Breaking the Rule

For the best effect, you should play “Big Rock” by Kevin MacLeod while reading this.

Dear non-Braves fans,

This is Braves Country.

Whether it’s the tomahawk chop or the name Chipper Jones, Bobby Cox’s legend or the names of greatness in the throes of Turner Field —it’s Braves Country.

I see you wearing that Cubs hat.

Or your Yankees jersey.

Or, for crying out loud, a Pittsburgh Pirates T-shirt.

Really?

Let me tell you something. We’re a part of the largest radio network for any professional sports team in the world.

The voices of Skip Caray, Pete van Wieren, Joe Simpson and Don Sutton are on instant-recall in every one of our minds.

TBS? Yeah, that once stood for “The Braves Station” until they started pertaining to the rest of the nation.

Now we watch Fox Sports South and Peachtree TV with fervor.

Sure, baseball’s fresh in our minds. But, Braves fans?

We care equally as much in June, July and August as the stretch run.

We bleed red, blue and white.

Hank Aaron is the real home run king.

John Smoltz was a much better pitcher than broadcaster, but we still think he’s kind of funny.

We like the fact Bobby was ejected so much from games. It’s a point of pride.

In a fantasy baseball draft, we totally overpay for our favorite Braves players.

I have many a friend who can testify from the past few weeks.

Jason Heyward? He’s our boy.

Freddie Freeman? He’s second.

Brooks Conrad? We wonder why he’s still on the roster.

Side note: Somebody actually said Conrad was the “X-factor” to the Braves season this year on-air this past week.

I sincerely hope he was, well, corrected.

We think our pitching staff can compete with Philadelphia’s.

We like our depth, offensively and with our pitching.

Heck, we may be viewing the regular season like the Boston Celtics do—just get to the playoffs, then do your damage.

We’re fully aware we have only one World Series title, despite that run of 14 consecutive division championships while we were growing up.

And we’re painfully aware that it took the Phillies winning the division to make us care just a bit more about these divisional rounds.

So to the non-Atlanta fan, I say this: We tolerate you being a fan of another team.

But if you start complaining about all the Braves love going on, prepare yourself.

Sincerely,

A diehard.

Posted by Caleb Rule on Apr 7 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.