Fresh Loaf

Joe Nocera’s column today in the New York Times offers an interesting take on Arthur Blank’s frustrating quest to turn the Falcons into a winning franchise.

Revealing quotes about his relationship with fallen star Michael Vick include:

“In some ways, I would argue that we weren’t close enough to [Vick]. The fact that he had this whole other life in Virginia that we were unaware of. …” His voice trailed off and he shook his head sadly. “We need to understand who the players are running with, and what is going on in their personal lives. A football player or a store manager — it is always better to know what is going on in their lives.”

Full story here.

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SOFT CORPS: In a salve for metro Atlanta’s water woes, the Army Corps of Engineers releases a new proposal reducing the minimum amount of water that can be released from Lake Lanier daily. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has until June 1 to approve the plan. Perdue already approves.

GSUED: Georgia State is sued by three academic publishers for digitally reproducing materials for online without asking permission or paying licensing fees.

BELFRY-FOR-ALL: “Dozens” to “tens of thousands” of Mexican free-tailed bats’ noise and guano annoy Augustans.

CLAYTON: School board replaces chairwoman Ericka Davis, who resigned, with Eddie White, who had already announced he’s resigning in June.

BLANK SLATE: NYT profiles the Falcons’ owner, his turbulent 2007 and the reset ‘08 Falcons.

TANGLED WEB: Boortz Web link to mdjonline.com video crashes the paper’s servers.

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I hope for the day when the lightbulb finally goes off over Arthur Blank’s head: Running an NFL franchise bears absolutely no resemblance to running Home Depot.

Until then, we’re assured of more episodes of the Falcon Follies as the franchise falls deeper and deeper into chaos.

A few points:

— Blank announced that he wants to hire a general manager, and let the new GM hire a coach. Why then is Blank going around interviewing just about every warm body in the NFL for the Falcons head coaching job?

— What does Blank even know about hiring a professional football coach? After being burned by one former college coach who high-tailed it off to Arkansas with three games left in the season, what does Blank do? He starts to court Pete Carroll, another college coach. Sure, Carroll has NFL experience. But has anyone checked his record as an NFL coach? It’s 34-33. That speaks for itself.

— Rather than hire someone who knows professional football to run the franchise, Blank seems determined to have his hand in every aspect of the team. What potential GM or head coach is going to want to come to a team where the owner is constantly looking over his shoulders?

It’s like hiring Guenter Seeger as your personal chef, then trying to tell him how to cook a soufflé. Arthur, please stay out of the kitchen.

ESPN.com is reporting that Carroll has already decided to decline a job interview with Blank. Can anyone blame him? Is any legitimate candidate going to want to walk into the kind of dysfunction that exists at Flowery Branch?

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Twenty years ago today, the Falcons were in dire straits. They wanted a big name. They wanted someone to come in and turn the franchise around.

Bill Parcells, who was then the Super Bowl-winning coach of the New York Giants dispatched his agent to talk to the Falcons ownership. They talked, he seemed on his way and then the deal fell apart because he was still under contract to the Giants.

After telling reporters last night that he was probably going to take a job directing the football operations of the Falcons, today Parcells backed out again.

How many hits can one franchise take? In the space of 10 days the team’s star quarterback was sentenced to federal prison for almost two years, the owner went on “Monday Night Football” talking up the future with the new head coach, and then said head coach quits the very next day and goes to Arkansas.

No one’s talking yet about what happened but, obviously, something happened today in Parcell’s meeting with team owner Arthur Blank to change his mind.

The Falcons have historically been a franchise enamored with futility. But this goes beyond the pale.

The Big Tuna just left a big stink in the city of Atlanta.

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Bill Parcells, the former head coach who is certainly headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, tells the New York Daily News that he is on the verge of accepting a job with the Atlanta Falcons as the director of football operations.

“I’m going to oversee the football operation,” Parcells told the paper. “I’m going to hire a general manager if the deal is finalized in Atlanta. We are going to hire a coach and talk to all the coaches who are there. It’s going to be a collective effort. The triangle is going to be the GM, the coach and Bill Parcells.”

Notice one significant name missing from that equation: Arthur Blank.

Does Blank finally “get it”?

Last week, I wrote that the Falcons will continue to struggle so long as Blank thinks he can run the football operation. Running an NFL franchise is not the equivalent of running Home Depot. And remember that Bobby Petrino complained about Blank’s interference. It’s obvious that Blank must follow the lead of Ted Turner when he owned the Braves: Hire someone who knows football to run things, then show up to accept the applause and the trophies. But leave the team to someone who knows what the hell he’s doing.

Parcells is that guy. And if he can handle Jerry Jones in Dallas, he can certainly handle Arthur Blank.

So the Big Tuna is coming to Atlanta. Maybe Bobby Petrino did us all a big favor, after all.

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In today’s Birmingham News, the agent for former Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino doesn’t paint a pretty picture of their perspective on what led to Petrino’s sudden and stunning departure from Atlanta.

Russ Campbell says that Falcons owner Arthur Blank broke two promises to Petrino. First, Campbell says Blank agreed when he hired Petrino that the coach would be free to leave the Falcons to take a college job if he decided he didn’t want to coach in the pros.

Second, he says Blank promised Petrino that he wouldn’t mess in the coach’s business.

“One of the main issues,” Campbell told the News, “was the owner’s involvement in the football program.”

Blank assured Petrino a year ago that he would stay out of the way if that’s what the coach wanted, Campbell said, but “he’s in it up to his elbows.”

Campbell offered an example: After a pregame team prayer, Blank pulled Petrino aside and strongly objected to the prayer’s wording.

Yeah, just what a head coach wants to deal with before he takes his team out on the field. And Blank had dinner with the coach every Monday to talk about the previous Sunday’s game. Those probably weren’t very pleasant for Petrino, either.

In the wake of the Petrino debacle, Blank has indicated he plans to get even more involved in the team’s operation. One suspects/hopes that at some point Blank is going to learn the lesson Ted Turner eventually learned when he owned the Braves: that he didn’t know a damned thing about running a baseball organization. So he hired someone who did, and then stepped out of their way. All Ted did was provide the cash, soak up the applause and pick up the trophies.

Not a bad strategy.

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The reaction to Bobby Petrino’s quick decision to quit his job as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in order to go hog-calling in Arkansas has drawn heated reaction on the Net. Some of the adjectives invoked include “weasel,” “jackass” and “rancid.”

Some samples:

“I was looking for a commitment from Bobby and having some exposure on behalf of the franchise Monday night,” Blank said of the face-to-face meeting. “[I] wanted to know, ‘Are you with us or not?’ I did press the question with him … Bobby extended his hand and said, ‘You can tell them you have a head coach.’”

— Arthur Blank, AJC.com

* * *

And so Blank, it seems, wasn’t the only one who misread Petrino. Unfortunately for Blank, whose good intentions and desire to win keep blowing up in his face, he’s the only one who hired him. Turns out that maybe Blank is better at finding people to manage the drywall department or to order hammers than he is at finding someone to manage his football team and bark orders at his players.

— Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com

* * *

He ran the team with an aloof style, feeling no reason to share his decisions on personnel with the affected players. He could walk through the locker room without speaking to anyone and was openly criticized by two of the team’s stars, Pro Bowlers [DeAngelo] Hall and Alge Crumpler.

Quarterback Joey Harrington was noticeably perturbed a few weeks ago when, after leading the Falcons to two straight wins, he heard from the media that Petrino still considered injury prone Byron Leftwich the starter.

— Peter King, Sports Illustrated online

* * *

“This is the worst year I’ve ever had in football,” one veteran player said. “It’s just miserable. I think (Petrino) had a clue about offense, but he couldn’t communicate with anybody. You’d talk to him and it was almost as if he would stare at you and not get what you were talking about. He’s a strange guy.”

That player went even further, claiming that Atlanta owner Arthur Blank had told some of the veteran leaders on the team, including Crumpler and running back Warrick Dunn, that the team had made a mistake in hiring Petrino.

— Jason Cole, Yahoo Sports

(more…)

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The Atlanta Falcons lined up for the team’s very first kickoff in the National Football League in 1966. And as the kicker ran up to kick, the wind knocked the football off the tee.

It turned out to be a symbolic start to what has become one of the NFL’s worst franchises. But as bad as the Falcons have been throughout their history, it’s never been as bad as it was this week.

In one 24-hour period, the Falcons:

• Saw their star quarterback sentenced to 23 months in federal prison;
• Lost by 20 points to a 5-7 team on “Monday Night Football”;
• Saw their head coach bolt like a rat jumping from a sinking ship, taking a pay cut to go back to a college job less than 24 hours after he had assured team owner Arthur Blank that he was here for the long haul.

Michael Vick’s arrest took the rudders off the Falcons franchise and what we’re seeing is not only the resulting free fall and crash, but the lowest point of a franchise with a history full of low moments.

It’s hard to feel bad for a billionaire, but today I want to find Arthur Blank and give him a hug.

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Last night, during the TV broadcast of “Monday Night Football,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank made an unfortunate comment about Michael Vick eating fried chicken in prison.

Listening to it in context, it sounded like a “the food in prison is unhealthy” comment rather than a “black people sure do love fried chicken” comment.

Nevertheless, it’s a cringe-maker.

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1) Michael Vick’s tenure with the Atlanta Falcons is over.
Read Arthur Blank’s statement to Peter King of Sports Illustrated after Vick’s final two co-defendants entered guilty pleas:

“With Michael, I guess looking back now, we should have been concerned about the time he spent away from our facility. When he went home to Virginia, it’s like he disappeared. It seems clear now that Michael had a secret life we didn’t know about. …

“You know, I’ve been criticized for being too close to Michael, for doing things like wheeling him around the Georgia Dome when he was hurt. Being too close to your players is not a negative. I still think, actually, it helps to be close to them, to try to get to know what they’re thinking and what’s going on in their lives. I think what this proves is that you can try to get as close to them as you can, but you’ll never truly get inside their heads.”

That doesn’t sound like an owner ready to stand by his man.

2) Vick will probably serve 12 to 18 months in federal prison.
Citing a source close to the case, the Washington Post reports that the deal, which the judge must approve, will mean Vick goes to prison for up to 18 months.

3) Vick’s NFL career is in jeopardy.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has taken a hard-line approach with players who get involved with the law.

And don’t forget: Vick lied to Goodell when he was called before the commissioner in July and asked point-blank if Vick was involved with dog fighting or gambling. That’s a huge strike against him. Another huge strike is that Vick violated the NFL’s code of conduct by gambling and consorting with gamblers. The last player who lied to a commissioner about gambling was Pete Rose. It is conceivable that Vick could face a lifetime ban from the sport, and have to apply for reinstatement.

4) Even if Vick does return to a NFL team, he will face a huge public backlash.
What franchise will want a felon convicted of dog fighting to lead their team? What franchise wants to face protesters every Sunday? What franchise wants to bank on a quarterback known for his running ability who has been out of the league for two or three years and is approaching the age of 30? If Vick does return to the NFL, those will be hurdles he and his team will have to face.

5) It ain’t over yet.
According to reports, Vick’s legal team wanted a promise from the state of Virginia not to prosecute him for animal cruelty and dog fighting as part of his federal plea agreement. The Washington Post reports that did not happen.

Vick could face an additional 40 years in prison if the state proceeds with charges.

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The door has officially opened to fulfill Arthur Blank’s greatest wish. No, not the return of Michael Vick. But a new, state-of-the-art football stadium.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the Georgia World Congress Center Authority has issued a request for proposals for a consultant who will put together a master plan for the publicly owned property around the CNN Center.

The [GWCCA] may well go for an entirely new dome, according to a request for proposals for a consultant to put together the master plan. The process will include the Georgia Dome, the Georgia World Congress Center and Centennial Olympic Park.

The consultants, once chosen, will evaluate the 200-acre campus to see how, “looking forward, we can best serve our state and community as an economic generator,” said Katy Pando, a spokesperson for the GWCC Authority, a state-run agency that oversees the management of the three facilities.

She said that the needs of customers — such as Blank — will be taken into consideration during the process.

Of course, what Blank wants most is a new stadium chock full of luxury boxes. How sad that the Georgia Dome is considered out of date only 15 years after it opened. Can you imagine Lambeau Field or Chicago Stadium ever becoming “out of date”?

The paper reports that several alternatives are discussed in the request for proposals: building a new dome, renovating the existing dome, or retrofitting the dome with a “moving roof.”

Blank is already on record as saying the team will need a new stadium within a decade, which would coincide with the date the bonds that financed the Georgia Dome will be paid off. And, considering the time it takes to build a stadium, he wants to get started with planning a new facility sooner rather than later.

The big questions are who will pay for a new stadium? And how much will it cost?

The San Diego Chargers want to build a new $800 million stadium. The team says it plans to finance the project through developing the area around the new stadium with housing and retail space.

The majority of new football and baseball stadiums over the past 15 years have been financed largely through public money, however, with the teams often kicking in a third of the costs. But with public officials sometimes balking at the enormous price tags for stadiums, NFL teams have begun to pick up more of the costs in exchange for also picking up a larger share of the profits.

For example, a new stadium is underway in Arlington, Texas, for the Dallas Cowboys at the whopping cost of $1 billion. About $325 million of that is coming from the city, with the rest being footed by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Do the Falcons need a new stadium? And are you willing to foot the bill?

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell finally weighed in on the Michael Vick situation late yesterday when he banned the Falcons star quarterback from attending training camp until the league has the chance to thoroughly investigate the allegations against him.

And with that, it is appearing more and more likely that Vick has played his last game in a Falcons uniform.

Goodell apparently beat Falcons owner Arthur Blank to the punch. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King reported yesterday that Blank would likely announce today that the organization would suspend Vick for the first four games of the season, and then might put him on a paid leave of absence thereafter.

Blank will talk about the federal indictment against Vick at 4 p.m. today. Vick, who is in Virginia preparing for his legal case and his arraignment in Richmond on Thursday, will not be at the press conference.

What Blank says will, of course, determine Vick’s fate as a Falcon. Blank made a $130 million investment in Michael Vick. He handed over the reins of his team to Vick. And one has to imagine that Blank feels severely betrayed.

As I’ve said before, can you imagine Tom Brady or Donovan McNabb or Peyton Manning getting themselves into such an unseemly mess?

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Sports Illustrated’s Peter King reports that Falcons owner Arthur Blank spent the weekend on his ranch in Montana mulling over what to do about his Michael Vick problem. He predicts a decision could be announced by the end of Tuesday.

Writes King:

And you can take this to the bank: If Vick does not play for any reason relating to the case, he will not earn all of the $6 million he’s owed this year in base salary. The Falcons will find a way to take some money away as part of their dissatisfaction with Vick for putting them in this position — a mess that has ruined any chance they had to be a contender this season. At the end of the day, Blank runs a football business. And imagine his bitterness knowing his franchise player, a player he committed $130 million to just 30 months ago, a player he personally wheeled around the sidelines when Vick broke his leg in 2003, got himself involved in something as distracting and hurtful as a federal dogfighting case.

King predicts the Falcons will suspend Vick for the first four games of the season — the longest suspension the franchise can assess — for conduct detrimental to the team. Even then, he may not play this season. The Falcons may do what Philadelphia did with Terrell Owens two years ago and what Tampa Bay did with Keyshawn Johnson in 2003 — give Vick a leave of absence and, essentially, pay him not to play.

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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, aka “Ookie,” and three others were indicted by a Virginia federal grand jury for conspiracy related to dogfighting. If convicted of all counts, Vick could face six years in prison, and his professional football career is, for now, in limbo.

“In or about April 2007, Peace, Phillips, and Vick executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in ‘testing’ sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground.”

— From the indictment handed up by the grand jury on July 17

“This is an emotionally charged and complicated matter. There are a wide range of interests and legal issues that need to be carefully considered as we move ahead.