How and why did you become a Falcon ?

[B^rooklyn 164]

Growing Up My Parents Never Got Me Into Sports.. But My Cousin Got Me Into Football Around 7th Grade.

Soon He Got Me Into Madden, And Since He Liked The Jets And I'm From New York, They Were My Fave Team At The Time.

Then We Were Gonna Play A Franchise Together.. So We Needed To Pick Diff Teams. I Picked The Cowboys And Didn't Like The Team. (To Think I Coulda Been A Cowboys Fan... :ph34r:)

So, I Started Picking Diff Teams To See Who I Like. Then My Friend Peter Played Against Me, And He Picked The Falcons.

I Noticed That His QB Was Running All Over The Place, And I'm Like WTF?? A QB That Ran That Fast Was Amazing To Me.

So I Started Picking Atlanta, And I Was Amazed By Everything.. The Stadium, The Color Schemes, The Logos, The Jerseys.

Soon After I'm In HS Trying To Get Into The Football Team, And I Didn't Know What POS To Play. I Went With CB Due To A Certain CB We Drafted And I Feel That That Decision Changed My Life.

Been A HUGE Falcon Fan Ever Since. I Love This Team, More Than The Yankees.

[dvt5045 82]

Grew up in atlanta and follow all atl sports ever since I can remember even though I go to school in VA now but I definitely plan on coming back to GA (UGA Law) once I finish undergrad. Love my dirty birds!!

[Dirty Bird 2 2]

Hey everybody. I looked around a didn't see a specific for the new members to introduce so I thought this was the next best thing.

I became a Falcon at the age of 11 in 1989. We beat the cowboys that year and that was the mark it made. I was born in Oklahoma so I was surround by cowboy fans and for some reason around that age, really started watching and paying attention. That game did me in. I've been on board ever since.

Nice to be here.

Cool place you guys have here.

[Hoppy™ 259]

I still can not get a grip on why people from the area show no love for the college that is actually IN Atlanta. I mean, i'm sure people have some logical reasons for some of them. But i bet not all!

Well... I'm not sure if this is the reason or not, but GA Tech is a rather high-end school for engineers and such.... Of all of my friends who opted to stay in GA for college, I'd say there were 4 or 5 who chose UGA for every kid who went to Tech.... I'm not sure how much bearing this has on the ratio of Dawgs fans to Yellow Jackets fans, but it does seem that FAR more people go to school at UGA or GA State than Tech..

Not to mention, Athens was just such a great party town with a good music scene, a lot of my friends (both students and not) moved to Athens during their early 20's....

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with family traditions, as well.... College football fans out-number NFL fans like 10:1 down here.... UGA has a rather rich football tradition.... A lot of people are Dawgs fans because their parents, grandparents and great grandparents raised them to be UGA fans...

So it's probably half tradition and half the fact that many more local kids pick UGA due to the more liberal admission requirements and more popular fields of academics...

[Hoppy™ 259]

Growing Up My Parents Never Got Me Into Sports.. But My Cousin Got Me Into Football Around 7th Grade.

Soon He Got Me Into Madden, And Since He Liked The Jets And I'm From New York, They Were My Fave Team At The Time.

Then We Were Gonna Play A Franchise Together.. So We Needed To Pick Diff Teams. I Picked The Cowboys And Didn't Like The Team. (To Think I Coulda Been A Cowboys Fan... :ph34r:)

So, I Started Picking Diff Teams To See Who I Like. Then My Friend Peter Played Against Me, And He Picked The Falcons.

I Noticed That His QB Was Running All Over The Place, And I'm Like WTF?? A QB That Ran That Fast Was Amazing To Me.

So I Started Picking Atlanta, And I Was Amazed By Everything.. The Stadium, The Color Schemes, The Logos, The Jerseys.

Soon After I'm In HS Trying To Get Into The Football Team, And I Didn't Know What POS To Play. I Went With CB Due To A Certain CB We Drafted And I Feel That That Decision Changed My Life.

Been A HUGE Falcon Fan Ever Since. I Love This Team, More Than The Yankees.

That is a rather interesting way to become a Falcons fan! That is why I never tire of reading these, "How Did You Become a Falcons Fan?" posts, regardless of how many times a year I read them.... I rooted for the Jets-Mets-Islanders as a kid in NY... Adopted the Bravos and Falcons when I moved to GA, but I STILL love my hapless NY Islanders!

[Rings 6,683]

Mine isn't near as cool. I am from Ohio and became a Jordan fan when I was very young...mainly because he pissed my dad off so much with "the shot", that and he was just amazing. Oddly enough the Falcons shared the same color scheme as the Bulls and as an 8 year old, knowing nothing about football that was all it took for me to like them...been a fan ever since!

[Rings 6,683]

Oddly enough a few minutes after I posted this, the gatorade commercial aired on ESPN with Jordan's shot over Ehlo...weird.

[The Falcon Jedi Knight 5,593]

I had no choice. Growing up in Ga. all I got to watch on tv were Falcon games. I just grew into supporting them. I support all the Atlanta sports teams.

[falcons faithful 199]

I have always loved football. Grow up in NY watch Giants back in the Sam Huff days. Got stationed in GA in 68 and started watching Falcons since could not get Giants and it's been all Falcons since.

[Interceptor430 168]

I was 12 years old when the Falcons came in existence. We lived in the East Point/College Park area. We were Braves Fans as well, and spent many a summer night at games.

We didn't get to many Falcons games, but we listened to them on the radio, or watched on TV when it was on.

In 1970, my best friend, had a paper route, delivering the Atlanta Journal. I had a car then, and would help him on Sunday Mornings...

3 Falcons Players lived on his route....1 of them, sadly, I can't remember the name.

the other 2 were John Zook, and Tommy Nobis.

My friend told me to take papers to these particular apartment doors...I did...he then told me who I delivered papers to. Blew my mind... seeing John, and Tommy, to 'collect' was always special. Nice nice guys. I was in awe, always.

We'd see Tommy out and about in the off season... I recall Tommy coming into a package store once - bought 2 cases of beer...carried them up to the counter, and out to his car with ease, like they weighed nothing...one stacked on top of the other, in flats with the plastic rings on each 6-pack.

Anyway... I've been a Falcons Fan since '66.

I moved to N.C. in 1978 (work) and was disappointed to learn this area was Redskin Country... that irked me....Atlanta is closer!... I continued to follow the Falcons.....

Then the 'Panthers' came along....they irked me too... colors sucked, that kitty growl sucked...I saw so many Redskin fans turn to the Panthers....that was despicable... NO! I would not be a Panther Fan! I remained true to the Falcons, and always will.

I've had season tickets the past 6 years, and make the 300 mile drive down, see the game, and drive home. Sometimes, for late games, I get a hotel room.

The loss to Green Bay hurt bad...this CBA junk has annoyed me even more...

I'll be glad when things get back to normal... whatever that is..... we have got to beat Philly and Greenbay in our Dome this year.... got to do that!

Go Falcons!

[VaBchFalcon25 1]

Well in 1968 I was born at Grady Hospital as a life time falcon fan.

In 1980 I remember picking myself of the ground after my Dad smack me when Dallas had scored to take the lead . I mistakenly said man the falcon suck. Wasn't really the right time. Years later I knew how emotions of the game could be. We later moved to Suwannee. Then a little country town. Me only 11 at the time I had No ideal that it was home of the Falcon training camp. Jeff Van note would stop by our house when he would see me and my brother playing football out front of our run down shack. We later became ball boys at times during training camp. We would ride our bikes up there everyday. Man I loved those days. I now live in Virginia beach and I'm able to come and see a few games a year. But thank god for direct tv I haven't miss a game it at least five years. I couldn't stand watch another Redskin game

[dirty bird 025 50]

i became a falcon fan collecting 10 campels soup labels for a free nfl hat randomly selected to be mailed to your house, mind you i was 6 years old, back in 1991. and since the day i got that falcons hat in the mail i decided to have that be my team. my family disliked it a lot since they are die hard bears fans. ha, well i've been laughin at em the past couple years.

[jdc1963 5]

Jumped on the wagon in '98 became STH in 2002 and wouldn't have it any other way.

[AtlantaFalconPokerPro 2,084]

I was born and raised in Atlanta Ga. I love everything Atlanta, except for the transvestites that hang around Ponce.

[ironhead falcon 1]

I feel in love with the run and gun in 1995

[BlacksburgHokie 241]

I grew up in Blacksburg (home of Virginia Tech), and really started getting in to football about the time Vick led us to the national championship game. I followed him when he was drafted by the Falcons, and really got hooked on the team. I've been a die-hard fan of the team ever since, and am really looking forward to getting to go to some of the games for the first time this upcoming season (now that I've graduated from GT and actually have money to go to games).

[dogmanx23 0]

Hello everyone

I'm new here and I thought I'd post here first. My story is actually kinda corny but here it is.

I became a Falcons fan in 91 when Deion Sanders played for them. I just started like the Braves in 1990 because they were always on TBS. In 91 Deion was on the Braves and they mentioned he was a two sports player. So when the Falcons would be on TV i'd look to watch him play and i started liking the Falcons. I've been a fan ever since and have never changed. Its weird being a Falcons fan in Jersey. People look at me like I'm a weirdo or something.

Anyways good to find a place to talk about the Falcons.

[irishdart 32]

I have to start a new account, since my old one has somehow disappeared.

I became a Falcons fan in 1989. I am from Canada and I played football as a kid, which is a rarity in a country built on ice and hockey skates. Football isn't really popular around here, but since it was the sport I chose, I became a diehard fan of it, watching every level I could.

In Canada, I cheered for my local team, the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL, but I also loved the Irish in the NCAA. Because they had a lifetime contract with NBC, I was fortunate enough to get a chance to watch them all the time.

But the NFL was a little different. We didn't get that much coverage of the NFL, and it would only be Buffalo and Seattle games, since they were the two teams closest to Canada. But I didn't like them, just something about them I wasn't a fan of. My father, who I looked up to all the time, was a football fan too and he loved the NFL, but didn't have a particular team. Since we didn't get great coverage of the NFL, my dad always just cheered for whoever was the underdog in a particular game. He always loved the longshot.

So I decided to do the same thing, loving the longshots. Hated the great teams. No love for the 49ers, hated the packers, hated Philly and Washington, Buffalo Pittsburgh and the Broncos. But I did see two players that played the same game I did. Barry Sanders was a running back, JUST like me, and he played on a bad team, just like me, and had to carry the team, JUST LIKE ME. But Detroit wore baby blue colors. I would get beat up if I wore a baby blue jersey around. It just looked stupid.

But there was this OTHER guy. This kid called Neon Deion. He was a return man like me. But he was electric. And just a joy to watch. And his team wore Black and Red. Black and Red. Those were respectable colors. I could do that. Plus, the Falcons were garbage. One of the worst teams in the league. My Dad HAD to respect the fact that I was cheering for an underdog as bad as the Falcons.

And thats how it happened. I became a fan because of Neon, Cool Jerseys, and because the falcons were so bad. 22 years as a fan in Canada, going strong.

It's a little easier to catch the games now, but still a little tough since I'm in the great white north and Atlanta is so far south. But Everytime we make it to the playoffs, I see ALL THE GAMES!

Go Dirty Birds!!

[SacFalcFan 1,025]

I was born a Falcon.

[Durrtay 2,148]

i was born here, raised here, and bleed red... it was a natural fit

[Durrtay 2,148]

I was born and raised in Atlanta Ga. I love everything Atlanta, except for the transvestites that hang around Ponce.

dude what is WITH THAT??? why do they all hang out on ponce?? if i could... :ph34r:

[Wes Donaldson 1]

I was born and raised in Georgia always been a Falcon fan. I guess growing up with my grandfather and dad rooting for the Falcons made me a fan for life. To be honest I think they have the best team now then they have ever had and on the right track!

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

Always loved the city of Atlanta... and I played ball with Michael Vick in high school.

[alltherage 35]

I'm a fellow Canadian too. From Calgary AB.

I started following NFL in the last 10 years or so after my Girlfriend's family slowly exposed me to it. Most of them are Cowboys fans so I probably learned the most about them to start.

I went to an NFL game in Dallas with a few of them two years ago against the Redskins and while it was amazing being in the new stadium and seeing a live NFL game for the first time, the game was underwhelming. It was super low scoring... 7-0 or something.

After seeing the game Live I really started getting interested in the NFL... but I didnt have a team. Cheering for Dallas seemed contrived since my friends were all fans of them. I wanted a team in the NFC because I've been exposed to it more and know a little bit about the teams.

I decided on Atlanta for a few reasons. I liked that they were entering a new era, the Matt Ryan era, and that they seemed to be headed in the right direction. I also liked the connection to Calgary- because our NHL Team the Flames came from Atlanta (Sorry to hear about the Thrashers by the way).

Long story short, at the beginning of last season I decided I was all in. I bought my first hat, jersey, followed them closely throughout the season... and I'm 110% hooked!

Looking forward to many great years and hopefully some Championships.

[Interceptor430 168]

I was born a Falcon.

Good answer!