Heart often not where home is for local fans

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

LeBron James jerseys are the second-biggest sellers at Lenox Square's Champs Sports store.

The most popular isn't worn by a hometown Hawk, but a Laker, as in Kobe Bryant, who was greeted with sustained chants of "MVP" from a sellout Philips Arena crowd during a 2008 "home" game.

"We're fair-weather fans here in Atlanta," Champs store manager Terry Presley said. Though Hawks jerseys are selling more briskly following the organization's first playoff series win since 1999, other teams' stars still rule our decidedly non-partisan corner of the NBA universe.

It's a local phenomenon not restricted to basketball. Cowboys and Steelers fans typically show up in large numbers whenever Dallas and Pittsburgh come to Atlanta. The same applies at Turner Field when the Red Sox and Cubs visit.

"There's a bandwagon element to Atlanta fans that doesn't just apply to Atlanta teams," said John Kincaid, co-host of "Buck and Kincaid" on 680 The Fan.

That's fine for the wagon jumpers, but depressing for those who hold onto the quaint notion of rooting for the home team.

"I'd say it was the worst experience I've ever had at a regular-season game," said lifelong Braves fan Charles Davidson, who attended one of the Red Sox homecomings at The Ted two summers ago.

"You wonder where all these Red Sox fans suddenly came from," the Atmore, Ala., native said. "They weren't around 10 years ago" when the Red Sox were still losers, er, cursed.

And they can't all be from New England.

The "everyone who lives here is from somewhere else" rationale has been used to explain Atlanta's divided sports loyalties for years, and while there's some truth to it, the numbers don't add up.

According to the 2000 Census, of those living in Georgia at the time, 46,975 were born in Massachusetts. Roughly 25,000 more hailed from the New England states, where the Red Sox fervor runs just as deep.

So are we to believe one-third of those natives flock to Turner Field whenever Boston invades, or has Atlanta become overrun with front-runners?

"I don't know how you can be from Atlanta and root for another team," said Doug Stewart, one-half of the "2 Live Stews" on Sporting News Radio and 790 The Zone.

Maybe it's a generational shift.

"Twenty-somethings tend to support individuals instead of teams," said 680 The Fan co-host Kincaid. That's especially true with the NBA, which aggressively markets its stars.

Thus, it appears Atlanta sports crowds will remain divided.

"I knew that Red Sox 'front-runnerism' had gotten out of hand when I saw a house down in Newnan with a Confederate flag and a Red Sox flag hanging side by side," said East Point native, and Braves fan, Pat Sullivan.

Only in Atlanta sports.