Before you get sucked in by NFL Super Bowl 2013 stats and who will win the "HarBowl", I wanted to look at just how much one endzone of the Georgia Dome has sucked this year.
Once the Capital One Bowl ended I slowly, ever so slowly, found myself getting drawn into the Atlanta Falcons' run towards the Super Bowl. At first I would just casually watch the game on Sundays, followed by reading some articles, and then before you know it I'm rearranging schedules so that I can be in front of the television for the NFC Divisional title game.
You see...it was over. And then Matt Ryan led the team back down the field. Slippery Pete was sent back to Seattle and the Falcons were poised to be underdogs again, on their own field, in the NFC Championship game.
Of course, you know all that. And you know how that one ended as well. Out of miracles and out of downs, the Falcons' season ended.
And it ended in almost the same spot where the Bulldogs' dreams ended. Facing the same endzone in a relative semi-final game, everything on the line, the Falcons followed the same heart-breaking script the Dawgs did.
I immediately endorsed the burning and total obliteration of the arena. I had previously believed Arthur Blank to be off his rocker asking for another stadium. But perhaps a fresh start would be a good thing. Build something from the ground up on land that isn't cursed. I'm not sure which stage of fan grief that puts me in, perhaps somewhere between bargaining and anger, but it still feels wrong.
I'm officially back to not caring about professional football. No amount of NFL Super Bowl XLVII betting could rectify that. But I'll be back next January. And I hope by then the Dawgs will have already exorcised those demons once and for all.
