Confessions of a Matt Ryan Superfan

If you’re around my age and from Atlanta, there are few people as synonymous with your childhood as one Matthew Thomas Ryan. From the moment he was drafted in 2008 to his last snap played in Atlanta this past season, Matt Ryan (or Matty Ice, more on that later) injected fuel into a franchise looking to reshape its image after on-field mediocrity and off-field issues by its star players. He has enjoyed one of the most statistically significant careers in football history — living in the top 10 of almost every all-time Quarterback stat category — while also bringing the team to more success and more consistency than it had seen in its existence.

To give you some more perspective on Matt’s statistical career in Atlanta:

But, this is not a sports article, so the stats and storylines largely end here. Instead, what I want to talk about it what Matt Ryan meant to me, and why I’m abandoning my home team to go cheer for him in Indianapolis.

Like many children of immigrants, especially those whose parents immigrated in the ’80s, sports were always very present in our house, but there wasn’t as much of the blind loyalty to one city or team as in many other households (other than cheering on my dad’s Ohio State Buckeyes). Of course, we lived in Atlanta, so we often had one eye on the Hawks, Falcons, Braves and Thrashers (RIP) — but my Falcons obsession was largely my own, and certainly one that my parents were both confused and amused by. It was through watching the games on Sundays because that’s what was on or happening to be at a friend’s house while the Falcons were playing that my appreciation for the game developed.

Although I didn’t quite understand all the rules of the game at that age, there was always an appreciation for that guy in the #2 jersey who seemed to be the ultimate pro. Composed on the field, never seemed to have anything nasty to say, firing his team up and, of course, finding improbable comebacks in his back pocket when the team needed it most (hence, Matty Ice). Together with Julio Jones, Matt made the Falcons a team worth watching — making Sundays (and some Mondays and Thursdays) a weekly experience and ritual for me.

He and his family became as much a part of the fabric of the city as anything or anyone could be. You’d hear stories of how polite he was to people when they ran into him at a coffee shop — and, in turn, the level of respect the city of Atlanta gave him to largely go about his life in peace — see news articles about his annual charity golf tournaments for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and find yourself laughing out loud after reading one of his wife Sarah’s tweets or Instagram comments.

You always felt that sense of self-awareness that the Ryans had — an understanding of what they meant to the city, but also a deep outwards appreciation for what the city meant to them. Whenever asked by the press, Matt maintained that Atlanta was his home and that he wanted to stay here, in spite of the lackluster teams put around him and in spite of his talent and value. You’d probably be hard-pressed to find a sports spouse/partner as well-known and beloved by the fanbase as Sarah Ryan, who regularly interacts with fans on social media with kindness and generosity…see below:

After seeing continued racial injustice in Atlanta and the nation and learning from the Black Lives Matter movement, Matt and Sarah started Advance the Lives (ATL), dedicated to combatting racial injustice at the community level in Atlanta, themselves donating $500,000 and using that funding, combined with collected donations, to work with leaders in Atlanta’s black community to identify opportunities to advance racial equity in the city, eventually landing on initiatives to improve equity at the youth level (a great interview all about it with the Daily Show is below). Matt was also credited as a driving force in making the Falcons the NFL’s first team 100% vaccinated against COVID-19.

In sports, fans often have to turn a blind eye to the personal lives of their team’s stars but, in Matt, I had both a player and a person that I could cheer for. I didn’t have to turn a blind eye to anything — he could be my favorite player and my role model. After years of watching him on TV, I got a chance during the past season to go home to Atlanta and see him in person — what ended being one of his last games in Atlanta.

That’s what made the Falcons’ sudden and ill-fated pursuit of Deshaun Watson all the more heartbreaking. While there is significant reading material out there on the whole saga, I’ll offer a recounting of my perspective. During that period of time, I spent hours a day doomscrolling Twitter, texting my friends in sadness, hoping that it wasn’t true. I don’t think my eyes left my phone from the moment that my friend Pranav texted me while I was in a Costco parking lot to the moment Pat McAfee announced the trade on his show. I went through pretty much every emotion during that week, from disgust with the team I’d supported for years, to sadness, and then finally joy for Matt — he would finally get to play for a contending team.

At that point, my fandom for the Falcons had already been waning over continued frustration at the fanbase and franchise for what felt like a completely unwarranted disrespect towards the franchise GOAT. This frustration often cause me to go on late-night Twitter rants, like this one:

This whole thing was pretty much the straw that broke me. I could no longer fathom supporting a team that cast aside Matt, and all his loyalty to the city and team, in favor of a player with 22 allegations of sexual assault against him. So, I instead decided to pack my fandom and send it to Indy with one of my sports idols.

I’ll always be from Atlanta. I love my city dearly, but I think I’ve come to realize that I’m Matt Ryan fan before any loyalty to any team. It’s something I’ve become pretty open about, just ask the Matt Ryan fathead on the wall of my childhood bedroom, or my friends who, for my birthday this year, banded together on twitter to try and get me a shoutout from Matt. This sort of player-first loyalty is seen as something to be ashamed of in sports circles, where the phrase “logo before all” is often brought up, but it’s something I’m not at all ashamed of, and instead something I now wear on my sleeve.

So, to the player who inspired my love of football, all I can say is “Thank You.” The below pretty much sums up where I’m at right now. See y’all in Indy.

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