It’s a tough position for Calvin to be in but rules are rules. You know you can’t bet on NFL games if you play for the NFL.

Here are the details:

Ridley said he bet $1,500 total and that “I don’t have a gambling problem.” He also tweeted that he couldn’t even watch football at the time he made the bets. He added that he’s just going to “be more healthy when I come back” and that “I know I was wrong But I’m getting 1 year lol.”

I will have to get one of these MLK jerseys in the personal collection!

Photos below:

We will wear these letters. And we pledge to #EarnTheseLetters pic.twitter.com/KJQgR5flYD

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 6, 2020

We can't stop looking at our new MLK City Edition unis pic.twitter.com/1r3E5tRHen

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 5, 2020

Questions will be asked for decades on how the 25 point overtime comeback win happened. Did Matt Ryan choke, or is Jake Matthews’ hold to blame? Or do we blame Devonte Freeman’s missed block, or the lack of running plays called for the Falcons?

I’d hate to be a Falcon fan right now. At least when my Denver Broncos lost Super Bowl 48 we knew about a minute and twenty seconds in we were wearing an L. There is nothing worse in pro football fandom than getting let down by a team that you thought was championship material.

But Falcons fans I have something special for you. A rap battle of NFL fans/battle rappers repping each team. Chilla Jones of Boston raps for the Pats and Ness Lee of Atlanta holds it down for the Dirty Birds. At least ATL wins this one.

Check out the battle below:

Per: BARSTOOL SPORTS

At one point he was good ascending into great territory, then out of no where he became an interception machine. In the last few years Ryan has averaged 16 picks a year and that doesn’t look to end any time soon.

Here is a video of Falcons camp in which Matt Ryan is… throwing a pick! And what’s even worse? He threw the pick to Kyle Shanahan who last time I checked was not a NFL cornerback.

Here is the video below:

Kyle Shanahan just intercepted Matt Ryan LMAOOO pic.twitter.com/MAyd4qQpKP

— Herbo (@HerbMcDerb) August 4, 2016

Will Matt Ryan get it together? Or will he just throw more picks? Will Julio Jones be happy? These questions and more answered on the next episode of Dragon Ball Atlanta….

According to Eli himself, he was asked some “weird” questions during the draft combine process. One of those questions came from Falcons who specifically wanted to know if he found another man attractive. In that way.

Yeah… weird.

Not all of the questions being asked at the NFL Scouting Combine relate directly to football. But one question that Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple was asked just might have crossed a line.

On Friday, in an interview with Comcast SportsNet’s Breakfast On Broad, Apple, one of the top corners in the draft class, indicated that he was asked about his sexual orientation during an interview with the Atlanta Falcons.

“The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, ‘So do you like men?'” Apple said. “It was like the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I was like, ‘no’. He was like, ‘If you’re going to come to Atlanta, sometimes that’s how it is around here. You’re going to have to get used to it.'”

This isn’t the first time a Combine participant has outed the NFL for asking inappropriate questions during the pre-draft process. In 2013, University of Colorado tight end Nick Kasa told ESPN Radio that he was asked if he liked girls, prompting a quick response from the league spokesman Greg Aiello, who said it was league policy to neither “consider nor inquire about sexual orientation during the hiring process.”

Apple, a projected late-first/second round pick, indicated that it may not have been a direct question about his sexual orientation, and the question may have been asked in an attempt to force him to think on his feet. He added that he had been asked “a lot of weird questions. I don’t know if I could say on TV.”

“I guess he was joking,” Apple said, “but they just ask most of these questions to see how you’re going to react.”

Apple’s televised announcement of the Falcons’ Combine questioning habits led the team to react quickly. Shortly after the interview on Friday, Falcons head coach Dan Quinn apologized to Apple and added that he’d spoken to the coach about a question he called “inappropriate and unprofessional.”

“I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches,” Quinn said in a statement. “I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was. I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are about and it is not how we are going to conduct ourselves.”

The NFL shares Quinn’s view on the situation.

“This is disappointing and clearly inappropriate as the Falcons acknowledged,” a league spokesman added. “We will look into it.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo…icle-1.2553151

Of course the Falcons can claim that they had the right to ask the question due to the city’s high population of gay men, but again it is none of their business if Eli or any other player is interested in that. These guy’s jobs is to play football not look for a date.

The Falcons can definitely expect some kind of discipline from the league for this. I don’t understand why teams are still teetering this line after Michael Sam. It’s just too much trouble to ask. Just do your research on the kids Instagram (because everyone snitches on themselves online) and keep it moving.

According to Sporting News the C’s are going to attempt to free up a large trade exemption using Paul Pierce and then acquire Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith:

Boston must either trade Paul Pierce or decide to buy him out. They have until June 30 to inform Pierce of such a move.

As for the rebuilding sure to follow the dismantling, that is contingent on what happens with Pierce. If the Celtics can unload Pierce to a team with enough cap space to absorb his salary, they will get a trade exception worth Pierce’s salary, or $15.3 million. And if that happens, the plan is already in place. According to a source, the Celtics have a sign-and-trade offer ready for Atlanta forward Josh Smith that would be the top priority in free agency.

Wireimages

Since everyone is going crazy on this “What if Mike Vick Were White” topic, I decided to take things even further. What if Mike Vick was still black, still from Virginia Tech, still athletic, but instead couldn’t play Quarterback in the NFL worth a damn?

Let’s go back in time.  Back in 2001 draft the Atlanta Falcons were in the market for a QB with incumbent QB Chris Chandler looking like a battered veteran on his last leg.  Just two years after being soundly defeated by John Elway and the Denver Broncos in the 1999 Super Bowl, the Falcons held the number five selection and were poised to select TCU running back Ladainian Tomlinson in the NFL Draft.  The night before the draft the Falcons wrangled the 1st overall pick away from the Chargers and selected Virginia Tech QB, Michael Vick.

The rest was… history so they say.  But let’s assume Vick didn’t pan out as well as he did in Atlanta.  That means no playoff wins, and few exciting runs. Let’s assume Vick was another Jamarcus Russell level draft bust.  What would have happened?

In our alternate universe, the Falcons get rid of Vick after three uneventful  seasons and are poised to select in the top five again in the 2004 NFL Draft.  Who would they have selected?

The Falcons need another QB

In 2004 the top QBs were Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers. The Chargers, already trading out of #1 with the Falcons three years prior aren’t going to miss out on “can’t miss” prospect Eli Manning and select him with the #1 overall selection again.  Eli refuses to sign in San Diego and with his father orchestrate a trade to another team…. the Atlanta Falcons who have selected Philip Rivers out of North Carolina State.  The Falcons give up a kings ransom of picks, along with Rivers and get the services of one Mr. Eli Manning.

The 2005 Falcons rebuild around an offensive core of Manning, Warrick Dunn, and in the 2005 draft they select in the 10-15 range drafting WR Mike Williams out of USC.  Williams at the time is a “can’t miss” WR prospect in many’s eyes but fights weight and commitment issues and sets the Falcons back another three years waiting for him develop.  Meanwhile Roddy White finds a soft landing spot going to the Eagles in the second round.  Atlanta cuts bait with Williams after three seasons and in the 2008 summer sign unrestricted free agent WR Bernard Berrian to help the development of their young quarterback.  The Falcons go on to remain a middle of the road team while Eli continues to show flashes of brilliance but is ultimately hampered by his lack of talent at WR.

Ben still dominates

Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger and the New York Giants win the 2007 Super Bowl over the AFC Champion Denver Broncos.  Jake Plummer never has three turnovers in the 2005 AFC Championship, as the Steelers don’t make it without Ben so Mike Shanahan keeps the Broncos roster intact, and instead of drafting QB Jay Cutler out of Vanderbilt he selects WR Santonio Holmes out of Ohio State.  The Broncos offense is no match however for the Giants’ combo of Ben Roethlisberger, Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Plaxico Burress.

After his three years in Atlanta Vick is left to put the pieces back together in his career.  Not many teams need a QB, and are not willing to develop the former Hokie Quarterback who has been labeled as an athlete, and not a “real” NFL Quarterback.  In the summer of 2004, Vick signs a free agent deal with the Cleveland Browns as a developmental WR.  Vick enters in a training camp battle with WR Andre King from Miami and Richard Alston from East Carolina.

Vick tries out as a receiver

The Browns install Vick as a starting kick returner and punt returner where he earns a spot on the roster alongside college teammate WR Andre Davis.

Vick continues to develop and becomes the team’s starting kick returner. He has a decent year in 2004 and even though he fights nagging injuries he finishes with around 590 return yards.  In 2005 Vick is beat out for his roster spot in preseason  by another former QB turned WR, rookie Joshua Cribbs out of Kent State. In the summer of 2006 Vick’s career is pretty much over and after appearing with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2006 preseaon Vick is cut and washes out of the league, never to be heard of again.

No NFL scandals, no breaking news, no comebacks.  Michael Vick is pretty much left to his own devices after the 2006 NFL preseason.  Without the spotlight on him Vick is still convicted of dog fighting after his cousin is arrested in 2007 but it does not make the news and Vick isn’t made a pariah in the media and made an example in the court of law.  After a 12 month jail sentence Vick returns to Newport News, gets a job at Home Depot and helps out with coaching his local high school’s wide reciever squad.

This is just an example of how things could have went for Vick who as we all know is enjoying an un-probable comeback.  What are the chances that things could have went the way presented here?  We may never know… but we do know that Vick is extremely lucky that things have worked out for him and he still has a NFL career to salvage.

**If you enjoyed this article please spread it around to your blog, twitter, forums, etc.  A lot of research went into this!