Score Atlanta Vol. 10 Issue 2

Time to look great!

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 2 DIGITAL

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JANUARY 17-23, 2014

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YOUR SOURCE FOR SPORTS IN GEORGIA

Upset City | Pg. 8 Dawgs beat Missouri to end long home-court winning streak.

Linemen Hunting | Pg. 9 Falcons look to the trenches for upcoming draft.

COOPERSTOWN CRONIES Three former Braves will be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame together. | Pg. 4

LAST YEAR SHE HAD THE WINNING

COMEBACK STORY. WHO WILL IT BE THIS YEAR? Know a young athlete who overcame a serious injury or illness? Nominate them for Comeback Athlete of the Month at choa.org/comeback. ©2013 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc. All rights reserved.

For official contest rules, visit choa.org/comeback.

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Vol. 10 Iss. 2 | January 17-23, 2014

STARTING LINEUP PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg

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ON THE COVER

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RANKINGS

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ATLANTA FALCONS

ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati Blalock SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR Stephen Black

BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

DIRECTOR OF SALES Melanie Snare & MARKETING

BEAT WRITERS Ricky Dimon (Braves)

Joe Deighton (Gladiators) Jay Underwood (Hawks) Brian Jones (KSU) Chris Nieman (UGA) Craig Sager II (Falcons) Stephen Black (Tech) Chris Schutter (GSU)

STAFF WRITERS Ryan Caiafa Alex Ewalt

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GEORGIA STATE | KENNESAW STATE GEORGIA | GEORGIA TECH BRAVES | FALCONS HAWKS | GLADIATORS

COVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF SONNY KENENDY, THE ATLANTA FALCONS AND POUYA DIANAT/ATLANTA BRAVES

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SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com Maddux on the roster.

Glavine earned National League Cy Young honors twice (1991, 1998) and was MVP of the 1995 World Series, in which Atlanta toppled Cleveland in six games. In Game 6 at Fulton County Stadium, the southpaw fired eight shutout innings of one-hit ball before Mark Wohlers got the save in a 1-0 victory. Glavine completed his 22-year career, 16 seasons of which were spent in this city, with a 305-203 record and a 3.54 ERA. Maddux bagged four straight National League Cy Young Awards from 1992 to 1995, the last three of which came as a Brave. He won 355 games while losing 227 and he pitched his way to a minuscule 3.16 ERA. The right-hander won at least 16 games in a season on 14 occasions and, an unbelievable nine times, he recorded an ERA below 3.00—including twice south of the 2.00 border.

ON THE COVER

HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS

HALL CALLS GLAVINE AND MADDUX TO JOIN COX

BY RICKY DIMON

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rom July 25 to July 28, Cooperstown will be Braves country. Five of the six inductees into the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame class have ties to the franchise (thanks a lot for crashing the party, Frank Thomas!). Three are undisputed Atlanta Braves legends.

Cox, who managed in Atlanta for 25 seasons, rocked last month’s vote of the Veterans Committee along with Joe Torre and Tony La Russa. Torre spent three years managing the Braves (1982-84) and La Russa actually played for Atlanta in 1971 (he appeared in nine games and went 2-for-7 at the plate with a walk, a strikeout and one run scored).

But enough of that nonsense. The dynamic duo with which Cox really wanted to enter the Hall officially joined him on Wednesday, when Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux were voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The two longtime Braves’ pitchers made a mockery of the necessary 429 re-

quired votes out of a possible 571 (75 percent), as Glavine snagged 525 (91.9 percent) and Maddux appeared on 555 of the ballots for the eighth-highest percentage in the history of Hall of Fame voting (97.2).

DECADE OF DOMINANCE …

“It means an awful lot,” Glavine told the Atlanta Journal Constitution on election day.

“As this day came up and there was speculation whether you were going in or not, what really would have been disappointing was not to have the opportunity to go in with Bobby and Greg. If anything would have killed me about not getting that phone call, that would have been it.”

Together they made the Braves one of the most dominant franchises in sports and together they will go to Cooperstown. All 14 division titles in Atlanta’s record-setting streak from 1991 through 2005 came with Cox at the helm and 11 of the 14 featured both Glavine and

MICHAELANGELOS ON THE MOUND …

Glavine and Maddux did not overpower hitters like Randy Johnson, whose four Cy Young Awards between 1999 and 2002 remain tied with Maddux for the most in succession.

Both men reached the 90s in MPHs only if they unleashed their best fastballs. Instead, they won with the precision of artists and mental strength of chess champions. Glavine may not have a patent on working the outside corner of home plate, but perhaps he deserves one.

“From my standpoint, you knew you had 18 inches (of the plate) to work with,” he explained to atlantabraves.com. “You just had to figure out where those 18 inches were. Six inches off the plate? You’d take it if you can get it. That was certainly my philosophy, part of the cat-and-mouse game.”

Despite similar physical limitations (relatively speaking, of course), Maddux managed to befuddle batters with dizzying changes in speed and location. If Maddux looked like a scholar with his occasional glasses, he was.

From the mound he did not necessarily outthink his adversaries at the plate; he was just smarter than them. Braves’ pitcher-turnedbroadcaster Don Sutton earlier this week referred to Maddux as “the smartest pitcher

I was ever around, and this is coming up 50 years in the big leagues.” Glavine added that by playing alongside Maddux, he could “learn from osmosis. You can’t help but to pick something up when you’re around a guy like Greg Maddux.”

Perhaps that partnership went both ways, as Maddux expanded on what Glavine said about the strike zone. “If an umpire was giving the same two or three inches off the plate away, it was pretty consistent he’d give it to both guys,” he commented. “I think the difference was Glav would throw 20 pitches there and the other pitchers would throw two or three. So everyone was going, ‘He’s getting more pitches.’ No, he was making the pitches.

That’s the established strike zone for that day.

The pitcher who takes advantage of it is probably going to win.”

Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone was part of Atlanta’s organization from 1979 through 2005. That gave him 16 years with Glavine and 11 with Maddux. “Glavine was the most strong-minded individual that I’ve ever coached,” Mazzone the AJC. “And Maddux had the greatest control of anyone I ever coached.”

WHO’S NEXT? …

“It’s truly an honor and a privilege to be inducted to the Hall of Fame,” Maddux assured.

“It’s exciting for me to go in with my teammate as well as Frank Thomas. I’m just looking forward to the experience down the road…. It’s almost a fairytale ending. The only thing that screwed it up was Smoltzie (John Smoltz) waited and played one more year.”

Smoltz, who retired in 2009, will be up for election next year. He is the only player in Major League Baseball history to record at least 200 wins and 150 saves. Nobody other than Smoltz and Dennis Eckersley has produced both 20-win and 50-save seasons. A Cy Young winner in 1996, Smoltz posted career marks of 213 wins, 154 saves and a 3.33 ERA.

It’s safe to say a fourth is on the way, but for now three’s a crowd.

Photos courtesy of Pouya DIanat.

Vol. 10 Iss. 2 | January 17-23, 2014

Score Atlanta/AJC Basketball Rankings AAAAAA Boys

1.........................Westlake 2.......................... Wheeler 3.......................Tift County 4.............................Walton 5.........................Norcross 6............... North Gwinnett 7.......................... Marietta 8.............. Douglas County 9.......................... Grayson 10....................... Hillgrove

AAAAA Boys

1.........................Allatoona 2.............................Tucker 3....................Miller Grove 4...........................Jenkins 5.........................M.L. King 6...........Effingham County 7.................... Stephenson 8................ Clarke Central 9..................... Sprayberry 10............................. Mays

AAAA Boys

1........................ Columbia 2...................Sandy Creek 3................Fayette County 4..................South Atlanta 5.......................Jonesboro 6..............Eagle’s Landing 7.........................Westover 8....................... Alexander 9...................... Statesboro 10......................... Rutland

AAA Boys

1........................Savannah 2........................ St. Pius X 3.....................Cartersville 4........ Washington County 5....................Cedar Grove 6...... Johnson (Savannah) 7..................Elbert County 8......Woodward Academy 9...............Morgan County 10...........................Buford

AA Boys

1................................. GAC 2.............................Vidalia 3..............................Model 4..............................Laney 5.................... Manchester 6........................ Jefferson 7...........................Calhoun 8........... Hapeville Charter 9................... Westminster 10..........Northeast Macon

A Boys

1......North Cobb Christian 2.......Whitefield Academy 3...................... St. Francis 4....... Landmark Christian 5.....Greenforest Christian 6.............. Holy Innocents’ 7...........................Aquinas 8............ Seminole County 9.............Athens Christian 10.......Mt. Vernon Presby.

AAAAAA Girls

1..................... McEachern 2.............................Archer 3.........................Parkview 4.........................Norcross 5.............. Douglas County 6................Mountain View 7..................North Forsyth 8......................... Hillgrove 9.........................Westlake 10......... Langston Hughes

AAAAA Girls

1..........Southwest DeKalb 2.............................Tucker 3..............................Salem 4...........Effingham County 5.................... Stephenson 6.....................Forest Park 7............................... Drew 8......................Gainesville 9..............................Hiram 10......................Sequoyah

AAAA Girls

1..............................Redan 2....................Cross Creek 3........................ Columbia 4....................... Columbus 5.................Mary Persons 6..............................Marist 7................Fayette County 8........................Chestatee 9........................Carrollton 10............ Monroe-Albany

AAA Girls

1........ Washington County 2.............................Buford 3........................ St. Pius X 4...............Morgan County 5..............................Beach 6..................North Oconee 7...............Dawson County 8..........Southwest, Macon 9................. Dodge County 10..............Tattnall County

AA Girls

1.........................Kendrick 2........................ Wesleyan 3..............................Laney 4..................Taylor County 5................................. GAC 6............................Pelham 7........................ Pepperell 8...........................Calhoun 9..............Bleckley County 10.............Putnam County

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Score Atlanta Wrestling Rankings

Class AAAAAA 1............................... Archer 2.........................Collins Hill 3................ Camden County 4.............................. Etowah 5............................. Roswell

Class AAAAA

6..................North Gwinnett 7..................Chattahoochee 8.............................Grayson 9...........................Parkview 10..................North Forsyth

Class AAAA

1.................................. Pope 2..................... Ware County 3........................Whitewater 4.....................................Ola 5.........................Creekview

6.....Woodland-Cartersville 7............. Effingham County 8................... Richmond Hill 9...........................Allatoona 10................Warner Robins

Class AA

1............................... Gilmer 2..........................Alexander 3...............South Effingham 4................................Marist 5..................Fayette County

6....................West Laurens 7.....................Locust Grove 8............. Heritage-Catoosa 9..........................Carrollton 10........ Southeast Whitfield

Class AAA

1...........................Jefferson 2............................. Bremen 3................. Toombs County 4......................Social Circle 5................................ Lovett

6.............................Spencer 7..........................Fitzgerald 8.....................East Laurens 9....................................GAC 10....................... Monticello

Class A

1....................Banks County 2........ Woodward Academy 3............................... Buford 4..................Oconee County 5................. Morgan County

6........................Sonoraville 7.......................... Rockmart 8................ Jackson County 9...............................McNair 10.................. Elbert County

1....................... Gordon Lee 2........................ Commerce 3................ Mt. Zion-Carroll 4.........Eagle’s Landing Chr. 5............... Athens Christian

6...... Strong Rock Christian 7............................. Treutlen 8................... Turner County 9.................Holy Innocents’ 10......George Walton Acad.

A Girls

1.............. Holy Innocents’ 2...................... St. Francis 3...... SW Atlanta Christian 4......George Walton Acad.

5............... Randolph-Clay 6.....................Gordon Lee 7............................Paideia 8.......................Darlington 9.......Eagle’s Landing Chr. 10..........................Claxton

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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

DAWGS OVERCOME ODDS AGAINST MIZZOU

BY CHRIS NIEMAN | CNIEMAN@SCOREATL.COM

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he basketball team (7-6, 1-0) hit more than two birds with one stone on Wednesday.

In its first SEC game of the season, the Dawgs traveled to Missouri with heavy hearts due to the loss of head coach Mark Fox’s father (Raymond Fox), who passed away from lung disease five days prior to the contest. Not only did the Dawgs upset the No. 21 Tigers, who were favored by double-digits and sported a 26-game home winning streak—the longest active winning streak in the country that dated back to Feb. 21, 2012, the Dawgs also won their first road game of the season. The 70-64 victory was Georgia’s first against Missouri.

As the clocked ticked down, Fox began to cry. It was an overwhelming moment for the Dawgs’ coach.

“I’m really proud of our team. I’ve been critical of the defense, their rebounding, and their toughness and tonight those three things won it for us,” said Fox. “I wasn’t there yesterday but our staff did a great job preparing our

GEORGIA STATE

HOOPS TEAM TAKES BIG STEP IN SUN BELT

BY JAY UNDERWOOD | JUNDERWOOD@SCOREATL.COM

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n Thursday, Georgia State beat its main competition for the league title 77-54.

Coming into their matchup with Western Kentucky as underdogs, the Panthers extended their half-time lead by dominating the early stages of the second half and going on a 15-0 run to start the frame. This game proves that Georgia State is the team to beat in the Sun Belt and everyone will be gunning it for the rest of the season.

PANTHERS PROGRESSING ...

The team appears to be finally coming together the way coach Ron Hunter would like. With guards Ryan Harrow and R.J. Hunter struggling, the rest of the starters stepped up and provided the full team performance that Hunter has been looking for all year. Hunter went 3-for-9 shooting with 12 points while Harrow overcame an 0-for-7 first half to finish with 11 points on 5-for-14 shooting. All the

team. We had the right mentality when we came to the game tonight. I thought we were very attached mentally to our game plan and had very few mistakes. We gathered ourselves and Nemi (Djurisic) recomposed himself and we finished the game really well.”

Sophomore guard Charles Mann, who made the SEC All-Freshman team in 2013, played a team-high 42 minutes and knocked down seven of 14 shots for 18 points to go along with six boards. Mann also nailed the goahead bucket with 35.8 seconds remaining in overtime.

LAKATOS INTOLERANCE ...

Secondary coach Scott Lakatos (20102013) resigned on Thursday due to personal reasons, according to head coach Mark Richt.

The Dawgs’ secondary had regressed the past two seasons, especially in 2013, when the secondary finished 60th in the country and sixth in the SEC.

“We are very appreciative of Scott’s contributions to our program over the last four years and I have a great amount of respect for him as a coach and as a person,” Richt said.

“We wish him and his family nothing but the best.”

Some may wonder if this will hinder Georgia’s recruitment considering National Signing day is less than a month away (Feb. 5).

starters finished in double-digits in the scoring column, led by Manny Atkins with 18 and Curtis Washington with 16.

The Panthers, who are usually accurate beyond the arc (38.2 percent for the season), were only able to connect on three threepointers for a meager 18.8 percent against Western Kentucky. They made up for it by going perfect from the charity stripe, converting all 22 of their opportunities. This was made possible by attacking the basket and getting to the rim, shooting 60.5 percent from inside the arc. The Panthers were also able to ramp up their defensive effort, holding the Hilltoppers to 28.6 percent shooting while forcing 16 turnovers. This allowed for the Panthers to get out in transition and find open shots close to the basket.

One issue that the Panthers are still having is breaking the full-court press after the opponent makes a basket. For a team that has three guards able to handle the ball, this should not be an issue, so Hunter will likely focus on this in upcoming practices. They will also need to work on their switches on defense. On numerous occasions both defenders would follow the same guy on ball screens leaving the other man open for a shot. Luckily for them, the Hilltoppers were unable to capitalize. This will need to improve as the season moves along or other teams will look to exploit it later in conference play.

GEORGIA TECH

JACKETS HOST IRISH TO BEGIN THREE-GAME HOMESTAND

BY STEPHEN BLACK | SBLACK@SCOREATL.COM

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he basketball team will host Notre Dame tomorrow in the first meeting between the schools with the Irish competing as members of the ACC. It will be the first time Tech and Notre Dame have played since 2007, a 70-69 win by the Jackets.

Tech (9-6, 0-2) comes into the game having won four straight against the Irish and leads the series 6-2. Notre Dame, after upsetting Duke in its first-ever ACC basketball game, fell to N.C. State just three days later to even its conference record at 1-1. The Fighting Irish are 10-5 overall.

In the loss to the Wolfpack, Notre Dame shot 40.9 percent from the field and made just seven of 24 three-point attempts. In the win over the No. 7 Blue Devils, Notre Dame shot 52.6 percent from the field and made six of 12 three-pointers.

Jerian Grant, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, leads the Irish in averaging 19 points per game and 6.2 assists per game while Garrick Sher-

KENNESAW STATE

OWLS FACE RIVAL BEARS; BASEBALL RECEIVES HONOR

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

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fter getting a big win against USC Upstate, the men’s basketball team will face arch-rival Mercer Friday night. The game will be televised on CSS and will be played at the University Center.

The Bears, who were selected to finish first in the conference before the season began, have a 12-5 overall record. They are led

by Langston Hall, who leads the conference in scoring with 235 points. The Bears lead the overall series against the Owls 7-1 and the last time the two teams got together last year, the Bears came out on top 66-42.

The Owls will look to get the upset win by playing lockdown defense and getting Delbert Love going offensively. The Owls have held opponents to 72 points per game, which ranks in the top five in the Atlantic Sun and Love is five three-pointers shy of tying the school record which is 158.

After the Owls face Mercer, they will have a few days off until they travel to Nashville on Thursday night to face Lipscomb.

man adds 14.9 points and leads the team with 8.3 rebounds. As a team, the Irish are ninth in the country in assists with 17.6 per game but are 133rd in rebounds with 36.7.

After hosting the Irish, Tech will also play home games against Pittsburgh (Jan. 14) and Miami (Jan. 18) in the next week. The Jackets will travel to South Bend on Feb. 26 to complete this season’s two-game series with Notre Dame.

NEWS AND NOTES ...

The women’s basketball team (11-4, 1-1) earned its first ACC win of the season with an 89-68 win at Clemson Wednesday. Freshman Kaela Davis, a Buford product, led the Lady Jackets with 26 points while Tyaunna Marshall added 25. Tech shot a remarkable 55 percent from the field. The Lady Jackets’ travel to Syracuse to face the Orange for the first time in ACC play Sunday.

The Tech women’s tennis team was ranked No. 20 in a preseason poll by the ITA. The season starts Jan. 18 with the Michigan Invitational. ... The men’s tennis team will open its season with matches against Georgia Southern and Stetson Saturday. ... The men’s golf program received a big signee in Chris Petefish, who is ranked as the No. 11 recruit in his class by Golfweek magazine.

BOYS OF SUMMER …

The baseball team was hard at work over the summer as the players took part in various summer leagues. And it paid off because the team won the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball’s Most Valuable Program.

The award is given to the team whose players performed at an elite level on and off the field during the summer.

“This is a huge honor that our players deserve,” Kennesaw State head coach Mike Sansing told ksuowls.com. “It shows that our guys performed on the field as well as got involved in the community. I’m proud of our team and the character they showed by representing themselves so highly away from KSU.”

The Owls were led by catcher Max Pentecost, who won the Perfect Game Summer Player of the Year award for hitting .347 with 29 RBIs and six home runs for the Bourne Braves.

He also won the Cape Cod League MVP award.

PRIORITY POINTS …

The KSU ticket office has an offer going on for the basketball games on Jan. 25 against Florida Gulf Coast and Feb. 7 against Mercer.

For every fan that buys a ticket, they will get one priority point that goes toward football season tickets.

“We are creating more ways for our fans to get involved,” director of ticket sales and operations Bobby Lindsey told ksuowls.com.

“And what better way to earn priority points than by supporting our Owls in their biggest games of the regular season.”

Vol. 10 Iss. 2 | January 17-23, 2014 ATLANTA HAWKS

HAWKS MAINTAIN THIRD SPOT, BUT HAVE NO ALL-STARS

BY JAY UNDERWOOD | JUNDERWOOD@SCOREATL.COM

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he Hawks remain one of the three teams over .500 in the Eastern Conference along with Miami and Indiana. While struggling the past week, they were able to pull off an upset of the Pacers Wednesday night by pushing ahead early in the game and maintaining their lead throughout. The team is still adapting to not being able to run the offense through Al Horford, but is finding a rhythm that relies heavily on ball movement.

THREE-POINT BONANZA ...

The offense has become even more reliant on threes, moving from 28.7 percent of its field goal tries when Horford was healthy, to 37.1 percent after. This means that when the shooters are having an off night, the offense will struggle. This partially explains the threegame losing streak while Kyle Korver was trying to regain his stroke.

In his past four games, rookie Pero Antic has started at center and has provided qual-

ATLANTA BRAVES

GLAVINE, MADDUX HEADED TO THE HALL

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

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uly 25-28 induction weekend at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. will have a decided Atlanta Braves flavor. Bobby Cox was elected by the 16-member Veterans Committee last month and he was joined on Wednesday by pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, who were voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Maddux found himself on 555 of the 571 ballots, giving him 97.2 percent of the vote— the eighth-highest percentage in the history of Hall of Fame voting. Glavine comfortably soared past the required 75 percent, landing on 525 ballots (91.9 percent). Maddux, Glavine and former Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas were the only three players to make it, with Craig Biggio missing out by a mere two votes (74.8 percent).

TOMMY G …

Glavine spent the first 16 seasons and the very last one of his 22-year career in Atlanta.

ity production. He has had a line of 12.3 points per game and 5.3 rebounds in 23.5 minutes of playing time. What he has been especially adept at is finding shots behind the arc. He is shooting a cool 54.5 percent from beyond the three-point line in the new year, and taking an average of 5.5 shots per game and making three of them. If his minutes continue to rise, he could find himself in New Orleans for the Rising Stars challenge during All Star weekend.

D-LEAGUE DUDES ...

Another new element the Hawks have utilized this season is the D-League. Three different players have spent time in Bakersfield, the home of the Hawks’ affiliate team. Jared Cunningham, John Jenkins and Dennis Schröeder have all had multiple stints with the Jam, working to refine their games in order to crack the rotation with the Hawks. Schröeder has been supplanted by Shelvin Mack as the primary point guard behind Jeff Teague, so time in the D-League is important to keep him in game action to work on what the coaches need him to.

Now that Horford is sidelined, it appears that no Hawks will make it to the All Star game, even though they have the third-best record in the East. The two most likely Hawks to crack the team would be Paul Millsap and Teague as reserves, but both would need to elevate their games the next few weeks in order to get recognized.

He was 305-203 lifetime with a 3.54 ERA. Glavine went 2-0 in the 1995 World Series against Cleveland, leading the Braves to the championship while earning MVP honors.

“It means an awful lot,” Glavine told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “As this day came up and there was speculation whether you were going in or not, what really would have been disappointing was not to have the opportunity to go in with Bobby and Greg. If anything would have killed me about not getting that phone call, that would have been it.”

MAD DOG …

Maddux compiled a career 355-227 record to go along with a 3.16 ERA. His four National League Cy Young Awards came in consecutive years (1992-95), currently leaving him tied with Randy Johnson for the longest streak. He won three of those awards with the Braves, for whom he pitched 11 seasons.

“It’s truly an honor and a privilege to be inducted to the Hall of Fame,” Maddux told atlantabraves.com. “It’s exciting for me to go in with my teammate as well as Frank Thomas.

I’m just looking forward to the experience down the road…. It’s almost a fairytale ending.

The only thing that screwed it up was Smoltzie (John Smoltz) waited and played one more year. It’s just icing on the cake. It’s going to be a special day and I’m going to be able to spend it with special people.”

Smoltz, who retired after the 2009 season, will be up for election next year.

ATLANTA FALCONS

LINEMEN HEAD DRAFT DAY TARGETS

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

T

he 2014 NFL Draft is less than 17 weeks away (May 8-10) and that time period will be filled with combines, roster moves and other pre-draft evaluations across the NFL. Atlanta’s 4-12 record left the Falcons in a five-way tie for the third overall pick in the draft, but with strength of schedule factored in they tumbled all the way the No. 6 pick.

First-round picks are the best opportunity for a team to bolster its roster each offseason season and Atlanta has found incredible talent in past drafts with its first-round selections.

Ring of honor members Steve Bartkowski, Gerald Riggs and Deion Sanders along with current Falcons players Roddy White, Sean Weatherspoon, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Desmond Trufant were all first-round picks by the Falcons.

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LINE IT UP …

Atlanta’s offensive and defensive lines struggled this season and finding help in the draft at these position groups is the primary focus for the franchise. In the past 22 years, the Falcons have spent just one first-round pick on an offensive lineman (Sam Baker in 2008) and that pick came in a year in which Atlanta had two first-round picks and grabbed Matt Ryan 18 picks earlier as the No. 3 pick of the draft. The rest of the League, meanwhile, has been in a frenzy to take first-round talent in the trenches. In last year’s draft, six of the first seven picks were linemen and five out of the first 10 picks were offensive linemen.

Injuries and free agency diminished the stability of Atlanta’s offensive line and the offense lost its firepower this season and its ability to throw the deep ball consistently without the time to protect Ryan. In Ryan’s first five seasons, Atlanta was in the top 10 in fewest sacks allowed all five years and ranked in the top five of the category four out of the five years. In 2013, the line allowed 2.8 sacks per game and ranked 28th in the League in its pass protection. In the final game of the season against Carolina, Matt Ryan was brought down a career-high nine times and Atlanta has now surrendered 19 sacks in the last four games to the NFC South champion Panthers.

GWINNETT GLADIATORS

hands of the Gladiators, who sit in last place in the South Division of the ECHL.

GLADS AGAIN TAKE OUT STINGRAYS

LIGHT THE LAMP ...

Haddad was one of the team’s top goal scorers last year and in the playoffs, but has struggled to get on the board this year. Through the first 21 games of the 2013-14 season, Haddad scored three goals. Since then, in the past seven games, he has scored three goals and had two assists.

Rookie forward Maxime Legault has tallied three points in the past three games to push his season total to 16. Legault scored a goal in a 4-0 win at South Carolina and got in on the party in the 8-1 win over Florida last week. In the past eight games, Legault has tallied six points.

Fellow rookie Josh Currie had the best game of his young career against Florida. Currie scored two goals and added an assist in the blowout victory. Currie has seven goals and 10 assist on the year.

If the Gladiators can continue to get contributions from players who weren’t scoring earlier in the year, a number of wins are sure to follow.

The home games against Orlando Friday and Saturday provide fans with chances to enjoy two promotional nights with the Glads. Friday is “Friendly Friday” and fleece blankets will be sold Saturday in Gwinnett Arena for just $5.

BY JOE DEIGHTON | JDEIGHTON@SCOREATL.COM

W

inning on the road has been tough for the Gwinnett Gladiators this year. Winning anywhere has been tough, but on Tuesday night in South Carolina, the Glads showed that they can grit out a tough win.

The first-place Stingrays outshot and outplayed the Gladiators, but the road team was up to the task. Forward Brenden Walker scored a power-play goal late in the second period to open the scoring for Gwinnett. Joey Haddad added a second goal on the power play with just over three minutes to play in the third period. South Carolina would cut the two-goal lead in half just 38 seconds later and pulled its goalie to put pressure on the Glads. Goalie Brad Phillips stopped 29 of 30 shots and gave the Gladiators a much-need 2-1 win on the road.

The win improved the Gladiators to 28 points. South Carolina has a commanding lead in the division with 51 points. Four of the Stingrays seven regulation losses have come at the

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Vol. 10 Iss. 2 | January 17-23, 2014

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