A A A R R R G G G H H H ! ! !

Jan 4, 1981:
    The Atlanta Falcons had (by my estimation) the best team in football and only needed a postseason to match the regular season to prove it -- qbSteve Bartkowski, rbWilliam Andrews, wrAlfred Jenkins. As top seed, they hosted the Dallas Cowboys (a year after qbRoger Staubach had retired, mind you) and were cruising to victory, up 27-17 in the 4th quarter ... but, somehow, qbDanny White led the Cowboys back and sealed the upset with a TD pass to wrDrew Pearson. I was numb. I was in college in New Jersey at the time, not home in Atlanta like I wished I'd been. I went so deep into mourning, I wouldn't talk to people for a week. My college friends, many of whom were hardly football fans and certainly had no connection the Falcons, wondered why I wasn't talking. Robbed of the external verification of internal greatness.

We endured Sports Illustrated's running a cover story on the city of Atlanta entitled, "Loserville" with no ability to refute the putdown. It wasn't until the city landed the bid to the 1996 Olympics (which the critics claimed was "bought by Coca-Cola") that the city's psyche began to turn around. The Indigo Girls "made it" with a video on MTV; the Atlanta Hip-Hop scene exploded with Kriss-Kross, TLC, and OutKast along with So-So Def and LaFace record labels; the Braves went from worst-to-first and played in back-to-back World Series before finally winning in 1995. No one could call us "Loserville" any longer. The 1999 trip to the Super Bowl by the Falcons was an unexpected fluke but they were ultimately no match for Hall of Fame qbJohn Elway -- no shame in losing to an all-time great.

Feb 5, 2017:
     But this one ... this one hurts more than anything that came before it. These Falcons were record-setting -- the highest scoring team in the league; the newly crowned MVP (qbMatt Ryan); crushed two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks on the way to the Super Bowl to face the all-time greatest of the great, qbTom Brady. Yet all the putdowns that still came their way seemed like foolish hater talk, but objectively this team was even better than the Patriots if only clear-thinking people could see it (and if only their own self-doubt could believe it about themselves). And here it was, a stunning 28-3 lead early in the second half with everything going their way that was proof of what seemed clear by evaluation. Then, little miscues that couldn't notch that putaway score on the board kept adding up until the defense that had played so well gradually tired out and had no ability to stop the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. Because of who it was and what it means for his legacy, we'll never stop hearing everyone recount this ignomy for the rest of our lives.
     Worse than ofLonnie Smith's base-running blunder and ofKirby Puckett;s homer off pCharlie Leibrandt in 1991; worse than ofJoe Carter's ending it all in 1992; worse than pMitch Williams' ending the three-year dream run in 1993; worse than cJim Leyritz' homer turning the Series around and thwarting the repeat in 1996. So many "if that one play/call/missed block/dropped pass/caught pass didn't happen" moments ... I can't even process how gutted I am over this snatched-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory moment. It will scar me (and this city) forever. I'm placing myself on suicide watch. Please don't ever bring this up me ... ever.

-- Ron

A A A R R R G G G H H H ! ! !