Joe Johnson to Shoot H-O-R-S-E

In case you missed it, Atlanta's own Joe Johnson was named a participant in the first annual H-O-R-S-E competition at the NBA All-Star Game. His competitors are young guns O.J. Mayo (MEM) and Kevin Durant (OKC). If I was a betting man, I would put my money on Johnson. He looks like he has played a lot more H-O-R-S-E than the other two, but then again, it will be played outside and the elements may play a factor. It is going to be cold and windy in Arizona (yes, it does get cold in the desert), and this competition may well be an old-school throw back to school yard horse games. I really can't wait to see all the craziness that is sure to ensue.

On another note in a horrible decision by the NBA, the competition will not count up to H-O-R-S-E as we are all used to. Corporate sponsorship has prevailed, and instead the competition will count up to G-E-I-C-O. What bullcrap is that? Why can't it be, "The H-O-R-S-E Competition Sponsored by Geico?" Who are the ad-wizards that came up with that one? They should be fired.
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Dirty South Pride

Its been quite a year for Atlanta fans... the Braves' demise, the Falcons' rise and the Hawks' surprise (and at least the Thrashers try). But another year come and gone without bringing home a major championship. Sure it'd be fun to live in Boston with the Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox, but we can't all enjoy that kind of well-rounded success. The rest of us have to find other reasons to have pride in our teams. Things like damn good hot dogs or kiss cams or Marta access. But seriously Atlanta fans, when some joker from Boston or Florida starts giving you the business about how irrelevant our teams are... here's six good reasons to laugh in their face:

• Michael Turner
• Roddy White
• Joe Johnson
• Ilya Kovalchuk
• Chipper Jones
• Brian McCann

These are your Atlanta All-Stars. These six players were named the best of the best this year. No Bostonian can come into the dirty south and claim we have no good players or we have no good teams. With two playoff teams and six all-stars, I'd say we're sitting pretty. There's 30+ teams in these leagues, and only one can win the championship each year. And its been a long time since that team was the Yankees, Cowboys, or Lakers. Sports isn't all about the championships. Sure it'd be nice to have a couple more World Series titles and a Super Bowl win, but its hard not to feel proud about our boys when you go into the stadium and see those banners hanging: division champions, conference champions, league champions... or when you turn on the All-Star game or Pro Bowl and see your boys taking the field alongside the game's best players... or when you read preseason discussions about which of your guys could win the Heisman, league MVP, or Rookie of the Year.

We may have down years, but our teams - our players - are never out of the discussion. Matt Ryan was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year, Michael Turner was the league MVP's runner-up, Jonathan Dwyer ACC Player of the Year, Matt Stafford could be the top pick in the draft, Chipper Jones won the NL batting title... times are good in the Dirty South boys and girls, even if we're not hoisting championship trophies like they are in the northeast, that doesn't mean we aren't proud of our players' accomplishments year in and year out. If you keep putting talent on the field, the titles will come.
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Joe Johnson Named to All Star Team

Hawks F/G Joe Johnson ("JJ") was named to his third-straight All-Star team, again as a reserve. He'll back up little-known guys like LeBron James and Allen Iverson. This ain't like baseball or hockey where each team automatically gets an All-Star representative, so this is a big deal that the Hawks' best player has been given the honor three straight years. Be proud, Hawks fans! Now let's we can win a game before All-Star weekend.... eek.
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Boston Wins 16th Straight, Hawks Come Up Short Again

Again I'd like to not go into detail about this game, because GRR it makes me so angrrry! But once again the Celtics took our best shot and walked away winners, 88-85. Joe Johnson took over in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough after he missed a game-tying free throw with less than three seconds left. And as much as we all hate Kevin Garnett and his freakishly long arms and endless smack talk, boy can that guy play. Garnett came in midway through the fourth and led the charge as Boston was trailing going into the final period.

Also Josh Smith chipped in with a wacky ten second period of ball: he fouls Kendrick Perkins by giving him a little hug under the basket and allowing the easy lay up (3 point play), then on the other end of the court Josh gets the ball in the paint, loses control, gets it passed back to him, drives on Perkins, and does this...



Sometimes, Josh can be a badass. Of course he missed the ensuing free throw. We missed our first 11 shots of the game. And it was still close. We're just one rowdy emotional speech away from beating the Celtics every single time. Love this rivalry. Read Full Article!