The Carolina Panthers, who began play in 1995, have qualified for their second Super Bowl. The Falcons, around since 1966, have been to one. The Miami Heat, in business since 1988, have won three titles. The Hawks, who arrived here in 1968, haven’t reached the NBA finals. The Miami Marlins, born in 1993, have won two World Series. After alighting in Atlanta in 1966, the Braves have won one.
Except for the bit about Carolina making another Super Bowl, the paragraph above includes no new information. That deflating data has long been the source of local rants, and I’ve tried over time not to turn fatalistic. On an intellectual basis, I know Cliff Levingston’s running lefty hook had nothing to do with Mark Wohlers throwing a slider or Eugene Robinson getting arrested. But sometimes I, too, grow weary. Like, say, now.
On Sunday, a quarterback who grew up in Atlanta and still has a house here, led his team to the NFC title. Cam Newton was the NFL’s best player this season, same as he was the best player in college football when he led his team to the 2010 BCS title. His collegiate team was Auburn, not Georgia or Georgia Tech. His NFL team is Carolina, which is the closest NFL franchise to ours — by a hair over the Titans, who’ve graced a Super Bowl more recently than the Falcons and didn’t mess theirs up — and that’s pretty darn galling.
Yes, the Falcons are the only reason Cam’s crew isn’t chasing an unbeaten season. So that’s our consolation? We’re spoilers, as opposed to achievers?
On Jan. 23, 2013, the Falcons played host to the NFC championship game. They led San Francisco 17-0 six seconds into the second quarter. They lost. On Sunday, the Panthers played host to the NFC championship game. They led 17-0 after one quarter. They won by 34 points.
Other Southern cities get it right sometimes. (Tampa, Fla., and Raleigh, N.C., have hoisted Stanley Cups. We’ve lost two NHL franchises to Canada.) So why is Atlanta, capital of the New South, stuck on one lousy title? Bad luck? Bad timing? The ongoing curse of Chief Noc-A-Homa?
I don’t believe in curses. I do, however, believe in management. The good news for Atlantans was that Rankin Smith Sr. landed an NFL franchise. The bad news: Smith’s family ran it. The Hawks and the far-flung Thrashers were playthings of the benighted Atlanta Spirit. The Braves were unlucky not to have won more than one World Series — Bobby Cox: “We played better in three we lost than in the one we won” — and then a Colorado conglomerate took over. If John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, has seen a game at Turner Field, I’m unaware of it.
The Hawks and Falcons just teased us. The Hawks won 60 games and, for the first time, reached the Eastern Conference finals. They were swept by Cleveland. As of Monday morning, the latest Hawks were on pace to win 47 games. The Falcons just became the seventh of 77 teams since the 1970 merger to start 5-0 and miss the playoffs. They finished 8-8 against the NFL’s second-softest schedule.
Both franchises have invested everything in a coach. New Hawks management decided keeping Danny Ferry as general manager was too much trouble and handed the reins to Mike Budenholzer, a head coach for all of two seasons. The Falcons ceded control of their 53-man roster to Dan Quinn before he’d worked a game, and they’re keeping GM Thomas Dimitroff because Quinn likes him. (They’re also moving Raheem Morris, a career defensive coach, to offense. And dumping a few scouts.)
The Braves have dumped almost everyone drawing above minimum MLB wage, but say this for them: They have a plan. It might fail so spectacularly that they move to Saskatoon — forget Smyrna — and take up hockey, but John Coppolella and John Hart know what they want to do. I’m not sure the Falcons and Hawks can say the same.
On the day he was promoted to general manager, Coppolella invoked the total of championships won by Atlanta’s major-league franchises (meaning one) and said: “My goal and my vow is to increase that number.” Laugh all you want, but at least somebody around here has his eye on the prize.
