Seattle and Atlanta are two of our finest cities in America, but two of the most tortured. Both have Super Bowl appearances; neither is memorable for good reasons.
And it's not just football, either. Seattle and Atlanta have carried a burden of near-misses and never-came-closes in its sports lineage.
But which city carries the heaviest burden? Well, there really is just one way to decide this. And that's to take them to the grid.
And without further ado ...
| City: | Atlanta | Seattle | Give it to ... |
|---|---|---|---|
| AKA: | The ATL | Emerald City | Seattle (Enough with the initials) |
| Derisive nickname: | Dirty Birds | Seachickens | Atlanta. (Started as a positive, but took a negative connotation after a while.) |
| Major sports championships: | 1 | 2 | Atlanta |
| Last title: | 1995 (Braves) | 1979 (Sonics) | Seattle |
| Does that team still exist? | Yes | Yes, in Oklahoma City | Seattle |
| Pro wrestler: |  Goldberg |
 Greg "The Hammer" Valentine |
Atlanta. Goldberg won WCW gold. But if "The Hammer" existed in today's WWE, he would have won the title. |
| College lament: | Georgia the only big-time SEC to seemingly not win a national championship in recent years (I said big time, South Carolina) | Oregon! That used to be you, Washington | Atlanta. |
| Winner nobody roots for: | Coca-Cola | Starbucks | Push |
| Did you know: | The city of Atlanta as lost a pair of hockey teams (Flames, Thrashers) | Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917 | Seattle |
| Super Bowl appearance: | Super Bowl XXXIII | Super Bowl XL | Push |
| Probably unfairly blamed for Super Bowl loss: | Eugene Robinson | The refs | Atlanta |
| But really, it was: | Too much Elway | The refs | Seattle |
| Best team to never win it: | Every Braves team to not win it during the 90s | 2001 Mariners | Atlanta. Nobody took the Mariners seriously that year. Seriously, Brett Boone, right. |
| Do-over moment: | Have Dominique Wilkins, not Cliff Levingston take the final shot against the Celtics | Don't throw it to Ike Taylor | Seattle |
| Recent gut punch: | Braves have a 9.5 lead in the wild card on August 26, 2011, blows the lead on the final day | Thunder in the NBA Finals | Seattle |
| Sports demigod: | Hank Aaron | Ichiro | Atlanta |
| Football legend: | Deion Sanders | Steve Largent | Atlanta |
| Would of, could of, should of: | Dale Murphy | Shawn Kemp | Seattle. Murphy just kind of faded away, but Kemp could have been one of the game's greatest. |
| Fans: | Stole "tomahawk chop" from Florida State | Registered on the Richter Scale | Seattle |
| Lives in infamy: | Jeff George | Clay Bennett | Seattle |
| Sports in movies: | Danny Noonan as a homerun king in "The Sluggers Wife" | Xavier McDaniel in "Singles" | Seattle. Because if I'm not mistaken, Lloyd Dobler predicts the rise of MMA in "Say Anything." |
| The one who got away: |  |
 |
Push. Can we say Matt Damon plays Matt Flynn, though? |
| But at least you didn't: | Trade away Matt Ryan | Give A-Rod $250 million | Seattle |
If you can't find it in your heart to root for the city of Seattle, you don't have a heart. Though, I can excuse you because of the possible thievery of the Sacramento Kings and some people's aversion to Pete Carroll (which I just don't get).
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