The Falcons are hosting division rivals the Carolina Panthers in the Georgia Dome this week and look to continue their great start to the 2009 season with another victory. If the rival Panthers aren’t enough to get you fired up, the Falcons will be wearing NFL Throwback jerseys that honor the 1966 inaugural Falcon season. There will also be several special events during the game including:

• At the end of the first quarter Atlanta native and US Open quarter finalist Melanie Oudin will be introduced.
• During the first half two minute warning Atlanta rock band Collective Soul will be introduced and honored for their recent introduction to the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame.
• During halftime 20 members of the original 1966 Falcon roster will be introduced.

It will be a game time decision for me, but I’m going to “throwback” either wearing my 1998 Chris Chandler #12 or Chuck Smith #96 (too many margaritas last night .. sorry Chuck!) #90 jersey.

I will be tweeting from my seats like last week. Continue reading past the break to see Game 2’s live tweetgrid.

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The 2009 NFL season has started, and my Atlanta Falcons start their campaign for their first back to back winning seasons in franchise history. I’m a Falcon’s season ticket holder, and I’ll be tweeting and sending Twitpics from my seats in the Georgia Dome during home games this year. Follow me on Twitter if you already have an account, or check out the Tweetgrid after this post’s page break. I plan on creating a post and a Tweetgrid for every home game.

Go Falcons!

Click “continue reading” link for the Dolphins vs Falcons Tweetgrid

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I don’t get to read for pleasure and entertainment too often anymore. It’s always technical manuals and whitepapers in my carry-on bag when I travel and virtualization related blogs and news while online, but I’m adding a few novels to my must read list. Atlanta Falcon’s kicker Jason Elam has co-written a couple of books that sound very entertaining. “Monday Night Jihad” (released December 2007) and “Blown Coverage” (releasing January 2009) were both written by Jason and co-author Steve Yohn. How could combing professional football and terrorism not be exciting?

Here’s some information from the mondaynightjihad.com web site about the novels: (more…)

The Falcons beat the Chicago Bears last week in one of the most amazing finishes to an NFL game I have witnessed. If you are not aware of how the game ended check out the NFL.com video highlights or the ESPN Game Recap. Here’s a quote from the ESPN recap:

“In the last 8 minutes, there was a goal-line stand by the Falcons, an 85-yard kickoff return by Atlanta’s Jerious Norwood, Elam’s first missed field goal in 31 attempts, a gutty drive by the Bears that culminated with Kyle Orton’s touchdown pass to Rashied Davis with 11 seconds remaining and, finally, Elam’s winning kick after Ryan hooked up with Michael Jenkins on a 26-yard completion.”

Yes, I stayed in my seat until the end. I’m not going to claim that I knew the Falcons would come back. I guess it was a combination of shock from the Bears touchdown with 11 seconds remaining and the fact that getting my 2 young sons out of the upper deck of the Georgia Dome is easier when the crowd burns off a little bit.

To prove I was there I created a collage with the new Picasa 3 from Google. Click the image for a bigger version.

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In case you are wondering from some of the images in the collage, Robin Thicke was the half time entertainment at the game.

Quotes from the 2 first round picks taken from First-round picks embrace Atlanta:

From Matt Ryan:

“I’m really excited about being here in Atlanta,” Ryan said less than 12 hours after the Falcons plucked him off the draft board and transported him from New York to a downtown hotel. “I’d like to thank Mr. Blank and his family, Thomas Dimitroff, Coach Smith and everyone associated with the Falcons for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to becoming part of the Atlanta community, getting involved and getting to know everyone here. Yesterday was a whirlwind and I couldn’t be happier with where I ended up.”

From Sam Baker:

“I wasn’t too worried about where I was going to go,” said the massive tackle, who started 49 of 52 career games at USC. “As long as I got my shot, that’s what I wanted. I really anticipated going to Atlanta second round, and that’s what I was hoping for. But to go first round, and to be in Atlanta, is great.”

Read the whole article at the link above.

Notable quotes from General Manager Thomas Dimitroff on the other picks copied from Quotable: Falcons Draft Wrap Up : (more…)

Mike Smith, new Falcons head coach, said in his first press conference today he believes in stopping the run on defense and having a consistent running game on offense that will set up the ability to take shots down field in the passing game.

See video highlights of the press conference from Fox Sports at Falcons introduce Mike Smith

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As a Falcons season ticket holder I received a letter recently from Arthur Blank.

A quick summary of the letter :

• Appropriately, it is an apology for the past season.
• Announces that ticket prices will remain the same for next year, and in some cases even be reduced.
• The Georgia Dome will get a new exterior paint job and some internal color changes too.
• The hunt for a GM and Coach continues

The entire letter can be read here: (more…)