Dan’s dissing of Atlanta, the Falcons

By On the record

Posted: 2:45 p.m. Friday, January 27, 2017

Editor’s Note: In the fine tradition of sports championship trash-talking of opponents, Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy ignited a local conflagration Jan. 23 with his snarky commentary on The Atlanta Falcons, and this metro area they call home. In advance of the big event in Houston Feb. 5 that we fully expect will adjust both the attitudes and the rear ends of the Pats and their defenders, we present today an Atlantan’s retort to New England snideness.

Excerpts from bostonglobe.com:

When it comes to Atlanta and its sports fans, we feel nothing. Maybe a little pity.

The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl in Houston Feb. 5, and they are going to play the Atlanta Falcons, and that takes a little fun out of the experience.

The Atlanta Falcons?

Meh.

This is nobody’s fault. There is no need to insult the nice folks of Atlanta, where you can drive on Peachtree Street, go to Peachtree Plaza, and order yourself a Peachtree Margarita. Atlanta is a diverse and hospitable city with friendly folks and warm temperatures. You can always get a Coke and a smile.

The only two spectator sports that matter in Atlanta are college football … and spring college football.

I was in Atlanta to watch the Celtics play the Hawks in the first round of the NBA playoffs last April. There was zero local buzz about the Hawks or the playoffs. While the Celtics and Hawks warmed up for their postseason clash, all the televisions at Philips Arena were tuned into Georgia’s intramural spring football game, for which 93,000 fans were gathered in Athens.

Given the dearth of professional sports championships the city has produced, it’s hard to blame Atlanta fans for their abject apathy.

Atlanta’s five professional sports teams have combined to win ONE championship in 168 seasons of competition. One.

Here in Boston, we’ve had an embarrassment of riches, witnessing nine championships since the turn of the century.

By Ed Roche

Posted: 3:00 p.m. Friday, January 27, 2017
Dear Dan:

I am writing in response to the piece you penned on Atlanta, our teams, and our people. You’re very lucky to have been a Patriots fan during a time of great success — congratulations. You could’ve humbly expressed the gratitude you no doubt feel, written an article of substance, and gracefully teased the Falcons.

You, however, chose to both bloviate on your own mustard-stained, mouth-breathing opinions to ensure you hit your daily clickbait quota and to take some cheap shots at a town and a people you quite obviously know nothing about. You write as as if you somehow had something to do with the success of the Patriots and Boston professional sports teams. It’s as if your slick retweets, contrarian columns, and seething pride in being persona non grata inside Fenway and Foxboro somehow put the Pats on top all these years.

Your revisionist accounts neglect to mention how Boston lost the Braves (to Atlanta) due to a poor draw, as well as how your beloved Patriots almost moved to Tampa and didn’t win a playoff game for 20 years. Furthermore, just because your alma mater is Holy Cross, where quidditch is the dominant sport, does not mean that big-time collegiate athletics are less relevant than professional sports. A sportswriter of your experience should be able to comprehend that these are incomparably different games. You appear to be suffering from a wicked case of the Beantown Bubble.

You chose to mock Atlanta and Georgians by reducing us to a single street and a bogus (hopefully nonexistent) cocktail. You disrespected us with your accusations of apathy and passivity toward our sports franchises. You’re correct in that we are friendly folks — friendly folks with a rich culture.

Yeah, we’ve got peaches and Coke. We also have world-class museums, the country’s largest aquarium, a presidential library, an original colony, and a richly preserved civil war and civil rights history. We have two Power 5 college athletic programs, in addition to our three professional franchises. We hosted the centennial Olympic Games, we bring the Masters to the world, and we continue to draw the Final Four, major bowl games, tournaments and playoffs.

We have mountains, rivers, lakes, and beaches. We have some of the best food and music scenes in the world. We house 29 Fortune 1000 companies and have a port bigger than Boston. We attract top talent and welcome transplants from other towns with other allegiances with open arms and Southern hospitality. We are the city (and state) too busy to hate, so please excuse us if pro sports is not life in Atlanta. Life is life in Atlanta and in Georgia, but do not — do not — mistake a rich, diverse existence for lack of love for our guys, our teams, and our men in the arena.

We have no doubt had a tough go, but I assure you we are on the come up. You are as wrong as sugar in cornbread and we look forward to proving it to you with a little class and a lot of soul. Don’t give “poor Atlanta” another thought. Have pity on us. Focus on your petty feud with the commissioner.