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That large sigh you just heard is coming from Braves Nation, which is also doing a collective shrug of the shoulders right now. First, after rooting vigorously for the Phillies - imagine that - the Braves still got stuck playing the Astros in the first round of the playoffs. Houston's three top starters - Pettitte, Clemens and Oswalt - make the Astros the most dangerous team to face in a three-out of-five series. Here's your reward for winning the division, Bravos.

But wait, there's more! The Braves have had to reshuffle their starting rotation for the post-season, moving Tim Hudson up to Game 1, because of concerns about John Smoltz's sore right shoulder. Smoltzie, if you don't recall, is only the winningnest post-season pitcher of all-time. And he's undefeated in division series. Do I like the Braves' chances if he's not 100%? Not so much.

Well, at least there's the Braves rock-solid bullpen. Oh, wait ...

Granted, Georgia Tech's not competing with the BYUs and Colorados of the world, but it's still pretty nice to be able to look up from your laptop and take in the Atlanta skyline. Unfortunately, thanks to the weather, you can only see the lower half of the skyscrapers downtown. One other drawback - it's open air. So if the winds shift the right way and the rain picks up, you may have a lot of short-circuited computers on press row.

What about the game you ask? Should be interesting. Just as the loss to UNC did some serious damage to the psyche of Wolfpack nation, it appears the Yellow Jackets' blowout loss to Virginia Tech has also lowered confidence and expectations in Atlanta. Put it this way - one team's fan base will be pleasantly surprised after tonight, while the other will sink further into a funk.

I don't know why, but I've got a feeling the Wolfpack might reverse recent history against Tech tonight. Call it reverse karma - now that State's finally the underdog against the Jackets, maybe they'll be able to pull the upset.

Cory McCartney of SI.com seems to think that (outside of Kentucky's Rich Brooks) UNC's John Bunting is next to go:

"He went 8-5 with an inherited team in his first year in 2001 and landed a trip to the Peach Bowl, but has gone 13-28 since and is staring down his third losing season in five years."

His SI.com colleagues identified Mark Mangino of Kansas, Gary Pinkel of Missouri and Tom Craft of San Diego State as coaches in the hottest of seats.

In all cases, you have to not only judge a program on how disappointing its record is this year -- and in recent years -- but also look at the coach's contract. That's why a quick hook for Bunting doesn't make a lot of sense right now. He's signed through 2009.

You also just can't look at one lopsided loss (69-14 at Louisville) and say, based on that, this program's going down the drain. For now, it looks like somewhat of an anomaly (or maybe Louisville is that good). Generally, there seems to still be some carry-over optimism from last season around Bunting's program. We'll have to wait and see if 2 or 3 more bad losses causes the mood to sour and chases away the better recruits they're in on now.

A year ago today, things were looking bleak and the firing talk was rampant, and more justified.

Wow, the sentences in the BALCO trials certainly were harsh. Victor Conte, charged with distributing undetectable banned drugs to pro athletes, received four months in jail and four months house arrest. And he doesn't have to implicate anyone who received the goodies.

Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' personal trainer, was charged with money laundering and steroid distribution. He got three months in jail and three months house arrest.

James Valente, BALCO vice president, got his charge reduced to steroid distribution and received probation.

Excuse me while I snort in derision.

Congress made a big deal about its hearings on banned steriods. Public service announcements decry their debilitating effects. And yet these sentences are held up as examples of punishment?

Yeah, they were plea deals. Yeah, prosecutors whined about lax laws governing steroids. Then why go through the time and taxpayer expense of these trials, only to see the defendants get slaps on the wrist? What message does this send to young athletes?

Simple: distributing steroids may be wrong, but if you're caught it's no big deal.

News & Record sportswriters Jeff Carlton, Rob Daniels and Jim Young talk this week on Radio Free Sports about this weekend's Virginia-North Carolina and N.C. State-Wake Forest games while looking back and considering the significance of the yellow flag thrown at the feet of Chuck Amato by a fan, and the letter from State AD Lee Fowler asking fans to be more supportive of their embattled coach. Also, would you do 33 years in prison because your favorite athlete wore that number?

Find it here.

And I mean that literally, not as a prediction of what's going to happen to North Carolina at No. 6 Miami Saturday. While electricity remains out in much of Dade County, that's not so much the issue in the game being bumped up from 3:30 to noon. Apparently, the light towers and scoreboard sustained heavy damage from Wilma and can't be repaired by the weekend even if power is restored. Read more about it here.

Rick Steinbacher, director of football operations, tells me it won't mess up the Heels' pregame plans at all. In fact, they prefer noon games because they basically just have to wake up, get breakfast and head to the stadium. For night games, they usually will see a movie during the day. With 3:30 games, you end up sitting around waiting anxiously for kickoff.

UNC has long been the top, or one of the top, merchandising schools in the country what with the Tar Heels' basketball tradition and the apparent popularity of their shade of blue. The Heels' 2005 NCAA championship team now is monopolizing the video-game world. There's Raymond Felton on the cover of EA Sports' '06 college basketball game, and now comes Roy Williams and one-year Heel Marvin Williams on another cover.

Meanwhile, the News & Observer continues to market off-color cartoons spoofing Triangle-area ACC coaches. For those who enjoyed Chuck Dynamite, you might want to check out John Bunting in "Miami Twice." While Chuck came off looking clownish, the lyrics in the latest cartoon are fairly unrestrained in critiquing Bunting's 6-win season, bad losses to Louisville and survivability despite not making the most of his talent (note the Willie Parker reference).

That's for Jeff Carlton, who hates White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson almost as much as I hate the Cubs.

Jeff and I chat about the lack of national love for the White Sox (I'm mad about it. Jeff, like the rest of the nation, doesn't care) on this week's addition of the Radio Free Sports podcast. Or as the incomplete music intro would have you believe, Radio Free (explosion). Since Rob Daniels was on sabbatical for this edition, Jeff and I also managed to get in a few words on hockey as well, which is actually pretty darned entertaining these days.

Also, lest we forget, Jeff and I talk a bit about the teams we cover - UNC and State - and the games they have coming up this weekend.

Follow this link to listen in.