You know, I've been thinking about how to tell this story all day.
The biggest city in the south, home to teams in all the major sports. A town that is the new melting pot of the U.S. People come to Atlanta from all over the world to live, to play and enjoy life. Heck, movie's and TV shows are filming in Atlanta on a regular basis.
But for those who are from the city, there's a deep, not-so-dark secret.
Atlanta has come to stand for "Good, not great" sports.
Monday night, October 7th, 2013 in Atlanta, may have been the single worst night that any city has every experienced in the history of Sports.
Mind you there have been some pretty bad one's in the ATL.
In the late 80's, the Atlanta Braves were so bad, you could go to a game, starting with outfield seats and end up behind the 1st base dugout before the game was over.
Nobody was there. (look at the crowd shot about 1:00 in)
The Atlanta Falcons never had back-to-back winning seasons until 2009.
The AtlantaHawks, they traded away Hall-of-famer Dominique Wilkins in his prime, for Danny Manning. And have never played an NBA finals game as the Atlanta Hawks.
Never.
Atlanta had not 1, but 2 NHL teams. Both lasted a handful of years, both franchises left and moved to Canada.
You get the picture.
So, to have a night where in the span of two hours, the Braves get eliminated from the playoffs after giving up a game-winning 2 run home run in the 8th inning, with their best pitcher, Craig Kimbrel on the bench is not surprising.
Watching the Falcons get beat by a BAD New York Jets team with a rookie QB, 30-28 on a last second game-winning field goal drive is pretty bad.
Finding out that your star WR Julio Jones broke a bone in his foot and is out for the season is worse. Dealing with all this and the knowledge you are 1-4. Depressing.
And this doesn't even take into account the Hawks losing to the Miami Heat in an exhibition game.
Oh, and we didn't even mention the Georgia Bulldogs (yes, I know they are in Athens), who while barely beating a crappy Tennessee team in Knoxville, are now without 5 of their top 6 offensive players.
You get the picture.
For the Braves, it's just disappointing. They played well enough at times. They made the playoffs and had a shot at winning. At least in the 1st round.
But manager Fredi Gonzalez, who appeared to be a genius for starting a pitcher hauled off the scrap heap (Freddie Garcia), instantly became the goat, when he wouldn't warm up Kimbrel to prepare for a 2-inning save.
He paid the price for that when reliever David Carpenter gave up an 8th inning, 2-run homer to Juan Uribe.
Game over.
For the Falcons, yeah, it was pretty depressing. But it's nowhere close to your saddest day.
No, nothing will ever top the embarrassment of Bobby Petrino coaching you to a loss on Monday Night Football in 2007, then showing up later than night in Fayetteville, Arkansas hollering "Pig Sooey!!"
But this is pretty bad. Sure, the Falcons were probably a bit over-rated this year. No depth, weak on both sides of the line. This despite having Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Jones, Tony Gonzalez and Steven Jackson on your offense.
Let's be real: You were a 9-7 team at the start of the season. That should still be your goal.
As for the Hawks, well, yeah...um...well, if there were ever a poster child for "Good, not great", you'd be it.
5 straight years of playoffs. 0 Titles. And now, your stars are Al Horford and....uh...Paul Millsap?
Thanks for playing...
My point is this. People ridicule Atlanta fans for being bandwagon jumpers. And to some extent, it's not without warrant. But the fans in this town are a bit spoiled, kinda confused, and mostly--not from here.
So why would they suddenly become loyal to Atlanta teams? They aren't.
But for those who live here and those who love/follow the teams, it's heartbreak after heartbreak. It's always been that way. The Braves, while good, last won a playoff series in 2001.
The Falcons, while good, won their first playoff game in 7-years last season (2012).
The Hawks, yeah, they've won a couple of playoff games and even a series or two. But they've never been a title threat.
For me, I grew up a Braves fan. It's tough to see this. I know they probably will never be much more than what they are. Good, not great. Their ownership doesn't---scratch that---won't give them the resources the Yankees or Dodgers or Texas Rangers have. And that's ok.
The Falcons. I like them. I don't love them.
I like them because I covered them, for a long time. I know several people in the front office and they've always been kind to me. It's nice to see them win. Except when they play the Miami Dolphins, the team I grew up rooting for.
The Hawks, again, I like them. I like to see them do well. But they too, will never be more than what they are.
If you live or have lived in the Atlanta area, the one team that really, the entire area lives and dies with, it would be the University of Georgia.
But even they haven't won a National Title since 1980.
They've been close. And they may again be close this year.
But like every other team in this part of the country, for the most part, they are "Very good, but not great"...
((author note--"I've lived in Atlanta for over 12-years. I worked as a Sports Producer and Photographer for 10 of those years. Many of these miseries were experienced first hand))
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