How I became an Atlanta fan
Imagine if you will, that we are back in 1979 and there is a young Detroit Lions fan, sitting in the living room, cursing the universe for allowing his beloved Lions to be trampled earlier that day by none other than the Atlanta Falcons. It being near bedtime for our young hero, his Mom has begun preparations for the rigors tomorrow's 4th grade geography quiz will take on her son. In her thoroughness, she realizes that she has not filled out his order form for a new gym tote bag. While there were numerous options, including all 28 NFL teams (these were the days before Carolina and Jacksonville, naturally), our hero's mom just knows that he will want his beloved Lions to adorn the side of his new bag. Something inside makes her doublecheck.
Mom: Son! Oh, Son!
Randall: (still seething towards the Lions) WHAT!?!?!
Mom: Son,do you want me to order you a Lions tote bag?
Randall: NO!! I HATE THE LIONS!!
Mom: Really! I wasn't aware so much had changed in the last 6 hours. What do you want then?
Randall: An Atlanta Falcons bag! That's what I want!
Mom: (whispering to herself) What a psycho. (Aloud to Randall) You got it.
I'm not sure how many of you carried gym bags around, but those of us who did, know the code: You better be a fan if you're going to carry the bag around for the next 3 years. So, I read all I could about Steve Bartkowski and Mick Luckhart, and off I went to Falconfan Land.
