Georgia sports for Friday, August 3rd

A wild and tough loss for the Braves last night, falling 12-11 in 14 innings to the Astros from Turner Field in Atlanta.

Houston pitcher Jason Jennings was used as a pinch-hitter in the 14th, and came up with an RBI-single off Oscar Villareal for the eventual winning margin. Before that point, the Braves turned-around an earlier 5-1 deficit into a 9-5 lead by the 6th inning. The offensive comeback included a Mark Teixeira 2-run homer, Willie Harris' 2-RBI triple, and a 2-run double from Jeff Francouer. However, an 8th inning Houston grand slam set the table for extra innings. For the night, the Braves pounded-out 22 hits. They've scored in double-digits in 4 straight games (49 runs with 68 hits).

The Braves have now fallen to 4-and-a-half games behind the Mets for 1st in the NL-East division. One injury note from last night: Shortstop Edgar Renteria suffered a right ankle sprain in the 8th inning. It's expected he might miss a few games at the least.


From the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons are into their 2nd week of training camp workouts at team headquarters in Flowery Branch. The team is looking ahead to their preseason opener, next Friday in New York to clash with the Jets.

Georgia lacks in teaching special needs students

A U-S Department of Education report card shows Georgia falls short of federal requirements in teaching students with disabilities. Georgia is among four-fifths of states in that designation.

First-ever report cards graded states across the nation, and showed only nine fully meet requirements of the Indviduals with Disabilities Education Act. The main part of the law involves a 10.5 billion dollar program to provide students from ages 3 to 21 with special programs to fit their needs. Georgia is labeled as "needs assistance". States in that category or lower must improve or face penalties such as the loss of federal money.

Weekend BRAGging rights in Columbus

BRAG riders at 2005 event in Atlanta. (BRAG)
Bike riders will have BRAGging rights on Columbus roads and highways this weekend, as close to 2000 riders in the statewide Bicycle Ride Across Georgia roll into Columbus Friday and Saturday.

An organization official says 26 bicyclists from Columbus are taking part in the event. The city is planning several weekend attractions around the ride.

Starting off at the downtown Chattahoochee RiverWalk, cyclists will ride to Ft. Benning on Sunday morning. From there, they'll wend their way eastward to Americus.

The 421-mile-long route is geared towards the whole family, and ends at Savannah on June 16th. The riders expect to average about 60 miles a day.

BRAG website.