Shocker

A few weeks back the Pro Football Weekly Draft Preview by Nolan Nawrocki came out and it was critical of Cam Newton on the field and off. The link below is about what Nawrocki said about Newton.

http://www.csnne.com/03/28/11/Wicked-takedown-of-Newton-in-PFW-Draft-P/landing_patriots.html?blockID=492577&feedID=3946

As with any writer, Nawrocki is entitled to his opinion, however it rubbed former QB Warren Moon the wrong way. Here is where my "shocker" title to this post comes into play. Moon was upset about how his advisee, Newton, was being treated by the media and fans. Moon said, "A lot of the criticism he's receiving is unfortunate and racially based. I thought we were all past this...He's being held to different standards from white quarterbacks." My first reation was simply, whelp!! However, after thinking about this more I focused in on his statement about being past this, and I agree we could be if the race card wasn't pulled every freaking time a black athlete, etc is criticised for anything. Let's not hide from the fact that Newton is a well-known figure for a lot of reasons and they are not all good, he is still involved in an NCAA investigation, so he is going to get more attention than most. There are legitimate questions about whether Cam can play at the next level and if I were an NFL team I would want to make sure Cam is my guy before I invest millions into him as my franchise. Do the off the field comments made by Nawrocki cross the line, I am not sure, but some of the things he says are drawn straight from public things we know about Newton, he had legal issues at Florida, played at a Junior College one year and at Auburn for one more. Maybe Moon is too close to the situation as he is advising Newton during this process.

I seem to remember Tim Tebow being killed last year prior to the draft not only for him playing in a spread offense, but also for his holier than now persona. Also, here is a recent article about Blaine Gabbert, a white quarterback from Missouri, and criticism he is receiving from Mel Kiper.

http://kansascity.sbnation.com/missouri-tigers/2011/4/4/2089953/mel-kiper-blaine-gabbert-2011-nfl-draft

Maybe there is a time we will be past it, but until the card continues to be pulled every time, we are a long way off!!

DVD Review: Catfish

Stacy and I were sitting at home and about to watch a movie and the previews for "Catfish" came on and she mentioned that she had heard it was a good documentary type movie, so I added it to Netflix and we watched it this past weekend. I am glad we made that decision as this was a good movie.

The movie is based on a young photographer in New York, Nev, who meets a young artist (Abby) online when she sends him a painting of one of his pictures online. Nev starts to communicate with Abby, her mom and a half-sister. They do most of their talking, etc on Facebook, including sending pictures and songs. Nev and the half-sister start to develop a relationship, but it never works out to where they can meet up. On a job out in Colorado the sister sends a song to Nev and he soon discovers it is another artists' song on YouTube. This leads to Nev, his brother and friend to dig deeper and find more holes in the mom's story.

So to find out if it is true the three of the guys head to Michigan to meet the family. Needless to say it is creepy and you are almost waiting for something scary to happen. I will not give too much more as they could completely ruin the movie.

I recommend watching this movie for sure, Catfish get 4 out of 5 beers.

Next BBQ Stop: Hottie Hawg's

This past Thursday we made the next stop on our tour of Atlanta BBQ joints, this time we had two newbies to the group, Brian Watson and my lovely wife, Stacy. Hottie Hawg's is in Atlanta near the intersection of South Cobb Drive and Bolton Road, it is in a interesting spot considering the neighborhood around it. The building is painted in two great colors, red and black. Once you stepped out of the car who could immediately smell the BBQ. Wrapped around the side and front of the restaurant was a deck which in the upcoming months could be a great spot to hang. The interior was nothing like you would have thought, but you could tell they put a lot of work into it. They also have a full bar which is good for stopping in on the way to the game or downtown for a quick bite and a cold beer.

Their menu had numerous items that sounded unbelievable, so we started with the Southern Fried "Bottle Caps" Pickles/Peppers and DSB Dry Rub wings. Both of them were really good, but the wings were the best wings I had ever had, hard to beat a wing that does not need anything on them to make them really good. For the main course I ordered the Texas Sliced Brisket plate with garlic mashed potatoes and mac/cheese. The brisket was tender and had great smokey flavor and the sides were really good as well. Here is a pic of Jason's brisket plate.



The attire of the waittresses did not hurt either, the were in daisy duke jean shorts and cowboy boots. The pic below was our girl from their Facebook page. Needless to say Hottie Hawg's is destined for a regular spot. I give them 5 out of 5 beers for sure.

Holy Hole!

Since it is Sunday of The Masters I figured I would embarass myself and share a story from a recent golf outing. Last Sunday a few of my buddies and me ventured out to North Fulton Golf Course (@northfultongolf) in Atlanta near Chastain Park. First off let me preface by saying I was feeling a little rough after the 40th birthday party we attended the night before (Happy Birthday Jack). So I did not even attempt to play the 1st or 2nd hole after duffing one off the tee box. I will not get into the course too much, but the fairways need some work, which from my understanding they are what they are.

Well at about hole 5 I got my second wind and started to get into it, not that I hit the ball any better or off the ground for that matter. I would have been better off teeing off with my putter. As I reached down to grab my ball out of the cup, Branden says, "Hey man did you rip your pants?" In which I respond, "yeah there is a little hole near the left back pocket." In which he returns, "no, not a hole, you have a tear." So I reach back and sure enough from the inside corner of the pocket there is a tear down my left cheek about 4-5 inches long. So I untuck my shirt and march on, needless to say the tear got a little bigger as we continued. Good thing I was not rolling commando, I am sure Jason is happiest about that as we were in the same cart.

So as it started getting darker we decided we would go out and grab a bite to eat at Taco Mac in the Prado (@TacoMacPrado) up the street. As we were finishing up I asked if anyone had a jacket or something I could wrap up in. The pics below are the fashion trend I am starting. I got a few looks as it was mid-70's and I have a jacket wrapped around my waist, but it sure beat the alternative of flashing my ass for all to see. As for the golf, I played horrible and of course on the last hole (par 3) I hit the best ball of the day and sit about 8-9 feet from a birdie, which of course I missed the putt.

Fore!

One of the best weekends in sports starts this morning, The Masters. It goes without saying that Jim Nantz from CBS Sports has one of the best gigs around, he goes from calling the Final Four to Augusta. While a lot of people may not want to hear this a lot more viewers will be glued to the tube if Tiger Woods is near or on the top of the leaderboard going into the weekend. It seems not that long ago that the bet was Tiger or the field, I guess a smart betting person would tell you to take the field this year. To add to the drama six of the world's top seven golfers can become #1, even though it is beyond confusing how the rankings work since Tiger was #1 and did not play a lot during his demise. To further prove my point, Paul Casey is #6 and he cannot reach #1 because he has played in more tournaments than Woods, who is #7. Even better is that Mickelson won last week in Houston and enters the tournament as the favorite.

For all things Masters check out their site: http://www.masters.com/en_US/index.html. Here is a little something to get you cranked up for rounds 3 and 4.

MLB Opening Day....Lessons Learned

So it still blows my mind that MLB officials are not smart enough not to start the season in cold weather cities. Their excuse is poor at best, that the home teams will have less home games in the warmer months. There are 81 freaking home games, 4-7 games at the beginning of the season are not going to make that much of a difference and you will probably sell more tickets for opening series than you will in the warmer months anyway. Some of the teams had to hold practices indoors due to snow and cold weather, that is insane. Not to mention the teams have spring training in Arizona and Florida so they get used to the warmer climates and then have to jump back into freezing temps when they get back home.

MLB has 30 teams, and instead of starting elsewhere there were opening series in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Where the average temps are in the lower 30s during this time of the year. There are six teams with dome or retractable roof stadiums, and only one of them hosted games the first weekend. Not to mention the warm weather cities that had stadiums empty: Anaheim, Atlanta, San Diego, San Franciso.

There are way too many smart people in the offices of MLB, time to start showing them off.

Its not all bad though, today is the Braves home opener and I cannot wait, nothing like Opening Day at your home ballpark!!

You've Got a Friend in Me......

With the Barry Bonds' trial on-going it brings back the stories of his friend, Greg Anderson, who has gone to jail numerous times for refusing to testify and being held in contempt of court. As of today, he has been in Federal prison numerous times for not testifying. I would say Bonds has a great friend in Anderson, not sure Bonds is a good friend to Anderson. Last time I checked Bonds is still a free man, while Anderson spends time behind bars....who has the better end of the deal here? I know Bonds doesn't want to go to jail for lying in Federal court, but he could have admitted his errors before like others and not had to go through this. Does anyone really believe that he never took steroids? I have seen stubborn before, but this is getting ridiculous.

This story takes me back to Chris and Jessica Andres' wedding and John's speech.