Your Atlanta Braves

I like the Braves, just can't do that Seminole chomp.

Always feels a little weird in here with Tech, UF, Auburn, and UGA (et al.) fans all pulling for the same club. Like a bizarro version of the hyper-antagonistic/always-trolling tRant.

Go Braves.

The team has been a blast to watch.

If they get a closer (sooner rather than later), they could make a serious run in October.

This team could challenge the 2003 Braves for best Braves offense of all time (at least statistically):

Current (2003)

BA: .267 (.284)
OBP: .342 (.349)
SLG: .462 (.475)
OPS: .804 (.824)
HR/Game: 1.52/game (1.45/game)

They probably won't match the 2003 Braves in a lot of stats in large part because of the season Javy Lopez had at catcher that year:

BA: .324
OBP: .378
SLG: .687
OPS: 1.065
OPS+: 169
HR: 43

Others were great too (especially Sheffield) but getting an all-time batting season at the catcher position can really take a good lineup and make it ridiculous.

quote:

---

Yeah September/October gets weird around here. I tend to try to keep the shite posting on secrant if I can though.

---

i think we then just all turn the focus to the Taints. It scratches my shite talk itch.

quote:

---

I really like compartmentalizing my shite talk on this website. It makes for funny interactions when you're at someone's throat on one board, and then cool with them on another.

---

i have similar convos with guys like TH03. complete shithead when it comes to NFL but great guy when it comes to baseball

quote:

---

Here's something I always found interesting. The Braves and the Falcons both started playing in Atlanta in 1966. Lots of my friends in Birmingham were Braves fans. I didn't know one single person who was a Falcons fan. And there were no other NFL teams in the Southeast...the Saints didn't start play until 1967. Sure, college football has always been king, but Alabamians were still pro football fans...just not the Falcons. I've always found that interesting. The Braves made more of an effort, I think, to market themselves regionally in the Southeast, having "Birmingham night" or "Anniston night" and also with the radio network. I remember seeing the Braves come to Birmingham to play the Southern league All Stars. Never understood why the Falcons didn't adopt a similar marketing plan.

---

That is something I think the Falcons didn't do as well as the Braves from the 80's going forward when broadcast radio and TV really took that "next step."

Admittedly, back in those days the Braves were owned by Ted Turner and the Falcons were owned by Rankin Smith - the real life version of the Indians owner in Major League. So it's pretty obvious that there was some gap in business judgement.

However, what I have noticed is that Alabamians love to plant their flag as a "college-football" or nothing crowd.

Perhaps it's because the Falcons didn't try to attract them until the Michael Vick years, but unlike Mississippi, which staunchly supports the Saints, the Falcons are only luke-warm followed.

Most of my friends in Alabama do claim the Falcons as their "team," but admittedly don't have near the passion for it that states with no team like Mississippi support the Saints, or Arkansas/Oklahoma with the Cowboys.

Wish it was the case, but can't really fault our friendly neighbors. Haven't really reached out to them like we should (and still could) do. The Jones/Ridley duo is a billboard waiting to happen across I-20 and I-65.

There's some truth certainly to the fact that TBS and Turner contributed to the Braves regional appeal, but back in the late 60s and early 70s, there was no cable tv. yet the Braves were still much more popular. Alabamians tended to be Packers, Colts, and Cowboy fans.

quote:

---

AM stations traverse hundreds of miles at night.

---

I can't even get 680 the fan clearly in Johns Creek at night.

The Braves utilize a huge network of local stations which I think is either the largest or the second largest (behind the Cardinals) in MLB.