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By bsd987, Section NFL
There was the Kansas City Royals fan who surrendered because of his frustration by selling 20 years of memorabilia on the internet and allowing the winning bidder to choose his new team. But this is different.
The Atlanta Falcons? They've never won six games in six consecutive seasons. They've never had consecutive winning seasons. Even the Saints have done both of those. Hell, the Saints had seven consecutive non-losing seasons. And in a sheer fluke, everything went right in 1998, when the previously presumed dead Chris Chandler led the Falcons alongside Jamal Anderson, who carried the ball a record 410 times. Atlanta finished 14-2 and even made it to the Super Bowl, where it fell to the Broncos 34-19. In 2005, the Falcons had a chance to reverse history, or at least some of it, needing to finished only 3-5 after a 6-2 start to complete a second consecutive winning season. The team went 2-6. And after dropping to 5-5 on Sunday, I'm ready to give up. No franchise- not even the Arizona "football" Cardinals- is more inept. At least they once won a championship. Excluding franchises that have been birthed since 1995, no other team can say its never had consecutive winning seasons. In fact, the only streak close to the Falcons' streak of 40 such seasons was done from 1919-1949, when the Phillies had 30 losing seasons in a 31-year period. By the end of this year, Atlanta will likely to have eclipsed that by 10. The Phillies held the honor of ineptness for 100 years, but even they won a championship, beating the previously mentioned Royals in 1980. It is more than conceivable that the Falcons will never win a title. Actually, it borders on probable. Thus I've decided to surrender my fanship. It isn't worth it. At least with the Saints, with the Brewers, with the Warriors, you can tell they try. They try to find the best talent to compete and it always falls apart. The Falcons don't. They've traded Brett Favre and Deion Sanders, both of whom were the difference between winning and losing the Super Bowl in 1998. And before that, they let Gerald Riggs go in his prime. These are just samples of their mistakes. And the worst was Vick. The front office realized that by trading their future for Michael Vick, the franchise could make fortunes without even needing to be competitive. Vick was a star, even if his stats never matched his marketability. Vick has had the most popular NFL jersey six years in a row, including 2003, when he didn't even play until December. Thus the Falcons don't need to win to be one of the more profitable NFL franchises. Arizona has always known this, Tampa Bay figured it out in 1980, and Atlanta figured it out shortly thereafter. Luckily, the Buccaneers reversed their ways when they changed owners in the mid-90s, and eventually won a Super Bowl in 2002. Arthur Blank bought the Falcons in 2002 and initially there was hope, but who's to say he doesn't just use Vick and spend nothing elsewhere? If he were smart, he would. I've given up- I don't want to root for the Falcons anymore. It just isn't worth it. So I ask you to pick my new team. I will reject Arizona because that wouldn't change anything. And I will reject the Cowboys, Patriots, 49ers, Eagles, and any other NFC South team because I'm not going to root for the devil. Pick my team and give me a reason. It's the rational thing to do. Anything else beats being a Falcon fan; anything else beats futility. I'm told that you should stick with your team through the hard times, but this isn't hard times. This is a franchise not caring. We can't do diddly-poo offensively. Or defensively. Or anywhere else on the field. Or off.
Or else maybe, just maybe, I'd still have a reason to cheer for this team.
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