Born and raised just outside of Boston, Trail Blazers forward Noah Vonleh has understandably been a New England Patriots fan his entire life. But when Super Bowl LI rolls around on Sunday, Vonleh may find himself cheering just a little bit for the Atlanta Falcons, the Patriots' opponent in the big game.

Falcons' star running back Tevin Coleman is Vonleh's second cousin. The Blazer forward's mother is a cousin to Coleman's father, giving the family two professional sports careers to follow.

"We’re pretty close," Vonleh said of his relationship with the Falcons running back. "He’s on my mom’s side of my family; we used to go to family reunions and hang out together, play football and stuff. We talk every now and then. We’re both playing professional sports, but every now and then we check in on each other. We’ll try to link up this summer. I know our schedules are pretty different, but we’re gonna try to find time to hang out like when we were younger."

Though Vonleh grew up in New England and Coleman was raised in the Chicagoland area, the cousins' time intersected in college as Vonleh played one season at Indiana University while Coleman starred for the Hoosiers' football program for three years to earn unanimous All-American honors as a junior. The short time together in Bloomington provided the two a chance to grow closer.

"We hung out from time to time," Vonleh looked back on their time at Indiana. "He was on the football team, I was on the basketball team so our schedules were kinda different. Whenever we got the chance, we hung out."

Though loyal to his family, Vonleh will still be unequivocally cheering for the Patriots on Sunday -- though he hopes to see Coleman have a good showing versus New England.

"I hope he has a great game, but I’m gonna go with the home squad," he said. "That’s who I’ve been going with for most of my life, I’m definitely sticking with them and repping them to the fullest, but I hope [Coleman] has a great game."

As for Vonleh's fellow New Englanders in Rip City, guards Pat Connaughton and Shabazz Napier are just as amped for the game, while fellow Massachusetts native Jake Layman is currently with the D-League Windy City Bulls. Connaughton, for one, is quite confident in quarterback Tom Brady's chances of delivering a fifth Super Bowl ring to the Patriots organization.

"I think TB12 [Brady], the GOAT [greatest of all-time], will prevail as usual," Connaughton said with Boston pride. "I’m excited for it."

As the lone represenative from Atlanta on the Blazers roster, forward Al-Farouq Aminu has had to put up with a lot of ribbing from Connaughton and others this week.

"Every time me and Chief [Aminu] do something on the floor, I say it’s Patriots vs. Falcons," Connaughton said. "It gets me a little more focused for the competition."

Added Aminu: "We got four guys from Boston, so it’s been pretty lopsided in fan support around here. There’s been a lot of [trash talk]. It’s been fun, though. I’m just glad they’re in the Super Bowl and hopefully they can win one.

"It’s amazing, man," he continued. "It’s our second time in the Super Bowl. First time, we was doing the Dirty Bird. This time, It’s all about that offense that’s been doing really well."

With a game in Oklahoma City tipping off at noon Pacific on Sunday and a 50-minute flight to Dallas following, the Blazers are likely to land well after the Super Bowl's 3:30 pm Pacific kickoff time. The team is doing all it can to fit Super Bowl viewing into their travel schedule.

"Personally, I’m going to find a way for [Blazers video coordinator] Jon Yim to stream it live, somehow," Connaughton said. "If that doesn’t work out, I’ll be refreshing Twitter every few seconds. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have people send me text messages. We should land, hopefully, to get [in Dallas] by the second half.

"By that time, it’s very possible that it could be over with the Patriots winning, you never know; the firepower of the Patriots can never be undermined."