0-7* (thanks Jonathan) now in those cursed one-run games. It just plain sucks. BUT . . . the good news is without one run games we’re 5-2, so it’s just a matter of time before we start winning some of those. Our cleanup hitter will get through April and he won’t hit .204 in May. Our bullpen can’t go anywhere but up, and Chipper Jones is hitting .404. So there are signs of hope that we can cling to in these ugly first few weeks.
I wanted to divert things a little and share my Dodger Stadium experience last night, and use it as an opportunity to chastise the city I love, so get ready to be offended.
I got a free ticket from last night’s game from a good friend who’s an LA native but rabid Braves fan thanks to the SuperStation. There won’t be guys like him anymore. It was Brad Penny v. the lowly Pirates lineup that broke our hearts opening week, so we’re not talking about a marquee matchup. But Here’s a number that will disturb you: 53,629. The Monday and Tuesday games drew 37,334 and 37,896. This should also disturb you: 45,269, 17,893, 19,240: the attendance of the Braves-Bucs series (that first one was the home opener). 53,000 fans came out to a Wednesday night game because it was commemorative blanket night, a better crowd than we got for the home opener. I understand the weather for those second and third Pirate a games was kind of bad, but come on!
Honestly, last night gave me a disdain for the complacency in Atlanta over the Braves. The Dodgers have a bigger, more passionate fan base (a disgusting reality), and while they’re not the easiest team to love, these folks make the effort. They haven’t won a playoff series in 20 years and they’re hungry. No excuse Braves fans might make holds up. Traffic is no excuse because it is 10 times harder to get into Dodger Stadium than Turner Field. It sits up on the hill and there are only a couple of streets to get into the park. The weather is better on average, but it gets blazing hot in the summer, just like Turner. They went crazy when Andruw got a hit and it was like seeing a dude dancing with your wife, and doing a better job at it than you could. Sure, they might be annoying when they’re doing the wave or smashing a beach ball into the back of your head, but everybody in the stadium is decked out in dodger blue, and the sound of the crowd when the Dodgers do anything positive is electric. Turner has it’s moments, when a blue-blood club is in town on a Friday or Saturday night, but this was a Wednesday. Against the Pirates.
I pose the question to you: What is it going to take for Atlanta to wake up and love the Braves the way that so many other cities love their teams? If the Dodgers can support a team that has been mediocre for two decades, why has success made the masses in Atlanta so lazy as a fan base?
8 Comments
April 17, 2008 at 7:38 pm
It’s actually 0-7 in one-run games. That much better right?
-Jonathan
http://www.BravesBlast.com
April 17, 2008 at 9:54 pm
While I agree that we don’t have the same kind of fan attendance that I think our team deserves…
Two major things keep Atlanta from having the kind of turnout that you and I would like to see.
1) The Braves are still a relatively young team that has made two stops before settling in ATL. Though we’re the longest continuously run franchise, 1966 is only one generation of fans away. Teams like Chicago, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia have well established fan bases that go back many generations.
2) Atlanta (especially since 1996) has grown in population by transplants coming to our town. Many professionals have come for job opportunities, warmer climate, and have kept their love for the teams of the former cities. I rarely meet natives like myself any more. So the population in our city is thinned out by out of towners.
So…
While I would like to see our support grow, we still have a lot of good fans out there. And as the next generation of Braves fans start driving and coming on their own in larger numbers we’ll see a better showing over the years.
By the way, if you ever want to feel better about our attendance, just look at the stands in Dolphin Stadium. Even with their team off to a good
start and gimmicks like the “Mermaids”, you’re hard to pressed to see a good turnout at a Marlins home game. True, the Marlins have had two major fire sales that have embittered fans and they still share a stadium with that other Miami team…but they have two WS championships since 1992 when they came to the NL. That’s made them one of the most up side down and failed organizations in the game I think.
JB
April 17, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I feel like LA is every one of those things, JB, even more so. More transplants, the team is nearly as young in the city. They do have a more storied history, both in LA and in Brooklyn, but we have the Hammer and the 57 Series, the 95 Series and the 14 division titles.
BH
April 18, 2008 at 1:26 pm
First of all, BH, Dodger fans continually add to the ethical decay of society In every way possible. Braves fans might not be as enthusiastic, but they don’t throw hot dogs at another fan for liking another team. They don’t shoot (and kill) someone for liking another team. All of these happen at Dodger Stadium. I won’t even get into how the “storied” Dodger franchise is ruining everything good about baseball.
Another thing. Dodger Stadium holds 56,000+. Their attendance is based on tickets sold, given away, or otherwise. Turner field holds 50,091. So it is an unfair comparison to compare attendances especially when Dodger Stadium has a larger attendance than the TED can hold. If it was not Fleece blanket night, and Penny had not been pitching the attendance for Wednesday night game would have been in the 30,000 range. Also keep in mind that, depending on who they are playing, 1/4 to even 1/2 the fans are fans of the other team. I have been to several braves games where cheers for the Braves have been louder than cheers for the Dodgers.
A few years ago to boost attendance for Tuesday night games, the Dodgers started “True Blue Tuesday” offering fans $2 seats in the Pavilions and the Top Deck. That stopped after the second week when Dodger “fans” littered the field with garbage in the middle of a game. Another thing, in the mid-90s the Dodgers became only the second in Major League history to have to forfeit a game when they littered the field with 40,000 baseballs.
I have no envy for Dodger fans. If all baseball fans acted like Dodger fans, I would hate baseball and everything associated with it.
Todd in LA
April 18, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I echo your sentiments, Grunge Guru.
In fact when in attendance at a Braves/Dodgers game in LA last year I heard some rather rude remarks thrown in my direction. Had it been a Giants game I could expect batteries lobbed my way as well.
I think we’d have to do more of a demographic study that also includes city dynamics to get a real understanding of why Atlanta’s attendance is admittedly low at some points. I think those of us who are TRUE fans (I consider myself one) should not have to defend our loyalty. The types of fans who litter baseball field with garbage, balls, batteries, etc are not fans by any stretch of the imagination.
Say what you will about Braves fans…True Braves fans will not say “F*** You!” when you visit of trash their own field.
BH, it’s true you’ve witnessed some intensity that you envy when visiting Chavez Ravine, but I think there are some very dedicated members of Braves Nation and whether we’re as loud and obnoxious and even as numerous as those at other fields, we card carrying members don’t have anything to prove. Truth be told I like the fact that not every home game for the entirety of the year is sold out. But I would like to see our numbers increase like anyone else.
Good post, good discussion.
Thanks for your insights, guys.
JB
May 19, 2008 at 7:13 am
Dodger fan here.. I know some of our fan base can be obnoxious, no denying that. But please! The wave and beach balls are annoying? How bout that Tomahawk chop crappola the Braves stoled from a colleage team? If that doesn’t screaming annoying nothing EVER will. Oh and Braves fans…how many playoff, WS games have been played in Atlanta that were not sell outs? Openning Day? Pleazzzzze, spare me the reasons for the Braves fans NOT supporting your team.
May 19, 2008 at 10:07 am
Gee Lori, why don’t you tell us how many of these playoff and WS games we didn’t sell out since apparently you have inside information on our attendance record?
How about instead you tell me how many division titles your Dodgers won during the same time frame that the Braves wrapped up 14 in a row since you should be an expert on that stat.
You want us to “spare” YOU our reasons. I don’t think anyone was ever giving YOU reasons for us not supporting our team. I don’t think anyone in this thread even said there were reasons for us to not support our team.
Lori, as a member of the “Blue” fan base, I think you’ve only managed to do nothing more than give us one more reason to despise the Dodger organization. You’ve really only succeeded in proving our point about how atrocious Dodgers fan can really be.
We would like to thank the Dodgers for a few things though.
Thank you for the 1991 season that helped us get it all started.
Thank you for taking Andruw’s inflated contract from us and paying him $18 million to go .167 w/ 2 HRs.
Thanks for coming to Turner Field in April. We REALLY enjoyed sweeping your crappy Dodgers at home this year and we look forward to sweeping you again…only this time in July at Dodger Stadium.
Oh, and learn how to spell “college”.
May 19, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Wow, Lori. I never really had anything against the Dodgers or their fan base….I even applauded them for wasting their money to get Andruw out of our lineup…but then you had to write that. So at this point, I make the gross generalization that all Dodger fans are as irrational and can only form thoughts that are as uneducated as your post sounds.
The wave and beach balls are in fact annoying. They annoy me at Turner Field just as much, if not more, than everywhere else. And he wasn’t making fun of Dodger fans, are you kidding me?! He was saying that he wishes the Braves fans had half as much passion….or was it too hard for you to see that?
When you forget though, just remember, Dodger fans are responsible for the last forfeit in Major League Baseball. And thanks for taking Andruw off our hands.
“stoled” isn’t a word by the way.
Hugs and Kisses,
-J
Leave a Reply