101 Reasons To Love Atlanta Sports

101 Reasons To Love Atlanta Sports

SEC Championship Game – Every year, two of the top teams in the nation battle it out in The Dome

2013 – The Men’s Final Four returns to The Dome

Phil Niekro – The game’s greatest knuckleballer pitched 20 season in Atlanta of his 318 win career

Will Bynum – His late layup against Oklahoma State in the 2004 Final Four put Tech in the Title Game

Maddux, Smoltz, & Glavine – I only wish they had all retired at the same time so they could all go into the Hall of Fame in the same year, as Braves

Terrell Davis – A mediocre career at UGA led to a very good pro career, along with another UGA alum being selected MVP of the Super Bowl

Jamal Crawford – if he’s not the NBA’s best Sixth Man, then who is?

Larry Munson – Many Dawg fans grew up & grew old listening to this man make the greatest calls in UGA history

Jake Scott – The first of three Super Bowl MVPs from the University of Georgia, he won as a Safety for the Dolphins

Joe Johnson – Our superstar, the glue that holds the team together and wins them games

Jamal Anderson – His 410 carries carried the Falcons to their lone Super Bowl (Now if we can just find a replacement for Jamaal (the DT)

1991 Braves Season – From the worst record in baseball in 1990 to the World Series in 1991, this season brought life back to baseball in Atlanta

Fall Saturdays – Whether in Atlanta or Athens, you’re having a good time

The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party – Even if the Dawgs lose, it’s always fun to be around friends & enjoy the view of mullets & jean shorts

1996 Olympics – The games put Atlanta on the international map, the bombing left an ugly scar on an otherwise spectacular event

Billy Knight – Rick Sund is reaping what he sowed

Brian Van Gorder – His work in Athens made UGA defenses feared; here’s hoping that same magic works 75 miles west

Hines Ward – more useful than a Swiss Army knife at Georgia, he is now making Dawg fans proud as a Super Bowl MVP wide receiver (the university’s third)

Ilya Kovalchuk – A player that needs to get paid, and then built around

Curtis Lofton – After only his second year in the league, he’s already the leader of the Falcons defense

1995 – Finally, the Braves bring a World Championship to Atlanta, the city’s first & still only

Coke – It’s the only soda any of the venue’s sells, and it goes great with whatever is in your flask

Tailgating – A competition in the South as much as it is a tradition

$10 – Excepting the Falcons, you can go see every pro team in town for this price

Philips Arena – One of the best multi-use facilities of its size in the world

Lewis Grizzard – Comedically & poetically put southern sports, and life, into perspective

Mike Woodson – Big game woes aside, his Hawks teams have won more games than the year before since his arrival. They gave him clay & told him to build a mansion.

Evander Holyfield – The only 4-Time Heavyweight Champion in history

Southern Girls – Whether tailgating or in the game, always a sight to behold

Andruw Jones – He had his lapses, but overall, he gave Braves fans a great decade

Paul Hewitt – Took Tech to the title game in 2004, & has the team rising this year

Leo Mazzone – As much responsible for the dominance of the 1990s as Cox & Scheurholz

Evander Kane – If this prospect can live up to expectations & Kovalchuk extends, the Thrashers could start to make some noise in the NHL

Minnesota – They hate us for the 1998 NFC Championship game, we hate them for KENT HRBEK (our hatred is more substantiated)

Ted Turner – “The Mouth of the South” made the Braves “America’s Team”

Peachtree Road Race – 55,000 people running 10K on the 4th of July, all while I’m doing pretty much the exact opposite just a few blocks away

Tony Gonzalez – One of the biggest reasons the Falcons broke that notorious streak

Mark Fox – In his short time in Athens, he has given Dawg basketball fans something to look forward to

Bill Elliott – Voted NASCAR’s most popular driver 16 times, a record

Vince Dooley – Won the National Championship in 1980, turned out to be a pretty good Athletics Director as well

Jason Heyward & Tommy Hanson – Braves fans are hoping these two young prospects can make Cox’s last season a good one

Sundiata Gaines – Credit for the SEC Tournament in 2008 has to go to someone, and that definitely ain’t Dennis Felton, plus, what a tournament he had

UGA’s I-VII – All “Damn Good Dawgs”

Todd Grantham – Bringing the 3-4 with him to Athens, Dawg faithful are just happy for a change

Jackie Robinson – Born in Cairo, every black athlete in the nation owes him for putting up with unimaginable racist attitudes of the day

Dwight Howard – One of the best big men in the Association, played high school ball in Atlanta, unfortunately got away, just to stay in our division

John Heisman – Not only did he coach Tech to a national title (and a 222-0 victory over Cumberland College), he was also Athletic Director of the Atlanta Athletic Club

Bobby Cremins – Made Tech basketball relevant

Vernon Forrest – Former champion in both the Welterweight & Light Middleweight classes

Back-to-Back Winning Seasons – The Falcons finally broke one of the most embarrassing streaks in sports in 2009, plus, the Hawks are looking to make it two years in a row this year (Fingers crossed on the Braves)

Dan Reeves – Born in Rome, he led the Falcons to their only Super Bowl appearance in 1999

Arthur Blank – Finally an owner in Atlanta who realizes that in sports, you throw money at the problem

Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott – I listen to this call a thousand times on the way down to The Cocktail Party, then another thousand before the game.

Bobby Jones – Tech graduate, also one of golf’s greats & one of Georgia’s most well known residents ever

Atlanta Spirit – Nine Businessmen trying to turn around the Thrashers & continue to build the Hawks

Melanie Oudin – Marietta native is now the Sweetheart of Women’s Tennis

Dominique Wilkins – He was so good, they nicknamed Philips Arena after him

Hank Aaron – The all-time homerun leader in the SFMLB (Steroid Free), also one of the class acts in all of sports & a great ambassador for the sport of baseball

Suzanne Yoculan – still kinda hot, not to mention 16 SEC titles & 10 National Titles (5 of those consecutively)

Roddy White – Back-to-Back-to-Back 1000 yard receiving seasons, now Back-to-Back Pro Bowler

Chick-Fil-A – They put together an exciting season opening game & bowl game, both pitting the SEC against the ACC

Mike Bibby – His leadership at Point Guard has been underrated

“Neon” Deion Sanders – Two sport athlete that played for the Falcons & the Braves (also, he almost committed to UGA)

Detroit Lions – Both Tech & UGA fans have a reason to cheer for this downtrodden franchise

Paul Johnson – Making Tech football relevant again….even a little scary

Zaza Pachulia – He loves Atlanta & Atlanta loves him, his antics against Boston in the 2008 playoffs gave the team & the fans the fire they needed down the stretch in a tough series

The Braves Farm System – They’ve always got a lot of young talent in the farm system, which is consistently ranked among the best in baseball

1991 World Series – We lost due to Kent Hrbek’s shenanigans, but this series is still viewed as one of the greatest of all time

The Saturday After Thanksgiving – Clean Old-Fashioned Hate

Herschel Walker – If he stayed for his senior year, he is almost undoubtedly the greatest college player of all time

Six Cy Youngs – Two for Glavine (1991 & 1992); Three for Maddux (1993-1995); & One to Smoltz (1996)

2008 SEC Tournament – Despite the lowest seed in the east & a tornado, the Dawgs became the Cinderella team of the entire post-season

Bruce Benedict – Hearing his name announced coming to the plate brings back childhood memories, memories of Braves losses, but still sentimental none-the-less

Josh Smith – Another homegrown basketball prodigy, this one stayed at home & his exciting plays get the Arena jumping

The Davids (Greene & Pollack) – Childhood friends who made the early 2000s very exciting for Dawg fans

Mike Smith – Seeing him ready to go toe-to-toe with Deangelo Hall now means the team & entire city have his back

Pro Wrestling (aka Wrasslin) – The Royal Rumble just came to town & the area is home to many current & former professional wrestlers

Dale Murphy – One of the few bright spots in an other wise horrible decade, to long-time Braves fans, he’s a Hall of Famer for sure

Bill Curry – Former Tech head coach is bringing football to Georgia State

Drafting Michael Vick – He electrified the entire city & made it cool to be a Falcon’s fan

Michael Vick Leaving – His departure divides the city to this day, but it opened the team up to draft a QB willing to put in the work to make this team a contender year-in & year-out

Michael Turner – Despite an injury late in the year, he averaged more yards per carry & less carries per game, hopefully meaning he’s well rested for 2010

Matt Ryan – If projections are correct, Falcons fans are in for a good decade

College Football Hall of Fame – Does not belong anywhere else than the capital of the New South, where college football is king

John Scheurholz – 14 pennants in a row doesn’t happen without him at the helm

Thomas Dimitroff – After two years on the job, he’s kind of the wunderkind of football Gms

Jeff Teague – One day, he’ll be taking over for Bibby & leading the team

Ty Cobb – One of the greatest baseball players of his time, history has proven “The Georgia Peach” to be any of a combination of four-letter words, but still one of the greatest to ever play the game

Mark Richt – The program has slid the past two years, but the 2000s were a National Championship short of being the best Bulldawg decade ever

Tomahawk Chop – Picture it, Atlanta, 1992: A close game in the ninth inning, Lemke’s at bat, & Fulton County’s rockin’ to the Tomahawk Chop, I don’t know about you, but I just got chills

Spud Webb – He was very small for an NBA player, but boy could he dunk

Sanford Stadium – Nowhere in the state rocks like Sanford does every Saturday, in fact, few places in the nation can compare

Recruiting – All the athletes UGA & Tech need for football & basketball can be found right here

World Cup – The Dome is being considered to host some matches if the US hosts the Cup in either 2018 or 2022 (if we don’t have a new stadium by then)

Sid Slide – If I need to say more I’m surprised you read this far on the list

Travis Leslie – His penchant for big dunks makes Stegeman a harder place to go play

The Varsity – Where else are you gonna go for a grease fix before or after a game

Bobby Cox – Sure the Braves could’ve won another World Series or two, but they also could’ve won one less

Al Groh – Coming to town to fix up a very suspect defense that held the Yellow Jackets back from being something really special last year

100. Warrick Dunn – One of the most beloved sports figures in Atlanta history because of hischaritable works, as well as contributions on the field, it’s good to know such a great guy is now part of the group that owns the Falcons

101. Next Year – What we seem to always be waiting for & the battle cry of the eternal optimist

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