A Tired Story

This is from this week's The Fletch. Check out Score Atlanta for more!

Late last week ESPN New York writer and First Take hack Rob Parker, who is from Detroit for the record, decided to rip the city of Atlanta for being the “worst sports town in America.” He noted that the city didn’t deserve a Falcons win against the Giants in the NFL playoffs because the city is awful.

At one point he wrote “If the New York Yankees are the standard for excellence in baseball, Atlanta is the epitome of the bottom of the barrel when it comes to fan support.” Really, I’d think it would be Mets fans. How many sellouts have the Mets recorded in the history of Citi Field?

Parker notes that the Falcons fans are some of the worst fans in the country. “They just don’t get it. They are both missing in action and simply not passionate enough to appreciate their team winning in the NFL playoffs and moving on to the next round.” Hmm, that is weird. Ever since Arthur Blank bought the team, it seems as though the Georgia Dome is constantly packed with folks. And I listened to sports talk radio the day after the game. If he wants passion, tell him to turn the radio on.

After Parker mocks Atlanta fans saying, “at some point, they might ask a friend -- filled with sweet tea -- at a pork-saturated barbeque, ‘Are the Falcons playing today?’ Pathetic,” I’d ask him to please make sure no other NFL fanbases are tailgating Sundays before the games. Wait, they ARE? Would we consider them pathetic too?

He demanded that fans should have been calling for heads to roll after the Braves collapsed down the stretch but “most probably didn’t even notice,” the Braves missing the playoffs. Did he want Gonzalez fired after his FIRST YEAR with a club that featured several players suffering injuries and relying on rookies in several huge positions?

He ended his column by bashing Atlanta for losing two hockey teams, blaming to fans and not the Spirit Group who openly admitted that they didn’t know a whole heck of a lot when they originally were awarded the Thrashers. Apparently our “lame fans” didn’t deserve a hockey team nor did they deserve a win over the Giants in the playoffs. I forget Mr. Parker, how are the Islanders doing these days? Would anyone notice if they left. Step away from hockey for a minute. How many BASEBALL teams has New York City lost. You know, America’s National Pasttime? Two? WOW, has a city ever had that happen before? Oh, Washington DC has as well? Gosh, let’s just gloss over those two markets if we could.

College football loves Atlanta because of the fan support. The NCAA keeps putting Final Fours in Atlanta I guess because it is a terrible sports town. (How many Final Fours has New York hosted recently, I forget.) I guess the awful fans at the Highlight Factory didn’t help the Hawks make it to the second round of the playoffs last year, right? I guess the fans are to blame for the Georgia Dome nearly blowing its roof last year when the Falcons hosted the Packers.

I am tired of this column, which gets drudged up every so often when lazy sports writers cannot think of an original idea so they recycle a dead horse story to get people fired up. Oh just make fun of the south. They are ignorant down there and this will probably go over their heads. Actually Mr. Parker you sound ignorant when you say a team shouldn’t win a game because the fans are lame and don’t deserve it. You are simply an attention seeker and you accomplished your goal: I know your name now. But it is a name I will avoid because you come up with angles like this. Congrats you got my click on this article. You will get no more.