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http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/2009/03/17/nba_atlanta_hawks.html

So Hawks coach Mike Woodson is pleading for a little civic pride and sensitivity from all sides as both teams try and keep the March roll going.

“It’s great for the city,” Woodson said. “You need all the sports teams to do well. With that being said, they need support instead of always negativity going around. Sometimes it takes time, but we’re so impatient. I’ve been here five years now. It’s draining to me.”

I don't know about everyone else but the casual Atlanta people I know don't seem to realize the Hawks are doing well. I'm not sure what is needed to reach the casual non-Hawks fan, but I suspect we need some post-season success to cause people to refresh their stereotypes of the Hawks.

what drains me is watching the worst coached team in the league night after night.

Pretty funny that Coach Woodson even mentions this considering what occurred between him and Josh Smith recently. The court battles that are ongoing don't help. Woodson's lucky the Atlanta media doesn't continue to drill the team for how poorly things have been handled since the ASG purchased it, or what I mean to say is blindsiding David McDavid to purchase the team.

I'll give him this - this is one of the 3 worst sports cities in America. LA and Miami are worse, but they have an excuse - there's tons of stuff to do there. We have no excuse for such a pathetic showing at ballgames. I went to the Utah game last week and that place was no more than 60% full. And it was about 30% full until midway through the second quarter. Pathetic.

johnny878 wrote:what drains me is watching the worst coached team in the league night after night.

Why do you watch the Clippers that often?

You've just got to deal with this, Woody. The Hawks have dug themselves a HUGE hole in the eyes of the fan and the bidding started well before he was hired. Just read the posts on this board, we know the Hawks are doing well, but I think as fans of this team a part of many of us still expects the worst.

LL Cool Scott wrote:I'll give him this - this is one of the 3 worst sports cities in America. LA and Miami are worse, but they have an excuse - there's tons of stuff to do there. We have no excuse for such a pathetic showing at ballgames. I went to the Utah game last week and that place was no more than 60% full. And it was about 30% full until midway through the second quarter. Pathetic.

Getting downtown, finding parking and getting in the arena and to your seat by 8 oclock in Atlanta is pretty impressive. Not to mention our unemployment rate is higher than the national average(okay, that probably has more with me not having seats this year instead of everyone else, but it should be pointed out)

There definately are reasons.

8 o'clock? I wish, most of the games start at 7pm. If they started at 8, I could get there prior to the tip each game. That 7pm start is a killer to me, because I can't leave work early that often without raising attention. Which gets me to your unemployment issue, I feel you on that. It hasn't hit me persoanlly yet, but close. Our company has had some bloodletting and fear of the future is why I haven't renewed my season ticket yet. When you have to say goodbye to the guys in the next 2 cubes beside yours as well as a couple others that you've worked with for 8 years, it makes you realize how fragile your own employment is (well at least it did me).

The article illustrates what Mike Woodson fails to understand. Instead of complaining about the negativity in the city and how it has worn on him, he should be out there selling the product. If the article read like this:

"We've got a great exciting team. We play hard every night and solidly are heading into the playoffs. It's a real shame that more people in Atlanta aren't aware of it. If they came down to Philips Arena and caught a game in person, I bet they'd be proud of the Hawks. You need to see Joe Johnson take over a game at crunch time. Mike Bibby hitting a 3 at that crucial moment. Or Josh Smith performing physically amazing feats that haven't been common in Atlanta since Dominique was in uniform. And Al Horford, you'll fall in love with Al. His work ethic, his fire. He's young, but you can tell he's a leader. I'm not forgetting the hard times, I lived through them. I just wish people would leave the negativity of those days behind long enough to give us another look. I think you'll really enjoy it and want to get behind us. We're going fight hard regardless, but it would be a lot easier if we had a packed house every night because we could feed on that positive emotion."

He could get his point out and actually try to sell the product rather than sound whiny. Would it feel as good as just venting? Probably not, but it would be a hell of lot more effective.

I love the Hawks too much to just sit back silently when it's obvious how bad a coach Woodson is. I really haven't said much about him in a while, but he's clearly not qualified to be a head coach in this league. The Hawks can only win on talent alone for so long. I don't want to see our team completely embarrassed on the road again this postseason.

I keep my negativity towards Woodson on these forums, though. I'm always hyping up the Hawks to friends and random people I meet. Of course I did that when the Hawks were terrible because it was funny, but now I'm serious!

Ummm...I live 3.5 hours away, and I've never had any issues getting to the games on time.

Atlanta fans are the worst in the country. (Not referring to the loyal fans on here, of course).

One point I wonder about: why NOW?

Why bring this up when the team's in an important winning streak? I think Woodson's is stressing over the upcoming games and reaching for _something_ -- anything at all -- to help.

Players can smell fear.

My problem with arriving on time is not being able to leave the office until 7pm which is tip time. I get to the game fine by 7:30pm, but when they made the decision to go earlier to help some fans I just happened to be on the other side of the coin.

mrhonline wrote:Ummm...I live 3.5 hours away, and I've never had any issues getting to the games on time.

Atlanta fans are the worst in the country. (Not referring to the loyal fans on here, of course).

The Hawks have been horrible for so long. The hawks won 37 games last year and that was the best in a decade. So you are going to charge the same price as the rest of the league to go see them play and then put out an inferior product.

Atlanta has great fans. Look at the Braves. great fan base. Look at the Falcons as soon as the got blank, lowered ticket prices, and put out a great product with Vick leading the way. The games were sold out every single weekend.

Atlanta HAwks have had one good year in the last decade(this year). And unfortunately, it is during a horrible recession.

There isnt an imaginary switch you can flip when the franchise decides its actually going to try. You have to win over the fans as they have suffered from your ineptness since they can remember.

the problem is with employment (ATLiens weren't making that much to begin with) and the fact that the people that do have money already have theirs down on the braves (who haven't been doin that good either) or their true passion...

UGA and GT.

Georgia in general is a college and high school state. you have on a falcons or hawks jersey and people will walk past you. you're decked out in red and black with a "G" on your shirt and you might get handed a beer from a new friend. the athletic money for tickets are being scrapped up by the college teams and when you don't have much money to go to games out the year people are gonna choose high school and college before pro teams anyday. the braves are lucky that they operate usually when the college seasons are down. the hawks fan base has to come from the downtown area. but if they can't get there on time or don't have $60 to drop on a game, you're gonna continue to see empty seats.

I've been here my whole life, and I have to admit that Atlanta is one of the worst sports towns in the country. Nobody supports teams here unless they are winning (and flashy). The Braves didn't even sell out PLAYOFF GAMES. The Georgia Dome has been lifeless except for the Dirty Bird '98 Season (even that year, we didn't sell out all our home games) and when we got Vick. Now, Matt Ryan has the excitement back again. The Hawks annually have one of the worst attendance figures in the league. Good sports towns support teams whether they're winning or losing. Crap sports towns (Miami, LA, Atlanta) support teams only when they're winning.

johnny878 wrote:

mrhonline wrote:Ummm...I live 3.5 hours away, and I've never had any issues getting to the games on time.

Atlanta fans are the worst in the country. (Not referring to the loyal fans on here, of course).

The Hawks have been horrible for so long. The hawks won 37 games last year and that was the best in a decade. So you are going to charge the same price as the rest of the league to go see them play and then put out an inferior product.

Atlanta has great fans. Look at the Braves. great fan base. Look at the Falcons as soon as the got blank, lowered ticket prices, and put out a great product with Vick leading the way. The games were sold out every single weekend.

Atlanta HAwks have had one good year in the last decade(this year). And unfortunately, it is during a horrible recession.

There isnt an imaginary switch you can flip when the franchise decides its actually going to try. You have to win over the fans as they have suffered from your ineptness since they can remember.

I definitely agree that the team has given the fans little reason to show up over the years but denying that Atlanta is a horrible pro sports town is laughable. The Braves struggled to sell out playoff games for years. We are in a recession but the Hawks are maybe one of 2-3 competitive teams(Miami is definitely another)whose stadium is basically empty in the 1st quarter. I just can't imagine Phillips arena ever being packed on a consistent basis unless the Hawks got someone like Lebron or Kobe.

parson wrote:One point I wonder about: why NOW?

Why bring this up when the team's in an important winning streak? I think Woodson's is stressing over the upcoming games and reaching for _something_ -- anything at all -- to help.

Players can smell fear.

That's not fair. It's not like he just said it unprovoked. He was asked a question by Sekou regarding the fan base and gave an honest answer. It's not like he just started venting out of nowhere to Sekou.

High 5 wrote:I love the Hawks too much to just sit back silently when it's obvious how bad a coach Woodson is. I really haven't said much about him in a while, but he's clearly not qualified to be a head coach in this league. The Hawks can only win on talent alone for so long. I don't want to see our team completely embarrassed on the road again this postseason.

I keep my negativity towards Woodson on these forums, though. I'm always hyping up the Hawks to friends and random people I meet. Of course I did that when the Hawks were terrible because it was funny, but now I'm serious!

I don't think he's talking about negativity towards him. He's discussing the attitude in the city regarding the Hawks. When you go to Hawks games the crowd is always very negative even though we are dominant at home. There is always more groaning than cheering amongst the fans, and every time the opponent makes a run there's a "here we go again" feeling in the arena.

To echo what some others have said on this thread, a lot of people in Atlanta don't even know the Hawks are doing well. They were bad for so long that the casual fan left and didn't come back (and with good reason). It's going to make more than a 37-win season and good series with the C's to bring the people back.