R.I.P. Bobby Cox

Former Braves Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox passed away on Saturday. 

Bobby got hos start in the Yankees organization, learning baseball from manager Ralph Houk. He was hired by the Braves as manager in the late 70's.  

Former longtime Braves beat writer Dave O'Brien wrote:

Cox would set the MLB record for most times being thrown out of a game.

His players always knew that Bobby had their back. Stories of Bobby's tirades are legion.

Turner fired Bobby after the 1981 season. Ted was asked what kind of new manager he was looking for. Turner replied "Someone like Bobby Cox". The Blue Jays hired Cox as manager, and Toronto won their first division championship.   

Cox was rehired by the Braves, and the rest is history. Atlanta became the team of the 90's, winning a record number of consecutive division championships, and the 1995 World Series. 

Cox was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame the same year as Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. 

Ceil saw Bobby at the nearby Stinky Kroger several times, before Bobby's stroke. Cox kept a low profile afterwards, though many former coaches, players, and executives would often visit Cox at home.

Love The Walt

Walt Weiss seems to have the team in a better state of mind, more hard charging, less laid back - battling to win every game. Sometimes a change at the top is needed. Another reason to like Weiss: the Braves have have been wearing their grey road jerseys almost exclusively this year. They've only worn their red jerseys and their navy jerseys one time each.    

We listened to the last part of the Sunday game on the radio while driving home from the recital. It is nice to finally be able to watch every game on TV for the first time in several years.

Lots of Ted Turner tributes,  including the Mariners. Drake Baldwin batting leadoff for the third straight game. Michael Harris in left field for only the second time in years. I just hope his early success doesn't have him swinging for the fences and messing up his swing. Gwinnett shortstop Jim Jarvis makes his MLB debut 90 minutes after flying cross country to join the team. He was hitting over 300 for the Stripers.

I think the Braves lost Wednesday’s game in an effort to honor Ted Turner, since they lost so many games back he first bought the team. With today’s loss, the Braves go to 16-5 in their last 21 games.

I grew up in the same Presbyterian church with Attorney General candidate Bill Cowsert. A normal kid, back then. I pretty much haven't seen him since high school. He went off to UGA and became a lawyer in Athens. Comes off like a good ole Southern boy in his commercials. I have no doubt that's who he is. I'd vote for him. My beef: his commercials would be a whole heck of lot more effective if he would just stand up! Is he handicapped? He looks like FDR, sitting there on his back porch. Not a good look at all.

Tuesday: I set my alarm and woke up to play golf, but I still didn't feel up to climbing all those hills at Candler Park. Went back to bed for a couple more hours. Felt a little better. Went to the gym and took it easy on the treadmill. After the sauna I actually felt almost back to normal. Cooled off on the treadmill. Cashed in a free milkshake deal at Whataburger for lunch. It was okay. Ordered chocolate but they brought me banana. 

Tuesday afternoon I spent time out in the garage, organizing and sorting out stuff M had left. Made a decent amount of progress. Still a long way to go. C had small group. I fixed quesadillas from leftovers. Later C texted that she needed me to pick up her prescription, but specified the wrong Publix. I rewarded myself with a $2 Arby’s jamoca milkshake. Very good, but it caused me to have a terrible night’s sleep. 

Wednesday: repairman showed up at 1:40 to install the smoke detectors. Took him awhile. Lady just delivered a chair that we had reupholstered. I spent the morning cleaning up real good. Picked up two jars of all natural peanut butter that C had left on the counter. Somehow the lids of both jars were loose. Both jars fell to the floor, spilling peanut butter all over the place. I had an idea: I called Winnie over, and she cleaned it all up. 

Thursday: 4 pm Braves game. We ate at Longhorn, using a gift card I’d been given over three months ago. The burger was great. C enjoyed her salmon. I drank too much Coke Zero, so I wasn’t able to sleeping well. There was a PBS special on Johnny "The Big Cat" Mize from Demorest GA that I have track down and watch.

Noted local Christian apologist Jefrey Breshears polled well-informed and thoughtful Christians and conservatives on the current Georgia ballot. His results: 

GOVERNOR: Burt Jones - 60%, Chris Carr - 25%

LT GOVERNOR: G Dolezal - 45%, B Tillery - 25%, J Kennedy - 25%

SEC OF STATE     Kelvin King  --  94%

ATTY GENERAL B Strickland - 56% Bill Cowsert - 44%

STATE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: 

R Woods - 45%, F Longgrear - 36%, R Trammel - 18%

GEORGIA SUPREME COURT

    Vote for both incumbents: 

    Charles Bethel and Sarrah Warren  --  100%

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

    Dist. 3 --  Fitz Johnson

    Dist. 5 -- Carolyn Roddy

    

U.S. SENATE: Mike Collins - 67% Derek Dooley - 20%

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

    7th Dist - Rich McCormack

    9th Dist -  Andrew Clyde

    11th Dist - Robert Adkerson 67%; Chris Mora 33%

    14th Dist - Clayton Fuller

This is national nurse appreciation week. I know this because I was driving down the road and a nurse jumped out in front of me waving a big sign to let me know. She pounded on my hood, reminding me of the time she heard a rumor that I had a little bit of a cough that I hadn't told anyone about, but she showed up at my door to give me lots of unsolicited advice that I hadn't asked for. Now she was wanting me to thank her for this. I'm still waiting for national supply chain manager's appreciation week. I suppose that's every week, huh?

Why Isn't Adrian Grenier in The Devil Wears Prada 2? Inside His Small Town Life After Leaving Hollywood, and why he dropped out of the Hollywood scene.

  Quote for the day: “God has ambitious plans for us. The same one who saved your soul longs to remake your heart. His plan is nothing short of a total transformation.” — Max Lucado.

Best Ever NBA Players

Youngsters these days talk about the greatest ever NBA players, and list far more current players - hardly any back before Kareem and Wit. No Jerry West, John Havlicek, Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson. 

Not sure if the Basketball Reference Value over Replacement Player measurement can be trusted. Luka is already rated above Moses Malone, Chris Mullin, and Robert Parish. Lebron has 50% more value than MJ. I don't understand - is it simply a longevity thing?

I will admit that Lebron is an all time top ten player, and there are other current players who may also belong in the top 20. But just scanning the list of hall of farmers, here's my top 20 all time.

Michael Jordan

Bill Russell

Kobe Bryant

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Larry Bird

Magic Johnson

Wilt Chamberlain

Lebron James

Tim Duncan

Oscar Robertson

Shaquille O'Neal

Jerry West

Julius Erving

Charles Barkley

John Havlicek

Hakeem Olajuwon

Steph Curry

Elgin Baylor

Rick Barry 

Karl Malone

Honorable mention: George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Bill Bradley, Kevin Garnett, Pete Maravich, Dirk Nowitzki

For all the youngsters saying Steph Curry and Barkley are on the same level as Larry Bird, it simply ain't so. That MJ went through so many years of losing - he never went out and recruited himself a team of all stars so he could win a title. Did Steph really change the game any more so than Maravich?

For those listing current players in their top 10 all time / best ever, ahead of those hall of famers that I've listed - the HOF is full of other players just as good, if not better. How soon they forget Moses, Willis Reed, Carmelo, Dwight Howard, Vince Carter, Dwyane Wade, Manu Ginobili, Lou Hudson, Walt Bellamy, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Dominique.

Best ever - by sneaker sales...

850M Jordan

400M Shaq

130M Kobe

120M Lebron

080M Durant 

Much To Do About Murals

The gift of being an exceptional content creator is to be able to come up with the arcane tidbit that no one else is talking about, the new and fresh angle that no one has thought of yet - not just saying the exact same thing that 50 other people have already said. Lang does this every day. It’s my challenge. Yesterday everyone was posting tributes to Ted Turner, including me. I tried to put my own personal touch on my tribute, offering the obscure tidbits that I remembered.

Seems like everyone at WSB just has to line up and take Bellwood Coffee to task, kind of like that scene in the movie Airplane!. I’m finally figuring out why. They need content to talk and write about, and the juicier the better. They’re too busy to analyze, to step back and provide a deep response. They don't realize they're saying the same thing everyone else has already said. They’re just concerned with clicks. Don’t stand in their way. 

This week I’ve looked at how many impressions some of these so-called content creators are getting, and it really ain’t much - not too much more than I get, which is embarrassing. 

Radio dude says if a Chipper mural was painted over, there’d be a huge protest, but when I point out that an Aaron mural in Buckhead was replaced with an ad for mayonnaise, there was hardly any outrage. Radio guy failed to make the connection, and I didn’t feel the need to spoon feed him. I was left feeling dirty just for getting sucked into the “conversation”. 

But really Grant Park is different from Buckhead, and Jovita is different than Hank. The Jovita mural was Grant Park’s mural, even if she lived in suburban Dunwoody. People identified with Jovita because of the mural - she was their girl, their icon. But a huge percentage of other Atlantans had no idea that Jovita was so beloved. Nothing wrong with that. Just different worlds. 

Similarly, some were offended when the decades old Hank Aaron tribute wall in the parking lot that used to be Atlanta Stadium was recently torn down to make way for the new Georgia State baseball stadium - even though a brand new, much nicer Aaron memorial would be built in it’s place. Some would rather keep the old run down parking lot, progress be damned. 

The Ponce mural was painted over. No outcry. Same with the Buckhead mural. Different icons. Different neighborhoods. Different outcomes. Jovita was WSBs. I just wish WSB would stop rehashing the story.

Murals mean so much to some people. To others just an afterthought. After a week of murals being in the spotlight, I happened to notice that in Keisha Lance Bottoms political ad, three or four murals are featured. All from Atlanta, if I’m not mistaken. She’s running for governor. Perhaps she should show murals from other places as well. 

Sounds like the Knicks are said to be one of the mightiest teams in the East, and the underdog Hawks took them to 6 games without much effort. 

I listened to 680’s interview with longtime Hawks executive Steve Koonin, who first met Ted as a Coke advertising associate. The 68 year old Koonin sounds like an okay guy, likening himself to Senator Blutarsky from Animal House. Koonin hinted that the Hawks would be working to sign their head coach to a long term contract. 

Ernie Johnson Jr also gave tribute to Turner, and introduced a short video that included quotes from Andrew Young, Dale Murphy, Jimmy Carter, and others.

R.I.P. Ted Turner

Former Braves and Hawks owner Ted Turner passed away today. He was 87.

After expanding his father's billboard business, Turner bought a small TV station in Atlanta. Needing programming, Ted bought the Braves and later the Hawks, and hosted professional wrestling matches in his studios in the old mansion on Techwood Drive, just down from Alexander Coliseum. 

Turner did whatever possible to promote attendance and viewership. He completed against announcers Pete Van Wieren and Skip Carey in a pregame ostrich race.

Today 680 had great interviews with two former executives from Ted's early days, Stan Kasten and Steve Koonin. Bill Shanks wrote a nice tribute.

Turner famously challenged Phillies relief pitcher Tug McGraw to see who could roll a baseball from the base to home using only their nose. McGraw quickly gave up but Ted, in full uniform, gave it his all. Turner finished, with a bloody nose to show for his efforts. 

After a nine game losing streak, Ted gave his manager time off - and took over managerial duties himself. After losing in Pittsburgh, commission Bowie Kuhn told Ted that owners couldn't also manage. 

After this particular road jersey became available for purchase in 2019, I ordered a replica TURNER 27 jersey. I'll be sure to wear it the the Braves game next week in tribute.

In 1980 Turner founded CNN, the first 24 hour news channel. CNN 's 11 pm sports show became must see TV, hosted by luminaries Dan Patrick, Van Earl Wright, Fred Hickman, Nick Charles, and Vince Cellini. The network moved its headquarters downtown to the Omni International building (later renamed CNN Center). Late one night I was walking though the building, perhaps after a Hawks game in the adjacent Omni arena. I looked across at another walkway and saw Turner, alone, walking back to his living quarters in the building. A few years later I was Turner's grandson's basketball coach, though Ted never attended a game.

Turner was a fixture on the sidelines of Hawks games, often sitting next to GM Mike Gearon, the father of Hannah Storm, then a student at the Lovett School. Gearon always wore the exact same thing: navy blazer, white dress shirt, no tie, kaiki slacks, no socks, and expensive loafers. Gearon refused to accept a salary from the team, instead working for a salary of one dollar per year.

Turner would often wear a Hawks or Braves tie, like in the top photo. It was Ted who got me interested in sports themed ties. Below he posted with Hawks forward Tom McMillen, who later served as a US Representative from the state of Maryland.

Ted, then wife Jane Fonda, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were fixtures in the president's box at World Series games.

Below: Turner (right) celebrates with GM John Schuerholz (left) and Stan Kasten (middle).

Turner was active in environmental causes, and almost singlehandedly rescued the American buffalo from extinction. In later years Ted became one of the largest private landowners in the US. His efforts to lobby the United Nations for world popular reduction became the predecessor to the current climate change and new world order movements.

For many years I've thought a great Ted Turner tribute patch would be to take Ted's face from his Sports Illustrated America's Cup cover and use as the patch - as it bears a remarkable resemblance to the Braves old laughing Indian sleeve patch from the 1960's.

I asked Perplexity A I to make up this patch, but it refuses to have anything to do with the laughing Indian. Not exactly what I was looking for, but somewhat close.

Many suggest the Braves change the new City Connect sleeve patch from TBS to TED. Not a bad idea. Or just add a second TED patch.

Some may scoff, but in many ways Ted Turner is very much like an earlier Southern version of Donald Trump - an womanizing entrepreneur who loved his city and country. Certainly not a saint by any measure, yet still a force for good. 

The Old Monk Joke

Old joke: a young monk joined a monastery where they could only say two words a year. The rest of the time they had a vow of silence. After a year the monk was called in for his annual review, where he could say his two words. His superior praised him for his good works around the monastery. What are your two words, he asked. The young monk replied "Food bad". His superior said that he understood, the they weren't operating a fancy restaurant.

At the end of his second year the monk was again called in. Same routine. What are your two words? "Bed hard". His superior understood, since they weren't running a fancy hotel.

At the end of his third year the monk was called in again. Despite his good works, his two words were "I quit". His superior replied "Well, it's understandable. All you've done since you got here is complain!". 

Braves sweep the Rockies. Their fastest start in the modern era, since the 1800's - 15 games over .500. All without Strider, Smith Shauber, Schwellenbach, and Murphy.

Sunday it was third string catcher Jonah Heim got the big hit. Matt Olson is playing better than ever - hitting his 299th home run. Riley may be coming out of his slump. Drake Baldwin is building on his ROY reason. Chris Sale is having another great season. Spencer Strider struggled in his first start back from injury, and Braves Twitter was ready to release him. Strider couldn't have been expected to be at midseason form - especially in hitter friendly Coors Field. Let's give him a few starts to return to form. 

Acuna is hurt. Again. But this is his first hamstring injury. In his 8 year career Acuna has averaged playing only 105 games per year. Do you give him Ohtani money when he's a free agent? The Dodgers paid $40 million for Kyle Tucker. How much do you offer Ronald? You know the Mets and Dodgers and Yankees are going to overpay for him. Do you let him walk? Not sure that I really care. Shoot, Michael Harris has been injury prone as well. Compare Ronald's production to Matt Olson's. Just don't sign someone who can't stay off the PEDs.    

Next up: three games in Seattle, two 940 starts and a 410 pitch pitch on Wednesday. Then the weekend series against the Dodgers.     

Yankees announcer John Sterling passed away at the age of 87. Back in the early 80's he called Braves and Hawks game - including the infamous July 4 Rick Camp home run against the Mets.  

Monday: stayed in bed all morning - except when Winnie was demanding to go outside at 715 am. I guess that I feel a little bit better, but not much. Yesterday all I ate was a few donut holes before we left for the recital, and for supper when we got back. Also the Jeni's ice cream. This morning I ate Ceil's leftover oatmeal. 

An AJC editorial has piled on Bellwood Coffee's misstep. Near the end of her editorial, Columbia graduate Nedra Rhone finally compares Bellwood's values to those of the saintly Jovita, a former local news anchor who "also gave time and support to various Atlanta organizations". Rhone describes Jovita as a "local news icon" and a "trailblazer". Rhone writes that Bellwood's "blunder...threatens to tear the community apart". Typical AJC. Typical life in 2026.

While this was an editorial, at some point it would be nice (and fair) if a WSB or AJC journalist took the time to ask Bellwood for their side of the story, instead of  regurgitating their social media posts. Again, it's the unforgiving attitudes in the posts that are the most sad thing about all this.They'd rather have an empty building in their neighborhood than have an actual business generating tax revenues that can be funneled back into the city. 

Denison: addressing a joint session of Congress, King Charles stated that “for many here—and for myself—the Christian faith is a firm anchor and daily inspiration that guides us not only personally, but together as members of our community.” 

Found this SGA Gladiators / Flames jersey for Matthew.

Shivonne's First Recital

Shivonne had her first ever ballet recital Sunday afternoon, at the Ferst Center at GT. I'd never been to the Ferst Center before, it was built next to the Student Center after I graduated. A beautiful afternoon. We sat in the sun beforehand. 

A&C and Miller came. MC's mother, me and C, W&MC and Millie. Also the older nanny who'd kept Shivonne and Millie before they'd started the Montessori School. Now she works at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

The Neighborhood Ballet recital lasted an hour. Amazing to see how tiny little kids would perform with only their instructor leading them from offstage. Shivonne did okay, despite having a runny nose. After the recital we took pictures. 

There was gridlock leaving the $15 parking deck, with only one exit funneling out onto a busy road. You'd think those Georgia Tech engineers could design a better mousetrap. We sat there in the deck with the engine turned off, because we weren't moving anywhere for long periods of time. Finally a few cars ahead of us figured out they could cut between two concrete pillars and circle back to use the entrance as an exit. 

After we finally got out of the GT parking deck we fought gridlock traffic over to Westside Provisions for Jeni's Ice Cream. Good stuff. 

I was able to talk to Will about the trouble Joel and Charles Norman are having at the new Bellwood Coffee in Grant Park. Lots of irate posters on social media after Bellwood had painted over a Jovita Moore mural. How could they have known it would cause such an outcry? Bellwood has promised to put up another Jovita mural, but evidently the apology wasn't good enough for several unforgiving posters. Even WSB did a poor job of twisting the story to cause more of an outcry. So sad.

Got home and crashed on the couch. 

Friday: Ceil has been feeling poorly these past few days. Friday for the second straight night I got her the chicken soup from El Porton, the Mexican restaurant next to Stinky Kroger. Then she drove over to spend the night at Anna's, with Caleb staying up in Dahlonega for his wedding.

Saturday: skipped golf because AM rain was in the forecast. Ran some errands for a few hours, first stopping by Taco Bell for lunch, because it was on my way. 

Then to Bellwood Coffee on Bolton Road to get C some joe. Returned straight up Atlanta Road to avoid 285 traffic. Stopped by three thrift stores on the way home. At 3 pm Anna and Miller stopped by to drop off Goose and pick up Ceil. They drove up to north Georgia for the wedding. They got back late.

I caught whatever sickness Ceil has, and feel terrible. Saturday afternoon my throat started hurting. Sunday morning I woke up with all my joints aching. We didn't go to church. 

ICE BOX CHAMBERLAIN [SABR Bio] On 09-May-1888, Chamberlain, pitching for Louisville, had dominated the batsmen of the woeful Kansas City Cowboys. When the score reached 8-0, he switched and threw with his left hand. The fact that he was slightly less effective after switching was overlooked by the magic he had wrought. Chamberlain’s 9.2 WAR in 1889 led the AA. His -0.7 WAR in 1891 was followed by five years of impressive, stable numbers. He got his nickname because he was said to possess “austere calm in the face of all hostility by the enemy”.

Denison: government affairs attorney Jay Atkins asked AI to evaluate the world’s major  religions and determine which one makes the most sense. The worldviews in question were atheism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. In seconds, AI concluded that Christianity offers the most reasonable view of the world. Atkins explained the AI’s reasoning: "Christianity" offers a comprehensive explanation of reality, why the universe exists, why it is ordered, why we are rational and moral beings, and why we long for meaning. At the same time, Christianity concentrates its evidentiary burden into a relatively small number of claims, most notably the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That matters because a worldview that explains everything but requires you to believe a thousand fragile claims is not rational. The most reasonable worldview is the one that explains the most while assuming the least.