Baseball! Atlanta Braves

Ah, America's favorite pastime! At least that's how the saying goes. As far as my sports encounters go, it seems like the NFL is more popular, but as far as sheer masses of people enjoying a sporting event, baseball wins. Even people who don't like sports will go to a ballgame. My mom will even go to a ballgame, and she'll inevitably ask something like "Who scored that last touchdown?" or "When will the Zamboni come out?" or "Why do they all wear hats?"

Anyhoo, my absolute favorite team is the Atlanta Braves, another team I inherited from my father. )I guess every team I like I've gotten from him, except soccer. He doesn't quite get soccer. Yet!) My Grandpa Noah (Dad's dad) was also a huge fan. I remember sitting in his living room watching the huge old wooden-box TV and he'd be calmly watching the games with his Braves cap on sideways.

It also helped that while I was growing up in the 90s, the Braves were awesomely amazing. Sixteen straight division titles, 5 World Series appearances with that ONE Championship against the Indians in 1995. When I was younger I absolutely HATED the Twins, Blue Jays and Yankees (twice!). But I'm glad I was able to watch and root for all those great players...Otis Nixon stealing bases left and right, Sid Bream and his awesome moustache stealing home against the Pirates (still one of the funniest base-running scenes in playoff history)!

And the PITCHING! Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, etc... some of those guys are still ticking, but what a great era for the Braves!


Of course, this is the 25th and final season for the great manager, Bobby Cox. Naturally, he'll be headed for the Hall of Fame, hands down, but I hope they send him out with a bang. I hope they can at least make the playoffs. The Phillies are so good, it would be considered a "meltdown" if they don't win the East, but I think the Braves have a decent shot. Chipper is still good, and if he can up his game like two years ago, along with Brian McCann, Melky Cabrera, Nate McLouth and new sensation Jason Heyward, this could be quite an offense!

Since the season's just getting underway, I'll probably have lots of baseball stuff on here this summer. groovy.

Oh, and for those of you (who?) that care, I also like to watch the Texas Rangers in the American League. They're and up-and-coming, spunky bunch, and they don't have the false sense of entitlement that some of the other Dallas-area teams reek of.

So there you go. Hey batter batter!! SWING batter batter!