without getting all hometown on you, i have been a braves fan for as long as i can remember. not like die hard, "i still can't believe what happened on august 19th, 1985", braves fan. but a "how are the braves doing this year?" questioning every now and then, braves fan. as much as i love baseball (which is a moderate amount), that's how much i love the braves. i don't think my grandmother ever purposely missed a braves game in her life and i often recall slight expletives emanating from her room when chipper would fly out or avery would walk a batter. so it was with an understated amount of excitement that i boarded the doraville marta and headed to ole turner field to meet kevin, ryan and christine for a 7PM game against the pirates.
while participating in a rousing conversation of the circular reasoning at the heart of the movie gremlins (ryan: "i never understood the rules of that movie. if you can't feed the mogwai after midnight then when can you feed them? it is always after midnight." very insightful, ryan.), the four of us enjoyed some of the most overly priced bar food i have ever eaten. $7 for a hot dog? really? normally i am too much of a miser to even consider "investing" in $20 worth of beef product and soda, but you only live once, so after much prodding by the ericksen's i sunk my teeth into a georgia dog, braves style.
yummm. processed cheese. (aka: gross!). but the chili was decent. actually, all that thing needed was a couple of strips of bacon and some coleslaw to make it one of the best hot dogs ever. but, alas, no one has yet rivaled my favorite deli for the crown of the most awesomest kosher dog in town. otherwise, so far so good on the opening day experience.what's that? where did i get that awesome hat, you ask? that was a spur of the moment purchase as i walked through underground atlanta, trying to get from the marta to the bus. i guess u:a is good for something other than shootings and useless kiosks of crap crowding the walkways. this particular iteration of the atlanta logo has a special place in my family. we had a cousin who pitched for the braves back in the day when the lowercase a was the official merch. plus, i have a slight fascination with the little letters.
after our tasty meal, we split up. ryan and christine headed out to their "we are established, married professionals and can afford better" seats, while kev and i headed up. not to the cheap seats, but the cheaper seats. in the outfield. but we were blessed with a special treat. our seats were literally right next to the braves bullpen. we were able to watch the starting pitcher for that night run through his warm-ups. and that pitcher was none other than tom glavine. welcome back to atlanta, glavi!
other than the creepy guy in front of us (who only made it to the fifth inning before he peaced-out with his one crutch and nappy hair-netted hair), it was a fun time. we were surrounded by families (yeah for no drunk college kids being stupid in our immediate vicinity) and we made our way over to the ryan and christine and their seats on the first base line. actually, come to think of it, i think they had to deal with way more obnoxious people than kev and i did in the outfield. the braves had trouble with their middle relief and scoring through pretty much the whole night. and then when everyone thought the fat lady had sung, the cardiac kids took the bucs into extra innings. lots of extra innings. and still lost. but at least it was close. and there is a whole season of tomahawk chops to look forward to. charge!
ps: interestingly, snellville, georgia's own diana degarmo sang the national anthem. another weird american idol connection. they just keep coming.
other than the creepy guy in front of us (who only made it to the fifth inning before he peaced-out with his one crutch and nappy hair-netted hair), it was a fun time. we were surrounded by families (yeah for no drunk college kids being stupid in our immediate vicinity) and we made our way over to the ryan and christine and their seats on the first base line. actually, come to think of it, i think they had to deal with way more obnoxious people than kev and i did in the outfield. the braves had trouble with their middle relief and scoring through pretty much the whole night. and then when everyone thought the fat lady had sung, the cardiac kids took the bucs into extra innings. lots of extra innings. and still lost. but at least it was close. and there is a whole season of tomahawk chops to look forward to. charge!
ps: interestingly, snellville, georgia's own diana degarmo sang the national anthem. another weird american idol connection. they just keep coming.
1 comment:
You might be more than just an "occassional Braves fan" - when you were just a wee one (less than One) I could put you in your baby seat and put you on the floor in front of a Braves game while I cleaned house; made dinner, etc. and you were as happy as a clam - couldn't do that with any other thing on TV - God Bless those Braves!
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