The New England Patriots must overcome the Atlanta Falcons in order to capture the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl title since 2001. Boston Globe scribe Dan Shaughnessy is unhappy with this situation because, to paraphrase, Atlanta is not a worthy adversary but instead a pitiful sports city unable to conjure up the slightest bit of hate in New England.Check out the rest of the column, for it is good.
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Now, let’s give Shaughnessy some credit where it’s due. All of the potential matchups would have been more interesting to the casual observer. Dallas, New York and Green Bay are NFL bluebloods. Seattle is flirting with a dynasty. But, let’s also admit what’s painfully obvious.
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Saturday, January 28, 2017
Trolling Effort Noticed
This was from a few days ago:
It is good, indeed. Atlanta is not Los Angeles, which had pro sports teams from 1945 onward and never supported them beyond niche status (to where they lost the Rams and Raiders - the Rams are not drawing that much after two weeks of novelty back in LA and the Chargers' attempt at moving there already looks to be a fiasco with zero LA interest - and then lost two major speedways in Ontario and Riverside and the present Fontana track is kept going on Toyota help, not genuinely strong fan interest). The Falcons history may not have the same level of success as the Patriots but Atlanta has had good moments - their 1998 NFC season was one of the most underrated NFL seasons ever, their 2002-04 Michael Vick period made them winners again, and they've been competitive in the Matt Ryan era. The Falcons are something fresh and relatively new and as such their presence in the Superbowl is MUCH better for the game than having Green Bay or Dallas there.
ReplyDeleteShank's hatred of markets like Atlanta stems from a self-absorption distressingly common to Bostonians that I've observed.