyane Pacelle, president and CEO: "The Humane Society of the United States has heard troubling reports for some time that Michael Vick has been involved in organized dog fighting, and we fear that this investigation may validate that very disturbing allegation."

"We have well-placed sources in the dog fighting underworld," John Goodwin, deputy manager of animal fighting issues, told the Journal-Constitution. "His involvement has been brought to our attention numerous times. We pay people for information that leads to arrests."

Goodwin said The Humane Society did not know the location of a dog fighting of Vick's until Wednesday's investigation.

According to a records search by the Journal-Constitution, Vick owns the property at 1915 Moonlight Road in Smithfield, Va.

Vick, of course, blames the apparent degenerates among his extended family:

"The issue will get resolved. It's unfortunate I have to take the heat behind it. If I'm not there, I don't know what's going on. It's a call for me to really tighten down on who I'm trying to take care of. When it all boils down, people will try to take advantage of you and leave you out to dry. Lesson learned for me."

Thanks Mike.  We love it when you do your part to help improve the rep of the Atlanta Falcons and the Virginia Tech Hokies. Vick is supposed to appear at the draft with several other former Hokies as part of a ceremony related to the recent shootings at VT.  Does anyone else wonder if Roger Goodell is arranging a flight delay?  Also makes you wonder if Goodell is going to exercise his new ability to punish players for hurting the game.  Vick might not be Pac-Man Jones yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some discipline come down if these reports are true.

Here it is, tax time, and I haven't sat down to watch a baseball game start to finish.  I haven't made it down to Turner Field for a game either.  Crazy isn't it?  One of the reasons I moved to Atlanta was so that I could have the opporutnity to watch all the baseball and football I wanted.  And here I am, mid-April, so thoroughly entrenched in my hockey-playoff mindset that I have completely missed all but a few choice innings of what looks like a very good start for my Bravos.  As of Sunday the Braves 8-3 give them a .727 winning percentage, the best in all of baseball.  Take that Mr. Met. Of course any baseball team is simply one elbow away from disaster at any given time.  So here's hoping that Smoltzie keeps on ticking, Hudson found his missing mojo, and that Bob Wickman continues to be the savior of our bullpen.  And I promise I'll make it down there soon.  They award the Stanly Cup in June...so pencil me in by then.

Note: I've gone hockey crazy this week.  Check out Southeast Shootout to see exactly what I mean by that.  Here is a wee little sample.

I'm not in the prediction business. My passion and excitement for this game is strange and complex, filled with hope and optimism, and often based more on wishful thinking and dreams not spoken than it is on the facts, figures and empirical findings born out through game play this season or last. I respect the facts and figures. I greatly admire the selfless souls who spend hours crunching numbers through modeling algorithms to predict outcomes. If I were a coach I’d have a handful of these people on my staff, and I’d listen if they made a recommendation about who to scratch come game time. But with all do respect to the great math nerds of the world, that doesn’t mean jack come playoff time. This is the time to put your heart on your sleeve, your mind on the back burner and rely on your gut.

Without further ado, here are some predictions born in that place where fear and fragility meet rainbows and sunshine.

Just for tonight, the unsung will be heroes. Andy Sutton will do something dumber than dye his hair blue only to dye it brown the next morning. He’ll play less than 15 minutes and be responsible for giving up a goal. Ilya will try too hard, get too frustrated, and make an early visit to the sin-bin. But the rugged veterans of this team, Scott Melanby, Keith Tkachuk, Slava Kozlov, Bobby Holik and Alexie Zhitnik will come through as difference makers. With steady emotions they’ll make the right passes, ease the right emotions, and make sure we hit the Rangers hardest on the scoreboard. Kari Lehtonen will recover from an early goal and give these Thrashers their first playoff victory, ever.

Embolden by victory this team will win the series in 6 games. The losses will come back to back and our third victory might even come at home with Moose in goal. This team has a recent trend of clinching the big ones (a playoff birth, a SED championship) on the road. So its fitting we advance in these playoffs by defeating the Rangers at MSG in game 6.

If the microchips prove me wrong, as they might do, that’s ok. When you write software for a living you get used to it.

I spent some time on hold with the good folks at Emory University Hospital today. While I'm waiting to talk with Nuclear Medicine about my treatment options I am subjected to a number of adds.  Do I suffer from uterine fibroids?  Am I a 40 year old male in need of a prostrate screening?  Fine, good, whatever... I'd rather not listen to this prattle but I can at least tune it out.  Then comes another add....Are you a woman between the ages of 21 and 34? (As a matter of fact I am.) And just what are the good folks at Emory suggesting to me based on that?  Well they think it would be swell if I'd sell my eggs to infertile couples at their baby making center.  They would even pay me up to $6000 for my effort.

I don't know what is scarier.  That they would subject someone to an advertisement seeking their eggs....or that they would suggest someone on hold discussing radioactive treatment options should be the donor.  No couple in their right mind would want my eggs...and I'd run screaming if I new they were being solicited this way.

The "We Won the Division Dance" is so much more fun!  Enjoy the celebration.  The real work starts next week.

The years of waiting for playoff hockey in Atlanta will soon be over. Tonight it is official. The Rangers big win over the Maple Leafs clinched the Thrashers a spot in this years NHL playoffs. Way to go Thrashers!

Some of you know I've spent the last year taking up a just about every sport that crosses my path. First there was tennis. Then the company volleyball team, ice skating lessons, hockey, and now Skiing. I'm sure no one is surprised that when I'm not in design mode at work my cubicle white-board often features some horrible and crazy sketch of my recent exploits.  While I was away in Colorado learning to ski my coworkers took over the white board.  Something tells me they weren't sure I'd make it back to see their handy-work. 

For the record, I did part of a run infested with large pine trees (Frenchman). And no, I didn't run into a single tree. (Note, my coworkers drew what appears to be a deciduous tree full of leaves in the middle of the ski run.  When is the last time you saw a snow covered mountain with leaving deciduous trees?) The only battle injury I have to show for the trip is a black bruised that is remarkably shaped like the boot latch on my rental skis.  The truely bored can check out the trail map. I skied Schoolmarm, Toads, Silver Spoon, Last Chance, Incubator, Ina's Way, Jack Straw, Bear Tree, Spring Dipper, Dercum's Dash and the upper part of Frenchman.

I do have pictures of me dressed in a friend's funny spiky ski hat.  I'll post them in the next few days.

I watched tonight's Thrashers vs. Bruins game at the hockey viewing party the Interactive Squad hosted at our suburban Up the Creek.  If the team wants to evangelize in my neighborhood I want to support it. 

The good news is the turnout surpassed my expectations.  The parking lot was full, no small accomplishment for a Monday night.  The bar area and about half of the dining room was awash in blue jerseys. Most tables were filled with families.  Everyone had a chance to spin the prize wheel, and to do so without waiting in line for 20 minutes as you do at games. School age children dressed in their Blueland best sat coloring their children's menu and cheering when appropriate.  The crowd was quiet at first.  I expected more of a party atmosphere with fans mingling and discussing the recent trades.  Instead most tables kept to themselves but shared collective cheers and gasps as the game played out on the plasma TVs overhead. Cheering a television is always more fun in a crowd. Families watching the game together on a Monday night is great, but you have to wonder if some felt they were a victim of false advertising.  The fliers posted online and at the restaurant promised that Thrash himself would host this party.  Instead the hosts were two women from the Interactive squad and a couple of people in charge of the prize wheel.  Thrash's presence might have encouraged mingling and would certainly have added something extra for all the kids. 

Another negative is that Up the Creek isn't the ideal place for a viewing party of any sort.  The staff was pleasant and worked to meet any dining request, but the game wasn't visible from most of the dining room tables.  A variety of decorative metal plants blocked the view of televisions from half the dining room entirely.  Even the tables with a view of the TV only provided that view to patrons on one side of the table.  Also perplexing was the staff's insistence on vacuuming the dining area during the game.  Nothing quite helps you enjoy a hockey game like the feeling that your hosts are just watching the clock waiting for you to exit. I don't blame this on the Thrashers.  I think it was a side effect of Up The Creek trying too hard.  They even had the regional manager on hand.  Too bad she didn't have ask them to stop vacuuming or suggest they offer some specials to the folks who turned out. 

These factors make me think that other venues could be the difference between what was a nice viewing party and what could have been a great viewing party.  The northern suburbs have no shortage of family friendly sports bar. (Yes, you out of town folks heard that right.  Here in Atlanta we have family friendly sports bars.  I think its a side effect of confusing an SEC football game with holiday mass. But that is another post.) Across the street was Indigo Joe's.  The food isn't spectacular, but not really worse than Up the Creek.  As a sports bar they have far more TVs in proximity to all of their seats.  Any one of the Taco Macs  in the area would work. As would the very nice Barnacles on 141 in Norcross. At last count Barnacles had somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 televisions.  (Up the Creek had 7.)  And don't forget the largest Jock's and Jill's in the area is just a few miles away in Alpharetta.  A happy plus to gathering at a traditional sports watching venue is an increased likelihood of drawing in a few more casual sports fans.  I dream of a day when I'm not the only person in Jock's and Jill's who speaks up to complain when someone asks to have the single hockey TV changed so they can have yet another view of the SEC game that is on 3 other TVs.  Getting hockey folks into one of these bars might help raise their awareness that hockey fans do exist in the south.

Overall I'd give the event a B with the potential of turning into a B+ of A- next time out if they choose a better venue.  The team has sponsored at least 2 of these events so far and I expect more in the future.  If a viewing party comes to a place near you, do yourself a favor and check it out.