Atlanta sports fans: you know what I’m talking about. Three words, thirteen letters, say it, and you know the season is over. Inevitably, every year, whether it’s two weeks in or after every game has been played, our teams leave us with a void that can’t be filled until, well, next year.

The Braves traded away nearly every household name and are now sitting at a comfortable 26.5 games back in the division, the worst season most of us have seen in our lifetime. The Hawks had a record- breaking season and then fell apart in the playoffs to go five and out in their first ever appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals, when we all know if they had been playing the same way they did in January, we would be the reigning NBA Champions. The Falcons have a combined win total of 10 in the last two seasons, they constantly play hard and throw games away in the last quarter and can never make it a full season without a key player getting hurt.

It. Is. Exhausting.

However, despite all of this, I’ll boldly say that Atlanta sports fans are some of the most loyal out there. I’m not talking about the people who like whatever team is winning that year or hop on the bandwagon when it’s convenient, I’m talking about the people who live and die for all three major sports teams in Atlanta. You can still hear The Chop and The Chant break out throughout downtown, even after a blowout at The Ted. The Georgia Dome is a sea of red every Sunday whether the Falcons are 0-10 or 10- 0. The Hawks were welcomed home and congratulated on their return from Cleveland, not ridiculed or harassed. We are true fans, and we are unwavering.

So, to my fellow masochists, optimists and believers: here’s to us. Keep buying your opening day tickets the day we get eliminated from the playoffs. Keep wearing your favorite player’s t- shirt the day after he has the worst game of his career. Keep blaming one ref or one bad call for the demise of the entire season (point of reference: infield fly call 2012) and defend it to the death. And, no matter how excruciatingly bad a season is, continue to invest time, money and your every emotion into these teams, because one day, we will be able to stop saying “Maybe next year.”