Atlanta Hawks Blogger Night

Last night at the invitation of the great Micah Hart (the man that runs the Hawks website and the Hawks Blog) , a whole mess of bloggers rambled on down to Philips Arena to take in the Hawks vs. Kobe. I won't divulge too much about the men behind the greatest websites in the A, other than to say, well, we're all white dudes. I guess it's true what they say: "white people love blogging."

Random highlights / thoughts from the day after:

• Kobe Bryant is on another level. Joe Johnson can play defense like a blindfold, but it's not nearly enough when the Mamba is on fire.
• Atlanta is a town of Haters that love to put down the home team. If Atlanta had beaten the Lakers you can bet every fan in the building would be on board, though. Weak.
• Got to shake Billy Knight's hand. He was just walking off the court, shaking people's hands and smiling his ass off. No introductions, just "Hey!" + Hand shake. WTF? No chance for a picture or a breakdown of his trade policies.
• Rode the elevator with the Hawk that gets released from the rafters at the beginning of the game. The handler was kind of a douche- he got ruffled (HA) when someone called the hawk a falcon, and made a lame joke about the hawk biting someone. Plus he wouldn't let me take a picture (something about being on the clock).
• The Hawks missed a ton of open looks last night. The poor shooting was not a result of the Lakers' defense, which, outside of Kobe, is pretty weak. A decent shooting night and the Hawks would have won by 10 easily. Of course, Kobe only tried for like 10 minutes last night, so it's hard to say.
• Can we vote Marvin Williams into the Tremendous Upside Potential Hall of Fame right now? I know he's only 14 years old, but he should be better than 0-6.
• Except for Josh Smith, the Hawks are soft. And Josh 2 rarely dunks on people, he just sort of dunks over them without touching. Dr. Z gets swatted taking it to the hole, Marvin and Shelden are constantly getting their stuff knocked away, and Joe "Kid Dy-no-mite" Johnson doesn't have the anger and aggression that I think he needs to be truly great. He could still ride the nice guy train for 30+ points a night, though.
• I am a big supporter of mass transit, and I do my best to talk up MARTA, but it's hard to not get down on them when I wait 10 minutes for a train along with 1000 other people, then wait another 10 minutes for the train to get moving, only to be told the train is busted and we have to get off.
• Yours truly was the only guy without a laptop, but it looks enough guys had problems with the wi-fi that it was worth it.
• I should've bought a watch or some CDs from the guy I sat next to on MARTA. Turns out I could use some nice watches for the lady for Valentine's Day.
• I think Sekou Smith, the beat reporter for the AJC, is a much better writer than the paper allows him to be. I would love to pick his brain about the effects of the relationship between mainstream media and sports. With his access, he could destroy every other blogger in producing quality, but because he has to hold back on how he truly feels I think it ends up being a wash. He could drop some strong analysis, but it would kill his ability to talk to the people he writes about.
• Thun-der-sticks...
• The crew at Philips Arena does a pretty decent job of entertaining the crowd. I hate the thundersticks and the forced cheering crap, but I absolutely love the fake crowd shots interspersed with real ones on the scoreboard. I'm not even sure most people realize they are fake.
• The 3rd quarter dunking exhibition with Sky Hawk and the Something-or-others was horrendous- 2 missed dunks (bringing the total missed dunks I've seen to 2), one guy hurt his hand, and there were only 2 Something-or-others (usually twice that).
• Seeing the Hawks practice court wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. I was hoping for more cool training equipment, but it was more like a high school gym painted Hawks' colors. They did have a nice banner of all the Hawks' All-Stars on one wall. And it was the long wall, baby! But seeing the last entry hurts: 2002, Shareef.
• I still haven't mastered the "Hey I think your blog is cool" conversation. It may be unmasterable, but damned if I won't try to pull it off. It's tough to not look like a psycho when the other person has never met you before.
  

And finally, last night's Blog attendance roll, with highlighted quotes:

Braves & Birds (multiple posts) - "On a big night out before fatherhood ended my drinking career (or at least forced a Sugar Ray Leonard retirement), I would name my drinks after Bond movies to keep track of my intake. As with the real series, Roger Moore = trouble and Timothy Dalton = death." [ED: Didn't get an appropriate chance to chat with the Man that writes the best ATL sports blog, but even Sekou had heard of him.]

Impending Firestorm - "There is some dude in a box for the halftime show. The world’s most flexible man apparently. He’s in a box."

Kevin Cott, formerly the Sports Guy Intern - "It’s hard to loathe someone and be in awe of them at the same time, but Kobe pulls it off without fail."

The Crafty Veteran (multiple posts) - "I just noticed that along with Dominique, Bob Petit, Lou Hudson and Ted Turner, Phillips Arena has hung a banner in honor of Widespread [Panic] selling out 15 shows in a row between 1999-2006."

Old School Nasty (multiple posts) - "In case you were wondering, Ginger is my pick for hottest A-Town dancer." [ED: FYI, that is the correct answer. Her picture doesn't reflect how good she looks from 700 feet. On the other hand, her fav player is Ticket Stub]

Sports Gone South (multiple posts) - "Kobe hit a three, crowd went nuts. Joe Johnson hit a three, other half (other eighth?) of the crowd exploded, trying to make up for these carpetbagging sonsabitches. Then Kobe comes down and drains ANOTHER three. Tough to maintain momentum when you’re playing against Satan’s shooting guard."

Hawks Hack (multiple posts) - [ED: I have selected a choice comment from 'hawks hack=idiot'. That's what The Hack gets for taking it easy on the Hawks.] "You are a MORON. The hawks should have won this game and there are no excuses for not doing so."

Rise Up Mofos! - "The 1st Quarter was a low scoring affair as both sides only managed to score a total of thirty points (LA 16-14). However, that didn’t stop the Kobe Love Fest Brigade from drooling all over themselves every time he touched the ball. I think I even heard some “oohs” and “ahs” when he farted in the huddle during a timeout."

Altanta Magazine / Eric Cheeck - "Hawks’ scratch to within three after Childress hits his free-throws. Childress has spent more time at the line than Tim Allen [ED: Allen was in attendance last night.] …what? ...too soon? Lakers 28-25."

Bernaisesource - "In the end, it was a really great experience. It was interesting to hang out with bloggers who are more passionate about the subject matter than the technology that drives their discussions." [ED: Also the only one with pictures of some of us- I'm the one without a laptop.]