Bill Belichick has a real chance of being the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. After building the greatest dynasty in NFL history with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, seeing Belichick on the Falcons sideline could be one of the weirdest sights in sports history, up there with Michael Jordan in his Washington Wizards uniform.
While the Falcons don’t have the best history as a franchise, they have at least been relevant at various stretches in their existence, most lately when they blew a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl to Belichick’s Patriots.
But Atlanta, Georgia as a city has a bit of a tough reputation as a professional sports town. Notwithstanding the incredible support Atlanta United has received in its brief history, fans in Atlanta routinely get criticized for being fair-weather and not showing up.
But the city and its fans have probably not had a rant aimed at them with the contempt and disdain that Craig Carton delivered on Thursday morning’s edition of The Carton Show. The eponymous host went on a diatribe against the city, going great lengths to share just how little he cares for it, when discussing Belichick’s potential hire.
"Atlanta is the worst professional sports town in America."
— @craigcartonlive pic.twitter.com/jQNTQPX4kS
— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) January 25, 2024
“Sorry not sorry, I don’t care about Atlanta,” Carton said.
That was only the beginning.
“I care about Belichick. I don’t care about Atlanta. I care about Belichick. That was a Belichick story. That wasn’t an Atlanta story,” he continued.
“Atlanta is the worst professional sports town in America and it’s not close,” Carton proclaimed. “They’re one of the great college sports towns in America. They’re a terrible professional sports town. And that is proven by facts across the board year after year after year. They don’t sell out World Series games. They are the worst professional sports team [sic] in America and honestly it’s not even close.”
It’s easy for sports talk and debate shows to dismiss anybody that doesn’t play for the Cowboys, Yankees, and Lakers. And while there’s an entire list of worthy fanbases that wish their teams got more respect from the national media, Atlanta does have quite the history when it comes to their poor reputation as a sports town that literally goes back decades.
On the bright side, at least Carton was kind and compassionate enough to throw Atlanta a bone by calling you a great college sports town as host of the SEC Championship Game and Peach Bowl. (And Georgia Tech? Maybe?) Unfortunately, the rest of the rant was pure brutality.
