My problem with sports talk radio

When I was in college I took a course in sports writing and one of the first lines I remember said that a sports writer starts as a fan.

 I have been a fan for over 30 years and have rooted primarily for the Atlanta Braves, Falcons and Hawks as well as the Georgia Bulldogs during that time.

During this time of my life I have found that rooting for teams in Atlanta can be a considered a challenge and at times has caused me to remember the old slogan used by the Navy in their recruiting ads "it's not a job, it's an adventure".

For example, the Hawks have made the NBA playoffs five years in a row but if they have one bad game it is a good bet that one of the two sports radio stations and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will spew venom that might be used to discuss politics or other issues.

This has been something that has had an effect on my being a sports fan.

During most of the recently concluded season, the morning hosts at 790 the Zone heavily criticized leading scorer Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Jeff Teague, head coach Larry Drew, the Atlanta Spirit which owns the team and anybody else who played the sport of basketball.

They had theories of dismantling the team completely, moving the club to somewhere else or the contraction of the club completely.

In other words, they weren't the most complimentary gentlemen.

Here we are in the month of July and once again, the radio guys are off and running as the Braves have been up and down this season and have incurred their wrath.

They have decided to fire manager Fredi Gonzalez, general manager Frank Wren and team president Terry McGuirk as well as implore Liberty Media to sell the team to anybody.

While it is fine to have an opinion (everybody has one), there comes a point where they need to turn it down a notch or two.

I get mad at the Braves but I have tried to realize that it isn’t the end of the world if they lose a game and/or fail to make the playoffs.

In other words, there are other things to worry about and these guys need to keep it a little more positive at times but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Boy does my role in sports as a fan become a challenge.

What did I miss?

I may have stumbled onto a thought without trying to accomplish the feat.

That thought was to wait until today to write the weekly blog that is designed to give me some practice and help regain the confidence I once had..

Anyway, here is what I missed.

This week the Atlanta Hawks traded guard Joe Johnson to the Brooklyn Nets for a number of bodies and was able to move $20 million off of their salary books, Chipper Jones was named to the National League All-Star team replacing Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp who is nursing a hamstring, Steve Nash became a Los Angeles Laker and Serena Williams advanced to the ladies final at Wimbledon.

While these items were happening the world lost a television legend as Andy Griffith passed away at his home in North Carolina and one time Oakland Raider Ben Davidson also left our earth.

The loss of Griffith didn’t have an effect on the world of sports unless you watched a lot of Braves’ games on TBS over the years as his program was the rain delay show. Why have a baseball program during the delay when the Superstation had every episode of Andy, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bea at their disposal to air to the masses.

Whenever a game was broadcast and rain was getting in the way, it was a good bet that the late Skip Caray would tell the TBS personnel in Atlanta to get the program ready because the tarp was going to be placed on the field.

As for Davidson, he was the poster boy for the Raider way. He was tough, crazy and did his job on the field. Davidson maintained that persona after his playing days were over as he was a character actor for many years and was cast as a tough guy not only in dramas but comedic settings as well. He wasn’t as known as Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus in the footballer-turned-actor world, but he was fun to watch in a movie.

Despite the deaths of these two men, the world continued to move on its merry little way.

Word of the trade of Johnson to Brooklyn almost led to a parade for new Hawks general manager Danny Ferry as the move allowed the Hawks to rebuild without total disintegration of the roster and only gain a 15-win season in 2013.

I hated to see Johnson go but the time came and hopefully the trade of a quality player will yield better results than the past when Danny Manning became a rental and J.R. Rider became a cancerous growth.

As for the naming of Jones to the all-star team, it is a good way to send this man out in his final season and he has earned it with a .312 average.

However, the naming created a clusterflub (I have three other letters for the end of this word but I need to keep the blog clean) as teammate Michael Bourn was on the final vote deal with Jones.

Had Jones been named before the final vote was setup, maybe Bourn gets in ahead of Cardinals third baseman David Freese.

This is something we will never know and will be forgotten in the annals of baseball.

Meanwhile, Williams advanced to her seventh Wimbledon final Thursday after she defeated No. 2 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-6.

She will face Agnieska Radwanska in the final.

While this will not be the last Wimbledon for Williams, eventually she will turn in her sneakers and move on to the next step of her life.

However, she looks like she can still play and the tennis world can be pleased.

Ahh! Now I can rest since I have caught up and can get ready for more stuff to happen without missing anything.