Atlanta Airport Shut Down Today Because of Coyote

The FAA said a coyote on the runway temporarilaly shut down Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport during a busy Tuesday afternoon.

The coyote was spotted on the south side of the airport around 3:30 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

"An airport vehicle chased him into a ravine" and flights resumed after roughly five minutes, Bergen said.

There have been a slew of coyote sighting in Metro Atlanta recently.

The animal has been seen everywhere from East Cobb, to upscale tree-lined neighborhoods in Buckhead. Earlier this month, Decatur residents appealed to city leaders for help in controlling the burgeoning coyote population.

Just last week a dead coyote was found not far off the Downtown Connector.

Georgia Tech to Interview Craig Neal this Weekend?

I have a source telling me that with the New Mexico Lobo Basketball team playing against Alabama in Tuscaloosa Monday night, New Mexico Assistant Coach and former Yellow Jacket player Craig Neal will detour over to Atlanta and interview for the vacant Georgia Tech Men's Basketball job.

Lobo Coach, Steve Alford has recommended Neal for the job even though he doesn't have any head coaching experience.

Georgia Tech is looking to fill the open head coach position after Paul Hewitt was fired last week with numerous years still remaining on his contract.

Much like Iowa State did by bringing in Fred Hoiberg, hiring Craig Neal would bring back memories of Bobby Cremins and the Thrillerdome of the 1980's and 90's.  I believe he would unify the fanbase, at least for the moment, and he has NBA scouting and coaching experience to offer as well as being a successful college assistant.

Atlanta Radio Host/Producer Fired for Tweets Critical of Advertiser

You would think a big company like Delta Air Lines would have something better to do than get an Atlanta sports radio host and producer fired for sarcasm laced Twitter messages.  Note to Delta: Use social media to help customers, not get them fired!

It happened today when Chadd Scott, producer of the Chuck and Chernoff show on 680 the Fan was fired for giving updates on his Delta flight delays while in St. Louis.

Delta is a big advertiser on 680 and they apparently monitor tweets from Atlanta radio personalities and if they don't like what they are saying, even though it may be the truth, they throw their weight around to get them fired.

Although Scott is taking it in stride, I think Delta is wrong for holding something like this over the heads of a radio station, and 680 the Fan and Dickey Broadcasting are spineless for not supporting an employee. 

Delta prides itself on helping customers through the use of social media with its new DeltaAssist endeavor, it also looks like it will use social media like Twitter and Facebook to play bully.

Even though Scott feels ok about what he did, I'm sure he would've acted differently if he knew what the end result was going to be. 

Looks like lessons should be learned by all the parties involved.

AT&T Offers Relief For Those Calling Japan

AT&T today announced it has implemented international calling and texting support efforts for U.S. residential wireless and wireline consumers trying to connect with loved ones in Japan, following last week's tragic earthquake and tsunami.

Effective beginning last week, March 11, and continuing through March 31, AT&T wireless postpaid customers will not be charged for:
*    International long distance usage from the United States and Puerto Rico to Japan
*    Text messages to Japan, originated from a U.S. wireless number

In addition, and also effective March 11 through March 31, residential wireline customers can seek credits for up to 60 minutes of direct dial calling to Japan:
*    Upon receiving their wireline bill, customers may call AT&T to receive adjusted calling for up to 60 minutes. In other words, no charges for up to 60 minutes of call time from the United States to Japan between March 11 and March 31.

For any of the above activity, customers will either see no charges reflected on their monthly statement, or they will see a full credit applied to their statement for activity between March 11 and March 31.

"We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can," said Mark Collins, senior vice president, Voice and Data Products, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "Connecting with family and friends is most important at times like this- we want to make it as easy and worry free as possible for our customers."

Still available, AT&T wireless customers can text "redcross" to 90999 to give a $10 donation to help the Red Cross with disaster support efforts in the area.  No text message fees apply.
And, TV Japan - the 24 hour Japanese news channel - is available for free through March 17 to all U-verse(r) TV subscribers, allowing viewers to follow the news and recovery efforts. TV Japan can be found on channel 3680.



SEC Basketball Tournament in Atlanta

The SEC Basketball Tournament takes over the Georgia Dome this week and if past history tells us anything about the tournament, it is that something remarkable will likely happen.

It might be tornadoes, it might be coaches getting ejected, it might come down to a team playing two games in one day to win the championship.

Kentucky is the defending champion. The Wildcats beat Mississippi State 75-74 in the 2010 finals.

The tournament schedule is:

Thursday, West No. 5 Auburn vs. East No. 4 Georgia, game one, SEC Network, noon

Thursday, East No. 6 South Carolina vs. West No. 3 Ole Miss, game two, SEC Network, 2:30 pm.

Thursday, East No. 5 Tennessee vs. West No 4 Arkansas, game three, SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, West No. 6 LSU vs. East No. 3 Vanderbilt, game four, SEC Network, 9 p.m.

Friday, game one winner vs. West No. 1 Alabama, game five, SEC Network, noon

Friday, game two winner vs. East No. 2 Kentucky, game six, SEC Network, 2:30 p.m.

Friday, game three winner vs. East No. 1 Florida, game seven, SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, game four winner vs. West No. 2 Mississippi State, game eight, SEC Network, 9 p.m.

Saturday, game five winner vs. game six winner, game nine, semifinals, ABC, noon

Saturday, game seven winner vs. game eight winner, game 10, semifinals, ABC, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, championship game, Game 11, ABC, noon

This is an important tourney for teams like Vanderbilt,, Georgia and Alabama which need a good showing to keep reasonable NCAA Tournament hopes alive.  Should be some good games starting Thursday.