Welcome to Atlanta; it's a Great Time to be a Sports Fan!
With the August calendar soon turning over to September, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and remind you of the historic summer our athletes, teams and sports personalities helped etched in our great city’s history books. It's our hope that was has transpired will lead to more memorable moments in our great city in the days, weeks and months to follow!

It was just two short months ago that Atlanta's own Chris Benoit vanquished his family in the most bizarre and heinous crime from a native resident in our city's 184 year history. The “Canadian Crippler” attained mainstream superstardom while employed at Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling, owned and operated right here in the country’s 9th most populous metropolitan area! In 2001, World Championship Wrestling went bankrupt, but foresight got the best of the “Rabid Wolverine” as he bolted north to Stamford CT a year prior in the winter of 2000. After cementing his status as the most gifted technical wrestler at World Wrestling Entertainment, Chris captured the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.  Three years later, he, um, moving on. 

Another staple of Atlanta sports, Braves manager Bobby Cox, broke Major League Baseball's all time record for ejections with 132. After going 7.5 weeks without being tossed from a ballgame, the volatile manager of the Atlanta Braves argued balls and strikes, and in so doing, surpassed Hall of Fame manager John McGraw on baseball’s all time ejections list. Behind the now 2nd place McGraw are Leo Durocher, Earl Weaver and Frankie Frisch to round out the Top5. All 4 men still trail the nefarious Robert Cox by a hefty margin in the category of domestic assault and abuse.

Sticking with the team that made Jane Fonda performing the Tomahawk Chop a household item, the most revered athlete in Atlanta history, Henry Louis Aaron, was forced to take a back seat and offer congratulations to an over-sized, cattle-drug-induced melon named Barry Lamar Bonds earlier this month in San Francisco. Bonds eclipsed Henry Aaron’s all time home run record, a record that stood for 30+ years, on August 7th, 2007. It's our hope that the Hammer turns over all suspicions of cheating to Fulton County's most celebrated legal counsel!

In the most stunning and notable of Atlanta sports stories this summer, the face of the Atlanta Falcons franchise and one of the most marketable, electrifying athletes of his generation, Michael Vick, pleaded guilty to a federal dog fighting charges on August 27th, 2007. In his plea filed three days prior, Vick admitted to a dog fighting charge and agreed the enterprise included killing dogs by way of hanging, electrocution and drowning, and also acknowledged the existence of a gambling ring. While searching Vick’s property, federal authorities discovered the remains of some 60 dogs buried in Vick’s backyard.

The National Football League, led by Commissioner Baby-Sitter Roger Goodell, has indefinitely suspended #7, a number which represented the most jersey sales in the mediocre history of the Atlanta Falcons. Not even Falcons luminaries Deion Sanders, Jeff George or Eric Metcalf could lay claim to such an illustrious fiscal record.

With a new coach in place and the quarterback position in constant shuffle, team owner Arthur Blank has turned to one-time prodigy Joey Harrington. Said Blank of Harrington: “Joey has tremendous character. He’s the type of kid who I’d willingly wheel in and out of the Georgia Dome if he was unable to walk. He’s just one of the reasons it’s a great time to be a Falcons fan!”

And it really is a great time to be a sports fan in Atlanta!

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