New England vs. Atlanta

The Patriots are back in the Super Bowl for the seventh time since 2001 and ninth time in franchise history. The typical story lines are out there.

Tom Brady is not only looking to cement his name as a first ballot Hall of Famer but the extra motivation of making Roger Goodell hand him and the Patriots the Lombardi Trophy for the fifth time despite the Commissioner’s season-long avoidance of the team is pretty sweet too. Can’t forget about Bill Belichick looking for his fifth ring as a head coach and seventh ring overall. And don’t look past the Matt Ryan story line. First Boston College quarterback to play in the big game since Matt Hasselbeck was with the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

But aside from these stories that will be talked about for the next week and a half, let’s have a little fun with Super Bowl LI. Here’s your obligatory, Super Bowl city breakdown.

Starting off with sports because that’s why we’re all here. In terms of professional sports, Boston clearly has the advantage. Beginning with the Patriots first title in 2001, Boston has been the city of champions. It’s an old cliché but winning is contagious. The Patriots won three championships in four years and mixed in those years was the Red Sox first World Series title in 86 years. Three years later, 2007-08, was the catalyst for Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley’s book Wicked Good Year. The Red Sox won their second championship, the Patriots were one win away from the perfect season, the Celtics won their first NBA Title in 21 years and oh yeah Boston College had a stretch run with a pretty good quarterback that saw the Eagles ranked second in the nation at one point that fall.

The Boston sports scene has been hopping in the last 17 years. The Bruins joined in the mix bringing the Stanley Cup back to the city on July 15, 2011. The Patriots made another trip to the Super Bowl the following year that had similar results to the first time they faced the Giants five years prior. A year later, the Red Sox went from worst to first earning their third World Series Championship lifting the city’s spirits after the Boston Marathon bombings that April. Malcolm Butler made his name a year later with his goal-line interception of Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson that gave the Patriots their fourth championship – first in 10 years – and Tom Brady’s third MVP award.

Nine championships in 17 years by all four major sports teams is hard to compete with but we’ll give it a shot. The Braves were one of the most dominating teams in Major League Baseball in the 1990s, finishing atop the National League East 11 times from 1991 through 2005 and winning the National League Pennant in five of those years. They had a dominating pitching staff, headlined by Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Billerica’s own Tom Glavine. But they were the Buffalo Bills of Major League Baseball. The Braves won just one, ONE, World Series championship during that stretch, in 1995.

The Braves are one of the oldest franchises in Major League Baseball and have three World Series titles but only one of those came when they called Atlanta home. The Braves were nomads, originating in Boston in 1871. They won their first World Series championship in 1914 and it was at Fenway Park – they would not move into Braves Field, now Boston University’s Nickerson Field, until 1915.

However, I will give the Boston Braves credit. It was the Braves who started The Jimmy Fund. The original “Jimmy,” a young 12-year-old, Einar Gustafson, was a Braves fan and The Jimmy Fund was created as their team charity. When the Braves left Boston for Milwaukee five years later in 1953, the Red Sox picked up the where the Braves left off and adopted the charity. So a point to the Braves.

The Braves 1995 World Series victory is the only championship for an Atlanta Team. The Hawks have a won an NBA title in 1958 but that was when the Hawks were in St. Louis. Atlanta had an NHL team for nine years, the Atlanta Flames, before they moved to Calgary in 1980 but they never won a Stanley Cup during their stint in Georgia. And the Falcons are making only their second appearance in the Super Bowl, falling to Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Sports scene? Point: BOSTON

Moving on: Colleges and Universities.

This is where it can get a little sticky. In terms of colleges and universities, there is little doubt Boston is the Hub of the higher education universe. As great as the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech are, it's still tough to overtake institutions like Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University and MIT.

In a recent report by WalletHub, Massachusetts ranks first amongst all 50 states in education. Four of the six New England states find themselves in the top 10 – Massachusetts (1), Connecticut (4), Vermont (5) and New Hampshire (6). Massachusetts holds the highest percentage of people with bachelor’s degrees – maybe that’s because most of the recent grads don’t leave once they graduate – but also the state of New Hampshire has the highest average university quality. To be fair, Georgia is number two in that category.  

From a pure academic standpoint, point goes to Boston. But academics don’t just make the college experience for students so we must look at athletics.

While Boston is a huge college town, it is not a big college sports town. The two biggest college athletic programs in New England is Boston College and the University of Connecticut. But these two institutions have a tough time competing against the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC and the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets in the ACC. These are two big-time college football programs and each in a Power Five football conference. College football means everything in the State of Georgia.

But, there’s a twist. The Falcons’ quarterback is a product of a Boston institution. He made his named and earned his nickname, “Matty Ice,” at Boston College.  He met his wife, who was also a former Eagle, women’s basketball alum, Sarah Marshall, at Boston College.

Matt Ryan is the face of the Falcons’ franchise. When he takes his seat at the podium Monday night for the circus that is Super Bowl Media Night, he will face a throng of press and other personalities. But he will be ready to face those media members. He was well prepared for this stage thanks to those days when the late-Boston College Assistant Athletic Director of Media Relations, Dick Kelley, was critiquing every one of his interview videos. Positive and humble, Kelley always preached.

 As great as SEC football and the college game is in Georgia, the x-factor – Matt Ryan’s education – lies in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Point: BOSTON

Many famous people have called both these cities home. Civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the few that called both Atlanta and Boston home. Originally born in Atlanta, King went completed his education at Boston University. But King is not the only notable person from these cities.

In politics, Boston is the home to the 35^th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy while the 39^th President, Jimmy Carter, hails from The Peach State. Both have played integral roles in the continued progress of the United States even though it was unfortunate all of President Carter’s good deeds were after he served his four years in the Oval Office. But it just goes to show you, you don’t need a title to do great things.

Boston claims Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck as well as the New Kids on The Block when it comes to the arts but not so fast. Atlanta can definitely through Whitney Houston, Kenan Thompson, and Donald Glover at you. And for all you The Office fans out there, there is Atlanta’s Ed Helms and Concord’s own Steve Carell.

In terms of arts, entertainment and politics, it’s a wash.

Whether Matt Ryan, making his first Super Bowl appearance, gets his first ring or Tom Brady making his seventh gets his fifth ring and solidifies himself as the greatest quarterback of all-time, it will all be decided on the field on Sunday February 5^th. It should be fun.