MediterraneanGrocery Wholesalers in Atlanta, GA

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- It’s jarring at first, the unexpectedness when you see the face of Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith. Now in his third season, he’s gone through a variation of facial hair. There’s been the clean-shaven period, the bearded look.

And now, there’s how Smith started training camp this week: With a mustache.

“It’s a lifestyle change,” Smith said. “It’s not for everybody.”

It’s also been in the works for about a month for both Smith and his defensive coordinator, Ryan Nielsen. The mustachioed duo began their growth in June, when Smith and Nielsen went to Europe as part of a USO Tour, along with players Feleipe Franks, Younghoe Koo and Lorenzo Carter and Steve Cannon, a West Point graduate and Airborne Ranger who is the vice chairman of Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment.

They met with troops, toured bases and the Falcons committed to funding the construction of a USO base in Bulgaria.

Koo called the trip “a humbling experience” to see how troops live their lives daily and what they go through and the sacrifices they make to protect the United States. Smith, whose father served in the military, said they traveled throughout Eastern Europe to places he never expected to visit, including Romania.

“It gives you a lot of perspective,” Smith said. “Certainly, going to Eastern Europe was eye-opening in a great way and getting to visit those troops, you realize how young they are. Eighteen, 19, 20-year-old soldiers when we were visiting the US Army post.

“Unbelievable perspective.”

But in the downtime, Smith and Nielsen found something else to do -- start their facial hair journey. Nielsen, who had a beard pre-mustache, said it’s been “a long time” since he’d been clean-shaven and that his beard “had its time,” and now “it’s the ‘stache.”

“You get on a trip with a bunch of guys and stuff happens,” Nielsen said. “This is one of the outcomes.”

To be clear, the mustache plan is not a superstition thing. It’s not a harbinger of luck or hope. It is not tied into the Falcons upcoming season and neither Smith nor Nielsen committed to having mustaches for the entire season. But it’s been a point of conversation among the players during training camp.

Koo said Smith asked him to also grow out a mustache, but the Atlanta kicker knew it was not a look he could pull off. Koo tried. It failed. But it’s created a buzz throughout the Falcons locker room.

Franks started to grow a mustache, as did linebacker Troy Andersen. Carter said they talked to him about growing a mustache but “I couldn’t rock the ‘stache like the coaches do. But hey, I love it. I love it…for them.”

“Can’t really say what I want to say,” running back Cordarrelle Patterson said. “But I f----- love it.”

CHICAGO -- Max Fried dominated through six innings in his return from the injured list, and the Atlanta Braves cooled off the Chicago Cubs 8-0 on Friday.

Sean Murphy and Marcell Ozuna homered on back-to-back pitches in Atlanta's seven-run fourth inning. Austin Riley connected in the seventh, and Ronald Acuna Jr. finished with three hits.

Major league-leading Atlanta earned its third straight win and sixth in seven games overall.

Fried allowed three baserunners, all on singles, in his first start since May 5. He had been sidelined by a left forearm strain.

Fried (3-1), a runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award last season, struck out eight before exiting after 72 pitches. The 29-year-old left-hander retired his first 12 hitters with no hard contact.

"I felt sharper than expected," said Fried, who had four rehab starts in the minors. "I had a lot of nervous energy, just looking forward to this day for a long time."

"I really just tried to simplify it and and keep us in it as long as we can," he added. "These guys have been doing so good for so long. I just want to kind of seamlessly fit it and not try to mess anything up."

The Braves look even more imposing after Fried's velocity topped out at 97 mph.

"I honestly didn't think he'd be that sharp," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said, "but that was pretty good and very impressive."

Cody Bellinger finished with two of Chicago's four hits. The Cubs had won three straight and 13 of 16.

"Fried was pitching like an ace," Chicago manager David Ross said. "He had real stuff, in the zone, mixing multiple pitches, kitchen sink thrown at everybody."

Fried improved to 5-0 against the Cubs for his career. He earned his first major league win at Wrigley Field on Sept. 3, 2017.

The Braves, who lead the majors with 209 home runs, went deep consecutively for the the second straight game and for the 14th time this season.

"I've never been part of an offense that can do that," Murphy said. "It feels like at any inning, any point we can explode for a whole bunch."

Acuña had two hits -- a single and an RBI triple -- in the fourth as Atlanta sent 11 hitters to the plate. Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia doubled in the outburst.

Brad Hand, acquired from Colorado at Tuesday's trade deadline, relieved Fried in the seventh to make his debut with the Braves. He allowed a hit in one inning.

Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks set down the first nine Atlanta batters. Hendricks (4-6) was charged with seven runs and eight hits in four innings

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ATLANTA — An Atlanta woman is filing a lawsuit against Popeye’s and several employees of the location she visited last September.

Denetra Dawson says she went to the Popeye’s on Cleveland Ave. to get dinner for her children. She says her order was wrong, so she went to the drive-thru to have it fixed, but says the employees inside weren’t listening to her.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Dawson says she pulled up to the window and employees began yelling at her because she was holding up the timed drive-thru.

One of the employees then came outside, opened Dawson’s passenger door, climbed into her car and began attacking her. Dawson says the employee ripped her hair out of her scalp, leaving a large bald spot.

Police identified the three employees involved in attack as manager Tenister Evans and her sister and daughter. The other two employees have not been identified.

“They recovered and saw her braid that they ripped out and said we ripped that ‘B’s’ hair out of her head,” attorney Mawuli Davis said.

“It took my identity. I took pride in my hair,” Dawson said. “I didn’t even think I was going to make it back to my kids.”

TRENDING STORIES:

A representative for Popeye’s Restaurants released a statement that read:

“We have absolutely no tolerance for violence of any kind in Popeyes restaurants. The franchisee of this restaurant confirmed the incident took place in September 2022, and the employees involved were immediately terminated. We cannot share any additional details as there is an active lawsuit related to this incident.”

All three women were charged with battery, but Evans received an additional charge of obstruction of an officer.

Channel 2 Action News found that Evans has been arrested for assault several times before. Channel 2 Action News found at least four other mugshots of Evans.

“I just pray that what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone else and that I get justice,” Dawson said.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

Family of man allegedly eaten by bed bugs continues fighting for reform at Fulton County Jail

The 2023 Atlanta Braves are the best Braves team of all time.

I don't say this lightly.

To have the greatest Braves team of all time conversation, I think you need to step back to the '90s-to-early-aughts Braves squads, the dynasty that won 14 straight division titles. That's something I don't think we'll ever see again — 14 straight from 1991-2005.

But throughout that entire stretch, the Braves won one World Series; in 1995. I would actually argue that was not the best Braves team of that stretch. I would say the 1998 Braves team was the best Braves team throughout that entire run. They had four players hitting over 30 homers, led by Andres Galarraga with 44.

I was the biggest Braves fan in the world growing up. I loved watching Galarraga, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Walt Weiss, Ryan Klesko and then that pitching staff with John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Kevin Milwood.

That team was stacked, and they went on to win 106 games. Chipper hit .313 that year. Glavine had 20 wins. All three of those future Hall of Famers in the rotation had a sub-3.00 ERA. But in classic MLB playoffs fashion, that team didn't even win the pennant, losing to the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series. It's a good reminder that there are no guarantees in October.

So with that caveat, I do believe that this current team is better than the 1998 Braves.

Ronald Acuña Jr. is a bona fide superstar, the biggest star on this team. He just reached 25 home runs and has 51 stolen bases, and is now the fastest player in MLB history to reach the 25-50 mark — in just 106 games. That's just incredible. If not for a certain two-way superstar in Anaheim, Acuña would probably be considered the best player in baseball right now.

[Tracking Ronald Acuña Jr.'s historic pace; which MLB hitters have 40/40 seasons?]

Then you have Spencer Strider, the fastest pitcher in history to reach 200 strikeouts in a season — beating his own record, which he set as a rookie last year while topping the old record of Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, one of the best strikeout artists of all time. To already one-up that this year, it's remarkable how good he's been. He was my NL Cy Young pick this year, and so far, I feel good about that.

Next we have Matt Olson, who has the most home runs in the National League and is at Shohei Ohtani's heels for the MLB lead. As of this recording, he has 37 bombs. He's finally getting the credit he is due. Consider this — over the last six seasons, nobody across all of Major League Baseball has more home runs than Olson.

The Braves offense as a whole — with Austin Riley, Acuna, Olson, Michael Harris II, Orlando Arcia, Ozzie Albies and the rest of that lineup — are on pace for 311 home runs, which would break the all-time record for team home runs in a single season. (The 2019 Minnesota Twins currently hold that mark with 307.)

Pitching-wise, the Braves have Max Fried returning Friday from a left forearm strain that has kept him out for the past three months. Kyle Wright should eventually come back before the end of the season. Oh, by the way, Fried was the 2022 N.L. Cy Young runner-up and Wright led all of MLB in wins last year.

Yet despite those injuries, the Braves still have three starting pitchers currently in the top 12 on the qualified ERA leaderboard — Strider, Bryce Elder and Charlie Morton — the only rotation in baseball to do so. That pitching staff leads all of baseball with a 119 ERA+, meaning they are a whopping 19% better than league-average as a staff.

I said earlier that I doubt we will ever see the streak of 14 straight division titles set by the 1990s-2000s Braves topped, but let me amend that — I think if anyone can do it, it's this current edition of the Braves. They already have five straight N.L. East titles and are well on their way to a sixth.

Yes, it's going to be tough in a talented division. The Phillies have superstars all over their lineup. The Marlins are very good, very young and have a dominant starting rotation. The Mets are clearly retooling right now, but they still have Steve Cohen as an owner and a very bright future thanks to all those prospects they got at the trade deadline.

But the Braves are just so good, and with the way they have been able to develop, acquire and maintain this core of players, they are poised to be this good for the foreseeable future.

But don't just take my word for it about the 2023 Braves. Several weeks ago, I asked my FOX Sports colleague, Hall of Famer and member of those 1990s Braves teams John Smoltz, this exact question — is this the best Braves team we have ever seen? Obviously, he has a very valuable perspective here.

"This team is equipped to do anything they want," Smoltz said then. "Offensively, they're gifted. Their speed is through the roof. Their pitching staff is more than adequate. I think that if they have health in their rotation and decent depth, which is important today, this could be the best baseball team the Atlanta Braves have trotted out in a long time if ever, going back to the days of Hank Aaron. I can't think of a better offensive squad than what they have from top to bottom."

I don't need much more confirmation than that. The 2023 Braves are the greatest team that franchise has ever put out on a baseball field.

THE FLATS – Details are complete for First Saturday on The Flats presented by Georgia’s Own Credit Union – Georgia Tech football’s annual Fan Day event – which will be held from 11 a.m-1 p.m. on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

PARKING

FREE parking (including ADA accessible spaces) is available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Peters (E52) and Klaus (E40) parking decks and McCamish Lot (E65). Click HERE for a Georgia Tech campus parking map.

ADMISSION AND ENTRANCE

Admission to First Saturday on the Flats is FREE. Fans will enter the stadium through the field-level northwest tunnel, located at located at Callaway Plaza on the north end of the stadium (off Bobby Dodd Way), between Gates 6 and 6A. Gates open at 11 a.m.

AUTOGRAPHS

Head coach Brent Key and Georgia Tech football student-athletes will sign autographs from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., courtesy of The Tech Way.

Student-athlete will sign autographs in Bobby Dodd Stadium’s Club Lounge. Lines for student-athlete autographs will begin in the end zone near the tunnel at the southwest corner of the field. There will be separate lines for offensive student-athletes and defensive student-athletes. Fans that complete one line must return to the southwest tunnel to enter the other line.

Coach Key will sign autographs in the Georgia Tech locker room. The line for Coach Key autographs will be in the end zone near the tunnel at the northwest corner of the field.

Autographs are limited to one from each student-athlete (plus Coach Key) per fan. FREE 2023 Georgia Tech football posters will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

First Saturday on The Flats will feature a plethora of other interactive on-field activities for the whole family, including the opportunity to run out of the Georgia Tech tunnel onto the field like the Yellow Jackets do on gameday, a football toss, ladder drills, combine and tailgate games, an agility course, field goal kicking, a uniform station, 360-degree photo booth and more.

WAIVER

All fans that wish to participate in on-field activities must complete a waiver. Fans ages 18 and older must sign their own waiver, while fans under 18 must have a waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian. For fans’ convenience, the waiver can be filled out in advance and emailed to [email protected] (click HERE to download a waiver). Waivers will also be available at the entrance, as well as at the marketing table (located at the 50 yard line) and each activity station on Saturday. Fans that email their waivers in advance or complete one in person on Saturday will be given a wristband at the marketing table, which will allow wearers to participate in on-field activities. Fans that email waivers in advance can also pick up their wristband at the stadium entrance.

2023 GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS

Georgia Tech football season tickets, which guarantee the best seats and value for all of the exciting action of Tech’s seven home games in 2023 – including the Aflac Game versus Louisville on Sept. 1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Nov. 25 regular-season finale versus archrival Georgia at Bobby Dodd Stadium – are on sale now, starting at just $225. For more information and to purchase season tickets online, click HERE.

Alexander-Tharpe Fund

The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and at www.ramblinwreck.com.