Georgia sports for Friday, September 26th

College football weekend--

It will be a top-10 showdown in Athens tomorrow night. The 3rd-ranked Georgia Bulldogs will host #8 Alabama. Both teams enter the contest with 4-0 records. Kickoff is 7:45, In Statesboro Saturday, Georgia Southern hits the home field with visiting Wofford. The G-Southern Eagles are 2-2. Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets are off this weekend.

Atlanta Braves--

The Braves will wrap a dismal season with a 3-game weekend series at Houston. With their current record of 71-88, the Braves are guaranteed of their worst season since 1990. Minus the 1994 strike-season, the Braves made the postseason in 14-straight completed seasons--1991-2005. This will be a third straight year not in the playoffs. Veteran 3rd baseman Chipper Jones however, is likely to secure the National League batting title. His .365 averages leads that of St. Louis' Albert Pujols at .353.

PGA Golf in Georgia--

The Tour Championship is underway from East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Anthony Kim leads the field after a first-round 6-under-par 64 score. By 4 strokes, he leads a trio of golfers: Trevor Immelman, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson.

Georgia sports for Friday, September 14th

Storms played havoc yesterday with the 1st round of The Tour Championship golf tournament from Atlanta’s East Lake course. Only 10 golfers were able to finish their 1st round of action, as play was delayed for 3 hours. Tim Clark tied the course record with an 8-under-par ‘62’ for the early lead. Tiger Woods still has 7 holes to go on his 1st round, 4 off the top.

The Braves open a series against the Nationals in Washington DC tonight. Chuck James gets the starting pitching call. The Braves are down to 16 games remaining on their schedule--the playoffs appear to be out of reach for a 2nd straight season.

Georgia sports for Thursday, September 13th

The Braves dropped another game they couldn't afford to lose in order to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, as the Mets won last night 4-3. The Braves lost 2-of-3 in their series at New York.

Down 3-1 in the 8th inning with 2 outs, Jeff Francouer delivered a 2-RBI single to tie the game. But the Mets regained the lead in their half of the 8th, as Shawn Green came up with the tiebreaking RBI-single. It wasted another solid starting pitching effort from John Smoltz.

With the loss, the Braves' record fell to 74-72. Including last night's defeat, the Braves since July 17th are only 8-19 in 1 or 2 run games. In the bigger picture, with only 16 games remaining in the season, it appears Atlanta will miss the postseason for a 2nd straight year. They are 9-and-a-half games behind the Mets for the top spot in the NL-East. The Braves trail the wild card leader by 5 games.

Veteran 3rd baseman Chipper Jones missed all 3 games of the Mets' series, but says he expects to return to action tomorrow night in Washington D-C. He's been battling a sore oblique muscle in his right side.

The stars of professional golf are back in Georgia this week, as the Tour Championship tees-off from Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club this morning. The PGA's top 30 golfers are vying for this weekend's title, as well as the inaugural FedEx Cup. Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, and Phil Mickelson are top in the standings heading into action.