Beware, My First Post About Sports

I know it may seem a surprise to you that read this blog but I am a die-hard Atlanta Braves fan. Yes, yes I know it's a shock. You could have never guessed it right? While that bit of news rests on your mind, allow me to reminisce about the Braves and baseballl.

There is reason to reminisce. For those who either don't know or don't care, Major League Baseball will be losing a monumental, Hall of Fame manager in Bobby Cox at the end of this season. He has led the Braves to 14 consecutive division titles (something that is unheard of and likely won't happen again), coached the best pitching staff of the nineties and beyond, and gave Atlanta a World Series title in 1995.

The fact of the matter is, and as weird as it is to say this, Bobby Cox has always been a part of my life throughout the years, just as the team as a whole has been. When times were tough during those years, when school sucked more than words could describe, there was always an out with baseball, specifically the Braves.

It was always something I could talk about with my Dad. He was as big of a fan as I am. It was easy to talk baseball, as I'm sure it always is for fathers and sons.

Maybe that is why I put so much importance and emotion into how the Braves perform. I'll never forget, one night when we went to see the Dodgers play the Braves in Fulton County Stadium. We took my Grandpa along with us, him being a Dodger fan. To set the experience in context, the game was meaningless. This was in '93 or so, and the Braves were already on their way to a division title and a spot in the playoffs. Win or lose, they were advancing. I did not get the memo.

When we began to lose, I began to lose it. I ended up having to get out of my seat and walk around because I was crying. I was crying that we were losing, even though the game meant nothing.


Maybe I should've gone to the game with Tom Hanks?


Looking back at it now, it is pretty dumb that I'd get worked up about it. This is the same fan who would be depressed for weeks if we lost something important, like a playoff series or a World Series. I would be irreconciliable.

It was with the Braves and Bobby Cox that my number one rule regarding sports was established: No matter how bad you are losing, no matter how late the game goes, no matter how many people are leaving at the same time you are, never, NEVER, NEVER leave a sporting event early in order to beat traffic. As many games that I went to, I can count on one hand the number of times I left early, and guaranteed it was because I had gone to the game with someone else and thus had no say in when we were leaving. Whenever I see others do it, I silently curse them, scorn them, and even have serious reservations about how good a fan they really are. Obsession? I think so.

Case in point, one game we went to was with some neighborhood friends, Bryan and Dad. It was against the Phillies. Our original tickets had us in the nose-bleeds (as is always the location where we sit.) The Phil's jumped out to a 9-0 lead early and held it throughout much of the game. You could imagine how many people had left by the latter end of the game. Because of the exodus, we were able to move all the way up to behind the visitor's dugout. We were in the best seats in the house, and got there just in time to see the best comeback I've seen. Somehow, we managed to tie the game at 9 a-piece between innings eight and nine. We went to "extras", expecting the game to end soon.

It didn't. It went 15 innings (on a school night, mind you), till 2:30 in the morning when Mike Stanton hit a blooper over the shortstop's head playing up close in the infield since Stanton was a pitcher. The blooper easily allowed Deion Sanders to score from third. I had experience one of the best nights of my life and it was because I didn't leave early.

The same thing happens with me and the Georgia Bulldogs, but there will be plenty of time to blog about that subject.

Sorry for the reminisces. This is just another reason why this last season of the Braves under Cox will be one for the record books; an emotional roller-coaster. So many fond memories of my youth began and ended with the nightly ritual of checking the score before bed, staying up past my bedtime if we were losing, and sending mind signals to the player's and Bobby's head about how they could make a key play when needed (I still think it works). Here are some videos of some of the best moments I was apart of..........all the way in my house, with the t.v. turned down so that Mom and Dad couldn't hear.




"The Slide"

"Our World Series Title"


Best Baseball commercial ever: Chicks Dig The Long Balll