As of July 30th, here are the National League power rankings. As sellers Atlanta and Cincinnati have dropped a bit, and some strong play out west has seen stock rise for those clubs. The top and the bottom remain the same since the mid-season NL power rankings were released.
NCAA rules require student-athletes sit out one year when transferring, but the NCAA can grant a waiver when the student-athlete enrolls at an institution in a graduate program which is not offered by his previous school. Dieng, who received his undergraduate degree from St. Francis in the spring in Political Science and International Studies and will begin his graduate studies at Tech in the fall semester.
Dieng (pronounced BASS-uh-roo dee-ENG), who is 6-9 and 215 pounds, has one year of eligibility at Tech. In two years at St. Francis, he averaged 8.5 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game and shot 46.2 percent from the floor. Dieng also played one year at Norfolk State (2004-05) before moving to St. Francis, where he sat out the 2005-06 season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules.
Erik Coleman is doing just fine in his new role as the starting free safety for the Atlanta Falcons. The fifth year player out of Washington State has come up with a number of key plays in the first six days of training camp and is making the offense work for everything they get through the air.
The free agent addition has a spot on the first team defense opposite Pro Bowler Lawyer Milloy and has made several quality plays against most of the team’s wide receivers and quarterbacks.
Wednesday he got another interception in the middle of the field.
He looks like he’s having fun because, well…
‘I’m excited,” he said. “You come out to practice every day in this heat and everybody is working. No one is complaining. We’re out here working as hard as we can to get better as a team.”
Playing next to Milloy only strengthen’s Coleman’s position.
“Lawyer is a great player,” the safety said. “He’s very aggressive and has played a lot of good years in this league. Right now I’m picking his brain trying to get myself better in the game. He does it right every time.”
So far Coleman has guessed right on multiple occasions. Of course it’s training camp and the Falcons offense has to work through the hiccups, but Coleman’s making it tough for the team to work through the air.
Today, at Atlanta Falcons training camp, was the day to shoot player intro’s. Thanks to Falcon_Al for his commentary and for shooting this video.
Walking through the doors into the barn the first thing that caught my eye was the colossal blue screen and light set up. There were no less than eight of the biggest lights I’ve seen pointed at a blue screen that had to be about fifty feet long…quite impressive. After noticing the blue screen I started looking around for the camera. After a quick scan of the room I was quite surprised at what I found. Given the setup, I fully expected to see a $50,000 VariCam , but this was not Artistic Image’s camera of choice. They were using a “little” HVX200 camera. This really goes to show how far technology has come.
Georgia Tech started the Paul Johnson era on Wednesday as they began football practice. As you all know by now, Johnson was previously the Navy head coach (yes I know he was at Georgia Southern, too… but most recently he was at Navy).
Anyway all the talk is that he is going to change the offense dramatically. Well, this is how the Yellow Jacket offense has been split up the last 2 seasons compared to how the Midshipmen divided their offense.
Georgia Tech
2007: 548 running plays (60.2%) 363 passing plays (39.8%)
2006: 526 running plays (58.8%) 369 passing plays (41.2%)
Navy
2007: 804 running plays (85.5%) 136 passing plays (14.5%)
2006: 764 running plays (87.2%) 112 passing plays (12.8%)
Tim Hudson and John Smoltz both made visits to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. on Wednesday, and the news wasn’t good for Hudson. Just like two previous doctors, Dr. Andrews advised Hudson to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right ulnar collateral ligament. However, unlike the previous two doctors, Dr. Andrews told Hudson, who is not in any day-to-day discomfort, to wait a week to see if it improves.
Hudson underwent an MRI on Monday, after leaving last Wednesday’s game with the Marlins early with elbow discomfort. The MRI revealed a partial tear of the ligament, a revelation that surprised Hudson, who reportedly was in no pain at the time of the MRI. Hudson is 11-7 this season, with at 3.17 ERA. Should Hudson opt for surgery, the likely recovery time is 12 months, which would bring him back to the Braves roughly halfway into the final year of his contract with the Braves.
Barrett Sallee has worked professionally in the Atlanta sports market in various aspects for over 7 years. He can be reached at barrettsallee@hotmail.com
Randolph Morris is coming back to Atlanta. The former Landmark Christian superstar signed a 2-year contract to play for the Atlanta Hawks.
The 6′11″ power forward/center has played part of 2 NBA seasons with the New York Knicks and has played in 23 games including 2 starts. The former Kentucky Wildcat scored 2.6 points per game and 2.0 rebounds per game last season.
The Braves acquired Casey Kotchman yesterday in the trade sending Mark Teixeira to the Angels. Kotchman is a very good fielder with solid offensive numbers. The one thing that Kotchman doesn’t have a lot of is strikeouts… which is good. In fact he is one of the hardest players in baseball to strike out.
Fewest strikeouts this season with players who have played 100 or more games
The Atlanta Braves have officially become sellers, trading 1B Mark Teixeira to the Anaheim Angels for 1B Casey Kotchman and minor-league pitcher Stephen Marek. Teixeira was hitting .283, with 20 HR and 78 RBI with the Braves this season.
Kotchman was enjoying a break-out season this year for the Angels, hitting .287 with 12 HR and 54 RBI, in just his second full season. In his five major-league seasons, Kotchman is hitting .274 with 31 HR and 165 RBI.
Marek has spent his entire season with the Arkansas Travelers (AA), sporting a 2-6 record, 3.66 ERA and 57 SO in just 46.2 IP.
The trade is the culmination of what is a dreadful season for the Braves. Key players John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Mike Hampton, Tim Hudson, Mark Kotsay, Matt Diaz, and Rafael Soriano have all missed, or will miss, significant time; Jeff Francoeur is enduring his worst season as a pro, and the Braves haven’t been able to win a one-run road game this season. It’s the first time since 1990 that the Braves are officially
sellers.
Barrett Sallee has worked professionally in the Atlanta sports market in various aspects for over 7 years. He can be reached at barrettsallee@hotmail.com
Aaron Hanks 
Dom Webber 
Bart Stevens 
Dave McMahon 
Tim Hudson and John Smoltz both made visits to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. on Wednesday, and the news wasn’t good for Hudson. Just like two previous doctors, Dr. Andrews advised Hudson to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right ulnar collateral ligament. However, unlike the previous two doctors, Dr. Andrews told Hudson, who is not in any day-to-day discomfort, to wait a week to see if it improves.
Barrett Sallee has worked professionally in the Atlanta sports market in various aspects for over 7 years. He can be reached at 
The Atlanta Braves have officially become sellers, trading 1B Mark Teixeira to the Anaheim Angels for 1B Casey Kotchman and minor-league pitcher Stephen Marek. Teixeira was hitting .283, with 20 HR and 78 RBI with the Braves this season.
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