These last couple of years the trademark of the Atlanta Braves has been a preponderance of young, homegrown players who were born and bred in Georgia: Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, Chuck James, Macay McBride, Kyle Davies.
Think maybe the inbreeding has caught up with them?
The family elders — Cox, Smoltz and those dirty Jones boys — still preside over the clan and I keep hearing about this new, improved bullpen that’s nothing like all those previously new, improved bullpens, but the Braves don’t look like The Braves to me anymore. Turner Field doesn’t look like Turner Field to me anymore. They’re just another team in just another ballpark on just another road trip. They could beat us today. They could beat us tomorrow. Anybody could beat anybody twice. That still wouldn’t make them The Braves. That’s over. That’s not four games talking. That’s 166 and counting.
Chris Woodward…Tyler Yates…Roger McDowell…the Braves don’t poach outside the family as well as they used to either.
Not to mention that Jimmy Carter is their celebrity in the stands.
Malaise forever!
Big ups to the former president and first lady, in their eighties, for sticking it out the entire nine innings in windy, chilly weather with their team way behind.
With that kind of dedication, it's hard to believe they're Braves fans.
(Plus he never actually said “malaise”…it was “crisis of confidence,” which I hope Cox is having.)
They're definitely not the same team… they're obviously rebuilding, and it shows. I'm not afraid of them anymore. But that doesn't make certain individual Braves any less irritating and potentially day-spoiling. There's some guys who just live to torment us, no matter where either of us are in the standings or how far along the season is.
We've been good for one year and four games. For me, that's too soon to be acting like Yankee fans.
God, I hope there isn't a point when it becomes okay to act like Yankee fans.