TIM MORSE: Atlanta Falcon fans had to eat crow

I’m not a big fan of social media, but I occasionally do look at what people post. After scrolling through Sunday night when the Atlanta Falcons were ahead 28-3, you would have thought the game was over and the Atlanta Falcons had claimed their first Super Bowl title.

Falcon fans (or band-wagon jumpers) were trash-talking, posting in-your-face jabs and poking fun at New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady — all from fans of a franchise who hadn’t won anything.

Sunday afternoon, I was feverishly working on trying to compile region tournament basketball schedules, but my wife and I took a break to go and celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday at his house. My in-laws aren’t big sports fans, but they do have some interest. My nephew, who loves to be different, became the world’s biggest Patriots fans Sunday evening — so big of a fan that he couldn’t name anybody on the team except Tom Brady.

He had no clue that Patriots receiver Malcolm Mitchell was actually from Valdosta.

I listened to my nephew and father-in-law go at it. When the Falcons’ Robert Alford returned the pick-six on Brady in the second quarter, my father-in-law pretty much didn’t care anymore about the game.

By that time, I had to go home and finish the web content for The Albany Herald and get ready for a full week of prep basketball. Not that I’m anybody special, but I remember making the comment that no lead was safe with the Patriots and that Brady could engineer a second-half comeback.

My father-in-law laughed.

Man, was he eating his words after that excruciating comeback — or choke — late Sunday night. You see, I have plenty of experience with that trash-talking business.

I know this is hard to believe, but being a sports writer censors nearly every part of being a fan. Even though I don’t lose any sleep or pout about my team getting beat, I grew up a huge fan of a certain college football team. I proudly wore my T-shirts and sweaters to school and got taunted by every Georgia, Florida State, Auburn and Alabama fan.

But by the time I got to high school, things changed and the team I rooted for began to whip everybody else and those trash-talkers were nowhere to be found. It took a little while for me, but I learned that getting even really didn’t matter. It’s just games (although some fans believe it is life and death).

I wasn’t playing on the team. I didn’t get a trophy. I didn’t get rich. So, in reality, it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of life.

The point I’m trying to make is that you often hear the proverbial “What goes around, comes around” phrase. It’s a frequently-used cliche’ that sometimes loses its meaning.

But Sunday night, it was true.

The Atlanta Falcons came up on the short end in a 34-28 overtime loss to New England.

And after talking trash for the first two quarters, the Falcons didn’t finish. Pundits called it the greatest Super Bowl in history.

Two quarters of smack-talk didn’t do anything for the Falcons because in the end, they had to eat crow.

And Monday morning, it didn’t taste too good.