Rob Parker insults the city of Atlanta
Before I go on about this I would like to tell you that I have been a Braves fan for a long time, and I am not from Atlanta. I was furious when I read this so I can only imagine how die hard Atlanta fans who actually live there feel. I have never been a huge football fan but my family is pretty involved and I have been a casual Steelers fan for a few years because of my uncle. Because of this I am now much more interested in the Atlanta Falcons and I am going to start following them because of this.
According to Wikipedia, Rob Parker is a sports journalist. After reading his latest piece I think I might go over and edit out sports journalist from the page myself (I mean that’s what wikipedia’s all about right?). Parker’s piece is titled ‘City of Atlanta doesn’t deserve win’ and is mainly about the Atlanta Falcons but he decided to go out and insult the entire city as well. It’s really an outrage that someone could write something that insulting about an entire city. Here is how he starts out the story:
"It’s not fair.And, we know, it really shouldn’t matter.But Atlanta — the city, not the team — doesn’t deserve a playoff victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.It has nothing to do with football. It’s deeper than that.Without question, Atlanta is the worst sports town in America."
He doesn’t stop there however, he goes on to further insult the people of Atlanta by writing:
the rest after the break
"Your typical Atlanta fan — who is probably from another city since so few are actually from ATL — will be preoccupied with something else. They might not even be sure what time the game is on.In fact, at some point, they might ask a friend — filled with sweet tea — at a pork-saturated barbeque, “Are the Falcons playing today?”Pathetic."
If he thinks he is insulting anyone by saying that they are ‘filled with sweet tea’ or at a ‘pork-saturated barbeque’ than he clearly hasn’t had either of these because they are fantastic. But his petty insults are beside the point. The point is, Rob Parker thought it was a good idea to insult an entire city and it was allowed. It was horrible journalism all-around. Just look at the stats that he used to try and make the point that Atlanta is the worst sports city in America.
Atlanta avg. attendance: ESPN Stats & Info
• NFL: Falcons
2011: 68,986 (96.8 pct) (15th out of 32)
2010:67,950 (95.2 pct) (15th out of 32)
• MLB: Braves
2011: 30,037 (60.4 pct) (15th out of 30)
2010: 30,989 (61.9 pct) (13th out of 30)
• NBA: Hawks
’11-’12: 17,205 (19th out of 30)
’10-’11: 15,648 (83.6 pct) (22nd out of 30)
Let’s see the Falcons have been 15th out of 32 teams the past two years. That looks and sounds above average to me, and guess what? It is. The Braves are listed as 15th and 13th the past two years out of 30 teams. That’s average one year and above average the next. The Hawks are worse than the past two at 19th and 22nd out of 30 teams but we still haven’t reached a team that is ‘the worst’. I am not sure why he bothered to put these stats in the story because it clearly proves the entire article wrong.
But wait there’s more.
Going back to the football side of this story, we find something that contradicts his point even more. Let me remind you that he stated that the Atlanta Falcons shouldn’t beat the New York Giants because of the support of their respective cities.
- Atlanta Falcons attendance this year: 96.8% of capacity
- New York Giants: 96.3% of capacity
Let’s all try and remember that he said the Falcons shouldn’t win because of their fan base. For some reason these numbers just don’t add up to me. Not only me though, a vast majority of the 3700+ commenters, Gondeee of Talking Chop, Hobson Lopes of Yahoo, and a countless number of dedicated and passionate Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Thrashers, and Georgia football fans.
It’s not right.
And we all know, but to Rob, it doesn’t matter.
But Parker-the ‘sports journalist’- doesn’t deserve to be able to write on such a huge platform tomorrow, or any other day.
It has nothing to do with analyzing a sports team, it’s much more insulting than that.
Without a question, Rob Parker is the worst sports writer in America.