Zinzan

Watch Michigan lose, and then Bama gets to destroy ND again in the semifinals.

Yes, Tank was trying to get the first down. I can understand that, but no, I'm not going to go as far as thanking him for fighting until he was thrown out of bounds. It was still a mistake. Battle knew in the moment that his primary goal was to get Tank out of bounds, even if he sacrificed making the tackle in the attempt. That was the right play. Tank's primary goal should have been to get the first down, if possible, without going out of bounds. This should have been drilled into him from the sidelines and from the QB. There absolutely were other plays in the game that cost us first downs or stopped the clock, so I agree that losing the game wasn't Tank's fault. Bama still had to drive 97 against our defense in the final 1:20. 40 less seconds would have made it more difficult, but they would have called different plays, so we can't say we win because they scored with only 24 seconds on the clock. Gary Danielson went overboard in his blaming Tank for that play, and some of our fans have done the same, but that does not discount that it was a mistake--he should have went down.

I freaking hate targeting as it's handled. The intent is good, but when you penalize guys on a play like this, where there was no unnecessary roughness, nor reckless endangerment, no defenseless player, no crown of the head contact, nor lowering of the head to endanger the defensive players neck... and not just penalty yards, but the kid isn't allowed to play for half of the next conference game? Man, it makes my blood boil. Similarly, earlier this year we lost two kids who were just trying to keep the opposing ball carrier from scoring. They were actively reaching/crawling towards the end zone.

Well, I think you bring up a lot of good points, and for many of those reasons, the Braves moved the stadium out of Atlanta, where they got a lot of empty promises from the city for decades. Seemed promising after the Olympics, that the area around the stadium would be developed, but it never happened. I live in Smyrna (Cobb County), and was actually pretty skeptical about the move. Traffic would be terrible, construction would be terrible, etc. It's actually really great. Traffic in the area is actually pretty okay before, during, and after games. And the businesses brought into the battery are nice--nice restaurants, good entertainment, etc. I actually did like a lot of things about the old stadium--the sight lines were all pretty good (there are some slightly obstructed views at Truist), and I loved seeing the City skyline when sitting in the nosebleeds above homeplate. And you didn't have to take the shuttle from Underground Atlanta--you could walk. But I find myself going to more games at Truist than I did in Atlanta. There's some truth to that, but again, that was when they were in Atlanta, and when the fans did get spoiled AND heartbroken (many division titles, only one championship). I was working in San Francisco and came back for playoff games each year, and was struck by the smaller crowds in the late 90's and early 2000's. The crowds have been better in SunTrust/Truist, both in the regular season and the playoffs. Their home attendance has been in the top half of the league since 2017 (#2 this year, despite being below .500 for most of the season). Anyways, I love the Braves, and this year's storybook run. It was really awesome, and already looking forward to 2022.

Let Shivers and Jackson stretch their legs against Georgia State this Saturday. Give Bigsby and Hunter a light day. Have everybody ready to go in October.

AFR used to be much see TV for me when the coach used to actually talk interactively with each highlight (and lowlight). I hate these episodes where the coach puts in a 15 minute effort, and don’t show mistakes or speak critically about themselves.