The Falcoholic’s Staff Spotlight: Matt Chambers

Greetings, Falcoholics, and welcome to the eighth edition of The Falcoholic’s Staff Spotlight. This series is similar to the “Fan Spotlight” articles, however, instead we profile a current staff member of The Falcoholic. You’ve read their articles; now get to know them a little bit more. This week’s “Staff Spotlight” is on The Falcoholic’s Agitator in Chief, Matt Chambers.

Hi, readers! I’ve been writing around here since 2013 and working as an editor since 2015ish? We don’t have a list but I’m guessing I’m the most complained about contributor here! I get it all: “Slow news day?” “Hack!” “Who writes this?” “Not funny.” “I’m never reading here again.” “die” – I love it all! Please keep them coming as all complaints go into a very important file that is reviewed by dozens of important people. As you may have seen from my outstanding Twitter account, I’m a big fan of tweeting about smoked meats, bad jokes, and worse memes. Outside of football, I tend to like good ice, good sushi, bad food takes, good bourbon, and mediocre movies.

I asked Matt some questions, so let’s get started.

How did you become an Atlanta Falcons fan, and how did you start writing for The Falcoholic?

I moved to Atlanta right before the team’s first Super Bowl run so I wasn’t super involved in the first voyage to the promised land. My strongest memory of that season was probably South Park making fun of the team. Now that I think about it, maybe I’m the constant with all their failures?

I didn’t really get into the team until the early 2000s. Mike Vick definitely helped by making the team occasionally exciting. That fandom grew until a roommate suggested we go in on season tickets. It was great. I saw Vick toss 4 touchdowns against Steelers in person, then 3 against the Bengals, in what was guaranteed to be the turning point for Vick into an elite quarterback. Vick followed it up by occasionally completing half of his passes, we lost to the Browns (AT HOME?!?! THEIR QUARTERBACK AND HEAD COACH WERE BOTH PROBABLY NAMED JOHN), I had my best seats ever when the Falcons lost to the Panthers when starting quarterback Chris Weinke attempted (not completed) 7 passes, then my roommate started selling drugs and his junkie clients broke into my place and stole a bunch of my stuff. I got season tickets again next year and that was the Bobby Petrino season. Who could turn their back on such a team?

Despite my better judgment, I’ve been hooked since. So, my roommate got me really into the Falcons. I’d rather have my laptop stolen 100 times before I watch another 25-point lead disappear. I checked Facebook and he looks to be a Patriots fan now. I wish him nothing but the worst.

Since then, I started writing for something called Falcons Blog (now for sale for about 900 euros?!?), moved to the Bloguin network’s Falcons hub (which also closed down when I left and I assume is for sale for bitcoins), then was invited to The Falcoholic. Basically, I’ve destroyed every blog I’ve worked for. I believe Dave, in fact, Choated his original invite, sending me at most 8 to 10 words sort of asking if I’d write for the site. It’s possible I misunderstood that DM and Dave is just too nice to correct me.

You like memes; Which meme perfectly sums up being a Falcons fan?

There’s no appropriate meme for the Falcons. The Falcons are like a bottle of cheap tequila. The team sure is fun a lot but leaves lasting, extreme pain and regret. The highs and lows of Super Bowl 51 are just like Pepe Lopez.

OK, actually, I have a few memes that feel appropriate.

Who is the biggest bust in Atlanta Falcons history?

This is like picking a favorite child. Except those kids are all the trash players the Falcons have inexplicably forced you to deal with them for multiple years. You know, there are a lot of reasons great players don’t work out. I don’t feel qualified to make that distinction because they can deal with injuries, get some bad matchups, have a bad year, and there are truly so many talented players. Also, Sam Baker.

What’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?

I don’t know if it was the jetlag or not but Sydney was definitely my favorite city ever. Australian food may suck but the proximity to Thailand, China, and Japan opens up a lot of great food. The city itself was like a weird mix of historic European and contemporary Asian. It definitely helped the city is on the Pacific coast with countless scenic beaches full of crashing 30-foot waves and great white sharks. I had maybe a dozen introspective moments at Bondi beach which obviously didn’t do enough to change who I am today.

Second place goes to the zombie land of destruction I saw in Cleveland. I really appreciated the city’s terrible weather, atrocious food, and worse Browns fans. The city’s culinary motif can best be described as gas station while the city’s aura is broken gravel and loose trash mixed by the winds from a lake no one can ever enter and survive. Ohio is terrible.

What’s your outlook/prediction on the upcoming season?

Like every fan, I expect the Falcons to easily stumble into 10 wins every season. Of course, I felt strongly the team would flame out in 2016 and they made the Super Bowl. It really killed the whole idea behind the reoccurring sacrifice series. Here’s what I know for a fact: The Bucs, Saints, and Panthers are garbage.

Falcons stumble to 12 wins. I can feel it but also, I can feel watching them lose to the Jaguars or go 0-2 against the Bucs or something like that during an inexplicable downturn.

Is there anything you want to say to The Falcoholic readers?

I don’t have anything to plug because everything I write is on this website. Actually, I’d like to send a shoutout my boy Nick, a primo single guy on the lookout for a female Falcons fan, who has a Ford Focus with p low miles and a p chill Sandy Springs townhouse. He can tell you about when a guy went missing on night one of a Cancun bachelor party and wasn’t seen the rest of the trip.

Well folks, that wraps up another edition of The Falcoholic’s Staff Spotlight. I appreciate Matt for sharing his.. whatever that was, with us. Be sure to follow Matt on Twitter @FalcoholicMatt.

Additionally, you can find me on Twitter @EvanBirchfield. If you missed any of the past editions of The Falcoholic’s Staff Spotlight, you can view them by clicking the links below. Thanks for reading, Falcoholics!

Allen Strk | Jeanna Thomas | Carter Breazeale | Cory Woodroof | Adnan Ikic | Eric Robinson | David Walker