Where Atlanta has failed

I'm not talking about the city itself but when it comes to Atlanta sports lately, Hotlanta has been cooled. The Braves are fine..not quite to their run of division titles from the 90's and 2000's and which are proudly displayed everywhere at Turner Field..The Falcons are headed in the right direction with Arthur Blank, Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith, Matt Ryan and new draft pick..Julio Jones..(RTR!!)..

No the disappointment to me is losing the Thrashers, the second time a city in NHL history to lose a franchise to a small market Canadian city..The city (Winnipeg) in 1996 lost their team to Phoenix, AZ who may from a year from now may pack their things and move away to Quebec City or Hamilton, Ontario.. The Thrashers were destined to fail..Poorly run by a crappy ownership group who did not know who was actually in charge..Also owning the Hawks didn't help.. The Atlanta Spirit Group showed toward the end they cared more about the Hawks and making money off Phillips Arena. Hockey is a rich mans sport..If you want to play when your young, your parents better pony up and sacrifice to get you in the right camps, and training facilities..The Thrashers didn't get out into the community, well the community they got to were mostly upper middle class and above white folks who could afford tickets and were willing to spend it until the Thrashers kept putting a crappy product on the ice..Even the most die-hard fan could not stand it anymore..
This left the NHL no choice but not support a product that was on life support..At least the metro area still has the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL, the team is owned by separate group and will stay here for three more years.

The other disappointment is watching tonight's newest Sprint Cup date at Kentucky Speedway. This was Atlanta Motor Speedway's first race date of the year, well would have been in March.. AMS now has one race date left. No longer a Chase race, now it sits on Labor Day Weekend. AMS struggled badly for the last ten years to get people to sit through races that were mostly boring and too damn long. There does not need to be a need for a 500 mile race these days.. If you have never been to a race at AMS, be prepared to sit in traffic for awhile..

Good evening folks

My photo of the day

Downtown Atlanta 7-6-11

Three Day Weekend

We spent our three day 4th Of July weekend in Alabama visiting my parents and my mother-in-law. We had a great time but it was blasted hot..Its hot in the ATL but going back to where we grew up seems to be hotter..Pippin walked around with his tongue hanging out all weekend. He is kind of spoiled with the AC.. The kids played at my parents pool most of day on Sunday. No matter how much sunscreen I put on the kids it just did not matter..I also resembled a lobster. Sunday evening we spent quality time with some good friends: Angelle, Dwight and their two daughters.. The kids played Wii while we talked and walked around their farm taking pictures..We hated to leave good friends, time flies when you are having fun.
The Fourth we came back to the ATL planning on watching fireworks in our usual location in Roswell, Ga. The weather did not cooperate and we decided to head back home..We watched Capital Fourth, Where Steve Martin and his bluegrass band were outstanding. We also watched Macy's Fourth from NYC..They know how to do fireworks right. Its on our bucket list to do..Roxanne saw it in 1982 while her and her mother visited relatives in NYC...The Fourth is my favorite holiday..Its sad after it passes until Alabama kicks off in the Fall.



Most docile thing you will ever see



Old Fence Weaver Alabama



Sully and Kate playing at grandparent's pool



Kate and Sully having a water battle

Sully

Playing Angry Birds on Ipad

Cross Tree Art

Bama Birdhouse

Kate and Sully building their coasters at Home Depot on the 2nd

Kate and Sully at the pool