Live from Falcons-Giants: We’re a lousy sports city, are we?
"If I give you two dimes and a nickel, will you give me a quarter back?" (AP photo)
East Rutherford, N.J. – Here’s a fun little nugget that was posted on the New York Post’s web site yesterday: As of Friday night, the Giants-Falcons playoff game was not sold out.
If said game were being staged at the Georgia Dome, we Atlantans would be hearing yet again how lousy a sports town we are. But this is New York, where millions live and where sports are, we’re constantly reminded, a point of strutting metropolitan pride.
Let the record reflect that an attempt to find available tickets this morning via Ticketmaster was unavailing, so we can assume that the game finally has sold out. Still, the thought of a Giants’ home postseason game with available seats not 30 hours before kickoff would surely come as a revelation to those New Yorkers who love to poke fun at us dumb ol’ Southerners for our indifference/inattention.
But I digress. The Falcons arrive with a point to prove, and the belief here is that they’ll prove it. The belief here is that they’ll win because they are, top to bottom, the better team. The tabloids have been full of Matt Ryan stuff this week, the thrust being that he still hasn’t proven anything in the postseason. (He hasn’t, but I’d suggest two games in his first three NFL seasons isn’t quite a true sample.)
I remember another day in Ryan’s pro career, a Sunday here in November 2009 when he overrode a second-half deficit to force overtime. The Giants won the toss and scored in the bonus canto, but that remains, at least to this dumb Southern observer, one of the shining performances of a very good career.
If you can do it here once, you should be able to do it again. And if you can make it here, the song has it, you can make it anywhere. I think Matty Ice will author his playoff breakthrough today, but maybe you disagree.
Which is why we have these little live chats — for you to interact with a dumb Southern writer like yours truly. I invite your comments. And I thank you, as ever, in advance.
By Mark Bradley
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4,613 comments Add your comment
GoCowboys
January 8th, 2012
5:10 pm
I doubt is as I rate last year’s playoff loss as high as any of our multiple superbowl wins.
Billya
January 8th, 2012
5:10 pm
You guys are dumb. Blank won’t do anything. Him and the newbie will be eating at Bone’s and the boy’s be down Magic City… The stupid fans will forget after a few days… What about ‘dem Falcons!
katherine
January 8th, 2012
5:10 pm
marc
January 8th, 2012
5:06 pm
lame sports town?….it’s bigger than that…after 14 years living here…I say lame city. I moved to Charlotte this year….and had I known..would have left ATL 10 years ago………love it when the Falcons, Hawks, Braves gag….which they always do..how many championships does this city have?…lol..this is a soccer town. lol..moms and mex’s.
wow bitter much? how pathetic are you….
JoeBrave
January 8th, 2012
5:11 pm
Brian the Pornstache Van Goober needs to be pinkslipped first! no more damn cover 2…err cover none!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2012
5:11 pm
“when you have the world’s worst coaching staff…..IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU’RE FREAKING BART STARR!”
Were you saying this in 2005 and 2006 when the Falcons had the worst coaching staff in the history of this franchise? Just wondering.
Gajjj
January 8th, 2012
5:11 pm
If you had done a minimum of research, you would have see that tickets were available in ny only because the Falcons returned more than 300 Tickets that they couldn’t sell to Falcon fans – as soon as they went on sale in ny they got sold — do your homework
katherine
January 8th, 2012
5:11 pm
katherine
January 8th, 2012
5:09 pm
ricker
January 8th, 2012
5:00 pm
Ahhh, I see Katherine is back…to judge us all and tell us how to act…thank God–man, just love chicks on the blogs…we don’t get enough controlling crap from females the opther 99.9% of the time…
LOL wow…believe it or not there are lots of women who like sports…and im not telling anyone anything…there are lots of guys saying the same things I am but you all like to use the “woman” thing……im sorry your viagra isnt working but dont take it out on me
Rick S
January 8th, 2012
5:11 pm
Why do sports journalist believe it is necessary to bash Atlanta about being a lousy sports city? Probably because they do not have anything else to do with their time, and quite frankly true Atlantans could giver a crap what an ESPN or New York writer think about Atlanta. If Atlanta is such a lousy city why do so many transplants move here from other cities especially the North and never leave? Umm- isn’t that the rub! Get a life and worry about your own damn city because as Lewis Grizzard, the true southern Journalist for the AJC for many years before his passing use to say, “We (Atlantans) really don’t care how you do it in Cleveland because if you don’t like the way it is here Delta is ready when you are”!
koo koo for cocoa puffs
January 8th, 2012
5:12 pm
Let’s start a fire Mike Smith petition.
GoCowboys
January 8th, 2012
5:12 pm
I say keep them all, no need in changing. Another 1st round loss next year will keep me happy.
Trade 4 Tim Teebow
January 8th, 2012
5:12 pm
We need 2 trade 4 Tim Teebow and none of this wood of hapened.
GT
January 8th, 2012
5:12 pm
No offensive line, no deep throws, no running game. Defense has no pressure on the passer after the first half. NY saw the blitzes and stopped them all day.
JeanE
January 8th, 2012
5:12 pm
I’d take Mike Martz in a hearbeat for OC. And Eli got harassed and still made things happen, regardless of being chased around and hit. That’s what GOOD QB’s, do! Not run for your life, throw lame duck throws and go down before you get hit. I am so mad I could spit. AHHHHHHHHHH
oldbird
January 8th, 2012
5:12 pm
Sure am glad we traded away two drafts to get this “explosive” offense.
Ace8
January 8th, 2012
5:13 pm
Atlanta fan and season ticket holders are mad. So what will Blank do? Lower the season ticket prices to $10.00 or less to fill the dome. Guess what? We’ll be the Tampa Bay of 2012, because the NFC won’t get any easier. Blank just wants to ride out the dome, because the city has handcuffed Blank with those bonds he can’t rid of until 20 something odd eighteen.
Michael Marr
January 8th, 2012
5:13 pm
It wasn’t even entertaining.
John
January 8th, 2012
5:13 pm
ohhhYEAH….Thanks for the Matt Ryan stats, he’s just like (UGA’s Murray) after a blow-out losses, he always seem to have great stats at the end of games and the season.
ijonathan
January 8th, 2012
5:13 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2012
5:11 pm
“when you have the world’s worst coaching staff…..IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU’RE FREAKING BART STARR!”
Were you saying this in 2005 and 2006 when the Falcons had the worst coaching staff in the history of this franchise? Just wondering.
===
Najeh, c’mon dude. Don’t try to rewrite history. There must have been a million blog entries from fans complaining about Knapp and Donatell. So the answer to your question is…”yes”.
Ghosts of loserville
January 8th, 2012
5:13 pm
But I draw the line at saying Atlanta is a worse city than Charlotte.
Let’s be reasonable folks.
DJ
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
Falcons, Hawks, Braves…………….Alot of hype……….I’ve tuned these teams out long ago.
ijonathan
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
Trade 4 Tim Teebow = Joe Tess Fish House
GoCowboys
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
All in all a great season.
katherine
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
DJ
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
Falcons, Hawks, Braves…………….Alot of hype……….I’ve tuned these teams out long ago.
but yet you are here…..LOL
Retired Soldier Dawg
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
Somebody pay Jacksonville to take Mularkey.
Falcon Fan 24-7
January 8th, 2012
5:14 pm
Manny you are spot on. I love the Falcons and I will continue to root for them to the end. But, I will not renew my season tickets if we don’t get a bonafide coaching staff going forward. I feel as though I wasted $ 2700 dollars after this loss.
Been a faithful season ticket-holder since 2004.
Big Dog Dick
January 8th, 2012
5:15 pm
I have been thinking about this and at this time I have nothing to say.
JoeBrave
January 8th, 2012
5:15 pm
Hire Tim Clements for Offensive CoOrdinator!
oldbird
January 8th, 2012
5:15 pm
Wake me up when we have won a playoff game. Been a fan for 39 years but this has finally ended it. Pitiful performmance. Falcons are a joke from top to bottom.
katherine
January 8th, 2012
5:16 pm
every team knows that only one team is going to win it all that season..so does that make all but one team’s season ticket holders sorry that they bought them? probably not….
ohhhYEAH
January 8th, 2012
5:16 pm
As a matter of fact, Mr DPoop
I never was a fan of Jim Mora and Co. Vick just happened to make it work……every now and then
Sherrill
January 8th, 2012
5:16 pm
We are who we thought we were.
jvcelt
January 8th, 2012
5:16 pm
i think it is because up north, we don’t have any regional college teams to follow. it is mostly professional sports here…. baseball, football, basketball and hockey. u folks r big time into college hoops and football, i think.
Coach Bobo
January 8th, 2012
5:16 pm
Pathetic…..and I should know!
fatz
January 8th, 2012
5:17 pm
where would arthur blank be without bernie marcus? end of story
JoeBrave
January 8th, 2012
5:17 pm
Reggie Herring for defensive coordinator!
katherine
January 8th, 2012
5:17 pm
jvcelt
January 8th, 2012
5:16 pm
i think it is because up north, we don’t have any regional college teams to follow. it is mostly professional sports here…. baseball, football, basketball and hockey. u folks r big time into college hoops and football, i think.
fans here are also big fans of the falcons, braves and hawks
Big Dog Dick
January 8th, 2012
5:17 pm
That would be Tom Clements sport. At lease get your bit@hing name correct !
Matt Ryan overrated
January 8th, 2012
5:17 pm
JoeBrave
January 8th, 2012
5:08 pm
Mike Vick and any that support this CONVICT can go to hell (JOE BRAVE)
NOW NOW JOE BRAVE
MATT IS A LOSER AND HE IS A CONVICT ON THAT . . MATT 3 PLAYOFF LOSES WHIT LOTS OF TOOLS AROUND HIM,AND THE LAST ONR THE ONLY HAD 2 POINTS AND THE DEFENSE SCORED THAT.MATT RYAN CONVICT OF PLAYOFF LOSSES. WHAT A BUM!!
THE GM GAVE THIS CLOWN 42MILLION AND THEN GAVE AWAY THE HOUSE ON DRAFT PICK FOR JONES PURE NUTS. HE IS A LOSERE TOO!!!
take it from me.
January 8th, 2012
5:17 pm
This is a team trying to win big,with below average players ,and coaches.
JoeBrave
January 8th, 2012
5:18 pm
Tom Clements for OC!
DawgDad
January 8th, 2012
5:18 pm
“Did this hurt as much as last year’s loss?”
Whether it hurt as much is not important – unless the Giants go all the way to the Super Bowl this loss was worse. Even if the Giants go all the way there is NO excuse for getting shut out on offense, none whatsoever.
GoCowboys
January 8th, 2012
5:18 pm
Who in their right minds would buy season tickets the the falcon’s utter joke of a stadium. My ‘72 Pinto had better sound.
Ace8
January 8th, 2012
5:18 pm
They say that the regular season doesn’t count; Mike Smith is delusional. He talks about what someone told him about there are 4 football seasons. Well, if that’s true-then the Falcons blew the first one-because they had a terrible preseason. Everyone was affected by the NFL labor strike-and that’s no excuse. They as a team in the offseason were totally unprepared as it showed up in the preseason. Atlanta is cursed as a sports town. No, I regress-Atlanta has won a championship-that is Evander Holyfield.
Ricky Ricardo
January 8th, 2012
5:19 pm
All this BS starts at the top,, what ya gonna do AB
Ant
January 8th, 2012
5:19 pm
The ATLANTA RETARDS will never win with Coach Smith or QB Ryan. One is too stupid (Smith) and the other is too chicken. Ryan has peaked as a QB. He is not composed enough to see the field when being pressured, nor does he have the arm or accuracy to hit anything. PLEASE, PLEASE hire Gruden and sign Matt Flynn from Greenbay! Whatever you do PLEASE DO NOT return this atrocity of a team next year.
JoeBrave
January 8th, 2012
5:19 pm
Corrected it BDD! hell beavis and butthead could do better than Vangoober and Mularkey
Falcon Fan 24-7
January 8th, 2012
5:20 pm
Michael Rene Mularkey (born November 19, 1961) is an American professional football coach and a former college and professional football player. He played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally he played 9 seasons in the NFL as a tight end for the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He has served as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the tight ends coach for the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. Mularkey is currently the offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
koo koo for cocoa puffs
January 8th, 2012
5:20 pm
Charles Barkley was wrong. He said the Falcons would win. wrong. He said the Bengals would beat the Texans. Wrong. He said the Lions will come back and beat the Saints. Wrong. What game was he watching. The Chicago Bulls are overrated. Derrick Rose is overrated. He is always sniffing somebody jock. He had the nerve to pick at Shak’s beard. He is a hater. Charles look at your fingers, you have no rings. Charles shut the hell up.
DBO
January 8th, 2012
5:20 pm
I call it the “Gonzalez Curse”. As long as he is on a NFL team, that team will perform well enough to make playoffs, then get greased in them. Look forward to the same next year with that contract extension. Or maybe he takes a breath after this game and decides to retire!
Billya
January 8th, 2012
5:21 pm
…ah, but they’ll all be on the phone tomorrow trying to get their agents to eke out a few more million…