Russ's Sports Review

The Bulldogs opened the season on Saturday night with a dangerous SEC east road game in Nashville against Vanderbilt. They did what they needed to do and that was to jump out early and they did as they grabbed a 21-0 lead and they coasted to a 30-6 win. The second half was nothing special as they did little in the red zone. A couple of dynamic players were important in the win. The first was wide out Demetris Robertson. He had a rough year last year after transferring from Cal. He caught his first three passes including the first touchdown of the game. The second was the long awaited debut of red shirt freshman Zamir “Zew” White. He had 53 yards on just five carries. This week is the home opener as Murray State comes and they are just a 49 point underdog. It was a rough weekend for the SEC East as South Carolina was upset by North Carolina and the shocker was Tennessee losing to Georgia State at home. Also Missouri lost despite being a 21-point favorite at Wyoming.
The Falcons will get things going for real this Sunday as they hit the road to play the Vikings. The Birds are a four-point underdog for the game. The big news for the week was the re-signing of kicker Matt Bryant. Honestly, he should have never been let go to start with. I guess the other big story is what hasn’t happened yet and that is the new contract to super star wide out Julio Jones. The plan was to have a deal done prior to the start of the season. All I can say there is that they better hurry. It looks like it will be a two-team race between the Falcons and the Saints. I guess the Panthers could make it a three-team race but we will have to see. It will come down to the health of Falcons defense if they want to compete this year.
Okay, time to talk baseball. It was a big week for the Braves as they were riding a five-game winning streak going into Tuesday night’s play against the Blue Jays. The Nationals had been playing very well also but they finally lost to the Mets on Monday so the lead reached 6-5. This week is huge as the Nationals come to Atlanta starting on Thursday. The week has belonged to Freddie Freeman. The veteran first baseman has 38 homeruns and 114 RBIs entering Tuesday night’s play. He had a pair of homeruns and drove in five in Sunday’s win over the White Sox. The pitching and especially the bullpen has been a lot better. Shane Greene and Mark Melancon have been lights out in the late innings. Lets hope the young arms of Soroka and Fried can continue to hang on in September. Fried was great against the Sox with 11 strikeouts. They are off to a great start in September. A good weekend against the Nationals will go a long way to a National League East championship. It would be one I didn’t think would happen.