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
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
491 comments Add your comment
Un-fair weather fan
January 21st, 2011
1:01 pm
blazerdawg: “Any other city would be the same way. Check the 4th quarter highlights from the KC playoff game.”
True. Even Foxboro was looking pretty sparse on Sunday by the time the writing was on the wall later in the 4th.
H1022
January 21st, 2011
1:02 pm
What about the Chiefs, they won the NASL.
Michael
January 21st, 2011
1:02 pm
“They lost four, the first three in excruciating fashion.”
Um, they won the third one Mark.
H1022
January 21st, 2011
1:02 pm
Enter your comments here
Yes soccer!
January 21st, 2011
1:03 pm
Chiefs! Chiefs! Atlanta Chiefs!!!!
Snoopy
January 21st, 2011
1:05 pm
Always the pessemist Mark… Having been fortunate enough to be born, raised & live in the ATL with the great weather, fine women & other niceties.. I’d rather live here & “suffer” with the good sports we have here than live in say…. Pittsburgh…. Green Bay…. Foxboro… or the armpit that is New York City.. & ‘rave’ at “What a GREAT Sports town WE are”….
Dream Fan
January 21st, 2011
1:05 pm
What about the Dream? Check out their SHORT history!
RTR
January 21st, 2011
1:05 pm
Not to mention a horrible UGA football team last year
Bill
January 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
I was at the Dallas game in 1981. What a hear breaker!!!!
Brent
January 21st, 2011
1:10 pm
I feel the need to remind people that before the Thrashers set up shop here, Atlanta actually DID have a hockey team that never missed the playoffs during their (short) stay here. The Atlanta Knights were IHL champions in 1994 (one year before the Braves won the only championship of which you see fit to credit us). Sure, it was a minor league (equivalent to AAA level) team, but they had a loyal following and are the reason people still yell “KNIGHT!!!!” during “The Star Spangled Banner” when played before Thrashers games to this day.
Joe Tess Fish House
January 21st, 2011
1:12 pm
The dream? Who wood want 2 watch woman basketball? They go in the IR list when tehy get an yeast infection.
DAN C
January 21st, 2011
1:12 pm
Hey: I’m a life long wisconsin native. Been a Brave’s fan since I was born. Living near Milwaukee. I can say you take the 57 Brave’d ws title and the Buck’s title in 71. There not much better. That also includes the Hawk’s short lived time here in the 50″s. We all can’t be winner’s all the time.
dean
January 21st, 2011
1:14 pm
DAYUM YOU MB for putting that 1980 meltdown in here! Aisle 139, last row before the Club Level overhang.
Ty
January 21st, 2011
1:14 pm
What’s wrong Mark? Ticked off the Dawgs ruined your recruiting blog this morning? You and JS have got to beat the biggest negative bloggers, with the exception of Tucker, on the AJC. You really could not find anything better to blog about?? Loser, go back to where you came from.
Gwinnett Fred
January 21st, 2011
1:15 pm
Not to make it worse than it already is, but I think you missed a season – I come up with 149:
Falcons – 45 seasons completed (1966 thru 2010)
Hawks – 42 seasons (68-69 thru 90-10)
Braves – 44 seasons (1966 thru 2010 sans 1994)
Flames – 8 seaosns (72-73 thru 79-80)
Thrashers – 10 seaosns (99-00 thru 09-10 sans 04-05)
Leeman Bennett
January 21st, 2011
1:16 pm
2 words:
Prevent Defense.
The Real Fan
January 21st, 2011
1:17 pm
You were probably not around when the Atlanta Chiefs won the Soccer championship!
tony
January 21st, 2011
1:18 pm
I remember that 1981 game like it was yesterday. My Falcons were so good that year I thought they could win it all.. Francies, Alfred Jenkins,William Andrews best rb and reciever core in the NFL that yr. Those teams played the game of football like true professioners. That Dallas team ran their offense like a computer. A very organize offense. The Falcons cracked under pressure is the reason why they lost to those Cowboys.
Larry
January 21st, 2011
1:18 pm
OK, Mark, and all the other big babies pissing and moaning on here, now just what are we going to do about it?
What a bunch of girly men (or girly baby boys)!
Rick
January 21st, 2011
1:18 pm
Hey Mark, Atlanta has two championships – Atlanta Chiefs in 1968 were the NASL Champions! Atlanta’s first.
James
January 21st, 2011
1:21 pm
The reason why Atlanta sports history is so bad cause Atlanta sports teams have alot of bad owners and clueless people that’s running the organizations. The Falcons are the only team that has what it takes to win it all but the other franchises don’t. The Falcons will eventually win the super bowl but I don’t see the other franchises winning anything for awhile except The Atlanta Dream they will probably win a title soon but nobody really cares about womens basketball.
Enemas for Arbor Day
January 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
No one cares about soccer. No one will ever care about soccer. It’s a sissy girly sport for sissy girlies. Please stop discussing soccer.
Here we go again!!!!
January 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
Wow, Mark you’re like Troy Aikman who took the time twice to recount for us and the world all of the failures of the Falcons down through the years. It’s like he had it all researched and prepared because he KNEW we were going to blow it.
But I have discovered a winning path to a Superbowl for the Falcons in which we are guaranteed to win that sucker. We gotta get hot during a season when the Vikings (and Browns) are hot and get ourselves a bye week. Their 1st opponent needs to be some weak team that barely made it in or that is highly overrated. We MUST pray that we will meet the Vikings in the NFC Champs round at home or on the road doesn’t matter b/c the Falcons will win; the Vikings have a worse curse than us (consider the fact that the Saints and Falcons both beat the Vikes to get to the SB; and the Vikes could have won both those games but freaky things happened in both). Afterwards we advance to the Superbowl to meet the Cleveland Browns who have managed to stumble their way into the SuperBowl like a drunk man to a revival meeting. We win — we celebrate — YEAH!!!!
JSS
January 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
No Soccer
January 21st, 2011
12:57 pm
“Soccer does not count, only The Big Four Sports, soccer is like professional lawnmowing…
WHO Cares !!! Does Not Count !”
With y’alls track record, you better claim all the good news you can get! Dang people are crazy!
RyanO'Neal
January 21st, 2011
1:24 pm
What the problem? At least we have one!!!!!!
I think Mark Bradley is the most negative guy we have covering Atl Sports. I wonder is it an act or is he another Terrance Moore. Mark maybe u need to leave Atlanta and find another newspaper
Lee
January 21st, 2011
1:25 pm
Mark:
Although they were a AAA affiliate of Tampa Bay, the Atlanta Knights won the Turner Cup in the 1994 IHL playoffs. That was the World Championship in the IHL.
Ty
January 21st, 2011
1:25 pm
Mark, you should read Chip Towers blogs and learn from him. He has more hits on his blog now than you can ever dream of. He just covers the recruiting news and passes it on to everyone. One time it will be a nice tech story, now he has a good UGA story, Bama, Auburn etc… The man does not have to look for negative things to get people involved.
The crap you and JS dig up is just that…. crap. Personally myself and I would beat many others out there would just wish that you and JS would take off on a long boat to China!
RIP
January 21st, 2011
1:25 pm
It has to do with the fact that there is a mindset in this town – particularly in baseball – that just making the playoffs means you have had a successful season. Whether it is the fans, the team or the media or some combination thereof that promotes this – I can’t say.
It means that this town is satisfied with losing. A winning team and teir fans believe that anything short of a Championship is a failure. That is their only goal. Nothing less. That feeling does not exist in Atlanta.
In a few months when baseball returns, you will hear the Braves triumphantly introduced as the 2010 Wild Card winners. It won’t mention that they have not won a single post season series in 10 years.
Jeffro Bodeen
January 21st, 2011
1:27 pm
Tru Dat!!
JSS
January 21st, 2011
1:28 pm
James
January 21st, 2011
1:21 pm
“I don’t see the other franchises winning anything for awhile except The Atlanta Dream they will probably win a title soon but nobody really cares about womens basketball.”
Lots of people care about the Dream. They’ll be the ones laughing next September when Kathy Betty and MaryNell are hoisting the WNBA championship while the rest are going through NFL withdrawal during the lockout!
Un-fair weather fan
January 21st, 2011
1:29 pm
RIP : “A winning team and teir fans believe that anything short of a Championship is a failure. That is their only goal. Nothing less. That feeling does not exist in Atlanta”
Interesting theory. Just one problem – how do you explain all this wailing and gnashing of teeth if not as an expression of just this dissatisfaction of not having won championships?
bigstack 19
January 21st, 2011
1:32 pm
A batting average of .007. That is Nate McClouth territory.
still do...
January 21st, 2011
1:32 pm
f n lonnie smith…20 years…still despise that moron.
Lee
January 21st, 2011
1:32 pm
I know it was AAA but the Atlanta Knights Hockey Team won the Turner Cup in 1994, which was the IHL’s World Championship. Also, the Atlanta Chief picked up a Championship while in Atlanta.
hockeyfan
January 21st, 2011
1:34 pm
What about the Knights?!
mike
January 21st, 2011
1:34 pm
Come on folks. Did you goobers really expect the falcons to win. The sports teams in this city always peter out towards the end. Even the so called sports writers here jump off the band wagon. But that is the way it has been for the last 37 years I have lived here.
Atlanta, GA
January 21st, 2011
1:36 pm
Did the crackers win a championship? or were they just crackers?
Kyle
January 21st, 2011
1:38 pm
Good article Mark. The first year I watched football was when I was 12 and that was the 12-4 season and I always refer to that Dallas game as my Vietnam. I started watching the Youtube clip but couldn’t keep going. I saw it when it happened so I didn’t need to see that again. Even that young and not knowing as much as I do now I knew the Coaches were trying to run that clock down to early. They kept running William Andrews and they should have stayed with the complete game plan and tried to pass for some first downs. Just a screen or two to Junior Miller might have made a difference. As far as the one we have it was a strike shortened year. If we would have one the series in ‘91 and ‘96 like we should have it would have been nice to have but being the only one that way just never has set well for me. For people from other cities that have Championships it is easy to point and call us fair-weather but if they were from here and gone through this crap year in and year out they would be singing a different tune.
Dawgpound
January 21st, 2011
1:38 pm
Be thankfull we have 4 pro sports teams. There are many cities that would love to have what we have. I swear I saw an earlier report in this paper that this would be a great sports season if all 4 pro teams make the playoffs. We have a very good shot at that. I just believe the Falcons are going to keep improving and turn into a championship team. I think the Braves are a good owner away from going back to dominance and the Hawks and Thrashers can atleast be competitive. That’s all I ask for. Better to be close than the doormats at the bottom of the standings we were for so long.
JIMBOB (aka James Robert)
January 21st, 2011
1:40 pm
someone may have already mentioned it, but getting the Olympics was kind of like a big win for the city.
Mitchell
January 21st, 2011
1:44 pm
Winning 13 games in the regular season and getting crushed at home after a bye is bad. But it’s one thing.
Being able to manage three of the greatest pitchers in baseball history on one team for close to a decade and only winning one World Series, that’s the definition of a Loser.
I know football is supposed to be what people in Atlanta really care about but I think it holds true that the Braves mean more to this city than any other team.
I mean, the fact that they’ve won more regular season games over the previous two decades than at least any other national league team if not the Yankees as well and yet we still feel like losers says it all.
It is worse to get there and lose than to have never made it.
Bobby Cox is your man, folks. He and he alone is to blame for our misery.
Again, it’s not like we needed to win the World Series to validate last season. Just win either the division or one stinkin’ playoff series.
Or how about just one post-season home game?
We only had the best home record in the majors but that clearly wasn’t going to be enough to win the division because we have to start Bret Clevlen and Brandon Hicks in Pittsburg on a Sunday in May so we can keep Chipper and Hinske and McCann fresh for when the games really matter like in September when we’re gonna start Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor against Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay.
That’s a good idea!
Brooks Conrad is otherwise deserving of considerable scorn for his almost pathological defensive blunders in such key moments despite all of his clutch base hits in the regular season but as far as Game 3 is concerned… well, at least as far as what happened in the 9th inning of Game 3… he will always get a pass because he never should have been out there in the first place.
I don’t care if you put my 92 year old grandmother at second base, that would still be better than Brooks Conrad.
Even if it means using Diory Hernandez or Brandon Hicks who usually play on the left side of the infield and who can’t hit a beach ball, you make the change. And if the same thing happens and the ball goes through either of their legs then, what the hell. It wasn’t meant to be.
Or maybe God just hates us. Maybe that explains it.
What did we ever do to him? That’s what I want to know.
Enemas for Arbor Day
January 21st, 2011
1:46 pm
I think the recruiting blog by Chip Towers is strange….It’s nothing but a bunch of men going nuts over high school boys. Last time I checked, that is rather perverse.
Van Brocklin
January 21st, 2011
1:49 pm
…… and the Saints and Bucs are younger than the Falcons.
slanted
January 21st, 2011
1:49 pm
Some might call you a “glass half-empty” kind of guy. I prefer to think of you as a “brain half-empty” fool.
nyorker
January 21st, 2011
1:50 pm
yeah, pro sports are really sad down here, no passion. But on the bright side anytime any NY team comes to town we can get tickets.
nsnstv
January 21st, 2011
1:51 pm
Try being a Cleveland fan…The Drive…The Fumble…The Shot…The Departure…it goes on and on.
Jameytime
January 21st, 2011
1:52 pm
This looks awfully familiar….
http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2011/01/20/bens-sports-take-worst-loss-in-atlanta-sports-history
jfreak13713
January 21st, 2011
1:53 pm
Some suggest that opinions as this are negative in their “TONE” and that would be a correct suggestion! However, when people are taking what is left of their or my hard earned money for those of you who don’t work but sit home and collect a check off the backs of those of us who do, and spend that money on a professional team I think a reasonable return on that money would be at least an expectation of winning! Of course our professional teams have generally held up their end of the bargin and in those cases the people who are paying the salaries (that would be me and you) have a right to spend our money on something that will provide a greater sense of return!
There’s no crying in baseball!
James
January 21st, 2011
1:53 pm
January 21st, 2011
1:28 pm
“Lots of people care about the Dream. They’ll be the ones laughing next September when Kathy Betty and MaryNell are hoisting the WNBA championship while the rest are going through NFL withdrawal during the lockout!”
The Dream won’t be winning a title for awhile either especially since Maya Moore will be in the WNBA soon she will be the #1 pick for the (Minnesota Lynx) so they will probably win the title.
Mitchell
January 21st, 2011
1:53 pm
JIMBOB (aka James Robert)
January 21st, 2011
1:40 pm
someone may have already mentioned it, but getting the Olympics was kind of like a big win for the city.
Yeah, the Olympics were pretty exciting, except for that part where a bomb went off.