If you think being a right-winger in proudly progressive San Francisco is tough, try being a Falcons fan.
For while there’s an active Tea Party chapter in the Bay Area, until last week there were no Falcons booster clubs.
The Bay Area Falcons Club — five members strong — will hold its first official meeting Sunday afternoon at a bar in San Francisco’s fabled Haight-Ashbury district, cheering on their home team some 2,470 miles away. Founder Kristin Sauchak will be the one in the John Abraham jersey.
“I did Craigslist, Facebook, every Google search possible and came up with nothing,” said Sauchak, who for years tried in vain to find other Georgia transplants loyal to the Falcons. “When you come up empty-handed on Google, you tend to give up hope.”
Eventually, the Oakland resident put out a call on meetup.com. Finally, last week, after years of wandering alone in a sea of burgundy and gold, Sauchak, born and raised in Rome, heard from some fellow travelers.
“It’s a lot more fun watching the games with other fans,” said Sauchak, whose allegiance to the Falcons was cemented during the team’s Super Bowl run in 1998.
Kennesaw native Chris Black, who’s lived in the Bay Area since 2000, is well-acquainted with Sauchak’s quest. Football Sundays have been a mostly solitary experience for the 43-year-old lifelong Falcons fan.
“One day I was washing my car and a guy in a Falcons cap walked by,” Black said. “I was so excited.”
A little too excited, perhaps.
“I think I scared him off,” Black said. “I guess I came across as too eager.”
His fellow Atlanta expats can empathize. For years they, too, have endured the quizzical glances of San Francisco loyalists unfamiliar with the very concept of a Falcons fan.
“We’re a curiosity to them,” said San Francisco investment banker Edward Woodham, 43.
He’s been going to the same sports bar for 13 years to watch the Birds. Only once did he encounter another Falcons fan — “a guy in a (Steve) Bartkowski jersey.”
Last week, Woodham received a phone call from another native Atlantan living in San Francisco, Stephanie White, who had just discovered the nascent Bay Area Falcons fan club online.
“She was all excited,” said Woodham, adding, “We’re hard to find.”
Woodham won’t be joining the others in the Haight this Sunday, however. He was on his way to San Francisco International Airport on Friday to catch a red-eye flight to Atlanta to watch the game in person.
“There’s a bunch of people in my office trying to make bets,” said Woodham, who attended the team’s first playoff game, a 1978 wild card victory over the Eagles. “They look at this game as just a pit stop to the Super Bowl.”
He said he’ll try to keep from gloating when he returns to work Tuesday.
“This year is going to be different,” Woodham said, repeating a refrain familiar to anyone who has ever cheered for an Atlanta team.
This year, he won’t have to celebrate, or suffer, alone.
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