The Falcoholic
Let’s face it, there hasn’t been much to cheer about with the Atlanta Falcons in almost a decade. We’ve had seven straight seasons of missing the playoffs, and the way this season is going, that number may extend to eight. It seems like the team is always competitive in the division up until mid season every year, and then the patented Falcons’ second half collapse happens, derailing all hopes of a successful campaign.
It’s clear this is an organizational issue, right? Well… maybe the issue was right in front of our disgruntled fan faces all along. The Falcons are just cursed. Curses are a staple in major league sports. The curse of the Bambino sought to explain the Red Sox’ 86-year championship drought following the controversial sale of baseball legend Babe Ruth, and was finally lifted when the Sox won the 2004 World Series. When Pro Bowl quarterback Bobby Layne was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1958, Layne supposedly said the Lions would “not win for 50 years,” essentially casting a hex on the team which has held up and then some, as Detroit has only won three playoff games since.
Sports curses are embedded in every major league storied franchise, so since it’s Halloween, let’s take a look at some of the spooky ones that might be swirling around our Atlanta Falcons.
Anyone who was into sports games in the early 2000s knows there was only one player who was quite literally unstoppable; this was Michael Vick in the 2004 edition of Madden. Vick’s Pro Bowl performance the year prior earned him the title of cover athlete for the game that year. Not even 100 overall Shaquille O’Neal in the third installment of NBA 2k was as dominant as Vick was in that year’s Madden. Players would use the Falcons and not throw a single pass all game, instead just using Vick’s legs to run circles around the defense, or just launch an off-balance ball 50 yards downfield casually.
Howeverm Vick wasn’t allowed to be this good in the game without a sacrifice, and it came in the form of his real life right fibula. In 2003 during a pre-season game against the Baltimore Ravens, Vick fractured his right fibula just five days after Madden ‘04 was released, causing him to miss majority of the season. Vick would come back later that year in Week 13 being substituted in for Doug Johnson, and would make his starting debut the following week. Vick’s injury was just one example of the infamous “Madden Curse,” where a player who graces the cover of the video game follows it up with an underwhelming season or in Vick’s case, an injury.
The Atlanta Falcons Bird Lady has been a cornerstone of Atlanta Falcons football culture since I can remember. For context, my family has had season tickets to Falcons games since 2003, and in the section right next to us there...
