Northgate earns GHSA Sportsmanship honor; Falcons, SEC Media Days, All-Star Braves & more
By JOEY HOWARD, The Weekly
Northgate High School was awarded the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship award for the 2021-22 school year.
Northgate was one of 64 schools to be awarded the honor, which is sponsored by Georgia’s Electric Membership Cooperatives (EMCs). The award highlights schools that demonstrated impeccable sportsmanship during the past school year.
“Congratulations to all of the region winners of the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award for 2021-2022,” says Dr. Robin Hines, GHSA executive director. “It is an honor for these member schools to be selected by their regions for this award. The characteristics of good sportsmanship are critical to the development of our young people as they transition into productive adults. The GHSA applauds our schools on this accomplishment and appreciates Georgia’s EMCs for their support of this outstanding recognition program.”
Northgate was named the Region 2-5A award winner.
Holman honored
Atlanta Hawks radio play-by-play announcer Steve Holman was named the Georgia Sportscaster of the Year recently, his fifth time to earn the award.
Holman, who resides in Newnan, has spent 38 seasons as the voice of the Hawks and has broadcast 2,827 consecutive games.
For comparison sakes, most folks can relate to the incredible consecutive games played streak by former baseball great Cal Ripkin. His record of 2,632 games is 195 fewer than Holman’s.
Falcons preseason schedule
It’s less than a month before the Atlanta Falcons kick off the National Football League preseason schedule.
The Falcons, who finished 7-10 overall last season, will open the 2022 preseason slate on Friday, Aug. 12 at the Detroit Lions. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m. and the contest will be telecast locally by FOX 5.
The second preseason tilt will be on Monday, Aug. 22 at the New York Jets, an ESPN telecast starting at 8 p.m.
And the final preseason game for second-year head coach Arthur Smith, will be at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. It will be televised by the NFL Network.
The regular season begins on Sept. 11 as the Falcons host division rival New Orleans at 1 p.m.
Braves send 6 to All-Star Game
As a reward for winning the 2021 World Series, Atlanta Braves coach Brian Snitker and his staff had the honor of coaching the National League in the 2022 All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 19.
Snitker and his staff weren’t alone as a total of six Braves were selected for the contest, including starters OF Ronald Acuna and designated hitter William Contreras.
Those two were joined by shortstop Dansby Swanson, third baseman Austin Riley, catcher Travis d’Arnaud and pitcher Max Fried.
Acuna had a double and scored a run in the National League’s 3-2 loss to the American League. Riley also had a single in two plate appearances. Contreras and Swanson went hitless in two at bats while d’Arnauld did not reach in his only plate appearance. Fried did dress, but did not pitch since he went seven innings in a 6-3 win over Washington the previous Saturday.
It’s the most Braves on an All-Star roster since Atlanta placed five in 2011.
Falcons Hall of Fame nominees
Six former Atlanta Falcon standouts have been named semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.
Those selected among 54 semifinalists are linebacker Tommy Nobis, linebacker Clay Matthews Jr., offensive lineman George Kunz, offensive lineman Chris Hinton, offensive lineman Mike Kenn and receiver/kick returner Billy “White Shoes” Johnson. The former Falcons were selected by the seniors committee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In the coach/contributor category, former head coach Dan Reeves and current Falcons president Rich McKay have also been named as semifinalists.
The next committee vote results to send 12 seniors and 12 coach/contributors to the finalists stage will be announced July 27.
SEC Media Days
People in the Deep South know it’s getting close to football season when the Southeastern Conference hosts its annual Media Days.
This year, the event took place at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta (July 18-21) as each school’s head coach and several players met with the media.
Another part of the annual event is the SEC Media Preseason Poll. This year, the overwhelming choice for 2022 champ by the media is Alabama with 158 votes to win the overall title. Georgia was next with a distant 18 votes, followed by South Carolina with 3 and Texas A&M and Vanderbilt with 1.
Division-wise, Alabama got 1,262 votes including 177 for first place to get the nod in the West, followed by Texas A&M (968, 3 first-place votes), Arkansas (844, 1 first-place vote), Ole Miss (675) , LSU (591), Mississippi State (390) and Auburn (338).
In the East, Georgia received 1,254 votes and 172 first-place votes to repeat as division champs. UGA was followed by Kentucky (932, 4 first-place votes), Tennessee (929, 1 first-place vote), Florida (712), South Carolina (662, 3 first-place votes), Missouri (383) and Vanderbilt (196, 1 first-place vote).
