Rob Parker wrote an interesting article on ESPN a few days ago about Atlanta being the worst sports town and felt the Falcons did not deserve to win their playoff game against the Giants. While the Falcons on the field performance this past Sunday did prove they did not deserve to win a playoff game, is Atlanta the city of pretenders or true contenders in professional sports?
Let’s start with the Falcons since they are fresh off a season ending 24-2 loss in the NFL Wildcard playoffs. The past few seasons have shown a lot of promise, consecutive winning records, wining the NFC South, and drafting Julio Jones to give the Falcons offense an third weapon to go along with Michael Turner and Roddy White. There was excitement in the air at the beginning of this season that the Falcons would get over the “hump” and really be a Superbowl contender. Despite the hiccups during the season, a lot of experts still thought they had a legit chance to win against the Giants and make a playoff run, but instead they got destroyed. So the Falcons again are a nice story, decent team, but not a Superbowl winner.
Now let’s talk about the Braves……actually I think their end of season collapse this year speaks for itself……..
And finally the Atlanta Hawks or “The Highlight Factory,” who like the Falcons, have given some hope to the city. A lot of young, promising talent and a couple of playoff appearances has gotten the city excited about the team, but they like the Falcons, have been a tease and this season does not seem to be any different. The Hawks started things off this season by not re-signing one of the league’s best 6th men [Jamal Crawford], to most recently going to Miami to hand the Heat their first lost only to turn around a few days later to gift wrap the Bulls a game and lose to a LeBron and D-Wade-less Heat team. So the Hawks appear, similar to the Falcons and Braves, are like a mirage, giving Atlanta sports fans a false hope of having a championship winner.
Besides 1995 Braves winning the World Series, which seems oh so long ago, another championship banner has not been raised in Atlanta. So will the city of Atlanta have a professional team that truly is considered a legitimate contender to win the Superbowl, World Series, or NBA Championship again? Only time will tell, but until an Atlanta team experiences that level of success, we will continue to be fickle and impatient….
Shana White is a blog contributor for Gold Star Games, a leading tailgate gear supplier.