A Very Falcoholic Discussion: Why You Love The Atlanta Falcons

by Dave Choate on Mar 2, 2009 8:00 AM EST in Editorial

Today I will dig myself out of over a foot of snow and head to work. Later, there will likely be an accident of some sort that will require me to dig myself out of the snow and travel to said accident, trying to avoid becoming part of an accident myself. After the accident, I will go back to the office, where I will work until it is dark and cold and I have to dig myself out of the snow again.

I'm a guy who enjoys the hell out of his life, but that is just futile, man.

When you think about our lives as football fans, there's a very loosely strung parallel there. We love our teams, but we spend at least as much time digging ourselves out of the mess they leave us in as we do exalting in their triumphs. The Falcons in particular have given us many more snowstorms over the years than bright days, but yet we gather here to dissect their every move, forecast their every decision and hold our hands to the warm glow of the 2008 season. It's funny how seventeen games have turned many of us from dull-eyed pessimists to blind optimists.

A fan's attachment to their team of choice is a baffling, lifelong choice. If you're like me, you've never quite found the perfect answer when someone asks you why you stick with them, particularly if you raise questions about everything else in your life. Many of us who aren't overly loyal to our jobs, change cell phone carriers regularly and shift our life's very purpose to suit our weekly whims will die having spent decades cheering and snarling at our televisions on Sundays. I try to explain it to people who don't have a team or aren't sports fans and I constantly come up short.

So rather than spend yet another day harping on free agency when the Falcons are apparently content to let the market sort itself out, we're doing this. We're going to try to define what it is that keeps us Falcons fans going.

This isn't meant to evoke a discussion on how you became a Falcons fan in the first place--because we're already done that--but to see what favorite memory or enduring feature of the Falcons keeps your rooting interest intact. What is the very essence of your fandom?

Enjoy, folks.

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The thing that does it for me:

The dirty bird being done on the sideline after the 98 NFC championship game. One day, I hope to live a repeat of this sight, only with a better coach, a better running back, and perhaps a stalwart franchise QB on the sideline flapping their wings after winning the Super Bowl.

Everyone loves an underdog and the Falcons have fit that bill the past forty-plus years. I suppose that’s what keeps me rooting: the idea that despite what everyone expects, great things can and will happen. The Falcons, unlike perpetual suckstars such as the Browns or Lions, actually do have a top season every once and a while. They usually come about ten years apart but they’re there and they keep me rooting. 98-2008 has been one heck of a stretch of football and the Falcons have never failed to keep me riveted, even when going 4-12.

"If the Falcons ever manage to win a Super Bowl in my lifetime, I'll french kiss a toilet." - a friend.

by Adam Schultz on Mar 2, 2009 9:19 AM EST reply actions

Agreed

I guess I have a love deep in my heart for things that are consistantly inconsistant. Although watching the ’98 Championship game while on a Ski trip and going ape ca-ca with the other guys I was watching it with will always be a favorite memory of mine.

If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn't the same as the one I was wearing, I'd run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.
-Bo Jackson

by Pregame with Pabst on Mar 2, 2009 9:35 AM EST up reply actions

Agreed again, plus extras.

That year in 98 will forever stick with me till the day I die, and hopefully further. That year was really the beginning of my life as I know it today. I graduated high school, met my wife, joined the Marine Corps, and got to watch my Falcons go to the Superbowl for the first time ever.

I clearly remember sitting somewhere in the woods of North Carolina, freezing rain falling down, getting ready for yet another night training session when one of our instructors came up to us and asked how many of us were from Atlanta or GA. Most of us were and he simply said, “I hate you all. Do you know why? Because I am from Minnesota. Atlanta just beat the Vikings. Now get your shit together, we are marching an extra five miles just for that!” It was the happiest extra five miles though, so the joke was on him. Poor guy had to march an extra five miles all pissed off his Vikings lost.

So, I’ve always been a Falcons fan as far back as I can remember being alive. My father is a Falcons fan and my grandfather was a Falcons fan and I cherish all those memories sitting around the TV on Sunday’s watching the game with all of my early 80’s Falcons football cards trying to run the plays with the cards on the floor. My county league football team was the Falcons. Jessie Tuggle always came to our banquets at the end of the year.

I guess the thing is that the Falcons are home for me. I’ve been all around the world and the states since that year and no matter what, following the Falcons always brings me back home. They keep me grounded I guess you could say. And on an admittedly selfish reason, I am always hoping that I get to feel that feeling again. Sure, we lost pretty badly, but being there, just being there made it all worth it. And watching it from a crowded barracks room in DC with a lot of fellow Georgia born and raised Marines, well, it was pretty f’ing awesome.

by Jesse28 on Mar 2, 2009 9:57 AM EST up reply actions

I’ve been all around the world and the states since that year and no matter what, following the Falcons always brings me back home. They keep me grounded I guess you could say

VERY well said. Where ya been Jesse?

"He's getting better, but he's not there yet ..."
- Bobby Cox (talking about Boyer)

by FrankyWren on Mar 2, 2009 11:16 AM EST up reply actions

Well

Obviously Atlanta and Georgia are my beginnings, mostly the southside such as Hapeville, but I’ve also lived in Jacksonville NC, Washington DC, Huntsville AL, and currently Jacksonville FL. I’ve had smaller stays in places such as Chicago, LA, Seattle, Portland, Birmingham, Montgomery, and smaller places such as Delmar, Delaware. Going abroad has taken me to the Bahamas, Korea, Japan, and Australia. And there are probably more places that I’ve forgotten.

Some of these places I lived for a year before moving on, some much longer and some much shorter. But if the question of this topic is what makes us stick with our favorite teams, I think for most people the answer is very simple. I think most people are always looking for something to connect them back to when they were a child, to a place where we were comfortable and had nothing to worry about except which color play-do you were going to play with that day or which hill you were gonna attempt a jump off on your bike. Sticking with our teams allows a lot of us to do that, however subliminal it may be. Rooting for our favorite teams allow us to be a child again, or at least it does for me. Switching to a new team would be like moving in with a Korean family in Seol, eventually they would accept you and you would learn to be like them, but you’re still not Korean and I bet you would still think about home. Perfect example would be my fandom for the Brewers. They have a AA team in Huntsville and I was lucky enough to watch pretty much the entire current roster come through Huntsville so I came to like the Brewers. But if you think I don’t keep up with the Braves or aren’t a fan anymore, you couldn’t be further from the truth.

I have two boys and a third due in April. I wake my oldest up for school every morning before I leave for work and usually I turn cartoons on for him to watch. Recently though, I had Sportscenter on and when I turned to his cartoons, he asked me to turn it back to sports. So I did and I watched a few highlights with him, then he kinda looked up at me and smiled and I now know what it was like for my father when I would jump in his lap to watch the game, wearing my old single bar facemask red Falcons helmet. I can only hope my boys get to experience this for themselves.

by Jesse28 on Mar 2, 2009 1:09 PM EST up reply actions

I too am a Braves/Brewers fan ...

That must have been a proud moment w/ your son. Given the plethora of children you have running around, I completely understand your absence.

"He's getting better, but he's not there yet ..."
- Bobby Cox (talking about Boyer)

by FrankyWren on Mar 2, 2009 1:31 PM EST up reply actions

I always like to hear the family lineage

I am the only Falcons fan in my family and probably one of three in the state I reside in, so it’s always bittersweet to hear those stories. My brother and dad are both big Green Bay Packers fans, so at least I get to taunt them from time to time.

by Dave Choate on Mar 2, 2009 4:21 PM EST up reply actions

They were the only team

When I started watching football as a youngster they were the home team so when I would play video games I would pick the Atlanta team. It pretty much just grew out of that pride for the city of Atlanta when everyone else was talking about the other teams they liked. Now it is pretty much burned into my soul and I’m a lifer.

by atlsfinest on Mar 2, 2009 5:50 PM EST reply actions

Welcome to the site!

And who didn’t love playing as the Falcons in Tecmo Super Bowl, et al?

by Dave Choate on Mar 2, 2009 6:01 PM EST up reply actions

man im young

u guys remember everything about them im so young i dont seem to fit in with you guys desires

by mistab50 on Mar 2, 2009 6:24 PM EST reply actions

Naw man ...

Like Michael Vick is the Man young? I’ll be honest, I’ve always been a Falcons fan, but I didn’t really start following the Birds until Vick was drafted. All are welcome here homie.

"He's getting better, but he's not there yet ..."
- Bobby Cox (talking about Boyer)

by FrankyWren on Mar 2, 2009 6:28 PM EST up reply actions

I'm only 24

We’ve got fans from every age group and history here. No worries about fitting in.

by Dave Choate on Mar 2, 2009 7:13 PM EST up reply actions

Ugh.

I’m older than the mod? Laaaaaamme.

Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish — a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly with a heart full of hate who has found a way to live out where the real winds blow — to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested...Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll.

by iRonin on Mar 2, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions

I'm an old soul

Who has old soles. I really could use a new pair of shoes.

by Dave Choate on Mar 2, 2009 9:55 PM EST up reply actions

I'm the same age as the mod? Sweeeeeeet.

Fogey!

"If the Falcons ever manage to win a Super Bowl in my lifetime, I'll french kiss a toilet." - a friend.

by Adam Schultz on Mar 2, 2009 11:42 PM EST up reply actions

I'm one year younger than the mod ...

and I feel old-as-shaz.

"He's getting better, but he's not there yet ..."
- Bobby Cox (talking about Boyer)

by FrankyWren on Mar 2, 2009 11:53 PM EST up reply actions

ok...

I am probably older than all of you young guys.. although I dont think I am old.

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Mar 3, 2009 4:16 PM EST up reply actions

I'm from Atlanta... I have no choice

No, not really. I am born and raised in GA and plan on living here forever if I have any say in it, but I have been a Falcon fan since I was 9 years old. That was when I first started playing football myself. I met an old Falcon after one of our games (Harmon Wages), and he told us all to start watching the Falcons games on TV (they must not have had the blackout rule back then… lol). I started watching the Flacons in 1970 and never stopped. Been a season ticket holder since we drafted Deion and hope I can continue to be one (prices are getting out of hand). Whether I keep my seats in the future or not I will always follow and support this team. They are part of me now.

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Mar 3, 2009 8:41 AM EST reply actions

Great article! Say's it all.

http://www.macon.com/174/story/637422.html

by PennsylvaniaPeregrine on Mar 3, 2009 9:00 AM EST reply actions

Atlanta Native - the Falcons were the only Team

I moved to Atlanta in ’69. Growing up, the only colors that football jerseys came in were Red & Black (no offense to Tech). Steve Bartkowski was the only pro QB you had to know – even though Fran Tarkenton was a local, and his kids lived near me.

Billy Whiteshoes Johnson, Alfred Jenkins, Mick Luckhurst, William Andrews, Gerald Riggs, Jeff Van Note – these were the names I grew up with. These were the heroes I loved to see play in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. These were the men who would come to my school, and stress the importance of reading, and staying clean.

I’m not catholic, so why would I cheer for the Saints? Miami was too far away, and how can you cheer for a team whose colors are AQUA and CORAL? Tampa Bay never inspired me, and I couldn’t see jumping ship to any of the "Johnny Come Latelies (Panthers, Jags and Titans).

Nope – never was an option – I am as much a Falcons fan at 4-12 as I am at 11-5.

But I’m more of a fan at 14-2.

by Mnemonic on Mar 5, 2009 5:02 PM EST reply actions