Atlanta’s sad sports history: One lousy title in 149 pro seasons
The initial response to the sight of Atlanta patrons leaving an NFL playoff game with a quarter still to play — this happened only last weekend — was to loose the boilerplate harrumph. “Nothing new here! These people are the fairest of fair-weather fans in all the land!”
That’s always the reaction from national voices, and there was a time when it was the belief of this correspondent. Atlanta’s the city that can’t sell out playoff games and then, when finally it does, the crowd goes home early when the scoreboard gets ugly, et cetera. But 26 years and 10 months of residency have had an erosive effect, and now this neutral-by-profession can say:
Folks, I feel your pain.
Since big-time professional sports arrived in 1966, teams sailing under the Atlanta flag have completed 149 seasons. (We won’t count baseball in 1994, when the World Series was canceled by a players’ strike, or the 2004-2005 NHL campaign, which was scrubbed due to a lockout.) Only one has yielded a championship. That’s a batting average of .007, which is nice if you’re James Bond, less nice if you’ve invested financial and emotional capital in any of those 148 misses.
(Just to clarify: I haven’t included the Atlanta Chiefs’ 1968 NASL title because soccer wasn’t a major American sport. Nor is the Knights’ 1994 International Hockey League championship factored, the Knights having been by definition minor-league.)
The history of major Atlanta pro sports is of the cosmic whiff. Our teams build us up to let us down. The Hawks have never won more than one playoff series in any season since moving from St. Louis. The NHL Flames, who left for Calgary in 1980, didn’t win a single series in six tries. The Thrashers, in operation since 1999, haven’t yet won a postseason game.
The Falcons have won six playoff games in 45 years of trying. The two times they held the No. 1 seed resulted in flops of wildly differing flavor. On Jan. 4, 1981, the Falcons led Dallas by two touchdowns after three quarters and lost. (See YouTube video below.) This January the Falcons led 14-7 only to watch with benign neglect as they were outscored 35-0 in a span of 18 minutes, 25 seconds.
The one time the Falcons graced a Super Bowl — this after the epic overtime victory in the Minneapolis Metrodome that stands as the greatest performance by any Atlanta team — they messed it up. On the eve of Super Bowl XXXIII, safety Eugene Robinson got himself arrested for solicitation hours after receiving the NFL’s Bart Starr Award for citizenship. Was it any wonder the game’s key play — an 80-yard touchdown pass from John Elway to Rod Smith — featured a late-arriving Robinson?
Andruw Jones chases the Leyritz blast -- to no avail, naturally. (AJC file photo)
The Braves, to their credit, reached the World Series five times in the ’90s. They lost four, the first three in excruciating fashion. Bobby Cox, manager of those teams, would later say, “We played better in three of the ones we lost than in the one we won,” and it was just Atlanta’s luck that its one professional title was achieved the year after the players’ strike of 1994, a debilitating event that served to sap some of passion from the moment of long-deferred (and never-repeated) moment of arrival.
We Atlantans know the drill: Whenever one of our teams gets close, Lucy snatches away the football and Charlie Brown goes flying. With a chance to take a 3-1 lead in a World Series, Mark Wohlers throws Jim Leyritz a slider. With a chance to close out the Boston Celtics at the old Omni, the Hawks’ final shot is taken not by Dominique Wilkins but by the sub Cliff Levingston, who offers up a running lefty hook. With a chance to take a 2-1 series lead on San Francisco, the reliever Craig Kimbrel is removed but the shaky emergency second baseman Brooks Conrad remains on the field in what will be the penultimate ninth inning of Cox’s managerial career.
One hundred forty-nine seasons, one victory parade. (Although the worst-to-first Braves of 1991, who lost the World Series when Lonnie Smith dallied at second base in Game 7, held a parade, too. And so, on a predictably rainy day, did the Falcons after their lost Super Bowl.) Over the same span, the modest city of Pittsburgh has won 11 championships — 12 if you count the ABA crown taken by the Pipers. Long-suffering Philadelphia has six titles since 1966. Denver has four, one at Atlanta’s expense.
Really, can anyone blame us if we’re jaded? Even if we don’t know what will go wrong this time, we’ve seen enough to know something will. We live in Atlanta, where something always does.
By Mark Bradley
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491 comments Add your comment
the real Old Gold
January 23rd, 2011
2:46 pm
The Atlanta Knights won the Turner Cup, and The Crackers had International League championship, as I’m almost certain the Black Crackers had as well…
5150 P.O.A.D
January 23rd, 2011
3:38 pm
Dejay
Not really. Pro sports is the ABILITY to fund the SPORT and therefore your ENEMY. Pro sports is the only business that if you kill your competition you KILL yourself. The NBA is the greatest proof of that with NASCAR learning that very quickly.
Eric B.
January 23rd, 2011
4:37 pm
Finally someone gets it. It not that we do not support our teams. It’s that we want support a bad or mismanaged team, Or a team whose ownership is clueless. Or saddled with one of the worst GM;s in history.( Pete Babcock). No why should I pay my money to a team that has yet to deserve it. Or earned it, and yes thanks for the World Series moment. But as Bobby himself said. We were better in three of them.
So thanks for one of you media guys for understanding the mindset of some of us fans. And not to just jock sniff the teams and players and blaming the fans for their lack of success and our support
Tony Geinzer
January 23rd, 2011
4:51 pm
I was hoping Atlanta would turn the boat around for the Falcons. I know that it feels Simpsonian that the Speedway was good until they redid it, the Braves should have won more, 1998 should have been a title and the Knights departure ruined the IHL down the line, which is the city’s lone Pro Hockey Title. Also, I feel Wilkins was one of the most memorable NBA Players never to win it all (Thanks, Boston.)
fballnut
January 23rd, 2011
4:56 pm
As an ATL native and life-long (aka,long-suffering) Falcons fan, I feel more optimism than ever before. Yes, we got bumped out by GB last week – but Chicago still has not even scored in the 3rd quarter and it looks like GB is going to burn them too unless there is a drastic change in the next 23 minutes.
Nothing takes away the fact we’ve had 3 consecutive winning seasons, 2 of those to the post-season, and are current NFC South Champions and #1 NFC team for 2010 season. That’s the best sustained play record in the history of earth for our Birds! It bodes well for continuing forward momentum of this young team (remember we’re in just the 3rd year of rebuilding) – and gives ATL fans the best hope ever of finally winning a Super Bowl in the near future.
DHD
January 23rd, 2011
5:06 pm
Hey Mr Sour Apples, how about an article about Atlanta being the only city with 3 playoff teams this past year?
fballnut
January 23rd, 2011
5:35 pm
Wouldn’t you know that the year when our Falcons got hot, so did several other teams in the conference? The #6 seed GB Packers had a better season record than most years’ top 3 seeds have. Would I like to still be playing? Of course. But that does not minimize how many other teams we outranked this year.
Mark, you and all the other transplants who are here taking up jobs and enjoying living in our city need to either get some civic loyalty – or as Grizzard always said, go back where you came from “Delta is ready when you are.” With the 10% unemployment rate in GA, your job could be filled by one of the over-qualified category of the currently jobless Georgians. Get your heart in or get your tookus out.
1eyedJack
January 23rd, 2011
7:25 pm
We ain’t been the same since that low-down reprobate Sherman burned the place down. Bastid!!
fballnut
January 23rd, 2011
7:26 pm
Hell Yeah!
J-Man
January 23rd, 2011
7:59 pm
Well if we had Nnadami Asomugah things might be different but Bradley won’t admit to this because he didn’t say it first
scottbravesfan
January 23rd, 2011
8:19 pm
At least the Braves won one. They have a good shot at winning another one this year as well and with all the young pitching in the minor league system the Braves should be good for awhile. Falcons will be back as well. They have too much talent and Aaron Rodgers was in the zone the other day. The Falcons would have beaten the Bears.
scottbravesfan
January 23rd, 2011
8:23 pm
Kapoonka,
Take your dumb ass back to Chicago then. If you have lived in Atlanta for 25 years and you don’t support their teams, you are part of the problem. I wish Atlanta fans would start giving people like you the Philly treatment.
Scott
January 23rd, 2011
8:30 pm
Go back to Kentucky you glass half empty all the time, UGA hating, negative energy blowhard. Oh, and have a great day.
PMC
January 23rd, 2011
8:52 pm
They may not have but 1 title to show for it, but The Braves have been a pretty entertaining summer for 20 years now. The Falcons have been fun since we finally got a decent coach in Dan Reeves. The Vick era was really fun and now it seems like they have things ironed out going forward even if they did finish with a face plant.
The Hawks last year if you watched them were ridiculously entertaining, especially when Josh Smith was on. Really fun, just not quite good enough. No real trancendent player due to some missed opportunities drafting players.
The Thrashers have a bleak and mostly sad history, but they have been really fun to watch over the last couple of years too and they have a nice young corps of talent.
It’s really not so bad anymore even if the endings are still horrid.
dagnabit
January 23rd, 2011
9:44 pm
Have you considered “working” for a big city newspaper?
Yellow Fuzz
January 23rd, 2011
9:45 pm
1eyeJacked
Wish he had torched Athens a little better.
kaminari
January 24th, 2011
2:18 am
From someone born and raised in ATL, a die-hard sports fan of the the three-headed monster (Hawks-Braves-Falcons), I thank you for writing this article. Now I hope we put our sorry history to rest & watch as Fredi rebuilds a dynasty, Joe rise up and lead the Baby Hawks into championship maturity, and hope that TD is right in building us a tough, gritty football team that will respond to humiliation by dishing out more of the same to opponents. But something good is brewing in ATL Mr. Bradley, and it ain’t the ghosts of Nightmare’s past.
Super Bowl XXXIII
January 24th, 2011
2:30 am
[...] Atlanta’s sad sports history: One lousy title in 148 pro seasons – Atlanta Journal Const… Atlanta's sad sports history: One lousy title in 148 pro seasonsAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)On the eve of Super Bowl XXXIII, safety Eugene Robinson got himself arrested for solicitation hours after receiving the NFL's Bart Starr Award for … Jan 06, 2011 2:36pm [...]
RMikel58
January 24th, 2011
7:18 am
Knocking out Roger Staubach in return knocked us out! We had a really good Defense that year and i remember praying that Dallas wasnt gonna come back but after Roger retired Danny White had alot of comebacks. Dallas had alot of hall of Fame players on that field that night.
I remember celebrating after knocking Roger Staubach out of the game cause i’d never seen Danny White, who’s Danny White? Oh we got this game in the bag, up by 2 TD’s, 4th Quarter then BAM BAM Dallas just beat us. My heart dropped.
The Atlanta Hawks playing game#7 against Larry Bird and the Celtics i remember Dominique and Bird swapping points back n forth with Boston pulling it out and they had 4 Hall of Famers on that team.
Those guy’s that beat us know how to win……like the NY Yankee’s did even after we had them down 2-0 going to Atlanta, Andrew Jones 1st rookie to homer in his 1st at bat. Yankees barely had a heart beat until they evened the series at 2.
Then Charlie Brown shows up and we flop. We are a joke in Atlanta, i will sit there and cheer but will always fear of comebacks in the back of my mind because we have such a history of choking in the playoffs.
We have really great management during the regular season but no one to put us over that hump beyond that.
I fear we have angered the Sports Gods with the “Chop Chant”, maybe we have buried Indian Tribes under the city of Atlanta that no one remembered.
Gosh to look back with all those great teams such as the Flames that went to Calgary and won the NHL there, Gritz Blitz with the Falcons, 14 Divisional Titles with the braves and just 1 World Series Win with perhaps the best baseball team ever will be forgotten because they couldnt get over the hump and win more World Series, 1 great team with the Hawks none of them Hall of Famers, The Falcons getting to 1 Super Bowl but seemed to have hangovers at the start of the game and doing all that partying the night before while Denver stayed out of the Lime Light and practiced at a undisclosed location only focusing on the game, well Denver got into the Lime Light after the game didnt they?
I dont think that we will ever get a team like the Braves had in the 90’s, less optomistic about our hockey team and our basketball team with ownership trouble and the Falcons with a nickname “Dirty Birds” to add to our calamity.
Yeah im pestimistic but our sports teams made me this way.
We can only help other teams break their records after beating us here or there. 40 years of misery is enough to make anyone have a bad taste in their mouth when we finally reach the playoffs.
Nativebird
January 24th, 2011
7:49 am
I’ve been to a number of NFL games in other NFL cities and Atlanta fans are not NEAR with fair-weatheredness of these other fans. Not near. It’s a ridiculous rap.
FogHorn LegHorn
January 24th, 2011
8:16 am
Love It! My thoughts exactly! This is what I always say and of the Atlanta teams, I am a baseball fan above any other (with the Falcons in a close 2nd)! Anyway, I’m not even getting my hopes up this year. My relationship with the Braves always ends in a heartbreak, so this year my guard is up and I’m not expecting much! However, I say that and October will roll around, they’ll be in the playoffs and I won’t be able to help myself and I will fall (just like for a hot girl) and then….I will start the process over again! Sad……….
Dawglasville
January 24th, 2011
8:35 am
I was a Tech fan in 1980 when UGA won the NC because my dad went to Tech. I was a Georgia fan in 1990 when Tech won because I graduated from Georgia. One championship in 40 years is my reward for being a dedicated homer. Sports fan = masochism.
GT65UGA89
January 24th, 2011
8:56 am
Timely article Mark. on my Facebook account I recently posted my Top 10 “Worst Sports Defeats of All Time” –it’s a list that I have kept for a long time (I also have a Top 10 “Greatest Sports Victories of All Time).
Without the written detail, my Worst Sports Defeats are:
1) ‘81 NFC Playoffs: Falcons lose to Cowboys 30-27.
‘79 Super Bowl XIII: Cowboys lose to Steelers 35-31 (I was a huge Cowboys fan in the ’70s, up until Jan. 4, 1981) …”Jackie Smith’s dropped pass in the end zone!”
2) ‘96 World Series: Braves lose to Yankees in six after staking a 2-0 series lead …and heading HOME for games 3-4-5.
3) ‘86 NCAA Basketball regionals: GT upset by LSU 70-64 in the Omni …blowing an opportunity to reach the Final Four at “home” so to speak.
4) ‘87 NBA Playoffs: Hawks outduel Pistons to win the Central Division, but bow out to the Pistons in five games.
5) ‘11 NFC Playoffs: 13-3 Falcons blown out in the Dome by #6 seed Packers 48-21.
6) ‘91 World Series: Braves lose to Twins in 7 …All I need say is, “Lonnie didn’t run!”
7) ‘88 NBA Playoffs Game 6: Hawks win Game 5 in Boston to take a 3-2 series lead, but lose 102-100 …”‘News lefty hook!”
9) NBA Playoffs Game 7: In a continuation from #7 on this list, Hawks lose Game 7 in Boston 118-116 …”Bird vs Dominique” (Bird= 34 pts, 20 in 4th –’Nique= 47 pts, 14 in 4th).
10) ‘78 World Series: Dodgers lose to Yankees in 6 …again! (huge Dodgers fan in the ’70’s).
UGASlobberknocker
January 24th, 2011
9:01 am
After 470 comments, may we please put this sad column to rest?
UGASlobberknocker
January 24th, 2011
9:05 am
Re above top 10 worst sports defeats of all time
Heck, I had #3 in my Top 10 favorite moments of the 80’s.
That was about the same time that me and some old college buddies put on our bulldog red shirts and went to the exhibition basketball game between Russia and Tech. We sat behind the Russian bench and cheered for them. They kept looking back at us not knowing who we were..they were laughing, giving us thumbs up , etc. it was great. The Tech fans weren’t so appreciative.
I’m more mellow now .
Kelvin
January 24th, 2011
9:18 am
Mark,
Some people are posting that you are being negative. I don’t think so, sometimes the truth hurts. There is a difference of being negative and being truthful. Fans, sometimes don’t won’t to hear the truth about their city or their team, but it is what it is. We have one championship with four major franchises and the sad part is that as a fan base we have become apathetic instead of outraged.
North over South
January 24th, 2011
9:34 am
Loserville USA” Atlanta fans are loser too
Top Recruit
January 24th, 2011
9:44 am
Metro Atlanta … you get what you deserve. Metro Atlanta … a bunch of losers! The rest of the Georgia has to pay your bills. You guys could not handle a little bitty snow and ice. You all are a bunch of screw-ups. You do not work hard enough … for you people it is all talk, commentary, and critism ..24/7. If it gets tough or hard, you all quit.
Don Gill
January 24th, 2011
9:58 am
Give me(us) a break Bradley. I seem to recall some great times wi each team. There was a time that you could say Atl. was losers’ville. About 1975. The Braves have not done badly in the last 20 yrs.The Falcons have had some very interesting times. It’s now just you and Shultze who make up the most negative sports reporting, maybe on this planet. Terrance Moore capped that off until he was asked to leave. By the whole city. The Hawks are coming. And they’ve had a few memorable years. And the most entertaining of all were the players who made up the Knightmare on Peachtree St. Before them, the Flames. To support a city you don’t have to always be negative. Seriously, give us all a break.
2WHITTER
January 24th, 2011
10:01 am
WE KNOW! WE KNOW! WE KNOW! OKAY! we suck. Can we please stop highlighting it to remind the world?! I HATE losing and am sick of reading articles and hearing announcers talk about it. I think this is Mark’s favorite topic. NY press must adore him.
Don Gill
January 24th, 2011
10:01 am
Incidentally, the Atl Knights got shut down because of the Thrashers and Ted Turner because the Knights got too cocky.
UGASlobberknocker
January 24th, 2011
10:04 am
Top Recruit
pls go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under. If GA so bad, why are you here? Maybe your paradise has no jobs? maybe you moved here to find a decent looking woman? Maybe to get away from all that snow that we only have to worry about once a yr? Whatever.. If life doesn’t suit you down here, pls dont let anything hold you back from returning to Shangri La. .Delta is ready when you are.
Rickster
January 24th, 2011
10:18 am
C’mon, Mark. You had the weekend off. How about a new thread?
News Roundup, AFC Champs edition | jimcofer.com
January 24th, 2011
12:00 pm
[...] at the hands of the Packers a week ago. Long time Atlanta Journal sports columnist Mark Bradley has this piece about Atlanta’s sad history in pro sports: 148 seasons with only one title. Read it and [...]
.Christopher.Chance
January 24th, 2011
1:43 pm
I have to agree with Thomas’ 11:21pm post on January 21st. He hit the nail on the head with the “Atlanta media sucking up to Braves management (especially Bobby Cox).
In a “dog eat dog” media environment like New York….I seriously doubt that any of the Atlanta media types could survive up there. The Atlanta media makes a fluffer in the adult movie industry look like a prude when it comes to sucking up.
David O’Brainless (O’Brien) is the worst at this. Now that Booby Cox has retired, he’s turned up the gears on the love fest he’s lathered on The Dipper (Chipper Jones). The Braves have to not only pay him $13 mil in each of the next 2 years….but they’re also going to have him bat in the #3 hole (when Jason Heyward should be batting there). Will the Atlanta media every question Braves management on this? NOPE!
After all, we all know that when The Dipper retires and goes to Cooperstown, a number of Atlanta media types are going to want invitations. They also want the free food in the locker rooms and free alcohol in the bars at hotels when these guys are on the road.
Until the Atlanta Media starts reporting stories that is critical of mistakes that management makes when it comes to running Atlanta’s sports teams…..1 championship in 148 season will turn into 1 in 248 in about 25 years.
Jim Ragan
January 24th, 2011
4:09 pm
Nativebird: You are right on concerning fair-weather fans in other cities besides Atlanta-I went
to an LA Rams-Denver game back in the 90’s in Anaheim and there were so many Bronco fans there that it felt like Mile High Stadium at times.
Coddling Coverage
January 24th, 2011
5:42 pm
Talent or coaching levels vary through the decades, but the key reason Atlanta teams have failed to be champions is that they are soft.. And the key factor in that softness is the media… “Atlanta Media” really means AJC — which is our one and only major rag, despite this city’s massive growth in the past 30 years.. Where else would guys like Bobby Cox and Jeff Francouer last so long without being run out of town?.. Oh sure, we might see something about Bobby Petrino after he goes 3-10 and walks right out the door or Joe Johnson after he chokes it up in the playoffs.. But how many times do you see an ATL star blow up in a face-to-face press conference?
Martin
January 24th, 2011
6:09 pm
Stop printing articles while drunk. Get yourself together, there is no curse. It was not luck win Braves won. As long as all teams stay in competition they have a valid chance of winning.
GO BIRDS!
January 25th, 2011
10:33 am
Frozen Tundra
January 21st, 2011
11:11 am
I find it amazing that UGA and Ga Tech each have the same number of national championships as all the professional sports combined.
Your an idiot. GT has 4: (1917,1929,1952,1990) and georgia has 5:(1927,1942,1946,1968,1980)
Pro is Pro
January 25th, 2011
6:03 pm
It is your article, Mark so you can count what you want to but if you get paid to play it then you are a professional. and if the league you are playing in is the top league in the country then that should certainly qualify as a title and not just the big four sports that you know something about without having to do any research on. Soccer was and is a professional sport and ids the biggest sport in the world. The NASL didn’t survive but it did get legitimate crowds while it was in existence. And it planted he seed for Major League soccer which despite what you or anyone else on this blog want to thin kis a major sport in this country. I can certainly see not counting a minor league team but there is no way that the chiefs feat should not be counted.
Big Chicken
January 28th, 2011
1:02 am
Arrived here in ‘78, and have seen all manner of flukes, chokes, collapses, losing press conferences, and many good players leave for fame elsewhere. Coming close, almost making it, falling just short, are the hallmarks of Atlanta pro sports…. and I still remember that night in ‘95 when MY team won in MY town and we didn’t make some other place happy for a change. Jaded, yes, but still ever hopeful that Lucy gets kicked in the head someday!