Dear Dan:
I am writing in response to the piece you penned on Atlanta, our teams, and our people. You’re very lucky to have been a Patriots fan during a time of great success — congratulations. You could’ve humbly expressed the gratitude you no doubt feel, written an article of substance, and gracefully teased the Falcons.
You, however, chose to both bloviate on your own mustard-stained, mouth-breathing opinions to ensure you hit your daily clickbait quota and to take some cheap shots at a town and a people you quite obviously know nothing about. You write as as if you somehow had something to do with the success of the Patriots and Boston professional sports teams. It’s as if your slick retweets, contrarian columns, and seething pride in being persona non grata inside Fenway and Foxboro somehow put the Pats on top all these years.
Your revisionist accounts neglect to mention how Boston lost the Braves (to Atlanta) due to a poor draw, as well as how your beloved Patriots almost moved to Tampa and didn’t win a playoff game for 20 years. Furthermore, just because your alma mater is Holy Cross, where quidditch is the dominant sport, does not mean that big-time collegiate athletics are less relevant than professional sports. A sportswriter of your experience should be able to comprehend that these are incomparably different games. You appear to be suffering from a wicked case of the Beantown Bubble.
You chose to mock Atlanta and Georgians by reducing us to a single street and a bogus (hopefully nonexistent) cocktail. You disrespected us with your accusations of apathy and passivity toward our sports franchises. You’re correct in that we are friendly folks — friendly folks with a rich culture.
Yeah, we’ve got peaches and Coke. We also have world-class museums, the country’s largest aquarium, a presidential library, an original colony, and a richly preserved civil war and civil rights history. We have two Power 5 college athletic programs, in addition to our three professional franchises. We hosted the centennial Olympic Games, we bring the Masters to the world, and we continue to draw the Final Four, major bowl games, tournaments and playoffs.
We have mountains, rivers, lakes, and beaches. We have some of the best food and music scenes in the world. We house 29 Fortune 1000 companies and have a port bigger than Boston. We attract top talent and welcome transplants from other towns with other allegiances with open arms and Southern hospitality. We are the city (and state) too busy to hate, so please excuse us if pro sports is not life in Atlanta. Life is life in Atlanta and in Georgia, but do not — do not — mistake a rich, diverse existence for lack of love for our guys, our teams, and our men in the arena.
We have no doubt had a tough go, but I assure you we are on the come up. You are as wrong as sugar in cornbread and we look forward to proving it to you with a little class and a lot of soul. Don’t give “poor Atlanta” another thought. Have pity on us. Focus on your petty feud with the commissioner.
A wise man recently said all Americans and all people should strive to be useful and to be kind. You and your piece are neither. Bless your heart. Go Falcons!
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