By Rosemary Harper
The Atlanta Sports Curse. Those four words are loaded with bad memories for millions of fans.
28-3. Alabama vs. Georgia, Alabama’s second half comeback. Alabama vs. Georgia, Alabama’s second half comeback part II. The Braves giving up 10 runs in the first inning. The Braves’ 3-1 lead over the Dodgers. The infield fly rule?!
I didn’t even give details and you probably just shuddered, didn’t you?
The idea that Atlanta sports teams are cursed first started to circulate in 2017, after the Falcons blew a late 28-3 lead against the Patriots in Super Bowl LI. I mean, what team blows a lead that big, on such a huge stage, with so little time left? There has to be some sort of explanation, and fans decided that Atlanta sports as a whole must be cursed.
The “evidence” to back up the “curse”:
All of the Braves’ failed playoff runs: They went to the playoffs 12 times between 1996 and 2013, including two trips to the World Series, and didn’t bring home a single ring.
The Falcons have been in Atlanta since 1966 and the Hawks since 1968, and neither has won a single championship. That’s a combined 108-year drought.
Georgia faced Alabama in the 2017 National Championship, and the Bulldogs blew a 13-0 halftime lead to some “Tua” quarterback no one had ever heard of. (No, UGA is not located in Atlanta, but their failures are kind of grouped in with those of the teams in the city.)
10 months later, Georgia and Alabama met in the SEC Championship and Georgia blew another halftime lead (28-14) to knock them out of playoff contention.
The Braves and Cardinals faced off in a 2019 NLDS. The series dragged to a die-or-die Game 5 in which the Braves gave up 10 runs in the top of the 1st inning. The season was over before the Braves had even come up to bat.
The Braves held a 3-1 series lead over the Dodgers in the 2020 NLCS. The Braves needed just 1 more win to advance to the World Series. Instead, they dropped 3 straight games, including giving up a lead in Game 7.
Some people also consider Trae Young, the Hawks’ star player, getting stepped on by a referee as part of the “curse”. The Hawks were in the midst of a deep playoff run in 2021 when a ref accidentally stepped on Trae’s foot, injuring him. The Hawks had to play most of the rest of the series without him, and they ended up losing to the Bucs.
Is there a real, actual curse on Atlanta sports? Of course not. Real curses have serious, evil implications and take place among the dark people of the world. There is no legitimate curse on the sports teams of our city.
But it is true that any time there is an Atlanta team, a ball, and a playoff game, a lot of unfortunate things go down. Like, a lot a lot. And they have gone down at the expense of millions of faithful fans who can do nothing but scream at their TV and search for answers (and wonder why they continue to turn on the TV and put themselves through this).
So, if there is no real curse (which there isn’t), then it’s not really affecting anything, right?
I don’t think that’s true. The overwhelming narrative around this city has been that we always blow it, no matter what. And the professional Atlanta sports athletes know that. They know it, and they are constantly reminded of it.
For example, during the Braves 2021 playoff run, anytime the Braves had a lead in a series, guys like Freddie Freeman would be peppered with questions about the narrative and the “curse” and what he thought of it and if it entered his mind and if the guys in the clubhouse talked about it. On, and on, and on. Finally, Freeman insisted that the Braves have to “kill the narrative”.
This narrative hangs over the athletes and coaches just like it hangs over the fans. Braves General Manager Alex Anthopolous had to watch the Braves’ World Series Game 6 from home because he had COVID. He admitted that when things weren’t going well for the Braves in the top of the 1st, he changed the channel. He said it was because “he couldn’t shake off thoughts about the 3-1 series lead the Braves blew in the 2020 National League Championship Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Falcons' infamous collapse from a 28-3 edge in the 2017 Super Bowl.” (Associated)
Plus, these athletes have lived it. The Braves players were there last year when they blew the 3-1 lead to the Dodgers. They played in those games. They felt that heartbreak ten times more than even the fans did. You don’t think last year’s collapse wasn’t playing through their minds when they had a 3-1 series lead over the Dodgers once again in the 2021 playoffs? Of course it was! Athletes are human beings, and they think of their failures and they stress about circumstances, just like all people do.
Well. Guess what? The curse is broken.
Those same Braves that I was just using as an example said that enough was enough and casually won the 2021 World Series, bringing a championship home to Atlanta. After years of Atlanta teams losing games they were supposed to win, the Braves won a title in a year when they were definitely not supposed to win, like, anything.
And now the narrative is done. It died with one mammoth stroke of Jorge Soler’s bat. You might argue, “Yeah, but that’s just one team winning one championship. That can’t erase all the disasters of the entire city!” Well it actually can.
Anytime someone reminds Atlanta fans of all the blown leads? Well, the Braves had two 3-1 series leads, one in the NLCS and one in the World Series, and held onto both. Anytime someone mentions all the terrible officiating our various teams have had to endure and all the horrible calls that lost our city certain games? Well, the Braves took the brunt of several bad umpire calls (a foul out that wasn’t a foul out and a stolen base that wasn’t stolen) and still overcame them to win the Big Dance. Anytime someone points out the lack of championships? Well, sorry, but actually no American professional team has won a ring more recently than we have.
It should be mentioned that Atlanta United killed the “curse” before it could ever really begin, back in 2018 when they won the MLS Cup. But the national media doesn’t take the MLS seriously, so everyone still gave us grief about our city’s struggles for several more years.
Does this mean that Atlanta teams will never suffer another blown lead or heartbreaking playoff loss? Of course not. Every single team in every single city goes through terrible, gut-wrenching games. That’s part of sports. Honestly, there really wasn’t anything special about Atlanta-- heartbreak happens to everybody.
But now? Now, the next time the Hawks, Falcons, Braves, Atlanta United, or our various college teams begin to blow it, the millions of Atlanta faithful won’t have to groan, “Here we go again!”. We won’t have to listen to media members or fans from other cities lord our “curse” over us. And if they do?
Just remind them of what Freddie Freeman said into a microphone, with the words “Atlanta Braves 2021 World Series Champions” on his chest: “We killed the narrative. And we get to kill it for a long time.” (Narrative)
Sources:
Associated Press. “Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos Details Watching World Series
Win From Quarantine.” ESPN, 10 Nov 2021. www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32601
772/atlanta-braves-gm-alex-anthopoulos-details-watching-world-series-win-quarantine
“Atlanta Braves.” Britannica, 3 Nov 2021. www.britannica.com/topic/Atlanta-Braves
Baccellieri, Emma. “Narrative No More! Braves Kill Curse in City That Haunts Atlanta
Sports the Most.” Sports Illustrated, 5 Nov 2021. www.si.com/mlb/2021/11/05/bra
ves-win-world-series-atlanta-sports-curse-no-more#:~:text=Braves%20World%20Series%20win%20ends%20Atlanta%20sports%20curse%20narrative%20%2D%20Sports%20Illustrated&text=The%20Braves%20entered%20the%202021,wins%20of%20any%20playoff%20teams.
Novak, Christopher. “Alabama Prevails in SEC Championship thriller vs. Georgia.” SB
Nation. www.teamspeedkills.com/sec-football/2018/12/1/18121645/alabama-geor
gia-sec-championship-2018-final-score
“Sports in Atlanta.” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_Atlanta
“2018 College Football National Championship.” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_
College_Football_Playoff_National_Championship#:~:text=The%20Alabama%2
Crimson%20Tide%20defeated,defensive%20players%20of%20the%20game.
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