Michael A. Lough: Let's spend a week or so catching up on loads of Loughdmouthings, like Wimbledon and the World Cup, low standards, Falcons hire, Acuna, and overrated
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Yessir, it’s been awhile since you sat down and read assorted observations and enlightening and sarcasm and impatience with this face attached.
Sorry for the absence.
Sorry for the return.
So, let’s catch up, on all sorts of things, from months ago – we’ll stay (mostly) within the last 12 months.
There’s just always so much to address, to go with producing Central Georgia’s most comprehensive, consistent, relevant, and clickbait-free coverage every single day, and other tasks.
Thus, let today begin a catching up period of a few weeks with five items per column. No more delaying or re-organizing – some of us get buried in stalking the organizing process – or whatevering.
Be ready. There’s some stuff with mileage on it, but still relevant. Let the catching up begin.
👉🏼 Wimbledon and the World Cup at the same time are no doubt reducing productivity throughout the nation as well as inspiring sudding shrieks and other noises in offices.
The bandwagon-jumping and accompanying “media” hyperbole with soccer gets annoying. Conversely, the joy from the fans who are real soccer fans and who do not ham it up for the camera – i.e. most countries not named “America” – is often entertaining.
Wimbledon ends on July 12, the World Cup a week later on July 19.
A depression period shall follow immediately.
Tell us that you’re against integrity, substance, honesty, examples for high schoolers, and what sports used to be about and that you’re for just winning at all costs, forget the lessons without telling us.
“Hey, man, maybe we could get Rush Propst to come coach us.”
The standards from sea to shining sea vaporize some every day while hypocrisy smothers.
👉🏼 The Kevin Stefanski hire was fine. A good hire. Solid.
Ignore the national stuff and rankings and all this knee-jerk broadcast bozo stuff.
He was stuck in a more wretched and horribly run situation than Atlanta, and by a chunk. The two worst contract moves in sports history: extending and raising Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M and paying quitter – remember, he quit on Houston – Deshaun Watson a fraudulent amount of money.
Jimmy Haslem makes Artie Blank look OK.
As important is that Stefanski compiled a nice staff. And hey, Atlanta hired a good-at-this-point general manager, though Dean Fontenot caught more grief than he deserved.
Matt Ryan as president is good. Rich McKay allegedly being out of the decision-making picture is even better.
The roster is in place. Again. Coaching and leadership and consistency are next.
The Falcons will be slobbering before preseason camp gets here.
👉🏼 Not a fan of Bill Belichick.
Nooo, it’s not jealousy that somebody fairly older than me has a girlfriend who’s much, much, much younger.
Very glad Atlanta wisely passed on him, even if it wasn’t out of the common-sense realism that the Belichick of 2024 bore no resemblance to the winning Belichick of 2014.
But that Hall of Fame “controversy”? Hmmm.
That he has a large and active jerk gene around most humans? That he was pretty much a jerk with the media for years?
True, but at least 10 people left him off the ballot. Were they all pouting that their tushes weren’t kissed? Or did the shadiness of New England with him in charge inspire it?
If we find out who didn’t vote for him, book it that the vast majority make their livings at a microphone every day, a gig where objectivity and professionalism tend to be utilized on convenience and agenda.
Just listen.
My vote – if it existed – wouldn’t be based on Belichick’s personality, and general lack thereof. Even with the assorted cheating issues – the dude clearly has a big insecurity situation going – New England won plenty under normal circumstances.
There is a bit of an argument to be made to “boycott” him the first year. But I’d rather he get in and hear the boos in Canton during his monotone monologue of four minutes in his acceptance chat.
I’d much rather have seen Pete Rose get in the baseball hall awhile ago. I lose not a wink of sleep on Belichick waiting a year to then be almost unanimous.
👉🏼 A week after he gets on a hot streak, Atlanta needs to trade Ronald Acuna while it can get something of him.
Folks were smoking some good stuff early on, a batch of Wishful Thinkin’ Weed perhaps.
Some of us tired early of the premature slobbering of Acuna’s start, his stats being verbally enhanced to appear more impressive than they were.
He’s been average in the postseason, and wasn’t part of the Braves’ World Series run. If that wasn’t something of a sign …
This is his ninth year. He’s played in 100 or more games four times, and is unlikely to make it a fifth this year. Only twice has he hit more than 30 homers, only twice has he stolen more than 30 bases.
The big tease was 2023, when he led the NL in at-bats, runs, hits, steals, OBP, among other stats, leading the majors in six notable stats.
After that 41-homer/73-steal year, he has 32 bombs and 40 steals.
And he’s now sniffing 30.
He brought joy to Atlanta, but not the value expected. And when that happens, it’s time to think about things.
Finally
“The Jacksonville Jaguars are auctioning off the wig Trevor Lawrence wore during their schedule release video that fooled many fans into thinking he was actually cutting his famous long, blond hair. The wig is the biggest joke the franchise has played on its fans since the hiring of Urban Meyer.”
Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel