Atlanta - Home of America's Worst Fans

Here's a fact that may be hard for Atlanta professional sports fans to accept: Atlanta will never be considered a championship town! Yes I said it, so loosen up your butt cheeks Braves, Falcons, Thrashers and Hawks fans. Atlanta is fortunate to be one of 13 U.S. media markets to have a team from each of the four major sports leagues. Including the Division I college sports at Georgia Tech and nearby University of Georgia, there is never any sports down time in this town. With year-round sports entertainment "The ATL" should be crowned the sports mecca of the South. Living here you'll soon see how the fans have tarnished the shine on that crown.


Last night I attended the Hawks vs. 76'ers game at Philips Arena. I arrived 5 minutes before tip-off to an 80% empty arena. Growing up a Lakers fan I know all about late arrivals, so I gave the fans the benefit of the doubt until the 2nd quarter. Nothing changed in the lower or upper decks before halftime. The Hawks trailed by double-digit margins the entire game and the crowd could not enough muster up enough energy to boo their team's horrible performance. I surveyed the crowd and it seemed like I was at a social gathering rather than a basketball game featuring two playoff contenders. An overwhelming amount of metrosexual men wearing shades indoors couldn't even grab a beer and hot dog because they were too worried about messing up their suede blazers and $300 jeans. The ladies texted and tweeted all night and looked as if they just left a video shoot. The only time it got impressively loud is when Harry, the Hawks' mascot, shot t-shirts into the crowd at 100+ miles per hour. The Hawks only near sell out games are when Kobe or LeBron come to town. Any other time, there would be no problem walking up on game night and buying a courtside seat. Atlanta does not live and die with their pro sports teams like in towns like Boston, St. Louis and Chicago; instead they wait until free Chick Fil-A sandwich night to come out in large numbers.


What gives Atlanta? Do you not realize it takes you filling the place for your team to perform consistently on a championship level? No superstar free-agent would consider Atlanta when they know they can go elsewhere to play in front of sell out home crowds.


I know what you're about to say Falcons fans, "we sold out every home game this past season." This is true you did...technically...but logging onto NFL.com or any ticket reselling website you'd find thousands of Falcons tickets available all season long. Not even the faithful season-ticket holders were regular attendees! The fair-weather Falcons fans only showed up so strong this year because the team was actually good. Let's see where they will be next season if the Falcons play a more difficult schedule and lose two or three games in a row.


The Braves and Thrashers are a lost cause. Turner Field and Philips Arena sit in neighborhoods where the demographic is 80% African-American, however neither team effectively markets toward the non-Suburban fan. When you're in a town where whites are the minority, you better find a way to include the majority in your marketing plans. Kids and families on the southeast side of Atlanta can't relate to Chipper Jones or Andrew Ladd but they might be intrigued by Jason Heyward or Evander Kane (yes the Thrashers have a black guy on their roster, as a matter of fact they have two).


Real Atlanta sports fans, take your teams and your city back! Tell the Atlanta Housewives, rappers and groupies to take their Coach bags, Coogi jeans and Prada shoes elsewhere. Otherwise, you'll never see a championship parade on Peachtree Street in your lifetime.