Atlanta Braves
The New Scalpers
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
By necessity of having 30 major league teams with four or five minor league teams each, the MLB draft is a long and often fruitless exercise. However, the fruit that does bear can ripen into Chipper Jones, so let’s see what the Braves have done in 2017.
Coming Into The Tribe
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The fact that a huge chunk of draftees won’t see the bigs for years, if ever, always makes the Major League Baseball draft a little less sexy than the NFL or NBA drafts.
With a less national fanfare and significantly less national visibility for their prospects baseball’s annual selection process tends to attract less attention but that isn’t to say that it isn’t worthy of a deeper dig for baseball fans who are in it for the long haul.
After the acquisition of Matt Kemp last season, the Braves’ offense lifted Atlanta from the scrap heap of squads and placed the Braves’ 2017 draft pick at number five.
The Game June 10
Braves Season Chopped
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Well this pretty much sucks.
After leaving the game on May 17th, Braves Country’s worst fear was realized. Freddie Freeman would be missing significant time. In fact, he’d be out with a broken wrist for 10 weeks.
No Aces For Braves
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Before winning the first two of three against the Marlins in Miami over the weekend, the Braves were (not) enjoying a miserable six game losing streak. It was their second such victory-less run of the year, to go along with a five-gamer already in the books all before the second month of the season has seen its halfway point.
Unfortunately, the biggest culprit behind this crime of losing has been the pitching staff; a notable bruise given that three veterans were brought on board before the season began to avoid these kinds of slumps.
Tribute To Hank Aaron
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I sat at my favorite watering hole and was glued to the television, watching all of the opening day festivities associated with the Braves new home SunTrust Park. What a magnificent facility it is and the Braves opened the new park with a four game sweep of the San Diego.
As I was watching the ceremonies leading up to the game the event that touched me the most was when the Braves honored their retired numbers. 83 year-old Henry Aaron was introduced and I choked back tears because of what that man has meant to the city of Atlanta, the State of Georgia, and influence the man has had over generations of youth all across this great country of ours.
The Game April 15
The Game April 8
Braves SunTrust Park Preview
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
On Saturday March 25, the Braves opened up SunTrust Park to a few thousand fans to get a first look at the new stadium before the games start on the 31st with an exhibition game against the Yankees.
I was one of the happy few who was admitted. Stakes are high for the Braves with their brand-new complex – one that not only includes their new ballpark but also contains The Battery Atlanta, a mixed-use development of shopping, dining, office buildings and apartments.
Fair Weather Fans
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Atlanta is a terrible sports town. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Atlantans simply don’t show up for their pro teams unless they are winning, and consistently.
Partially it’s because the south belongs to college football, and partially it’s because of a lack of championships and probably some other things factor in as well. It’s the way of things here, and I doubt it will change any time soon.
So how is it that the NFC Championship, the final game at the Georgia Dome for the Atlanta Falcons, was packed full of loud, screaming southerners? Why were tickets for Suntrust Park’s debut game so hard to come by when they went on sale?
Fair weather fans.
The Falcons were good, and they were on their way to the Super Bowl. Suntrust Park is sparkly and new, and there is excitement abound for the Braves this year; but mark my words, if the Falcons can’t win football games at a high clip in their own brand new stadium, Mercedes Benz Stadium won’t be seeing sellouts in November.
If the Braves don’t stay competitive, then Suntrust Park will be just as vacant as Turner Field was in August last year; because those fair weather fans will stop caring and that’s okay.
Look, it can be frustrating for die hard fans to cope with the sudden attention their team gets from people that would otherwise fail to show up. Die harders experience the lows that fair weather fans will never know; because they don’t subject themselves to it. So, what right do they have to experience the highs?
I saw it and heard it all over Atlanta while the Falcons were in the playoffs: remarks about fans coming out of the woodwork just because the team was good. It was certainly true – but warranted. They WERE good!
As I am a die hard Braves fan, I find myself occasionally annoyed by fair weather fans too but if I take a step back I realize that not only are they not committing any egregious crimes, they are benefitting the team they’ve suddenly come out to support.
Think about it: if the Braves miraculously made it to the World Series this year, fair weather fans would show up in droves to the ballpark and sports bars to watch them play.
Irksome as they may seem (this has been MY TEAM for years!), would I truly rather they didn’t bother to pay attention? Do I want my team to take the field to a stadium half full of fans while they battle for a championship? Of course not.
A roaring crowd can tip the scales in some cases and I want my team to have that. They should take the field or court or gridiron to a packed house of supporters. It doesn’t matter if the fans have earned the right to celebrate – the team has earned the right to fans.
Plus, not every die hard fan was raised to be a die hard fan. Everyone has to start somewhere. I, for one, am a die hard Braves fanatic not because my parents were, but because I watched John Smoltz strike out three batters out in 2003 to close out a win. They were good, and they hooked me.
What if the Giants had come back and won that game? Would I have come back to the Braves? I’d like to think so, but I’m not so sure. Good teams breed new fans. Just think about how many Georgian eyes were on the Super Bowl in February. If they had held on and won, how many of those eyes would have been converted into die harders?
So, next time your beloved team, wherever they are, starts winning don’t scorn those who haven’t suffered the losses with you. Instead, embrace them. Your team deserves them.
