I ain’t gonna hate on ya.

are a good team with some identity problems and a storied past. I myself am a bit of a Titans fan if only because I love Tennessee (not UT, but the state) so much and hope to retire there way down the road. But I don’t live and breathe Titans. I live and breathe Falcons. I had to make a choice between the two after the Titans made the Super Bowl and I chose the Falcons because they were my break-in-the-NFL-fandom team.

I think there comes a time in every fan’s life where a choice must be made between two fanships. I’m a casual Titans follower (in that I read game recaps and will, if the Birds are done playing or are on a bye week, watch a game) but I’m a diehard Falcon fan. I wear Falcons merch every day. My car is dubbed “The Falconmobile” locally as it is covered in Falcon regalia.

You’ll have to choose eventually my friend. I know it’s tough but you will have to pick that one diehard and that one casual team.

There are a lot of teams in the NFL worth keeping tabs with – I am a diehard falcons fan and will instantly turn my head away from any other team if they are in close runnings with the Falcons.
The Cowboys are always full of good hearty NFL Drama, whether it be the attention happy T.O., the hollywood whore Tony Romo, or their attempts to build a franchise on high statted players (with the aquisition of Roy Williams after already having a very impressive O-Line complimented with Owens, Witten, Crayton, and Barber).
The Titans are alright ‘cause I like watching running quarterbacks (even if they have emotional problems that lead to their seat on the bench) and you gotta love their TE ;)
The only thing that makes Bucs games worth watching is seeing our old running back still looking good after so many miles.
I enjoy watching what Farve has done for the Jets and what Pennington has done for the Dolphins. How can you not say that you don’t constantly compare Flacco’s Ravens to Ryan? I was one of those sceptics that thought we should have let Ryan pass and trade up to pick up Flacco later in the draft as a future face after Redman loses this season with our team (this is why I’m not in Dimitroff’s shoes).
There are a lot of great stories in the NFL. It is a great league that is worth poking your head around every once in a while. However, how can you not say that your heart has grown with the franchise this year? It’s like a dysfunctional family that came together and developed into a great team with a great set of players that shine because of eachother and acknowledge that fact. You don’t see that a lot in the NFL.

inevitably cause heartache. A mortal man can only grit his teeth and respond “Thank you sir, may I have another?”. The Cowboys fans I’ve known are quite a loyal bunch, too. For your sake, I hope they don’t meet in the playoffs!

A great man once said “My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.” Cheers!

And while I find it distasteful, I’ll treat you with the same dignity and respect I would treat anyone else on this site. Unfortunately for you, that’s very little.

In all seriousness, stay active! Eventually you’ll get sucked in enough to abandon the Cowboys, and all will be right with the world.

Come back to the Light

I gotta say that for some reason I am feeling strangely sentimental. Bare with me for a few moments and I will let everyone know when I became a huge Falcons fan. I remember the exact date. January 17th, 1999. I had been an interested onlooker/casual fan for the 6 or so years that I had lived in ATL until then.

Everyone here remembers that date even if they don’t know it. The day we beat the Vikings in the NFC Championship. The strange part though is that the reason I really remember that date didn’t have as much to do with the Falcons.

So for a few years I worked as the 3rd shift front desk clerk at a hotel here in the VA Highlands called The Highland Inn. In the last year or so it has become a pretty vogue place as they opened up the downstairs ballroom into a club that has become pretty popular. Back then though it was an interesting mix of some long term guests that lived there, the occasional crackhead and or prostitute (from it’s pre Olympic reputation), many artsy types (painters, musicians, actors, etc..), younger types who thought it was a cool underground place and of course the ever present tourist who didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into.

About two weeks before the Falcs/Vikes game a lovely young lady barely in her 20’s checked in for a temporary stay. She had planned to stay there until she found a place as she had just moved out on her own for the first time from somewhere in Florida. Her name was Kim and she was incredibly sweet. She would stop by the desk late night to just chit chat. She told me she wanted to get into the Art Institute and even invited me to check out her art, which I felt a little guilty for telling her I really dug it when I didn’t so much.

The night before the game as usual I worked the midnight to 8am shift and had gone home and cracked a beer. I was after all in my mid 20’s and could handle a beer or two at that hour. So at around 11am or so I got a call from a co-worker telling me that I had to get back to the hotel right away as one of the housekeepers needed a translator and the police needed to question me. Of course I totally freaked out and hopped on my bike for the ride from Cabbagetown to the Highlands.

I had no idea what it was about and when I arrived I had to basically start translating to the cops what this housekeeper was saying. “I knocked on the door, didn’t here anything so I opened the door and she was laying face down”. As totally stunned as I was to hear this she then just kept repeating the room number. “She was in room 218. 218, 218”. It was this girl Kim’s room. As she tended to keep late hours the cops felt that I was the one person who would have known the most about her as she really hadn’t been in town long enough to make any friends and had yet to find a job. After answering the run of the mill questions I was free to go but couldn’t bring myself to go home.

I plopped myself down at Manual’s Tavern (which is about a 30 second walk from the hotel) and started drinking and watched the games on that day. I was totally numb to the games excitement until Uncle Morty kicked that field goal. I guess it was the sheer shock of the Falcons actually making it to the Super Bowl that snapped me out of the sheer shock of what I had to do earlier that day.

I remember it absolutley vividly and to this day I still see her face the second anyone mentions that game.

Well sorry to get all heavy on you all, but I was just feeling it. And BTW: Do I have loads of stories from working the graveyard shift at that place!