This weekend has been nothing short of excellent for all Georgia-based sports teams.

Atlanta Braves: The team overcame losing three straight to Philadelphia and Rafael Furcal's DUI arrest to put the hurt on Montreal, sweeping the Expos with a 3-game winning streak. Clearly there's still a lot of fight left in the Braves because, even after Smoltz gave up 3 runs in the 9th and blew his 4th save of the season, the team held the Expos scoreless for another 3 innings and then got the game winner off a misplay on a Charles Thomas squib and a subsequent Andruw Jones double.

The Braves record, since I made my predictions 9 days ago, now stands at 84-58. Over that stretch, they've won 6 and lost 4, and now there's 20 games left in the regular season. So, they need 12 more wins to achieve the 18-12 record I predicted on the 3rd. Doable, by all means, especially since they've got 5 straight games against the hapless Mets. (Finally. I was a little confused about their schedule for awhile there.)

Georgia Bulldogs: The Dawgs, my college football team, are ranked 3rd in the nation and had their first big test of the season, playing Lou Holz's rejuvenated South Carolina Gamecocks. I'm glad I didn't watch the game because the first half, apparently, was a real bust for Georgia. The Dogs came back, however, snarling in the second half, and David Green led the team to a fairly convincing 20-16 comeback victory. (South Carolina didn't score a single point in the last 30 minutes.) Mark Richt is an incredible coach, and I'd be surprised if Georgia DIDN'T win a National Championship under his tutelage. This could be the year, but it'll be an incredible accomplishment considering the school's schedule. (Jeez, to have to play Auburn, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech all in the same season!)

Georgia Tech: My grandfather, a Tech grad, would have savored the Jacket's upset victory over Clemson. Tech scored 24 fourth quarter points to shock the No 18 Tigers 28-24. My mom told me on the phone today that she went to bed last night with Tech behind by two touchdowns in the last quarter and when she went to church this morning people had a hard time convincing her that Gramp's team had pulled it out. She even tried convincing folks who had SEEN the game that Tech had lost...

Atlanta Falcons: I should never have started writing this journal entry before the completion of the Falcons/49ers game. When I started writing this blog, the Birds were up by two touchdowns and it looked like there wasn't enough time for the opposition to come back. Well, right now, there's 1:44 left in the game, and San Francisco is on the Falcon's 16, 1st and 15, with one touchdown and a two-point conversion away from tying the game. That'll teach me to jump the gun and make predictions I'm not qualified to make. OK, game update: SanFran just punched one through for a 16 yard touchdown pass, so the score is now 21 to 19 -- and, luckily, as FOX just showed on a game update, the 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

Well, the Falcons pulled it out, 21-19, barely escaping a convincing comeback attempt by the Niners. Michael Vick had a decent, but not stellar, day with 13 completions in 22 attempts, including one TD and one Interception. Warrick Dunn had 63 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The receiving corps had a good day, too, with Crumpler leading the pack with 6 catches for 82 yards. The win is a good start to the season, but based on the shaky performance of the defense late in the game, I can't help thinking that the Falcons have a lot to prove before anyone starts thinking they're a playoff calibre team.