For about the first half-hour of the game yesterday, I had hope... hope that the pro football season would last a bit longer for Atlanta fans and me. 

I come from a family of football players and fans.  My dad played high school ball back in the days when the guys played both offense and defense -- they'd just keep running up and down the field.  He went to college on a football scholorship, and used to love to tell the story of how he hit a player hard in college practice, then leaned over to give him a hand up -- that player was Bobby Kennedy.  My brothers all played in high school and college. My brother Mark was a good player and captain of his team at Northside (now North Atlanta) High School.  He's told of his first college game -- they guys were so much bigger and the first time he got hit, his helmet came right off his head and flew across the field. I've never been able to get into college games.   I went to Emory.  We had a swim team.  I have great friends that went to Georgia, and equally great friends who went to GA Tech.  One of the worse experiences I've ever had was going to a GA/GA Tech game.  The fans on both sides were so rude and obnoxious -- swearing at and punching  each other -- and these were the ADULTS, not the students!!

But I've always loved my Falcons -- have always had that Falcons fever... my favorite years being the ones when Steve Bartkowski would scramble, then throw a Hail Mary to Billy "White Shoes" Johnson for a come-from-behind win in the final seconds of the game!  What heart!  Oh, how I long for those exciting football years. Nowadays, it seems like The Baltimore Colts coming back would have as good odds of making it into a Wild Card berth as any team.  The Falcons went out with a whimper yesterday after a decent season (though the big beat by The Saints the day after Christmas was beyond ugly.)  The one sure thing after a disappointing end yesterday?  There's always next year.  Unless, of course, there's a strike.