ATLANTA — Someone, please give Maceo Heard a key to the city. Because he will use it to lock the door and make sure folks in town for the Super Bowl don't start house-hunting.
"Don't get any ideas about moving here," he said. "We are at capacity!"
The Atlanta native, born at Grady Memorial Hospital and educated here from grammar school through Morris Brown College, remembers the good old days when every life decision did not revolve around traffic.
"It was easy to move around," he rhapsodized. "You could take back streets everywhere. You weren't afraid to take the highways."
The 1996 Olympics showcased Atlanta to the world, though, maybe a little too well.
"If you have at least 20 years in Atlanta, you're grandfathered in," he said. "Otherwise, you really need to consider going back to where you're from."
Heard talks sports on The Crush Sports Talk, a show that streams online. We bumped into him this week at the NFL Media Center where he's been broadcasting his get-out message by wearing some of the merch he and partner, Terrence Albritton, offer at gradybabyco.com. The T-shirts, hat and hoodies come in a variety of colors bearing a simple message: WE FULL.
"Atlanta is a great city to visit," Heard said. "Please enjoy, and then go back home. We have no more room."