Yesterday morning at 11:22 a.m. ET, the Atlanta Falcons became the 600-point favorite to win the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots.
This has been a landmark January for Georgia’s capital. The highlights began on New Year’s Day, with a win for the Falcons over their rivals the New Orleans Saints, securing a two seed in the playoffs, which meant a bye and first-round home game, boding well for the team’s playoff prospects.
A week later, on January 8, Atlantan Donald Glover’s FX show Atlanta won two Golden Globes, and in one of his acceptance speeches, Glover shouted-out the city and Atlanta rap trio Migos: “I really want to thank the Migos — not for being in the show — but for making ‘Bad and Boujee.’ Like, that’s the best song ever.” Later, backstage, he called Migos “the Beatles of this generation.”
That’s next-level Atlanta synergy. But it got better. The next day, “Bad and Boujee” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, dethroning “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd and Atlanta’s Gucci Mane.
In sports and music, it was all happening in Atlanta — but there was so much more in store.
On January 13, legendary civil-rights leader and Atlanta-area Congressman John Lewis told Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd that he didn’t see President-elect Donald Trump “as a legitimate president.” Just fantastic. John Lewis, heroic as ever.
The next day, Trump tweeted: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!” It wasn’t a good look for Trump to go after Lewis, and the congressman came out on top, with both of his books selling out on Amazon.
But it didn’t end there. The same day Trump tried to get mouthy with Lewis, the Falcons beat the Seahawks. And the following week — one that began with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday — was a build up to Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
At halftime, the Falcons were up 24-0. It was surreal, it felt like a dream, but it also felt right considering all the wins Atlanta was having. And then at halftime, Jeezy and Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri performed.
And then, probably at least partially because of that performance, the Falcons won the game, 44-21, advancing to the Super Bowl. Their opponents, the New England Patriots. Thoughts, John Lewis?
It’s a matchup made in Shondaland: the team representing John Lewis versus a team with ties to Trump.
The Patriots were originally favored to win, but that was before the news on January 23 that “Bad and Boujee” — which had been temporarily displaced by Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” on top of the Hot 100 — had returned to No. 1.
But that Migos news pales in comparison to what happened yesterday morning, on the internet’s premiere football site, Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin’s LiveJournal.
The post was titled “Then There Were Two.” His thoughts on the Falcons’ performance in the NFC Championship game were spot-on:
“The Falcons ripped right through Green Bay.”
“Neither contest was even remotely competitive.”
“The Packer D could not even seem to slow down Matty Ice, let alone stop him.”
Does GRRM have a Super Bowl pick? Damn straight he does.
“Nothing much to say but GO FALCONS.”
He caps-locked “GO FALCONS.” That’s how you know he means it. He’s not casually rooting for the Falcons, he WANTS THE FALCONS TO WIN.
This endorsement was the final puzzle piece. We had the actors, the rappers, and the civil-rights leaders — all that was missing was the guy who writes Game of Thrones.
This isn’t an opinion. At this point, it’s fact: The Atlanta Falcons are going to 100 percent win the Super Bowl. And if you think that the Falcons might be screwed because they’re having an amazing January but the Super Bowl is in February, I understand your concern — I had the same thought.
And then I realized whose birthday is February 5, the day of the Super Bowl:
Yes, the greatest Atlanta Brave of all time, Hammerin’ Hank Aaron. It’s over. Let’s go Falcons — win this, for America.
