1. Shutdown Corner: Aaron Rodgers invites Todd McShay over for bratwurst (the organic, farm-raised, fair-trade kind -- Rodgers is the world's first Berkeley-Wisconsonian, people), brews, and total X's-and-O's humiliation recorded on camera for the world to devour. While McShay might (or might not, who knows) know his cover-3's and zone reads better than we do, we would point out it's his seeming arrogance that puts so many people off, not any particular statement he's made. As MJD notes, "I smell reality TV gold. Who wouldn't love to see NFL players grilling [insert the name of the "football blowhard" you hate the most] on trap plays and the Cover-2?" We're all in, on one condition: Todd gets to run the video equipment.
2. USA Football: Georgia's high schools turned out 15 2010 NFL draftees, ranking the state system a distant fourth behind Florida (34), Texas (25), and California (25). Per capita we also ranked fourth, behind Hawaii, Louisiana, and Florida. Georgia was one of only four states to send multiple players from a single high school, with both Jermaine Cunningham and Perry Riley hailing from Stephenson in DeKalb County. Plenty more here.
3. Yasinkas: Yasinkas reviews North Carolina's training camp, which was closed to the public. This may surprise you, as a spoiled Atlanta Falcons fan, to realize most NFL teams have closed camps -- it's important for us to learn about neighboring cultures, no matter how restrictive they may appear to members of our modern, freewheeling, come-and-go-as-you-please Vodkabird Republik. (Remember, if you say North Carolina really really fast, it kind of sounds like North Korea.)
4. Forbes: Atlanta ranks #2 on Forbes' list of most miserable sports cities. They're defining misery as coming really close, but never winning it all. If that's the case, don't we deserve a special misery boost for finishing #2 on this list? We came close and didn't win at the list of cities that come close and never win. Could there be anything more miserable? If you need me for the next few hours, I'll be huddled at the bottom of the shower, murmuring "2 Legit 2 Quit" to myself with the water off.
5. Yasinkas: This will cheer us right up -- Yasinkas devotes 1,100 words to Matt Ryan's upcoming season.
6. D. Led: If that didn't turn those frowns into rainbows that aren't shaped like frowns, here's our only hope. Kroy Biermann has spent time this offseason learning how to swing dance. The official story? He's doing it for a charity event benefiting the Alzheimer's Association. While we're proud of DB for helping out a good cause, we can read between the lines here -- after each of his sacks this season, we can expect to see this break out in its entirety.
And one to grow on:
