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Thursday, June 22, 2006
Braves are apathethic city’s just desserts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
In case you haven’t noticed, the Braves are an embarrassment, but this is only a momentary thing. They’ll rebound sooner than later after the disaster that is this season, and you know what?
That’s really too bad. Let the pitching continue its post-Leo Mazzone dive toward oblivion. Don’t fret over the hitters spending more time swinging at air than the ball. Cheer the wild throws and the botched grounders. The Braves need to stay brutal for a while to teach a lesson to the overwhelming majority of those who have spent recent years yawning between chopping and chanting.
Not only that, you’ve had the slew of those just yawning. You’ve also had those who haven’t bothered to show up, especially when the Braves were doing what they won’t do this year, and that is finding ways to reach the playoffs.
If there ever was a city that didn’t deserve a team doing the unprecedented and the unthinkable such as the Braves along the way to 14 consecutive division titles, that city is right here in the heart of Dixie. Or should I say that city is right here in the heart of apathy? Take it from Chuck Tanner, the Braves’ manager during their previous dark days of the 1980s. He sighed over the phone the other day after reflecting on those who have shrugged during the Braves’ nice run. “I mean, what do you want?” Tanner said, before easing into a chuckle. “I’ll tell you what they wanted. They wanted 14 consecutive world championships.”
Which brings me to this: Unless an Atlanta professional sports team is doing something or has somebody that appeals to the lowest common denominator of sports fans, you can forget it. They aren’t coming. To keep their focus away from what the Bulldogs are doing, they need a ‘Nique or a Vick or a worst-to-first miracle.
The Hawks have finished among the bottom two in NBA home attendance for each of the past five years, and even when they were at least good during the Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith and Dikembe Mutombo years, they barely showed a pulse at the gate. The Falcons’ recent popularity is a No. 7 thing. Period. Before the 2003 season, the Falcons sold every ticket for every game, but after Michael Vick broke his leg during the preseason, the only place more empty than the parking lots around the Georgia Dome during home games were the many sections inside. The Thrashers still draw well because they remain a novelty to many, but their honeymoon is another trip away from the playoffs from becoming a nasty divorce.
Then you have the Braves, the epitome of it all with an asterisk. In contrast to the Hawks, for instance, the Braves have perfected victory. It mattered at the start of their run to the masses, when the chopping and the chanting was unique, but then winning became passé. Actually, that’s being kind when describing the Braves’ shocking lack of physical and vocal support during the past decade, especially when it counted the most in October.
Only six of the Braves’ past 19 home games in the division series were sellouts. Five involved the Cardinals and the Cubs, whose fan bases were louder and often larger than those of the Braves. That other sellout came two years ago, when the national media kept mentioning the contrast between the wired crowds in Houston and the bored ones at Turner Field. In essence, Braves fans were punked into at least showing up for a fifth and decisive Game 5.
As for Braves home games in the National League Championship Series, they’ve sold out just three of their previous 12, and their last one against the Diamondbacks in 2001 drew 14,000 folks shy of capacity.
The place was packed this past weekend for the Braves’ regular-season games against the Red Sox, and that was good for the Red Sox. While the Red Sox players contributed to the Braves’ slide in the standings, the Red Sox fans made so much racket compared with their counterparts that you’d have thought there was a Green Monster in left field.
I already can hear those tired and familiar excuses. Here’s the most nauseating: You can’t find an Atlanta native anymore, and you have so many people who are from someplace else. Well, I know a lot of Atlanta natives, and given today’s highly mobile society, most cities away from the East and the upper Midwest are transient these days. Phoenix. Miami. Dallas. San Francisco. Seattle. Los Angeles. Denver. (Fill in the blank.)
The bottom line is that Atlanta fans need a wake-up call regarding pro sports, and maybe they’ll get one now that the Braves’ dominance is going to sleep.
Permalink | Comments (346) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Wade vs. LeBron? Take James
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
In 2003 the hot-button discussion didn’t involve LeBron vs. Dwyane. It was, if you’ll recall, LeBron vs. Carmelo. The passage of time has proved Mr. James to be a better NBA player than Mr. Anthony, better than almost everybody. But is he better than Mr. Wade?
Yes, I say. Wade is a great player, but Wade, as was noted in this space not long ago, has the disproportionate advantage of playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal. Give James enough help and he’ll win an NBA title soon enough, same as Wade just won his.
But the greater issue today is to reflect on that 2003 draft, which yielded a future MVP (James) with its first pick, a demonstrable scorer (Anthony) with its third and a burgeoning power forward (Chris Bosh) with its fourth. And where was Dwyane Wade taken? Not with the second pick, which was the almost-forgotten Darko Milicic.
With the fifth.
The Hawks have the fifth pick in this draft.
I’ll say this now and stand by it forever: If Billy Knight gets a Dwyane Wade in this draft, all is forgiven.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
