:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54913519/usa_today_9766616.0.jpg)
Welcome to the refreshed The Falcoholic! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities at SB Nation, we’re sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you’d like to share your story, head over to the FanPosts to write your own post. Each FanPost will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Fanatics gift card. We’re collecting all of the stories here and featuring the best ones across our network as well. Come Fan With Us!
Welcome to the refreshed The Falcoholic! You may notice things look a bit different around here, and at every SB Nation team site. To celebrate the new look and feel of the community, we’re sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our particular favorite teams, and why we still love them.
For me, it was an odd sort of thing. I grew up during a time when the Patriots were a pretty sad sack franchise, having made it to one Super Bowl and then sort of fading back into irrelevance for my formative years. To the extent that my parents were football fans, they were fairly non-serious ones. My dad was a Packers fan who had only had a light attachment to the Pats, my mom grew up a Vikings fan thanks to a healthy crush on Fran Tarkenton. There was no real pressure to choose a team in that house, and the Falcons crept into the vacuum.
One of my earliest memories as a sports fan comes during that 1991 playoff run where they beat the Saints, and tons of games spent playing with Jessie Tuggle, Deion Sanders, and the immortal Steve Broussard in Tecmo Super Bowl cemented that. The 1998 Super Bowl run locked me in for life, and starting The Falcoholic back in 2006 ensured I’d wind up spending even more of my spare time thinking about and writing about this football team.
I’m still a fan because I’ve come to love the Falcons through the ups and downs. They’ve disappointed me as much (or much more) than they’ve added joy to my life, but life itself is a series of ups and downs, so hey.
Enter the contest by reading the rules and adding your FanPosts. I hope one of you wins some $$$!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. SB Nation Why Are You a Fan Reader Sweepstakes starts on 8:00am ET on May 25, 2017 and ends at 11:59pm ET on June 8, 2017. Open only to eligible legal residents of the United States, 18 years or older. Click here for Official Rules and complete details, including entry instructions, odds of winning, alternative method of entry, prize details and restrictions, etc. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Sponsor: Vox Media, Inc.