It’s a funny story | The History of the Atlanta Falcons, Part 7 

It's really what's behind the dots

Me when jon bois [anything]: magnificent.

I like how he said ‘bullshit’ fighting through tears

I am you, one year later. Time is a flat circle.

I just hope the falcons get a 25 point lead, as we learned no one can overcome a 25 point deficit, especially not an aging qb

I stopped watching after half time. The falcons took a 28-3 lead. It's not like the Patriots could send it into overtime and then win.

Spoiler alert: This game would solidify the Atlanta Falcons glorious reputation as the NFL’s greatest failure of a franchise. Choking is just an every day occurrence in Atlanta sports

@@vomitingforever5392 I stopped at the first third quarter score. Then later I decided to look up the final score and saw "OT" thinking what the hell and checking a second source because I couldn't believe it. But by the time I got my TV on it was showing a replay.

@@vomitingforever5392 I did too, couldn’t believe it when the next day I found out.

Jesus Christ, that's just the football gods pissing on the Falcons and calling it rain.

Goddamn.

Bruh.

@@alaeriia01pkol No

Of course they did

53:55 for those also looking

Jon is pretty amazing, he was able to eclipse this in the end of Part 2 of the Dave Stieb documentary. "Stieb wrote his autobiography back in 1986. He just had NO IDEA. ...................... *He still doesn't.* "

"Everything can be interpreted as either a tragedy or a comedy"--someone.

Tragedy to those who feel. A comedy to those who think!

@@92alpha13 redditor

This episode is not much shorter than the movie this joke comes from!

@@biackopsspokciab6849 it was karl marx "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce."

Yeah, this must have been rivoting if you didn't know the outcome of the superbowl!

@@TheAlexanderkl Whereas for all of us who did know the outcome this was peak horror show. There were no jump scares, we all knew how it would end, but just the pure horror of how it steadily unraveled...

When people ask why I think all sports are beautiful, it's because I read things like this. It's so much more than games.

Send me a link to a video about a perennially heartbreaking or pathetic aussie rules team

Welcome to the cinematic world of John Bois and Secret Base

as a Pats fan, I was so disheartened by the blowout i got up and showered. Only to get told I had to stay in the bathroom for the foreseeable future because the Pats were coming back. superstitions and all

It just makes too much sense.

Nothing is funnier in this series than the times when Jon addresses this Falcon logo/graph he's made as if it's its own entity. Giving me big "man stranded on deserted island alone" vibes.

I've never heard of the possibility that scoring a touchdown can be a bad thing. I wonder if that's happened ever outside of the Falcons example given in that part of this video.

@@Kpac_ It has. I can think immediately of the 2016 Cowboys/Packers game, where the Cowboys scored TOO quickly, and Aaron Rodgers got the ball back with just enough time to do some crazy shit and get it to a 52 yard FG

@@Kpac_ In fact, it happened in a college football game (Penn State vs. Indiana) the day *before* the Falcons did the same thing. I think the trickster god was “borrowing” some inspiration from some other capricious deity.

Me (not a pats fan): yep, definitely, absolutely satanic

@@analytical768 the Bois is gospel 🙏🏻

Just felt like the football gods were giving the falcons the middle finger

@@DeosPraetorian The football gods planned for the Falcons to lose normally, but they overslept and had to scramble in order to fulfill their intentions

Is a fail pick by the corner but edelman catch.

It's a beautiful gift.

Yes definitely deserves a platform like HBO showtime or even peacock

The overall editing in awe inspiring and motivate me to make better content

Then he mucks it up with some political slop opinion

@@vangelisgru7271 cry. Who cares man

I've described following my team as "Has it moments, but signing up for 17 straight weeks of getting kicked in the nuts and gladly returning the next year for more of the same". There's a reason that some versions of the myth say that the worst evil that could have come out of Pandora's Box was "Hope".

It's exactly the reason i as a bills fan hate when fans of the Packers, patriots, Steelers, or some other historically successful team make fun of any team that have no SB wins. I feel the pain of those teams in the fact that I'm in that boat. Fortunately for me the bills are great now, but i still hurt along with those teams

As a Mariners fan, I get you

@@holdenlester good news is that josh allen is better than aaron rodgers ever was and tom brady's rings are all MickeyMouse fraudulent ones. im a steelers fan so i apologize if my fellow yinzers have made fun of ur team

Bengals fan here, tearful agreement is all I feel reading this

Trust me that one just hit real deep for any Falcons fan...😂😂😂😂

I often cite extremely likely things as "happening 99.44 percent of the time," even though most people I say it to are not old enough to recognize the number from the old Ivory soap ads.

Those were almost as solid as Hillary’s numbers the night before the election

😂😂😂

So the New England Patriots joins the list of germs that Lysol could not handle…

love your videos!

Hey love your nascar vids

Good to see you here, S1ap!

Epic

The machine wasn't lying, we just got the almost impossibly bad ending.

That’s why these are so good. Jon bois does an incredible job of taking these terrible teams and turning them into something real. Like you said, the mariners are protagonists. The falcons are jesters. The Vikings are explorers. These teams aren’t bad. They’re just different. And they all have great stories to tell, if you want to look for them

I'm guessing you're not a baseball fan but the Braves just won a championship two seasons ago and are poised to win more for the next 5 + years. Also, I know UGA is in Athens and not technically in Atlanta but is the team the majority of Atlanta college football fans root for and just won back to back titles. So we can probably move past the Atlanta sports are cursed mantra.

That same year, I watched the Tribe blow it in spectacular fashion with my Dad. He was a lifelong Cleveland fan, and I wanted to see the Indians win it all just once in his lifetime. It was the last thing we ever watched together. RIP, Dad. I feel your pain.

Best game ever

​@@granthicks1648 The documentary addresses both of these points. The Braves and UGA represent the suburbs and the exurbs surrounding Atlanta. Hell the Braves ran away from the city of Atlanta and toward Cobb County as fast as they could. The Falcons are the team that represents the real city.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 I swear I forgot they lost

I genuinely didn't know. Have only been into NFL a few months. I'm so mad and I just cried too. I wasn't ready for the shock.

I won't lie, I felt like crying. I actually had a little bit of tears in my eyes.

@@HlabiMoetanalo damn. Yea this was brutal. They had so many chances to win this game. Like so many small things just didn’t go their way.

As a Pats fan I started squirming looking at them being down by 16 with 8:31 in the 4th quarter lol. It was like the super bowl all over again and I didn’t think I’d get those few seconds of fear, excitement, and a feeling of certainty ever again. I had to tell myself the Pats won. Amazing storytelling

tbf, cable companies don't get to sell the personal information you sign away to advertisers that only see you as a number

@@nishatelya7576 I mean they might, and either way, my data ain’t that valuable, I’m probably worth a bag of Cheetos and a second hand copy of 1984.

@@oliverdennis3115 same lol

@@oliverdennis3115 You're a wise human.

@@SimuLord I can see that but then again the extortionate fees they charge for cable compared to WiFi still makes it not worth it.

Man, people forget about that one. I loved the Brewers team that lost to the Cards that postseason. Was absolutely fuming mad to watch the Cardinals pull that out. But hey, they suck now!

Not anymore ❤

It’s like wide right is to the bills

Steven Godfrey talks to it the same way. he just tweeted earlier today, "and thanks to @jon_bois & Alex for letting me yell at my God again"

Everything Jon does is Oddly appropriate

@@amarevanhook7453 And also pretty good. That was lame.

is it bad i sympathized 1000x more with farting Harambe than the self pitying dude talking about it?

Upset of the century was harambe not being #69

@@treytrent I don't understand what you sympathize about. He seemed to be doing fine

1:01:07

@@treytrent The downfall started with Harambe. And it seems nothing will stop it.

Honestly, I think that may be the best illustration of the Patriots you can possibly draw up. They don't care about your stories. They don't care about your hopes. They don't care about your emotions. They don't have sympathy nor empathy for anything or anyone. They are simply a cold machine, programmed to win and only win. Everyone else is simply an obstacle - a thing that only exists to be beaten. If a long tragedy has to be prolonged in order for New England to achieve their goal, then so be it - that is their problem, not New England's.

This was the most relatable part of this entire series to me as a Falcons fan. As soon as the Patriots won the toss I knew the game was over. I literally don't remember the Patriots OT drive. My eyes were too glazed over in shock to process what I was hypothetically "seeing" and five years later I refuse to rewatch it. All I remember is that feeling of resignation and disbelief.

@@mediocrely_extraordinary0246 At least you didn't have to stare at a Harambe jersey for nearly an hour.

It’s also very enjoyable for the haters too

The fact that they never acknowledged any of the plays. Just a quick bar being added, and then a pan up to the probability tower, seeing it slowly crumble. It reminds me of the final scene from 1776, where they all sign the Declaration, knowing they were possibly condemning themselves to death.

Falling action

You're either a Patriots fan, or a Harambe type of person. Pretty good representation of the US in the early 21st century.

@@jaketheauroran that’s crazy that an adult WWE fan is being judgmental about what someone else enjoys.

No one escapes the bird

Matt Ryan blew a 33-point lead against the Vikings. Wow.

You can take the player out of the Falcons, but you can’t take the Falcons out of the player

It's ok, Jeff Saturday will bring the Colts into a new era of being the northern white ass version of the Falcons.

How does an offensive player blow a lead? That's like saying the Yankees hitters gave up 4 runs in the ninth to lose the game. No they didn't. It was the pitcher that blew the lead.

One must imagine the Falcons happy.

It’s like a cross between Sisyphus and Icarus. Cursed to constantly fly, only to go too close to the sun, fall, and repeat the cycle

@@noinfo1018 That's actually a perfect description of this team

I felt an impending sense of doom as soon as they scored that TD. Even when they shanked the point, fate seemed inevitable.

I feel like Jets fans all knew what was coming the moment they started scoring. Pure pain.

@@Mike_Poppe Same

The moment the Patriots found the endzone, it was over for Atlanta. I said in the last video that watching this series was like watching the Titanic head for the iceberg. Well, that TD the Patriots got to go up 28-9 was basically the moment the Falcons hit that iceberg and began to sink. The rest is history.

As a Panthers fan I felt nothing but happiness when the Pats won

Probably the funniest thing without context ever

That's what I thought!!

they were losing so bad they had to kick all those onsides...

Yup, and it makes the game against Dallas in 2020 all the more Falconsy. We had a reputation by then for being good at onside kicks, and yet we fantastically conflagrate the one time we had to be good at it.

I remember that it was thanksgiving 2019

Arguably is a better documentary than even the Mariners doc. Like...fuck. This is coming from someone who barely watches football even within the team they follow (by birthright, might I add).

For real, this is emmy levels of amazing.

If only they kept away from their political views, and just did sports. I really like secret base, but tired of the bullshit everywhere ffs.

@@Themightyfrogg im willing to give it a pass just for the narrative alone, i mean trump was the "villian" in 2016

Oh God… How long has it been wrong?

The mounting sense of dread throughout this video is extremely uncomfortable

Literally gave me goosebumps. It’s like watching a car crash. You know it’s going to happen, but you can’t look away. And yet each time you see it, you’re in disbelief.

@@Giantsfan7273 The entire documentary is a slow-motion car crash

That one hit frfr

We love the falcons out here in Sandy Springs

Scrolling the comments as Jon said it I was reading it

Funny thing is there's a Sandy Spring that's a suburb of the city I'm from and it kinda tripped me up a little bit at first

This O4W resident laugh-yelled at the screen so hard when he said it. I was laughing through my tears.

“These are Lysol numbers” LMAO

the patriots won 209 games between 2001 and 2017 (239 since 2001) in contrast the falcons have 369 wins in their 55 years franchise history

@@SimuLord I feel like the Patriots deserve their own dedicated series documenting their history. It's such a compelling tale of a team going from being the lovable underdogs that every sports fan naturally roots for to the overpowering villain that everyone and their mother reviles. Maybe it's just my bias kicking in though.

@@SmugTomato It's interesting to see how the football establishment managed to give the Pats a bad name in the intervening time period. After all, in 2001 the Pats were indeed lovable underdogs. Remember how they ran onto the field as a team when no one else did that? And, of course, they've proven that several football truisms haven't mattered (for example, Patriots teams have never been huge yardage teams, instead focusing on turnover differential and moving the sticks, which makes those high yardage QBs who are supposedly better, like Peyton Manning, look flawed in retrospect). Because they buck the old guard a little bit, I think the old guard has bristled back at them and sought to make mountains out of molehills (the camera incident) or out of flat ground (the supposedly deflated ball incident, and remember who was the chief person chasing that down? A former Colts VP, that's who). And, of course, Kraft made other owners look bad by paying for his own stadium rather than making Massachusetts pay for it. Even here, in this series, somehow the Pats are being cast as the symbol of red states in 2017, when they come from a blue state and the Falcons come from a red state. I mean, c'mon, the Harambe meme is more often invoked by right-wingers with a lack of sympathy for animal welfare.

@@roguishpaladin Like I said, the story of the New England Patriots is one that really deserves to be explored and spoken of in a much deeper light than what it has been given. We only ever see it from the perspective of an overly biased Patriots fan, or someone that absolutely hates their guts. The team itself truly makes no sense and I believe that they deserve a much deeper dive into their history because it really can be a compelling story and I know the guys at Secret Base are more than capable of creating one.

Is it just me or does the placement of the blue Patriots chart makes it look like the Falcon is crying? (not that the old trickster god would ever cry of course)

I love the Donald Trump hate, only to show him right. Why even mention that? I know they hate him, but, this is kind of like saying "the high achool bully wont win this chess game because he's too stupid". And then you reveal at the end that he actually did win. May have been better to leave that out, as it flips...

It'd take 1 day to gather this much information on a specific subject. A lot of it is conjecture with facts woven in between.

I watch Seven Hunnid on RU-vid all the time 😭😭I can’t stop watching his RU-vid videos, they’re amazing

@Fries that's subjective.

@@TrinityMThomas I think you meant to comment this yourself, instead of replying to an unrelated post.

It was one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history, then it became a footnote .

It was the falcons play calling in the fourth quarter that lost them the game. There is no reason to throw on second down. Run it up the middle 3 times and kick. They would have won the game

Oh, don't worry. That time in the barrel is coming.

lol what do you meaaaan?? The falcons are way above the Lions in terms of miserable. The Falcons atleast have been competitive and never went 0-16

@@WrathOfHorus90 as a Browns fan, I completely agree. The Falcons are not as garbage as the Lions or Browns, history wise

I do that too, and think the exact same thing. “And then, one night, it struck 51 o’clock.” I get emotional every time I hear those words, right before the music breaks. My goodness.

Honestly, after this, I really want Atlanta to just win it all. It would be very weird, but not unheard of with documenting strange stuff like this

If we stick together as a team we'll be alright

same with the mariners

Nah, Bill Burr's.

Didn’t expect to see you here soup, Been enjoying season 2 of the games!

I learned the falcons have sucked for a long time

I was definitely not expecting a Soup comment here..... Hi Soup!

👏 👏 👏

What did you find inspiring about it?

Hopefully it will one day be the Saints.

The Edelman catch definitely mattered

@@cooljayhu julio jones catch

Ain't that the truth..smh

Yeah it was until Edelman pulled off that utterly godlike catch

@@Dr.CaveCurinas ya the point is that if the falcons won Julios would've been the greatest SB catch of all time. They didn't win, so it isn't

@Fries that was one of the greatest SBs. The MAnning lead offense was so easily torn up by the LoB, I loved watching every second of it.

I still cant believe they didn't run the ball so they could go back to back

Its crazy how one playcall led to the fall of the Hawks as an elite team. That being said the Hawks defense deserves blame for that loss. They gave up two crucial TD drives in the 4th. For me there is simply no excuse for that. An end of game goalline turnover is heartbreaking but they got bailed out by Kearse to even had a real chance to win at that point. The Falcons made a lot more mistakes and missed more oppurtinies to lose SB 51 but the entire Hawks team deserves shame for their 4th quarter performance. When they needed to do their best they folded and thats how they should be remembered.

@@thedude3065 They wanted to stop the clock without using their last timeout, thereby securing at least three more plays. And they used a high percentage throw, but Brandon Browner and Malcolm Butler made a great play. I’m not saying it was the smartest call, but I think there was a rationale.

@Fries well, it killed what should've been a dynasty. that one play fragmented the team. i think every hawks fan knows that it was special, and we might not get another chance like that in our lifetime.

I mean considering what's going on with Watson I think him not coming here was a good thing

“The falcons collapsed so hard that if they were a building it would be considered a [REDACTED] attack”

Man you watch this on x3 speed or something?

"Bob.... tell us how they did it"😄😄😄

Holy based, fellow UT enjoyer

Easily one of his greatest masterpieces, so glad I found Tree that season

youre in luck!

You mean he acted like a CNN Reporter, and went on a tangent about politics, that had nothing to do with the Falcons or Super Bowl 51

They were pointing out that they saw the politics of the time as additional context framing the Super Bowl. You don’t have to interpret it the same way, but that is how they saw it. Also as Jon said, he is not the one inserting politics into this game, it was the Patriots themselves (Mostly Kraft and Belichick) who did this by going out of their way to publicize their affection for Trump in the weeks leading up to this game.

@@jasongaines9655 micropenis

I was hoping there would be a comment about this. Steven Godfrey's narration was excellent.

Brant, I was in attendance in 1966 when the Atlanta Falcons were born. I was 10 years old. Aside from my family, I have two great love affairs that have lasted well over 50 years...the Braves and the Falcons. I love music, cinema and literature but not with the same intensity as my love for my two franchises. They don't judge me and, with the exception of a couple of work stoppages, they've never left me. I can't say the same for an ex-wife, many friends or treasured objects. Friends move on or pass away. Objects wear out or break. I don't know if I'll live long enough to see the Falcons win a title. I know how it feels to win a World Series but, somehow...it didn't matter. What matters is that they play, that they try their hardest and that they represent my hometown with character and pride. Falcons (and Braves) fans are my extended brothers and sisters and I've enjoyed reading the comments of "family" that I've never met. Don't be broken, please. It broke my heart to read that. Keep watching, keep cheering and keep hoping. The emotions are life-enriching and, somewhere out there, you have brothers and sisters that'll help you to the finish line...whenever and wherever that is. So Rise Up, Chop On and let's go get 'em!

@@allanmacmillan7823 hopefully, today or tomorrow, the Braves will be able to finally bring us a championship this century.

@@jaydenjones4709 Jayden...it's time to start whuppin' some ass! LET'S GO!!! Thanks for the encouragement.

@@j2398 You took this wayyyyyyy too literally my guy. Chill out a bit.

Indeed. I often thank god I was born in a time period where my literal first memory could be the 1986 superbowl, followed by the wide right superbowl, and then as a grown man with Eli Manning, the prodigal son's derpy brother beating the wunderkind twice. And now we're inexplicably back in the playoffs. Keep your head up Falcons guy.

Pretty sure that was at least in part because Jon had a Scorigami feature on Sportscenter with Mina Kimes

I'm glad my boy Matt lived up to his nick name one last time in that rilvary. And im glad he did it in the first game u ever watched. Keep watching bro. That rilvary is the best in the NFL by far. And the fans truly hate each other

Today’s game was great. WHO DAT!!!

this episode was 90 minutes of pure dread and the jubilation did not make it any better

@@LostSnowdrift The chaotic screeching music when the shot of the OT coin flip panned into view was the best part

The segment at 37:15 invoked that emotion for me. . Just gut wrenching stuff

What kind of person would leave the super bowl, even if his team is losing?

Epic

@@akish302 It's a Patriots fan. Do you really have to ask?

@@akish302 I can try to reason it as trying to leave ahead of traffic but it's kinda dumb to do it for a NFL playoff game let alone the Superbowl where you're dropping a ton of cash.

@@cheshirecynic4524 I would never do that

Yeah same. Growing up in the heart of NE while we were on this run was unreal, and honestly? I'd have been fine if we could have gotten one of those rings from the Giants, instead of the Falcons.

@@njmksr8686A SB loss is definitely easier when it’s to a team that’s never won one before. The Eagles loss is much easier to swallow than either of the Giants ones, mostly because Philly had never had one. It’s like a ‘good for them’ kinda vibe that I just couldn’t afford the Giants and their fans. (Pats fan btw)

Being a pats fan is worth throwing away your humanity imo, I’ll never forget what we had for as long as I live

And I never get tired of watching our G Men beat your evil empire, twice, with Peyton's retarded brother at the helm.

I come from the same city as Julian Edelman, and went to the same high school as Tom Brady. I do feel bad for how much this Super Bowl hurt Falcons fans and Patriots haters, but they can't take away the pride I felt when Edelman made that outrageous catch.

@@PaleCentaur holy crap, that's awesome! And totally agree, that catch is an all-timer!

How does it feel to be the worst team in your division? I’m just messing with you. I give you credit for still claiming to be a Pats’ fan years after Brady left. Most “Patriots fans” are wearing Mahomes jerseys now.

As short as their history has been, San Jose would be perfect for this. They were amongst the most consistently talented and successful teams for such a long time and for such a young team, and yet for all the success they had, their history is nothing but agonizing heartache. It would make a perfect fit. Also if they instead go with NBA which I suspect they will, The Suns or Pacers would be great.

@@gamingintheclintonyears7061 that's a good idea actually. Didn't think of the sharks.

Urinating Tree did a tight 40 minute video on the Leafs stumbling all over themselves since their last cup win in 1967.

@@KaiserInGilroy2K a man of culture I see

@@KaiserInGilroy2K as a bruins fan, it’s my favorite thing to watch when I’m sad.

I want to see a happy ending for once, so STL blues it is

@@KaiserInGilroy2K he essentially just read off a Wikipedia page lol. Nowhere near the level of quality or depth you get from SB

You are missing out on the cavs one

Watch the Cavs one too

Yo, I think I'm gonna have to now! Not sure how I'd missed it.

Don't forget the MMA doc as well

@@bizwapshiznitstain, Fighting in the age of loneliness documentary is far away my favorite.

The bird is drawing its tail

They're hilariously still winning in the all time saints rivalry though

The Saints have a chance to finally get the lead Nov 26 2023

Painful but appropriate

I was about to mention it myself haha

For context, that quote is from a strip where a bird dies.

@@williamklumpenhower1188 Link to the strip?

@@williamklumpenhower1188 Very apt