Falcons fans prepare merciless taunts for Tom Brady in Super Bowl
HOUSTON – It is hard to rattle Tom Brady – but Atlanta Falcons fans believe there is one tangible way they can help their team emerge victorious at Super Bowl LI.
All around the concourses of NRG Stadium and the arena’s outdoor areas lovers of the Dirty Birds were busy dreaming up ways to get under Brady’s skin in the hope of giving their team an advantage.
"We are not just going to boo him before every snap, we are going to boo every time we see him," said Tony Checker, who is part of a 20-strong group of friends to have traveled for the game. "We think he's a cheater, we're going to think of every type of abuse we can to bug him. He is at his best when everything is going his way. We want to make him uncomfortable.”
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For many Falcons supporters, their vitriol towards Brady will come in the form of homemade signs.
Atlanta hair salon owner Candy Shaw even made a sign reading "my QB plays with real balls" that she hopes, probably in vain, will make its way onto the Fox broadcast. Just in case the content of the sign caused her trouble at the security line, Shaw had a tamer message on the flip side, celebrating Matt Ryan’s announcement as NFL MVP.
“We need this to feel like an Atlanta home game,” Shaw said. “We want to show Brady and the Patriots that this is not going to be a happy experience for them.”
However, one Atlanta fan is bracing herself for a tough time at the hands of her fellow travelers. Jennifer Bardy, 25, has her own last name on the back of her Falcons jersey, but has caught heat all week from people who misread “Bardy” as “Brady.”
“I should have gotten a new jersey,” she said.
Follow Martin Rogers on Twitter @mrogersUSAT.
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