Arthur Blank: I’d like to believe that Blank, having served as the NFL’s most shameless enabler (for Michael Vick), has snapped out of his adulatory haze and will now become the star he has always had the potential to be. I’d also like to believe that the hiring of former Patriots scouting director Tom Dimitroff as general manager was a shrewd move. But I’m skeptical, not because I doubt Dimitroff’s ability to succeed, but because of the way the whole thing played out: After being embarrassingly spurned by Parcells, Blank extended an offer to Dimitroff without having ever met him in person (the job interview was conducted via video conference) and retained Rich McKay – the man Dimitroff was replacing – in the role of team president. Throw in the fact that Blank accompanied Dimitroff on his pre-draft visits with prospects such as quarterback Matt Ryan (the Falcons’ eventual selection with the No. 3 overall pick), and it’s easy for critics to portray Blank as meddlesome and amateurish. Still, Blank has enormous potential, something that can’t be said for most of the people below him.

Owner rankings, 17-32: Wayne’s wretched world - Yahoo.com

The Dark Knight. Easily the biggest movie of the year. The most talked about, the most hyped. But is it worth it…….. Yes, it is.

 We all know the story, we all know about Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale and we certainly know about Heath Ledger. But the movie is stronger than that, the movie is better than just that. It is the single best comic movie ever created. Far beyond that fact it is probably the best one we will ever see EVER! I just cannot imagine many films that have ever been this good. I cannot wrap my head around something so uncanny that a mere comic book movie is one of the best movies I have ever seen, period end of discussion. 

The Dark Knight succeeds on all levels, it will please all people it will go down not only as the best comic book/sci-fi sequel to ever be created but I do put it with my favorite sequel of all time, The Godfather part 2. Not to mention of course one of my favorite movies, ever.

  Bale is great, what else can you say about him? He is the perfect casting, he brings so much depth to the role of Bruce Wayne and Batman that he is that character. The torture and the anger and the rage are so present yet beautifully repressed you forget where Bruce Wayne ends and where Batman Begins (bad pun). Batman is what he has always been at the core of the character, just one inch from being the criminals he stalks. A criminal with a credo if you will.  He wears the weight of an entire population around his neck but it is that weight that gives the movie so much balance. That is the beauty of what Christian Bale has done, he gave balance to the film. A superb job by a supurb actor.

 Before I go off on Heath Ledger I want to take a moment to talk about some of the other things that I feel other reviews have forgotten to give their proper due. First off whomever casts these movies deserves not only an oscar but a freaking nobel prize. Let’s take a moment to list just a few actors in the two Nolan Batman movies: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Tom Wilkinson, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer. That is just the first movie. Now add in Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts and of course Heath Ledger. 

 Heath Ledger has, simply stated redefined the role of the Joker forever. That is all I can really say. I feel at this point pretty much everything that could be said about his performance has already been said. Why pontificate?! Becuase I fucking loved his performace. So awful so dirty so vile so perfect. Ledger is the closest thing our generation had to Brando. He died before he would have to bad movies with Matthew Broderick and he went out truly on top.

  First off I will tell all of you homophobic assholes to skip the next several lines because I loved Brokeback Mountain. I bought it the week it came out on DVD, I have loaned it to a half dozen friends that were too scared to see it in theaters or rent it on DVD and every one of them loved it too. Heath Ledger is an amazing actor and you know why… “He is fearless” to quote Christopher Nolan on his decision to cast Ledger. Fearless is the best word to decribe Ledger and his perfomance and it is how he should be remembered forever.

The Bird Speaks!

I am a Sirius subscriber. I love NFL radio and all I seem to hear from anyone is the Favre saga so I am going to take this time to throw in my two cents on the issue. First off, let me say I don’t like what he and his agent are doing. Brett Favre is a great QB, certainly one of the best and the last of the true “gunslinger” types. But does he have to ruin his legacy like this? Does he truly want to play bad enough as to alienate the fans who have turnned him into a modern folk hero? I guess the answer is yes. OK, Green Bay WI, you got the guy at his peak, you got your championship you got Paul Bunyan in green and gold for the last 16 years? Let him go!

Aaron Rodgers has paid his dues. He is a good guy who shuts up and let Favre be “The Man” now I say to everyone out there that is is time to let Aaron be “The Man”. Let Aaron Rodgers come in and let Favre go play somewhere else preferably KC just like Montana did so many moons ago.

I say if the league is willing to pay a kings ransom for a guy who changes his mind more times than Paris Hilton says “That’s Hot” then let them. I sure hope that Favre goes to a divisional rival, not that I like any of those teams particularly, I just want to see the people in Green Bay freak out. This is shaping up to be the story of the 2008 season so let’s get on board and get ready for the ride because this is probably going to be bumpier than initially thought.

I want to hear from you folks. Tell me what you think about Favre and this whole fiasco. Where should he go and who should be traded to get him?  I say 1st and 3rd round picks like Montana to KC.

The Bird Speaks!

 First off let’s Start with the cream of the crop. The best in the business and if this post gets a bit too Style Network for you, I apologize ahead of time.

 1. Dallas Cowboys: From the logo to the colors nothing says football quite like them. The blue star is iconic both in it’s simplicity as well as it’s storied history. The colors are classic, the clean white with the blue and the silver is just awesome.

 2. Green Bay Packers: The logo is kind of a generic “G” U of Georgia has the same one. But the colors are just perfect. Where else but the great white north would you have such ugly colors come together and just be cool.

3. New Orleans Saints: The Fleur D’ Lie is a little lame in my opinion, but it’s the colors that are cool as hell. Especially the black on gold home uniform. Just awesome!

4. Tampa Bay Bucs: Does anyone remember the absolute stupidity of the old bucs uniforms? That orange with that Captain Jack Sparrow looking pirate dude?! ahhhh. Now the new colors are awesome the red and gun metal gray and that flag is badass. An improvment to be sure.

5. Atlanta Falcons: You knew this was coming, this is a Falcons blog afterall. First of all the black and red are just cool. The logo is great, what else can I say?  But I really kind of do miss the old ones too.

6. Pittsburgh Steelers: Black and Gold a classic. The logo is probably the most original in all of football. You can’t help thinking about Bradshaw and “Mean” Joe or about Hines Ward and Roethlisberger in any other colors.

7. New York Giants: I have a thing against all New York teams just really don’t like them. But I do have to give credit. I like the clean color scheme and the retro NY is cool.

8. San Diego Chargers: I really like the updated uniforms. I thought the old ones were lame and boring and the white really makes the other colors pop. The lightning bolt has always been one of my least favorite logos in sports and it still is. It just rubs me the wrong way.

Those are my top teams now for the rest. My list from best of the worst to the worst of the worst.

 9. Tennesee Titans: I take issue with all white helmets. I don’t like them and I think they look so stupid. I like the powder blue jerseys I even like the navy blue pants too. But that logo is just retarded!

 10. Philadelphia Eagles: I like the color scheme. I even don’t dislike the logo. I demote the igles because of those stupid wings on their helmets. Purely and simply they just don’t look right. Maybe if they were on the side and not the front they would look ok but it looks like those things would flap and they would fall on their faces.

 11. Jacksonville Jaguars: I don’t dislike the colors so much as I just don’t like them for a football team. The logo is not bad but not great, just underwhelming at every turn.

 12. New England Patriots: The Jerseys are nice the Logo is kind of cool. I just can’t give anything to a team that is just this damn good year in and year out. How great was it to see them lose in the Super Bowl?! Sorry Pats fans the reat of the world loved it!

 13. Carolina Panthers: Electric blue sure reminds me of a black jungle cat what about you? Oh yeah sure it does! The logo has the distinction of having a shoulder or something on it. Congrats fellas….not!

 14. Baltimore Ravens: I like the colors black and purple are cool. I like the yellow too. But the logo just kills me. The raven head has a big freaking “B” on it. and for what? It is not lower on my list because at least it is better than the original logo back in ‘98 that maryland flag with the “B” was just plain awful.

 15.  San Francisco 49ers: I don’t know where to put this team. Do I call them iconic or do I call them boring? The colors are different the team has a great history. Eh? I just say they are lame. The logo also has the distinction for having numbers on it. Lame!

 16. Denver Broncos: This is another interesting one for me. The jersey is an improvement from the old ones that looked like a bunch of hicks in hunter orange with bright blue helmets on. But the new ones are just so damned average. They aren’t bad, they aren’t iconic. But they beat my team in ‘98 in the superbowl so screw them!

17. Cleveland Browns: I know let’s dress 53 guys in s**t brown and orange and make everybody think this is 1971 again. When everything was s**t brown and orange. No thank you! I would laugh at their logo but they don’t have one really, not unless of course you count that snap, crackle and pop reject troll guy. With a wind sock on his head no less. Oh yeah and the Dawg pound, let’s not forget the Dawg Pound. I actually like those guys they are funny.

 18. Buffalo Bills: While I would love to make a Silence of the Lambs reference here I won’t. But damn it, the jersey is certainly original. I will give them that, But they are still ugly and I can’t stand them. The helmets have not evolved with the jersey they kept half of the old uniform and updated the other half. Who does that?

 19. Indianapolis Colts: Two colors, two! One if you come from the school of thought that says white isn’t a color. Then you are just stupid because they what the hell is it? White helmet, Check. A freaking horseshoe, Check and those stripes on the sholders look freaking awful.

 20. Chicago Bears. I don’t really dislike the color scheme as much as the logo here. It harkins back to the old days when you only had a couple of choices for your logo. The Chicago “C” is the same as the Cincinatti Reds “C” and the NY Giants had the New York Yankees both had the same logos. I think the thing about the Bears that I dislike so much is that no matter how lame they are the fans just keep going on an on about them just like the Cubs. A club that is lamer than the Bears oh and there is that stupid “C” again.

 21. Arizona Cardinals: Now, I live in Arizona and I like the Cards, but the White helmet has got to freaking go! The jerseys are a huge upgrade from the old ones so I do like that. But the logo, Oh the logo, even slightly adjusted is still a Cardinal, a little red bird that wouldn’t scare anything outside of a worm.

 22. Detroit Lions: Lame is just the best word for these guys. On the field and everywhere else. The blue is boring the silver is well, it’s silver. The logo is just so bad, the outline of a lion….that’s it. No really that is it.

 23: Minnesota Vikings: Purple warning! Now I like purple as much as the next guy, I am a Lakers fan afterall. But DAMN! First off the logo is kind of Iconic, I like that. But whatever or who ever designed the PURPLE pants needs to give whatever money they were paid back.

 24. Seattle Seahawks: I give them credit for picking different colors, I like that they tried. I don’t really dislike the jersey so much as I just don’t like that logo. It is updated from the old one but I think this team is ready for an upgrade.

 25. New York Jets: I liked the retro look back when they came back. I still kind of do but I just feel like they didn’t really try to do something new as much as bring back something that wasn’t as ugly as the uniform before it. Try harder next time guys but no need to change tomorrow they aren’t embarrassing.

 26. Kansas City Chiefs: KC reminds me a lot of NYJ. They are kind of iconic a bit retro but represents the team fine. I still don’t like the logo, I never really have but it is and Icon at this point and I say keep it. Just not my cup of tea.

 27. Houston Texans: They aren’t bad, they aren’t really anything. That is kind of the problem. I like the logo which is a play on the Texas state flag. Just kind of eh.

 Hall of Shame time folks the final teams that just irritate revile or truly disgust me.

 28. Oakland Raiders: I like the colors, I really do. They can’t be changed at this point but they need a makeover at this time. I say fix the logo. Take away the shield, follow the Bucs lead and get rid of that guy on the helmet. Something needs to change in Oakland and until Al Davis dies this will have to do.

 29. St. Louis Rams: OK they are improved from the clownsuits that these guys used to wear. I used to think they would come out of a really little car or something. But a Ram? Stupid mascot and a stupid helmet.

 30.  Washington Redskins: I don’t like the colors, I never did. I can’t stand the logo I think this team is too old and too storied to change, so they are doomed to look stupid every week from here to eternity. Plus they have the distiction of probably the second worst owner in football, behind Al “does my pompador look sexy?” Davis.

 31. Cincinatti Bengals: Wow, that is all I can say. Let’s look past the neon orange jerseys, no wait let’s not. They are ugly, really really ugly. Oh and stripes do not a good helmet make.

 32. Miami Dolphins: Oh here we are, the worst of the worst the baddest of the bad the most retarded of all teams. Miami has the distinction above all other teams as being the only ones to have been designed by 7 year old girls. The colors are just a damned joke, oh and when I am playing a land based game with arial attacks what do I want to be known as but a freaking DOLPHIN!

                                                            The Bird Speaks!

1. This is a new team. We have lost a head coach Bobby Petrino (Arkansas), a very good CB in DeAngelo Hall (Raiders), and a downright awesome TE in Alge Crumpler (Titans).

2. We have started to build through a very strong draft. We got our QB, we got a solid core of young, high character playmakers.

3. We made the most brilliant move of our offseason in hiring head coach Mike Smith. Smith was the former defensive coach of the Jaguars and the architect of one of the more consistent and physical defensive units in the NFL for his tenure. He brings a wealth of knowledge, a strong work ethic and his return should signal a renewed focus on physicality and accountability. His teams play hard and they play to win.

What does this all mean you may ask? It means that in 2008 the Falcons will set a course for improvement. I will not say that we will be a playoff team right away, not with an offense that still needs as many pieces as we appear to at this time. But, with a strong foundation of youth, leadership and hard work we should be able to set things on the right course and continue to progress and improve over the next few years.

The Bird Speaks!

First off let’s address the draft…..

I will start with pick #3 round 1 Matt Ryan QB Boston College

The pick was good, not great. A safe pick to be sure but does it help us win now? I am not sure. Glenn Dorsey was availble to help take the place of Rod Coleman and protect against the run. Shore up the D-line and could be a monster requiring double teams and allowing for sacks by Jamaal Anderson and John Abraham. Ryan is a good player, but is he going to play right away? I doubt it, Redman has already been named as the starter and why throw Matt to the wolves when you have Joey Harrington on your roster as a walking cautionary tale for bad QB development. Please don’t get me wrong I think he will be good. Who knows maybe very very good. But Arthur Blank wanted a new face and he got it. After the fiasco that was Vick who can blame the guy.

Pick # 21 Round 1 Sam Baker OT USC

This is the very definition of a reach pick. We traded up into the bottom of the 1st round so that we could get a guy who really should have gone in the 2nd round. He is a good guy but I really am not sure he is the LT they expect him to be. The guy isn’t Joe Thomas or Johnathan Ogden but he won multiple awards in college and I think he will be a very good addition to a line in desperate need of help. Heck I have been wrong before and in this case I hope I am.

Pick #37 Round 2 Curtis Lofton LB Oklahoma

How much can I say how I love this pick, enough that I think this guy could be a very good pick up at this position in the draft. First off he is a middle linebacker, something Atlanta has desperately needed for some time since Jesse Tuggle I feel Lofton can be that kind of player, he led OU in tackles and is a good charater guy from what I have read as well. He will bring flexability and much needed depth to what surly will be a strength for the birds in ‘08.

Pick #68 Round 3 Chevis Jackson CB LSU

The Falcons front office does it again! I have seen one great video of this guy after another and he just looks good. He is fast, not D’Angelo Hall fast but he reacts well and the thing that jumps out to me is that he isn’t afraid to tackle. It’s things like that which really stand out for me since it speaks volumes about a guy who will do whatever it takes to make a play.

Pick #84 Round 3 Harry Douglas WR Louisville

Long Lean with good hands. He isn’t a big guy. Kind of reminds me of a Keyshawn Johnson type player. Won’t burn you on the field but makes up for it with the ability to run crisp routes and catch balls thrown at him. He was drafted for depth and since you just never know what you will get from a Falcons WR it is better to be safe than sorry.

Pick #98 Round 3 Thomas DeCoud  S California

Reminds me a lot of Roy Williams. He is not a good guy against the pass and is just OK against the run, he needs development. I think he is a special teams guy all the way.

The Bird Speaks!

My name is Sean McNally. I live in Phoenix, AZ. I am 29 years old and I love my Falcons. I was born in Chicago, IL and grew up in Denver and Los Angeles. I wasn’t a fan of any specific team growing up as a child. I watched football and , like most kids I just looked at the colors and helmets to decide who I liked.

1991, I watched a guy play who changed my life and gave me a love for the Falcons that has never stopped. Deion Sanders was amazing, simply the best player I had ever personally watched. He played so much better than the rest of the other guys on the field and he showed such flash and ability that he instantly became my favorite. Number 21 became my player and cornerback became my position.  As I grew older I continued watching football, finding nuances in the game that just amazed me, players that excited me and plays that just boggled my young mind. Watching how the defense reacted to the audibles and motions of the offense, the way the offense read and adjusted their actions to the defense. It was awesome!

In Denver everyone is a Broncos fan. Nothing against them but I couldn’t stand the sight of those garish colors. Bright orange and that blue. They looked like redneck hunters with helmets to me. I would watch the Broncos play every chance I had and went to my first game against the Bears at Mile High Stadium. It was special because for the first time I really understood why I liked football. I loved watching these guys running plays watching the battle at the line of scrimmage and I loved watching the DB’s running all over the field making plays.

In ‘94 I moved to LA and at that point the Rams were gone and the Raiders were on their way out of town. I didn’t care because I had never done time in prison or liked teams named after stupid animals in bright blue and yellow jerseys that, to me looked like clown suits. No, I was a Falcons fan. Black and Red. They looked tough and they looked dangerous. That ominous black bird of prey on their helmet it reminded me of death personified. The birds are coming folks, hit the deck!

The Bird Speaks!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s obvious that Ryan is our quarterback of the future, but the franchise is currently in a rebuilding stage as a result of the Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino fiasco, as well as cleaning house in free agency. That means it may be some time until Matty Ice is reasy to start, despite the awesome nickname. He may even be ready, but the rest of our team simply is not, the offensive line is undeveloped, there’s a few questions at receiver, and who knows how that defense will stack up.

Mike Smith has this to say about his new quarterback’s first practice, “I thought Matt threw the ball well out there,” Smith said. ” Like anybody competing in their first practice, I think he was a little nervous out there. The command of the huddle was good and I don’t think there were any bad snaps involving Matt. It’s going to be a process for him and he’ll go through it like anyone else. Sam Baker is going through the same thing as well as Curtis Lofton and Harry Douglass. All of our draft picks are going through the same thing. That first day is something they’ll always remember.” From the sound of things Smith may be suggesting that Ryan will be the starter on day one, a mistake I hope not to see.

It’s even more dissapointing when you realize that the reason your star draft pick couldn’t get his number is because another former round one draft choice that has struggled to produce already wears it, that player of course being Mr. Michael Jenkins.

None the less Matt Ryan and all the other rookies picked up their pro-numbers late last week. Here’s a list of who to watch next season, and make sure your on the look out for number two…

Matt Ryan QB #2

Sam Baker OT #72

Curtis Lofton MLB #50

Chevis Jackson CB #29

Kroy Bierman LB #71

Thomas Decoud FS #28

Harry Douglass WR #83

Wilfrey Fontenot CB #37

Keith Zinger TE #82

Caldwell has been around the league for over ten years, starting out as a Scouting Assistant with the Carolina Panthers in 1996. He then moved on to become an Area scout for the Indianapolis Colts, before getting promoted to Western Regional Scout.

Thomas Dimitroff had this to say on the new hire, “I’m very pleased to add David Caldwell to our organization.” “He comes to us from a highly respected and very successful team. He is well respected around the NFL and will be a great asset to the scouting department.”