atlanta Page 44 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Rajon Rondo Angrily Confronts TNT Cameraman For Filming Him As He Stood There
Rough evening last night for Rajon Rondo: He made a terrific defensive play in the waning seconds, only to dribble the ball off his foot as the horn sounded. Afterward, TNT did one of those harmless hallway shots, which pissed Rondo off. And then Charles Barkley made fun of Rondo's wardrobe. Yeah...
![There Was An Extra Tool In Today's Braves Tool Race, And This One Got Arrested [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/Image_Not_Found_1x_qjofp8.png)
There Was An Extra Tool In Today's Braves Tool Race, And This One Got Arrested [UPDATE]
Like most ballparks, Turner Field hosts a silly race between costumed characters that represent some sponsoring interest. In the Braves' case, it's the Home Depot Tool Race. Today's Tool Race featured an extra competitor, a fan who raced in from center field and made it to the infield before being...

Brian McCann Hit A Grand Slam Off Roy Halladay, Got Bopped In The Face By A Teammate As Reward
Last night's 15-13 extra innings Braves win over the Phillies game was weird. For one, it's the second-most runs ever allowed in a game started by Roy Halladay. (The record is 17, per commenter below.) Halladay also gave up a grand slam to Atlanta's Brian McCann, the first such homer since Evan Lon...

Atlanta Hawks Fans Are Not The Most Welcoming
Unlike many of my esteemed Deadspin colleagues, I am not blessed to live the Big Apple, a city of vogue fashion and style. The only reason I recognize the Chanel logo on this Hawks fan's bizarre t-shirt is because my grandmother has worn Chanel No. 5 for 60 years and we buy it for her every Christm...

Asante Samuel: There Are "A Lot Of Sad Eagles Fans Over There"
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Samuel says a lot of people can't figure out what went wrong in Philly last year....

Nobody Wants To Do <i>Hard Knocks</i> Except The Jaguars, And <i>Hard Knocks</i> Doesn't Want Them
ESPN says that the Falcons thought about it really hard, but decided they'll pass on being profiled on Hard Knocks this season. They say they'd like to focus on football and football only, which makes us wonder if Rex Ryan wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to this show....

Ray Easterling, First-Named Plaintiff In NFL Concussion Suit, Committed Suicide
Ray Easterling, a plaintiff in a concussion-related lawsuit against the NFL died on Thursday as a result of self inflicted gunshot wounds. Police later ruled it a suicide....

Michael Bourn Holds Up The Game With A Bathroom Break
When you gotta go, you gotta go. For most of us, that means quietly taking a break before we resume whatever it is we were doing. For Michael Bourn, last night it meant the start of the bottom of the fourth inning in Arizona had to be delayed, since everyone noticed the Braves had taken the field ...

The Atlanta Hawks' Mascot Was "In Bad Shape" After Smashing His Beak On The Rim During A Dunk Stunt
Atlanta mascot Harry the Hawk Sky Hawk was feeling it in the beak after this stunt went wrong during last night's game against Utah. Reader James sent this in, noting that while the mascot appears to return to the floor to finish the routine, it's almost certainly a backup they keep for such circ...

Fat Chipper Jones May Or May Not Be Fat, But He Reportedly "Looks Terrible"
The good news is that Chipper Jones is officially seven pounds lighter than his 2011 playing weight. Now comes the rest of the news. His knee hurts. He's hitless in eight at-bats and has missed five games this spring. A scout told Jon Heyman of CBS Sports he "looks terrible" and that he seems to be ...

Fat Chipper Jones Says He's Not Fat
Everybody's getting in on the fun of calling Chipper Jones a fat ass. Per The Sporting News, manager Fredi Gonzalez stood around the batting cages at the Braves' spring training facility this morning and puffed his cheeks to make himself look like a fat dude. When no one on the team noticed, Gonzale...
![Counterpoint: Chipper Jones Is Not Fat [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17eautbeqg0m8jpg.jpg)
Counterpoint: Chipper Jones Is Not Fat [UPDATE]
A few readers have pointed us to the Twitter account of David O'Brien, who covers the Braves for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. O'Brien disputes the notion that Chipper's being a heavy presence at spring training. Yesterday, O'Brien tweeted the above photo to make his case, saying it was taken j...

Chipper Jones Is Fat
Larry Wayne Jones is going to be 40 in April, and he's about to begin his 19th season with the Braves. Jones says 2012 won't be his last in baseball, but it will be the final year of his guaranteed contract, for which he's scheduled to be paid $14 million. Jones made the NL All-Star team last year, ...

The Falcons Need Some New Fourth-Down Plays
The cat-and-mouse game of defensive scheming decided both playoff matches yesterday, but in different ways. In Denver, the Steelers stacked the box, daring Tim Tebow to throw. He did. But at the Meadowlands, on a pair of fourth down conversions, the Falcons telegraphed a pair of sneaks up the middle...
![Hakeem Nicks Treated The Falcons To His Own Interpretation Of "The Dirty Bird" [UPDATE: Jamal Anderson Responds]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18j4ojgb6547ijpg.jpg)
Hakeem Nicks Treated The Falcons To His Own Interpretation Of "The Dirty Bird" [UPDATE: Jamal Anderson Responds]
After splitting coverage and making the Atlanta Falcons defense look absolutely foolish, Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks celebrated his touchdown with his take on the Falcons' Dirty Bird—a dance popularized when Nicks was in the fourth grade. [Fox] ...

NFL Wildcard Weekend Open Thread: Atlanta Falcons At New York Giants
Day two of the best weekend ever kicks off from New Jersey with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman guiding us through all the things they're not so sure wouldn't, shouldn't, couldn't or didn't happen....

Eli Manning and Matt Ryan: Post-Turnover Face-Off
The quarterback matchup today isn't just about who can throw for more touchdowns, it's also about who can make the most ridiculous face after giving one away to the other team. While the Manning face is certainly more renowned, Matt Ryan is certainly no slouch. In anticipation of today's head-to-h...

An Insider's Guide To Chop Blocks
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

Are The Atlanta Falcons Really The Dirtiest Team In The NFL?
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

Thinking He's Off Air, Charles Barkley Says His Weight Watchers Endorsement Is A Big Scam
Via Eye On Basketball, what was a commercial break on TNT was shown live on NBA.tv's stream. With a secretly hot mic and a live camera, Charles Barkley shed some light on his contract with Weight Watchers:...