Here we are for the Braves’ first home game of the season, and not just any home opener: This opener is in a new ballpark in a different county for a team that lived downtown … well, since moving here from Milwaukee, which was 51 years ago. The thread that runs between the Atlanta Braves remains I-75, one of our interstates that’s still intact, but that’s about it.
The Braves are now suburbanites. You knew that already. You’ve known it was coming for 3 1/2 years, and here it is.
I know some of you were so incensed by the Braves’ move that you’ve sworn never to attend another game. I understand that. But I note again: These same Braves played elsewhere before they alit in Atlanta. (Two elsewheres, actually — they began in Boston.)
Sometimes teams up and leave and make people mad. The NFL has seen three franchises — nearly 10 percent of the Tiffany League — execute/plot moves in the past 15 months. The Braves did not leave downtown for another downtown. According to Dr. Google, they moved 14 1/2 miles up I-75.
Maybe you hated that. Maybe you hate it still. I would suggest, though, that you shouldn’t continue to hate just for the sake of stubborn continuity. Times change. This is where the Braves live now. This is reality.
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