I am in Atlanta, and there are no Falcons fans here.
There are plenty of reasons why Sunday is not the Super Bowl of the Century, the hated Patriots versus the hated Cowboys (except for in New England or Dallas) or Tom Brady’s team versus Aaron Rogers’ team.
The big reason Super Bowl tickets will be going for almost face value by the kickoff is because one of the teams playing is the Atlanta Falcons, popular in the Peachtree state but nothing like the Georgia Bulldogs, who have been around twice as long as the Falcons and have a larger following of fans and fanatics.
I was in the Atlanta airport Monday, walked an entire concourse, got on the train and rode through four stops of travelers getting on and off before getting to baggage claim. I passed hundreds of people. Six days before the Super Bowl, shouldn’t I have seen more than one Falcons cap or Falcons jersey? Because that’s what I saw. One hat. One jersey.
In New England, you can more easily count the people NOT wearing Pats’ garb of some kind. But Atlanta is different, playing in its second Super Bowl but having only back-to-back winning seasons once in its entire history. Then there is the problem of Michael Vick, the all-pro quarterback who almost got the Falcons to Super Sunday before going to jail on a Federal dog-fighting charge, breaking the collective heart of the city.
Now they have Matt Ryan, the quarterback who ironically became a star at Boston College where he carried his high school nickname of “Matty Ice” into the Heisman Trophy race before being picked seventh in the NFL draft. Ryan has a chance to out-duel Brady in his seventh Super Bowl, but Falcons fans aren’t exactly flocking to Houston despite available tickets for a super low price.
The Pats are only a three-point favorite and could easily lose. Maybe Atlantans are waiting to buy Super Bowl champion t-shirts and caps for the parade down Peachtree Street. If they show up for that, their team will have arrived.
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