How long will you insist on being miserable about Atlanta Sports?????

I posted this last night on my @intellectatl page on Twitter. I posted this because Dansby shows all of us the essence of what an Atlanta sports fan should be. And it’s not just because he was born in Kennessaw and went to Marrietta High School.. You’re a fan of the team from start to finish, win or win or lose. It’s forever. You’re not bashing the team and the players 24 hours a day 7 days a week, especially when they are playing well. Again, criticism and hate are two different things. I have been critical of players, coaches, management, etc. Player has a bad game, ok fine. Be mad for that day. But next game, the next week (if it’s Football) is the next game or week and good things are going to happen and if they don’t then next game or next week they will. Give them a chance to prove you wrong the next time.

The doom and gloom of most Atlanta sports fans is disgusting, depressing and a major disappointment. Dansby had a great season, part of the best infield in baseball and one of the reasons Braves are in the WS. He has not hit well. But that hit last night meant something didn’t it. It’s all about moments in time. Will Smith had a stretch where it was almost guaranteed he was going to blow a lead. In the playoffs he has been dominant. Freeman had a slow start of season, then killed it, only to strike out 6 or 7 straight times against Dodgers and you had people legit say he was trash and shouldn’t come back to Braves for him only to turn it around (again). Eddie was obtained while still hurt and when he got in lineup, look at what he has done!!! 

Falcons went 4 and 12 a year ago (started 0-5). Last year Matt had 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions and 4581 yards for the season. He threw for 286 yards average per game. Averaged 7.3 yards per pass attempt and 11.3 yards per completion and a 65% completion percentage. He was sacked 41 times for 257 yards.

This year he has only been sacked 9 times for 70 yards. He has 12 touchdowns to 4 interceptions (better red zone offense). 68% completion percentage.

But now that team is .500 and trending upward (better coaching) people still insist on disparaging him, his wife, his kids, and the whole team and franchise still. Nobody wanted Pitts, said it was a mistake and he is not worth where he was drafted. Now what do you have to say?

People have given up on the Hawks, a team that started 14-20 in a 72 game season last year but ended up winning their division and if not for a stupid ref would have been in the NBA Finals. Now because they have started 3-3 and not looked good, people are trying to trade everybody and saying how Trae “ain’t all that, he’s not a leader”.

Stop fueling all media’s hate for Atlanta teams, that have to end up changing their tune when they realize “oh, this player or team is better that what we have said”. You have so called journalists just saying stuff out loud that 95% of the time isn’t true and they hope nobody calls them out on it (although now it’s happening more and more sometimes their own colleagues call them out on their bull). Fox didn’t want the Dodgers to lose and you had that Bill Plaschke guy have to eat his words and do it eating Waffle House. Fox now has to pretend to appreciate the atmosphere of Truist and

the Battery while one of their own shouts out Magic City. Yet there are those that won’t acknowledge any of it. They don’t want to enjoy it. Braves are legit about to win it all and there are people that hate its happening. Falcons will end up in playoffs and people hate it’s a possibility. Hawks will start playing 100 times better and get to NBA Finals and people will only talk about how players don’t deserve money they personally can’t pay someone.

Hadn’t mentioned Atlanta United, that started the season badly, basically dead and here they are in playoff mix again and have a shot at another MLS Cup.

All of our teams can end up playoff teams, they are better this year but hearing it from people in Atlanta after every game (especially victories), you would not know it. You would think the Falcons are 0-6, the Hawks are 0-6, that we don’t even have an MLS team, that UGA is not the number 1 team in the nation and somehow the Braves are going to lose 3 games in a row. Too many casual Atlanta sports fans are not going to feel how they should really feel when the Braves win their 2nd WS, when the Falcons win the Superbowl, when the Hawks win their first NBA Finals, when the Atlanta Dream finally win the WNBA Finals (new leadership and coaching), UGA wins the National Championship and United wins their 2nd Cup because in your heart you wanted them to lose cause that’s what you expect.

You don’t have a right to be mad, angry, ugly everyday about Atlanta Sports. Especially when the teams are winning, playing well, doing better, improving. You have one job as a fan, support. Show up to games, watch on tv, listen on the radio, buy hats and jerseys. A fan can’t control anything but their support. They can’t buy a team, hire management or a coach or sign players to multi-million dollar contracts. It’s not your money!!! Sure, you can disagree with a draft pick, a free agent signing, a coaching decision. But once it’s done, it’s done. All you can do is hope it works out and in the meantime you cheer for your team. And you do that year after year, whether or not your teams “wins it all” or not. Because otherwise you’re just a casual fan. What is a casual fan? You don’t know who is on the team, you don’t know the history of the team, you only watch games once in awhile, you have no context to have a real conversation about anything because you only listen to what rappers have to say about a player.

You knew whenever you became a fan of a team how many championships they had. You knew if they were a winner or not, because you had parents to tell you. And once you became of age, you could have changed your affiliation, and you didn’t.

If your only criteria of loyalty to a team is whether they had a championship or not, you should have never become an Atlanta Hawks fan, Atlanta Braves fan (prior to 1995), an Atlanta Falcons fan, an UGA fan (depending on when you were born), or an Atlanta Dream. And if you’re not a fan of Atlanta United you’re just ignorant because they have a championship. There are plenty of franchises that have the players and the championships that you want. Not a Falcons or Matt Ryan fan? New Orleans has a Superbowl victory and a black quarterback. So does KC, Baltimore and the Seahawks.

The Miami Heat, Lakers, Celtics all have NBA Championships if you don’t like the Hawks, Dallas does too if you still don’t like Trae and love Luka.

San Francisco, Marlins, Yankees and Red Sox all have multiple championships if the Braves having only 1 wasn’t enough. You have choices. You don’t have to miserable if misery is what you feel “because” you’re an Atlanta Sports fan. Teams win, teams lose. Some teams lose more than others. Some teams seemingly win all the time. But no team wins all of their games each year. Only one NFL team has gone a whole season undefeated “and” won the Superbowl. No NBA or MLB team has ever went undefeated. On the flipside there are teams that have never won a championship of any kind, much less gotten to a league championship game. Yet every year fans line up for tickets. Why? Because one year it’s going to be “OUR YEAR!!!”