Sports fans have winning game plan

The Dow got you down? Mortgage got you miffed? Is this just another Black Friday?

In this historically bleak time, Atlanta is being offered a crutch from the most unlikely source: its pro sports franchises.

Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Maybe it’s not an incentive check, and it surely isn’t a free ticket. But several times a week, sports followers in this town can get away from it all for several hours, thanks to three teams that, at least for now, are doing a little better than the rest of us.

The Hawks, for years an NBA joke, have emerged as a legitimate force. The Falcons, bucking all preseason odds, play well every Sunday. Even the Thrashers, bless their frostbitten feet, have recovered from a horrendous start to win four straight.

Losersville? Not at the moment.

“Well, I’m not ordering playoff tickets, but they are fun to watch,” said Sam Wellford, pausing while he watched the furious Hawks-Boston game Wednesday night at Taco Mac in Virginia-Highland. “It’s good basketball.”

And a diversion, about the time we could all use one?

“Yeah … It’s something else to think about for a while.”

All three teams are in action in Atlanta this weekend. The Thrashers are home in Philips Arena tonight, facing the same Carolina team they blasted 5-2 five days ago. Saturday night, the Hawks host New Jersey at Philips Arena.

Then Sunday, the Falcons (6-3), only one year removed from the most calamitous season imaginable, are 6 1/2-point favorites against Denver at the Georgia Dome.

Say what you want about Atlanta being a college sports town, but somehow, out of nowhere, three local pro teams are giving you reason to believe.

“It’s a distraction,” Atlanta psychologist Pete Williams said. “And I think the more willing we are to identify with success, whether it’s ours or somebody else’s, can really make us feel better when we’re not feeling very good about ourselves.

“That dynamic is probably more potent when times are bad.”

On the heels of nine consecutive losing seasons, the Hawks are listed No. 2 in ESPN’s power rankings. Transformed by the seven-game elimination by the Celtics in last spring’s playoffs, Atlanta left a strong impression in Beantown, the Boston Globe’s Marc Spears writing, “The Celtics helped create the newest monster in the NBA in the Atlanta Hawks.”

The Thrashers, after winning only twice in their first 11 games, have a chance to tie the franchise record tonight with a fifth straight win. They have done so without the services of starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen (bad back) and yet have beaten two of NHL’s best teams —- Carolina and Buffalo —- during this run.

And the Falcons, the drop-kick choice to finish at the bottom of the NFC South, are one game behind division leader Carolina, which visits next week. Before it’s all finished, Mike Smith may well be NFL Coach of the Year, quarterback Matt Ryan might win Offensive Rookie of the Year and general manager Thomas Dimitroff might take Executive of the Year. No team has accomplished all three.

None of this local success was supposed to happen.

“Absolutely, we’ve been hearing from Hawks fans that they’re in, they’re in with the team, they’re in financially, they’re in spiritually,” said Chris Dimino, co-host of the “Mayhem in the A.M.” program on 790 The Zone. “There is not one dissenting voice.”

This has led to some anomalous sights about town. Like walking into a place in early November and finding it riveted by a Hawks game. It happened at Stats, the downtown sports bar, Wednesday.

“By now I’m usually looking for another NBA team to root for,” said Calvin Brown, 29, of Austell, who jumped to his feet when the Hawks’ Marvin Williams sank a clutch 3-pointer to provide a late, but brief, lead over Boston. Even after the Celtics’ Paul Pierce returned the game-winner with a 20-footer in the last second, Brown remained resolute.

“This is out of the blue,” he said. “And then you’ve got the Falcons. … I never thought they’d be this good this soon. We could be looking at two playoff teams.”

It could happen. It has happened five times but not since 1998-99, when the Falcons went to the Super Bowl and the Hawks lasted two rounds in the postseason. That was a couple of bear markets ago.

“Where maybe you’re losing in the stock market, you’re hearing about people losing jobs and maybe losing their homes, it’s nice to have our teams winning,” said Rick Van Haveren, an Alpharetta-based sports psychologist. “You affiliate with a team, you feel like you’re winning, where in other areas, you feel like you’re losing, and every one else is, too.”

Staff writer Christian Boone contributed to this article.