NFL Falcons fans still in somber mood
Feb 7, 2017 - 1:10 AM There were partly cloudy skies in Atlanta on Monday, but the gloom over the city seemed to be more from the Falcons' gut-wrenching Super Bowl 51 loss.Falcons fans are in a somber mood after their team blew a 25-point lead in a 34-28 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday night (Sunday AEDT).
Even for fans used to disappointment, this "L" was unprecedented.
"We came so far. We had the rings ready to be put on our fingers," said Nylous Dickerson, a chef who watched from Dantanna's, where he works at the CNN Center in the shadows of the Georgia Dome and the Falcons' new stadium.
"We gave that game away. We gave Tom Brady too many chances. It was a somber wakeup. I still don't feel good about this."
Dickerson, like many Falcons fans, might not feel well for some time.
New England won even though the Patriots never snapped the ball with the lead. If that wasn't bad enough, the Falcons found ways to lose that had never been done: in overtime at the Super Bowl after leading by 19 points heading into the fourth quarter.
The hangover apparently was so crushing that there was hardly any rush hour traffic Monday morning in city where traffic jams are the norm.
"We had a lady call in saying she didn't want to go to work today," said Carl Dukes of Atlanta radio show 92.9 FM The Game. "We had a student call in saying she told her parents she didn't want to go to school because everybody would be talking about it. That's the feeling. Everybody is kind of still in shock about how this all went down."
Teneshia Ethridge saw a change of demeanour in Falcons fans before and after the game.
Ethridge said fans had planned on partying after the game, but the loss sent most of them back to their hotel rooms in shock.
"It was vibrant, alive and colourful when we left Saturday," said Ethridge, who attends home and away games. "There was a tailgate at the gate at the airport when we were getting on the plane with a DJ. But when we came back today, it was like nobody wanted to talk. We didn't want to speak to each other. I feel completely different. Nothing was supposed to happen like this."
But this is Atlanta. The city has only one major sports championship in 169 combined seasons for its NFL team, Major League Baseball's Braves, the NBA's Hawks and two now-departed NHL teams, the Flames and the Thrashers. The Braves won the World Series in 1995.
Source: AAP
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