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
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
7:58 pm
I’ll say this for the Denver Tebows, they have played hard today. What was the vegas line?
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:01 pm
OVERTIME!!!!!!
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:04 pm
Let’s see if Denver can move the football in overtime
intravenus de milo
January 8th, 2012
8:07 pm
WOOOOOOWWWWW
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:08 pm
That didn’t take long to end it.
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:08 pm
Congrats, Denver. Now go get crushed by Tom Brady and the Patriots
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:10 pm
Tebow throws for 316 yards in the win.
Manny
January 8th, 2012
8:10 pm
TEEE-BOWW!!! C’mon! You just gotta believe!!!
intravenus de milo
January 8th, 2012
8:11 pm
“most yards ANYBODY threw against the number 1 defense” – 316, by Tebow! Ahhhahaha the haters are gnashing their teeth right now…
why
January 8th, 2012
8:13 pm
why the falcons couldnt do that
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:13 pm
Great game though.
North ave. faithful
January 8th, 2012
8:13 pm
Man Bey Bey took it to the house!
why
January 8th, 2012
8:14 pm
i cant believe we scored 2 points and tebow threw for 300 yards
North ave. faithful
January 8th, 2012
8:16 pm
Crooked refs couldnt beat Tebow!
why
January 8th, 2012
8:16 pm
why did the dumb commentator say bey bey went to south florida Ga Tech you azz
ls1z28chris
January 8th, 2012
8:20 pm
Tebow just made Matty Ice look like a chump. Wow, Atlanta has to be feeling miserable right now.
Go Saints!
ryan
January 8th, 2012
8:21 pm
Geeeeeeeeez man Matt Ryan had Jones, White , Gonzales , and Turner and Tebow just has a couple of decent WR ’s and RB Denver advances Falcons Matt Ryan 0-3 pathetic Tebow 1-0 wow .
warhawk
January 8th, 2012
8:25 pm
TEBOW…..TEBOW…..TEBOW
rebman76
January 8th, 2012
8:28 pm
New England will skulldrag Denver next Saturday
Mister.Earl
January 8th, 2012
8:32 pm
The difference between Matt Ryan ducking his head down to pick up four inches … and Drew Brees sacrificing his body across the violent line of scrimmage to pick up a huge first down – is night and daylight.
Cal
January 8th, 2012
8:34 pm
matt Ryann should feel like a jackass,rookies T Bow and Yates win their first
Giants40yrs
January 8th, 2012
8:36 pm
“The belief here is that they’ll win because they are, top to bottom, the better team”
Told ya you were delusional. Where’s “just think, in about 24 hours all the naysayers and nyg fans will crawl into their hole–until next weekend when they say that we’ll lose then too” lulz now? Buying some hefty bags to give the Falcons for baggie day?
Who’s the fool now, lulz?
sainthiram
January 8th, 2012
8:41 pm
I HAVE A PAPER BAG LEFT OVER FROM THE 70′S THAT I’M WILLING TO LET A FAILCLOWN FAN HAVE FOR FREE
Cal
January 8th, 2012
8:46 pm
If they don’t fire this coaching staff first thing monday, it will be a damn shame, because they will lose a fan
WHODAT
January 8th, 2012
9:11 pm
who’s da real AINTS?????? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i wonder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHODAT
January 8th, 2012
9:12 pm
LOL……right on Sainthiram!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHODAT
January 8th, 2012
9:14 pm
I feel bad for this team and its loser fans..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,,,At least when we were losing, Saints fans was STILL THERE,,NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
old man
January 8th, 2012
9:17 pm
Of course, Saints fans are on here. Sort of odd. The Falcons team jet could crash with all hands lost, and the Saints fans would be on here telling us what losers we are. Why are they attracted to our message board in this way? Very odd.
poolefan
January 8th, 2012
9:22 pm
Trade Ryan to Cleveland for the # 4 pick in draft and take RG3.Then go sign) Ben Tate couple OL
Brandon
January 8th, 2012
9:24 pm
If Matt Ryan had 1/10 of Tebow’s heart and guts, he would have made this a close game and he certainly would have made a first down on both of those sneaks. Matty Nice is a nice guy. Decent fellow. 0-3 playoff QB, but a heck of a good guy. ATL fans won’t be upset for long. King Arthur will soon be seen with Julio Jones at Chops with tons of ATL denizens craning their necks to get a look at the pair. Then it will be off to Magic City to join Roddy White and Josh Smith for a little extra attention. Arthur may even go looking for wife #3.
old man
January 8th, 2012
9:25 pm
For the Falcons fans out there, this is a wake up call. We are a more mediocre team than we thought.
Defense actually played well today, with a key LB and CB out. Franks has played well.
Offense has been our problem this year. The common theme seems to be the O-Line. Ryan finished the regular season among the top third in the league, pretty much tied with Eli. Turner has had issues too. But both players have shown they can make plays. If the QB can’t get the extra second of protection on a consistent basis, and we can’t get enough offensive push to gain 6 inches, on a consistent basis, that would seem to indict the O-Line. The drops by Roddy have been bad, but not enough to explain our offensive woes.
Have we been fighting an uphill battle all year because our O-Line is just sub-par across the board?
One side note: Antone Smith looked great in preseason. He seemed to have the combination of speed, power, evasiveness, etc., that our one-dimensional back does not have. Maybe he just stinks in practice so he never plays.
WHODAT
January 8th, 2012
9:30 pm
@oddman
WE ON HERE BECAUSE YALL TALK MAJOR TRASH ABOUT US ALL YEAR…THATS ALL YALL LOSERS DO IS TALK, AND YOUR SORRY TEAM ALWAYS LEAVE YALL HANGING!!!!!!!!!!!
2 points!
January 8th, 2012
9:35 pm
2 points!! in the playoffs!!! when it matters! what happened to julio??? all those draft picks wasted???
Saints Dat!!
January 8th, 2012
9:36 pm
saints rolling to another super bowl!!! dat who!
Josh Freeman, Drew Brees & Cam Newton
January 8th, 2012
9:38 pm
We look forward to beating the Falcons twice next year.
Saints Trolls
January 8th, 2012
9:42 pm
After your whoopin’ by SF next week you will all be gone back to your shells and under your rocks where those nasty mudbugs come from.
RISE UP? WAKE UP!!
January 8th, 2012
9:58 pm
If Matt Ryan played with half the heart of Tim Tebow we would be moving on.
1. Weak arm.
2. Afraid to take a hit (happy feet).
3. Did you guys see his slide today? I turned my head it was so pathetic and gay.
I say trade Ryan and fire Smith. Get someone at QB with passion and guts instead of scared pretty boy with hair highlights.
SecFan
January 8th, 2012
9:58 pm
Another Bradley pander pick goes awry. Shocking.
poolefan
January 8th, 2012
10:02 pm
Sign Ben Tate
Stan
January 8th, 2012
10:08 pm
Don’t feel bad, yes you should, your coach looked like he was about to cry, the rule is get points and for once the refs did not contol the outcome.
The
Falcons are for now the Bills of the 21st centrury.
The Bird Dog
January 8th, 2012
10:12 pm
same old song and dance
ryan
January 8th, 2012
10:15 pm
I am not going to argue with Saints fans Falcons suck Matt Ryan can’t get the job done Bress is much better QB .
MATT RYAN IS GARBAGE
January 8th, 2012
10:23 pm
NOODLEARM
DawgDad
January 8th, 2012
10:27 pm
“If you have watched Tebo today, who would you have prefered for your Qb on 1/8/2012″
Drew Brees. Could have, should have signed him.
“Have we been fighting an uphill battle all year because our O-Line is just sub-par across the board?”
Isn’t this obvious? The Falcons o-line can’t handle a good defensive front; this year, as a unit, they regressed back to pre-draft 2008 futility. It’s questionable if there’s any upside potential at all in this group.
vuduchld
January 8th, 2012
10:28 pm
So you ATL idiots, how’s that Dirty Bird thingy workin for ya!?
Send'em Uhauls
January 8th, 2012
10:32 pm
Falcons stink, Hawks Stink, Braves stink, Georgia Tech Stinks and UGA stinks.
RISE UP? WAKE UP!!
January 8th, 2012
10:37 pm
Change the Welcome to Atlanta sign from the peach state to the tip your cap state. That is all our teams ever do. Sick of it.
FIRE SMITH!!!!
WHODAT
January 8th, 2012
10:37 pm
ESPN was right
RISE UP? WAKE UP!!
January 8th, 2012
10:42 pm
Matt Ryan is the Falcons version of Chipper Jones….. SOFT.
DawgVoiceofReason
January 8th, 2012
10:52 pm
Since a bunch of fools have brought it up, let’s talk about Vick and his playoff accomplishments in the last 7 or so years. Oh that’s right, he has NONE! Not only has he not won a game, he has only made it to the playoffs twice in the last 7 years.That includes this year, with one of the most talented Eagles teams ever assembled. And let’s not forget the two years at the end when he ran the Falcons offense and team into the ground and two years in Federal prison.