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| Bobby Cox's Final Curtain Call |
Tuesday, October 12, 2010. It is my second rest day after a work marathon for the past 2-4 weeks. I woke up like it is a Sunday (since I worked the whole weekend) and the first thought I had is to go downstairs to watch the ongoing baseball playoffs. For some reason, working on weekends has become beneficial to me because I get to watch American professional sports games on weekday mornings (this also happened in Super Bowl early this year). In October 12, it was a “can’t miss” affair because it was probably the Atlanta Braves’ last game of the year. It was Game 4 of the National League Division Series and the Giants were leading 2-1 over the Atlanta Braves.
After years of disappointment, my Atlanta Braves were relevant again. They took the NL East lead last May because of the resurgence of players like Martin Prado, Brian McCann, Omar Infante and the standout rookie – Jason Heyward. They rode with a good lead against last year’s division winner, Philadelphia Phillies, but the Braves eventually lost it after their significant players succumbed to injury (like Martin Prado and Chipper Jones). Nevertheless, they were able to prolong their longtime manager’s career when they reached the playoffs as the wild card team.
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| del Prado? Nope, that's Martin Prado |
This year was a surreal season for the Braves as they have become a sudden threat to the powerhouse squads like New York and Philadelphia. The Braves had the makings of an underdog/dark horse team as they rallied from deficits all year. They had the most comeback wins this season at 46. Baseball fever was high in Atlanta as Jason Heyward – their rookie slugger – gave hopes to a city that did not get a taste of postseason experience since 2005. Most importantly, it was the final year of Bobby Cox. He has been the manager since 1990.
I shared the same feeling as Atlanta fans. I always make it a regular habit to spend half a minute of my day to check the MLB scores in ESPN.com. I was only able to watch one or two Atlanta games on TV this year though (thank you, ESPN for showing too many Yankee games). When Atlanta won the wild card last week, I was relieved because Bobby Cox’s career would end with a bang.
I shared the same feeling as Atlanta fans. I always make it a regular habit to spend half a minute of my day to check the MLB scores in ESPN.com. I was only able to watch one or two Atlanta games on TV this year though (thank you, ESPN for showing too many Yankee games). When Atlanta won the wild card last week, I was relieved because Bobby Cox’s career would end with a bang.
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| Braves fans doing the tomahawk chop (photo from Bleacherreport) |
These are the reasons why I made sure that I will not miss the Braves’ Game 4. I am aware that Atlanta is shorthanded with injuries (they even lost their closer, Wagner, from injury last weekend). If ever the Braves lose this game, I would be able to watch Bobby Cox’s final game. As a long-time Atlanta sports fan (since 1992), this means a lot to me. I was not able to see my all-time favorite baseball player’s last game in 2008 (Greg Maddux) and it felt bad then. And with Cox leaving, I am feeling sentimental because all except for one (Chipper Jones) member of the 90’s Braves Dynasty have retired.
The memory of the first-ever sports game I have ever watched is still fresh in my mind. It was the Game 6 of the 1992 World Series. We just arrived home after taking out McDonald’s Teriyaki. Dad just tuned in to watch a delayed telecast of the baseball game. I got curious on how it was played so I watched it with him and my grandfather while I was eating McDonald’s latest meal offering. We rooted for the Atlanta Braves. Even if I knew nothing about baseball, I knew that it was an intense game. I remembered giving Dad and Lolo high fives when the Braves scored runs. The game went into extra innings but Atlanta eventually lost to Toronto with a score of 4-3. I hated the Blue Jays after that.
I became a huge PBA fan the following years but I always tried to ask Dad on how the Atlanta Braves fared. We had no cable then so it was difficult to catch up on the latest news. All I can remember was watching CNN (which gets shown on a local channel) reporting on baseball’s comeback (in 1995) from the player’s strike. Since I knew that Atlanta was a formidable team, I had high hopes that the Braves can finally capture the championship. I followed them by reading newspapers (I was a huge Sports section reader when I was in elementary) or by watching CNN’s evening news from time to time. True to my hopes, Atlanta was a strong force to reckon with. They dominated the Majors and were back at the World Series. I was hoping for them to revenge the 1992 loss against Toronto but they were facing the Cleveland Indians instead. I avidly followed the Atlanta Braves in the evening news or in newspapers. I can still remember seeing the Tomahawk Chop done by the Braves’ fans whenever the local news showed highlights of the games. If I am not mistaken, I was able to watch at least one game of that series. The 1995 World Series was the time when I appreciated the notable pitching rotation of Atlanta. Greg Maddux was their best pitcher while Tom Glavine and John Smoltz followed him in the order. I also remembered blaming Smoltz for losing Game 3 (but technically he didn’t but since he was the starting pitcher then, he was the only player I remembered in that loss). I will always remember the win-loss pattern of that series as it went: Win-Win-Loss-Win-Loss-Win. I rejoiced after I saw the Braves’ Game 6 victory in local news. It ensued me to read the local papers’ sports section a lot in the following days. I can still remember reading Tom Glavine being awarded the World Series MVP.
My Braves’ following strengthened in the next years. I can still remember watching them lose the Game 6 of the 1996 World Series to the New York Yankees while we were at a birthday party in a relative’s house in Quezon City. When we had cable in 1996, I usually get to watch the memorable game highlight in ESPN’s commercial when the Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1992 NLCS. The Braves rallied in the famous Bottom 9th of that series. I hated Livan Hernandez when he crushed the Braves in the 1997 playoffs. I learned a lot about other baseball players when I played Triple Play ’97 (which made me try to mimic Greg Maddux’ changeup whenever my brother and I played “fake baseball” outside the house). I saw Atlanta lost to the New York Yankees in 1999. I regularly watched Fox Sports every afternoon in the summer of 2000. The Braves mounted a huge winning streak that had the news anchors saying that they have been destroying and sweeping teams in their path. I grew up checking the local newspapers as Atlanta got the longest consecutive division titles then. I remembered rejoicing when I saw it become 10. It was a yearly affair until it reached 14 in 2005. Up to the present time, Atlanta holds the longest dominating streak in professional sports.
The memory of the first-ever sports game I have ever watched is still fresh in my mind. It was the Game 6 of the 1992 World Series. We just arrived home after taking out McDonald’s Teriyaki. Dad just tuned in to watch a delayed telecast of the baseball game. I got curious on how it was played so I watched it with him and my grandfather while I was eating McDonald’s latest meal offering. We rooted for the Atlanta Braves. Even if I knew nothing about baseball, I knew that it was an intense game. I remembered giving Dad and Lolo high fives when the Braves scored runs. The game went into extra innings but Atlanta eventually lost to Toronto with a score of 4-3. I hated the Blue Jays after that.I became a huge PBA fan the following years but I always tried to ask Dad on how the Atlanta Braves fared. We had no cable then so it was difficult to catch up on the latest news. All I can remember was watching CNN (which gets shown on a local channel) reporting on baseball’s comeback (in 1995) from the player’s strike. Since I knew that Atlanta was a formidable team, I had high hopes that the Braves can finally capture the championship. I followed them by reading newspapers (I was a huge Sports section reader when I was in elementary) or by watching CNN’s evening news from time to time. True to my hopes, Atlanta was a strong force to reckon with. They dominated the Majors and were back at the World Series. I was hoping for them to revenge the 1992 loss against Toronto but they were facing the Cleveland Indians instead. I avidly followed the Atlanta Braves in the evening news or in newspapers. I can still remember seeing the Tomahawk Chop done by the Braves’ fans whenever the local news showed highlights of the games. If I am not mistaken, I was able to watch at least one game of that series. The 1995 World Series was the time when I appreciated the notable pitching rotation of Atlanta. Greg Maddux was their best pitcher while Tom Glavine and John Smoltz followed him in the order. I also remembered blaming Smoltz for losing Game 3 (but technically he didn’t but since he was the starting pitcher then, he was the only player I remembered in that loss). I will always remember the win-loss pattern of that series as it went: Win-Win-Loss-Win-Loss-Win. I rejoiced after I saw the Braves’ Game 6 victory in local news. It ensued me to read the local papers’ sports section a lot in the following days. I can still remember reading Tom Glavine being awarded the World Series MVP.
My Braves’ following strengthened in the next years. I can still remember watching them lose the Game 6 of the 1996 World Series to the New York Yankees while we were at a birthday party in a relative’s house in Quezon City. When we had cable in 1996, I usually get to watch the memorable game highlight in ESPN’s commercial when the Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1992 NLCS. The Braves rallied in the famous Bottom 9th of that series. I hated Livan Hernandez when he crushed the Braves in the 1997 playoffs. I learned a lot about other baseball players when I played Triple Play ’97 (which made me try to mimic Greg Maddux’ changeup whenever my brother and I played “fake baseball” outside the house). I saw Atlanta lost to the New York Yankees in 1999. I regularly watched Fox Sports every afternoon in the summer of 2000. The Braves mounted a huge winning streak that had the news anchors saying that they have been destroying and sweeping teams in their path. I grew up checking the local newspapers as Atlanta got the longest consecutive division titles then. I remembered rejoicing when I saw it become 10. It was a yearly affair until it reached 14 in 2005. Up to the present time, Atlanta holds the longest dominating streak in professional sports.
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| Win or lose, I am proud to be a Braves fan |
Through the years, I developed a special liking for baseball even if my friends usually talk of other sports more (like basketball, boxing, billiards and Formula One). Unfortunately, local media did not feature baseball that much. If ever, ESPN was mostly showing only New York Yankee games. I do not play Fantasy Baseball either so I was mostly following the sport via ESPN’s website most of the time. I stuck through thick and thin with the Braves but I have to admit that I was not that passionate because of the minimal popularity of the sport. In a way, I have taken for granted the first-ever professional sport that I have loved. Heck, I only knew of Greg Maddux’s retirement months after it happened.
Greg Maddux not playing eventually started to sink in. I wrote a blog entry about him, but I will forever miss his pitching performances. The fact that the players from the glory years of the ‘90s might leave baseball started to sink in. Thus, when I learned of Bobby Cox’s retirement this year, I made sure that I get to follow baseball on a regular basis. I often made “Go Braves!” as my YM status message even if more than 90% of my YM friends do not understand what it meant. In a way, that is how I pay tribute to the sports team I followed through the years.
Greg Maddux not playing eventually started to sink in. I wrote a blog entry about him, but I will forever miss his pitching performances. The fact that the players from the glory years of the ‘90s might leave baseball started to sink in. Thus, when I learned of Bobby Cox’s retirement this year, I made sure that I get to follow baseball on a regular basis. I often made “Go Braves!” as my YM status message even if more than 90% of my YM friends do not understand what it meant. In a way, that is how I pay tribute to the sports team I followed through the years.
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| Greg Maddux |
All in all, I think I am a fortunate fan. Players come and go. In baseball, they get traded a lot. The main reason why I was not able to follow Greg Maddux was the fact that he was not anymore with the Braves. I was fortunate that Atlanta made sure that some of their players from the ‘90s stayed for a long time (like Smoltz, Glavine, Andruw Jones and the last man standing – Chipper Jones). I was fortunate to witness a franchise player in my team (Chipper Jones). With the end of the remnants of the ‘90s Braves Dynasty comes a looming generation of superstars who might instill a different mentality to the next generations. They are a new wave of stars who do not care for their initial fanbases. For instance, LeBron James decided not to be Cleveland’s franchise player when he chose to go to Miami. Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony might eventually do the same thing. In baseball, Alex Rodriguez epitomizes it as he hopped from the Mariners to the Rangers to the Yankees. The term “franchise player” might soon be gone.
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| Chipper Jones hitting a homer |
I am aware that players change teams ever since time immemorial. It is understandable if the team takes the player for granted (why the heck should you stay if you are not treated well). Thus, I am fortunate that Atlanta took care of the players I idolized. As Chipper Jones stated in an ESPN article*: "I'm the kind of guy who likes to get rooted, a guy who stays in one place, I'm not much for living out of a suitcase even though that's what I've done for the last 20 years.”
And, when asked if his career path of staying in the same team would ever be duplicated…
"I will never say never,'' Jones said. "But in this era of free agency, and the mentality of the players today, it will be hard to do. Plus, you rarely see managers staying in the same place for six or eight years. The only way it's going to happen is somewhere like Atlanta.''
And, when asked if his career path of staying in the same team would ever be duplicated…
"I will never say never,'' Jones said. "But in this era of free agency, and the mentality of the players today, it will be hard to do. Plus, you rarely see managers staying in the same place for six or eight years. The only way it's going to happen is somewhere like Atlanta.''
* - this is taken from: (good inspirational read about loyalty) http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/draft2010/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=5249761
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| Doing the tomahawk chop |
This is why I am thankful as a Braves’ fan. Even if it was frustrating to see them squander a lead in the Top 7th in Game 4, I eventually came to the realization that I should be glad to witness Bobby Cox’s last game. It was the last game of a man who built a team that I have loved for years. In the final inning, I did the “Tomahawk Chop” in front of my TV. As crazy as it appears, that is my way of paying tribute to the Bobby Cox Era.
That and this writeup.
Go Braves!
Thank you, Bobby Cox! Thanks for the 25 straight years with the Atlanta Braves (he's been there since I was a baby/wasn't even born yet). Thanks for the 1995 World Series championship and thanks for the longest dominating streak in Major League Baseball (14 consecutive division titles).
Thanks to all of the Braves players from the 90s Glory Years: Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez, Denny Neagle, David Justice, Fred McGriff and Andres Galarraga
(Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” plays in the background…)
That and this writeup.
Go Braves!
Thank you, Bobby Cox! Thanks for the 25 straight years with the Atlanta Braves (he's been there since I was a baby/wasn't even born yet). Thanks for the 1995 World Series championship and thanks for the longest dominating streak in Major League Baseball (14 consecutive division titles).
Thanks to all of the Braves players from the 90s Glory Years: Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez, Denny Neagle, David Justice, Fred McGriff and Andres Galarraga
(Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” plays in the background…)
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