Sports Daily: Lock your iPad, dad

Be honest: Were you at all surprised when the Falcons managed to insert themselves into the Shedeur Sanders saga?

Or did you assume it was only a matter of time before the hottest NFL draft topic developed an unpleasant Atlanta connection?

Quick links: Rank the Falcons draft | Braves drop finale | United still can’t score

ANOTHER WEIRD TWIST

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

I’d intended to write a mild refutation of this column from my colleague Michael Cunningham today.

The sorry state of Atlanta sports? C’mon! Everyone (not you, United) is more or less trending in the right direction.

Then the latest Shedeur Sanders news broke.

That prank call the former Colorado quarterback got during the draft? The one where someone pretending to be the Saints’ general manager told Sanders he was being selected, then essentially said “sike!” and hung up?

Turns out the son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was involved with that.

Ol’ Jax, a 21-year-old, apparently nicked the number from dad’s iPad and decided to entertain himself at someone else’s expense. That someone else being the son of Deion Sanders, a member of the Falcons Ring of Honor.

The younger Ulbrich — who apologized, calling his decision “completely inexcusable, embarrassing and shameful” — didn’t actually make the call. A heretofore unidentified friend appears to have done so while he watched.

But poor form all around. And pretty dang mean, too. The NFL’s investigating.

Which brings me back to my originally intended argument: I don’t think Atlanta sports are particularly sorry at the moment. We’re doin’ all right.

There’s just … always … something.

🧐 To wit: The Hawks are young and exciting! With the right acquisition or two, they could be genuinely, no-caveats-required good next season. Of course, they randomly fired their general manager last week.

🧐 To wit: The Braves just took a series against Arizona and have played really well lately! Of course, they started the season 0-7, had their biggest new addition popped for PEDs and rehabbing Ronald Acuña started some social media beef with his manager.

🧐 To wit: The Falcons put together a heckuva draft, even if lots of the experts (including our own D. Orlando Ledbetter) don’t love how they got there.

And then our guy Jax, the perfect avatar for Atlanta’s sports essence, arrived.

The thing about this town is we’re not much different from most of the others. We win sometimes, we lose sometimes.

But Atlanta always finds that extra spice. We’ve got a lemon-peppered penchant for odd twists and unusual exacerbations.

Just truly weird stuff that either makes bad worse, tempers successes or otherwise distracts us.

Nothing is simple.

That’s the real Atlanta difference.

Keep on reading for more coverage — but check out Mr. Cunningham’s weekend reflections, too.

DRAFT RECAP

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

OK. Ready for a recap of the actual football part of the NFL draft?

🏈 The Falcons: After snagging Georgia’s Jalon Carter and Tennessee’s James Pearce in Round 1, Atlanta traded up again to take Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts in the third round.

Then they selected Oklahoma safety Billy Bowman Jr. (fourth round) and Wisconsin tackle Jack Nelson (seventh round).

Quarterback-needy teams drafted potential starters — which won’t make trading Kirk Cousins any easier.

🏈 Georgia: A total of 13 former Bulldogs were selected. And yes, Philadelphia took one of them.

🏈 Georgia Tech: Tight end Jackson Hawes went to Buffalo in the fifth round. Defensive tackle Zeek Biggers went to Miami in the seventh.

🏈 High school: In all, 23 Georgia prep products got drafted, the third-most of any state.

GNARLY NUMBER: 343

That’s how many minutes of match time it’s been since Atlanta United scored a goal.

Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Orlando made three straight shutouts — and pushed the Five Stripes to within 180 seconds or so of the franchise record scoreless streak.

🤔 Manager Ronny Deila says Atlanta needs to rediscover its happiness before Nashville comes to Mercedes-Benz Stadium this weekend.

BRAVES HEAD TO DENVER

Credit: Ross D. Franklin/AP

The Braves dropped Sunday’s series finale at Arizona, 6-4. Starter Spencer Schwellenbach looked a bit shaky again, surrendering four runs over six innings,

The good news:

Atlanta won the series, its third straight.
It’s won seven of its last nine games.
A visit to the miserable Colorado Rockies (4-23) begins tonight at 8:40 p.m.

⚾ Take care of business and the Braves (12-15) just might head back home at .500.

ALSO INTERESTING

😬 Bill Belichick (73) and his girlfriend (24) conducted a super cringey interview with CBS Sunday Morning.

🎙️ 92.9/The Game added a familiar voice to its morning show: Atlanta radio veteran Ali Mac.

⛳ Jerry Kelly shot a record 20-under to win the Mitsubishi Electric Classic over at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth.

WEEKEND WONDERPERSON

Credit: Abbie Parr/AP

I generally try to keep this award slightly more local — but man, Anthony Edwards earned it.

The pride of Atlanta’s Holy Spirit Preparatory Academy has the Minnesota Timberwolves up 3-1 and on the brink of eliminating LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the Lakers from the NBA playoffs.

👀 His latest feat: Sunday’s night 43-point performance, which included leading the T-Wolves on a 10-point fourth-quarter comeback.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Luka's probably the best player in the game, young player in the game, and Bron is the best player leaving the game, so I'm just trying to prove I belong.

- Edwards after Sunday's Game 4 win over the Lakers

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.

Until next time.

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