Last month, Shachin Ghelani — a software sales executive in Toronto — found himself looking for an NFL team to support.
While most people might just choose the closest geographical team to support, Ghelani took to the Internet with a campaign for teams to vie for his support. Ghelani created a Twitter account (@NFLfanFA) and also blogged his experiences and correspondences with teams as they began to make their cases for Ghelani's support.
The response from all 32 teams in the NFL was overwhelming, but in the end, Ghelani was won over by the Atlanta Falcons.
According to his blog, Ghelani started the campaign because, as an avid NBA fan, there was the possibility of no basketball in 2011-12. Also, with the explosion of Fantasy Football popularity, Ghelani wanted to get on board with a team.
Ghelani started the campaign by sending a letter to all 32 teams.
"If I'm going to watch a sport, I need to have a team to rally around. A team I can curse at but almost immediately forgive. A team that takes me through an emotional rollar coaster week in and week out. A team that will leave me with tears of joy or sorrow at the end of year season. This is the reason why I'm writing to you today," he wrote.
The Falcons were late to get into the competition, but ultimately proved to be exactly the team Ghelani was looking for — even after receiving a ton of attention from other teams, including a personal letter from Colts owner Jim Irsay.
Ghelani announced the winner of his campaign Wednesday in a video on YouTube. You can watch it on AtlantaFalcons.com here.
In return, cornerback Brent Grimes and safety Thomas DeCoud recorded video messages for Ghelani. Watch below.
