Michael Cunningham
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta, GA, United States
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Past articles by Michael:
Georgia’s ‘good foundation’ not enough to avoid another SEC flameout
NASHVILLE — Two years ago in this building, Georgia’s Sahvir Wheeler said the best was yet to come for Bulldogs men’s basketball. It didn’t seem like an outlandish statement at the time. It just turned out that way later when Wheeler and seven other players abandoned Tom Crean’s program, which quickly collapsed. → Read More
Classifying college athletes as employees would protect them from abuse
NCAA schools commercialized intercollegiate sports long ago. There was no turning back once they decided to maximize revenues from media-rights deals, sponsorships, tickets and “donations” for the right to buy those tickets. College sports are professional in every way except the money isn’t shared with athletes who do the work and are the draws for audiences. → Read More
Quin Snyder is good get for Hawks to build program
Cunningham: Snyder said he’s on board with the front office’s plan to make “humility and selflessness” core values of the organization. → Read More
Why Grapefruit League games matter for Braves
Most everything that happens in spring training games will be forgotten once opening day arrives. That doesn’t mean the games don’t matter. → Read More
Braves need Kyle Wright to be good again after ‘Aha!’ year
The Braves don’t need Kyle Wright to be as good as Max Fried and Spencer Strider. They just need him to be good. → Read More
Braves’ Michael Harris says he can top debut season. I believe him.
Michael Harris broke the part of columnist Michael Cunningham's brain that tries to ignore small sample sizes in baseball. Cunningham kept waiting for Harris' performance to regress during his rookie season with the Braves. It never happened. → Read More
Hawks’ Trae Young is no All-Star, but winning is more important
It took less than two NBA seasons for Trae Young to prove that he’s one of the best basketball players in the world. Young’s reputation has fallen even faster. → Read More
Why the Eagles will beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl
If Super Bowls are about quarterbacks and coaches, then the Chiefs have this one locked up. Patrick Mahomes won his second NFL MVP award this season. Andy Reid is a legendary coach with a Super Bowl title in hand. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni are up-and-comers, but they haven’t made it to the top. → Read More
Trades make Hawks better but still not good enough to beat East’s best
It has been clear to me for a while now how this Hawks season will play out. Assuming they make the playoff field, the Hawks will draw the Celtics, Bucks, 76ers or Nets. That’s where the season ends. The first round is the ceiling. → Read More
Worst-case projections for Braves still are really good
The Braves are boring again. I don’t mean that they are uninteresting. A team with a swashbuckling slugger such as Ronald Acuna can never be dull. Winning is fun. The Braves have been doing a lot of that for five years and counting. → Read More
Georgia Tech men’s basketball shouldn’t be this bad
The problem for Tech men’s basketball is that, over 15 years, the program really has gotten off the ropes only a couple of times. That doesn’t make sense to columnist Michael Cunningham. → Read More
Ex-Falcons aide Kyle Shanahan has another shot to shed stigma of 28-3 collapse
The Colts benched Matt Ryan twice this season and may end up cutting him before the next one. Julio Jones hitched his hopes to Tom Brady, only for both legendary players to discover they are mortal. Dan Quinn found work as defensive coordinator in Dallas after the Falcons fired him, and as usual, the Cowboys fell short of expectations. → Read More
Braves are good again, but their hole at shortstop is worrisome
The Braves will make the playoffs with Vaughn Grissom or Orlando Arcia at shortstop and Eddie Rosario in left field. They are so good in so many other areas that below-average production at those positions won’t prevent them from at least securing one of three National League wild cards. Then anything can happen in the postseason. → Read More
Georgia Tech’s Brent Key has the players to win in ACC
Former Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins got the recruiting part right, if not the coaching. Coach Brent Key has inherited the kind of player talent than can make the Jackets winners in the ACC. → Read More
Falcons don’t have to wait on Desmond Ridder
The Falcons have a lot of salary-cap room, plenty of draft picks and so many options for using both. → Read More
Georgia Bulldogs so good they make winning the championship look easy
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Most Georgia fans at SoFi Stadium had trekked into the soggy Southern California night, satisfied after watching their Bulldogs bludgeon TCU, when Kirby Smart delivered a message for them. → Read More
Pressure is on Georgia’s Kirby Smart to not blow it in title game
LOS ANGELES - It’s championship or choke job for Kirby Smart. Either Georgia’s coach wins back-to-back national titles, or Smart blows it by losing as the biggest favorite since they started deciding the champion with a final game. There’s no middle ground outcome for Smart in the College Football Playoff championship game against TCU on Monday night. → Read More
Georgia takes C.J. Stroud’s best shot and still wins
TCU’s Max Duggan is a tough quarterback. He’s not as good as C.J. Stroud, though. Ohio State’s quarterback did everything he could to beat the Bulldogs. It was a great performance that just wasn’t enough. → Read More
Underdog Ohio State has what it takes to beat Georgia in Peach Bowl
Not many teams have defeated Georgia recently, but the underdog Buckeyes can do it, too. → Read More
Time for Falcons to see if Desmond Ridder is the next Matt Ryan
With Matt Ryan, the Falcons got a winning lottery ticket out of a losing situation. They were bad enough to get the No. 3 pick in 2008 because Michael Vick was facing federal dogfighting charges. They were lucky enough that the Dolphins and Rams passed over Ryan. → Read More