ATLANTA - Georgia Tech was picked to finish near the bottom of its conference. The Braves lost a bunch of key players. The Falcons had a rookie coach and a legacy of losing.
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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick (7) goes airborne over St. Louis Rams cornerback Jerametrius Butler (23) during first half play at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Sunday, Sept. 19, 2004. Vick, perhaps the NFL's most exciting player, is off and running toward another big year, leading the Atlanta Falcons to their first 2-0 start since the Super Bowl season of 1998.
Associated Press
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Georgia Tech's Will Bynum, center, is congratulated by teammates Jarrett Jack, right, and Isma'il Muhammad, after winning their national semfinal game against Oklahoma State 57-65 Saturday, April 3, 2004 in San Antonio.
Associated Press
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Atlanta Thrashers' Dany Heatley skates past teammate Dan Snyder's number 37 as he plays during the first period of the Thrashers' game against the St. Louis Blues Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 in Atlanta. Heatley's return to the ice came nearly four months to the day that his sports car slammed into a wall and killed teammate Dan Snyder who was riding in the passenger seat.
Associated Press
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So much for expectations.
The Yellow Jackets made it to the Final Four, the Braves won their 13th straight division title and the Falcons finished in an extremely rare position - first place.
Those were the state's top sports stories in 2004, along with a team that fell short of its goal.
The Georgia Bulldogs had hoped to contend for a national title, but didn't even make it back to the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Also making headlines over the course of 366 days (remember, it was a leap year): Phil Mickelson won his first major golf title with a dramatic victory at the Masters; Vince Dooley stepped down as Georgia's athletic director; Atlanta prep star Dwight Howard was the first pick in the NBA draft; and the Atlanta Thrashers got locked out along with the rest of the NHL.
The lawyers were busy, too.
Thrashers star Dany Heatley was finally charged in the wreck that killed an Atlanta Thrashers teammate in the fall of 2003. Football star Jamal Lewis agreed to serve four months in jail after pleading guilty to trying to set up a drug deal in Atlanta four years ago. And Georgia appealed sanctions by the NCAA, which gave the men's basketball program four years probation for academic fraud and improper benefits under former coach Jim Harrick.
Georgia Tech had the greatest basketball season in school history, winning five nail-biting games in the NCAA tournament before an 82-73 loss to Connecticut in the national championship game at San Antonio.
A team with no real superstars, the Yellow Jackets were molded into a cohesive unit by coach Paul Hewitt, who was rewarded with a new contract before the Final Four.
Not bad for a team picked to finish seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Most of the top players - Jarrett Jack, B.J. Elder, Luke Schenscher, Isma'il Muhammad, Will Bynum - were back for an encore, hoping to win one more game in 2005.
"I definitely like the situation we have here," Jack said after the loss to UConn. "When you get to this point, you want to take it all the way."
Georgia Tech certainly faced much higher expectations, starting the new season ranked in the Top 10.
The Braves' amazing streak of division titles was projected to end after they lost four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux and sluggers Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez and Vinny Castilla.
But general manager John Schuerholz, working within the confines of a smaller budget, traded for J.D. Drew, signed John Thomson and put faith in players both untested (Johnny Estrada and Adam LaRoche) and plagued by injuries (Jaret Wright).
Drew batted.305 with 31 homers. Thomson and Wright combined to win 29 games. Estrada played in the All-Star Game. Starting slow, the Braves got rolling after a tongue-lashing from manager Bobby Cox in late June, running away with another NL East title.
The ending was familiar: Atlanta lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third year in a row. Still, Cox was named NL manager of the year and called it one of his most satisfying seasons.
During the offseason, the Braves had to rebuild again. Drew left for the spoils of free agency, along with Wright and another 15-game winner, Russ Ortiz. Schuerholz traded for pitchers Dan Kolb and Tim Hudson, while John Smoltz made plans to shift back to the rotation after three seasons as the closer.
The Falcons didn't have to rebuild. They merely had to keep Michael Vick healthy.
The dazzling quarterback missed the first 11 games in 2003 after breaking his leg, a major reason for Atlanta's 5-11 season. With Vick leading on the field and new coach Jim Mora setting the right tone in the locker room, the Falcons cruised to the NFC South title - just the third division championship in the franchise's 39-year history.
"We're for real," said tight end Alge Crumpler, who joined Vick, defensive end Patrick Kerney and linebacker Keith Brooking in earning Pro Bowl honors.
Vick cashed in with a new 10-year contract that is worth more than $100 million, including an NFL-record $37 million in bonuses.
With two games left in the season, Atlanta was assured of a first-round bye and at least one home playoff game. The last time the Falcons were in that position was 1998 - and they made it all the way to the Super Bowl.
Stay tuned.
Georgia went 9-2 and earned a spot in another New Year's Day bowl game, though the Bulldogs clearly hoped for more. They were No. 3 in the rankings until an upset loss to Tennessee. There also was a late-season whipping by eventual Southeastern Conference champion Auburn.
Still, the Bulldogs beat Florida for the first time since 1997, knocked off Georgia Tech for the fourth year in a row and were in position for their third straight 10-win season, needing a victory over Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl.
David Pollack won the Lombardi Award as the nation's top college lineman, and David Greene became the winningest quarterback in NCAA Division I-A history, breaking Peyton Manning's record.
Georgia Tech has settled into a familiar - if somewhat troubling - routine on the football field. The Yellow Jackets stayed just above medocrity, winning seven games for the third consecutive year under coach Chan Gailey. In an encouraging sign, they capped off this season with a rout of Syracuse in the Champs Sports Bowl.
Speaking of familiar, the Thrashers missed the NHL playoffs for the fifth year in a row, though they set teams records for wins (33) and points (78). A horrible January (2-9-3) knocked Atlanta out of first place and ruined any postseason hopes.
It didn't help that Heatley missed 51 games, requiring knee surgery after the wreck that killed Dan Snyder. The case was rekindled over the summer when a grand jury indicted Heatley for vehicular homicide; authorities said he was driving much too fast on the winding, two-lane road before his Ferrari careered into a fence.
While Heatley's attorney worked on a defense, the Thrashers star went off to play in Europe. He wasn't alone - the NHL lockout wiped out the first 2½ months of the season, along with the All-Star game scheduled for Philips Arena in February. With no agreement in sight, the entire hockey season was at risk.
A lockout might be the only hope for the Atlanta Hawks. The NBA team took a different approach - new owners, a new coach, an almost entirely new roster - but seemed likely to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year after losing 20 of its first 25 games.
The Georgia men's basketball team performed better than expected in coach Dennis Felton's first season, winning 16 games and playing in the NIT. The Bulldogs lost four seniors off that team, leaving behind a depleted roster for Year 2 of the Felton Era. A 38-point loss to Georgia Tech showed just how far this program has to go as it cleans up the mess left by Harrick.
On the women's side, Georgia fell one win short of the Final Four. The Lady Bulldogs began the new season with touted freshman Tasha Humphrey, but got off to a slow start with three losses in their first eight games.
There was a new athletic director in Athens. Damon Evans took over July 1 and immediately shook things up by firing several of Dooley's longtime cronies.
"I will stay out of the way," vowed Dooley, who faded into a fund-raising job and eventual retirement after a 40-year tenure as Georgia's football coach and athletic director.
Two other Georgia colleges won Division II championships: Kennesaw State in men's basketball, Valdosta State in football. But Evander Holyfield's quest to regain the heavyweight boxing title has become downright pathetic.
The 42-year-old, four-time champ has won only two of his last nine fights. In November, he was suspended by New York officials after losing a lopsided decision to journeyman Larry Donald.
Holyfield appealed and vowed to fight on, though no one gave him much chance of regaining the titles he once held.
Clearly, he wasn't concerned with expectations.
