Rivalries.

by jug on Jul 22, 2008 12:42 AM EDT

I posted pictures from my Turner Field expedition on facebook and got a few comments worth sharing:

"Great seats! What are the stands so empty...?" -- A Cleveland Indians fan.

I posted an explanation, but basically the point was there were 29,300+ people there, which isn't too shabby for the conditions.

In response to my picture of the pennants with my cocky caption, Does your team's stadium have 14 consecutive division banners?

"That's like one banner for every person that came to the game . . ." -- Same Indians fan.

That was an easy rebuttal, "Maybe you noticed that the 1995 banner in Cleveland isn't red like ours. Why is that?"

In response to the same picture:

"Of the 14 consecutive banners, how many times did your team make it past the first round of the playoffs?" -- A Chicago Cubs fan.

Another easy response, "8 times. The Braves went to the playoffs more in the 90s than the Cubs have in the past 70 years, and there were no playoffs in 1994! How many people alive today can say they've seen the Cubs win the World Series?"

Has anybody had any "discussions" with friends and or rival fans lately?

0 recs | Comment 11 comments

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My Mets-fan IT guy likes to talk smack whenever he can, but he claims it’s retalliation for all my smack talk during their collapse at the end of last season. He reeaaaaally loves to mock Frenchy…and who can blame him?

by Lauren T. on Jul 22, 2008 8:32 AM EDT 0 recs

I used to all the time...

...but I just got fed up with everyone. Hearing the whole “you guys suck cause you only won the WS once” really gets tiresome, and even when you retort with “yeah, well we also made the playoffs 14 seasons in a row” and they come back with “so? you only won the WS once”. And when it’s coming from Mets and Cubs fan you just have to understand that they have a tremendous inferiority complex.

Hell, even on this very site there was some moron saying this team has been in a decade long tailspin. What happened when I reminded him that we made the playoffs in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005? Well he brought up the fact that we failed to win the WS at all during this time…and the reason why was because of short-term thinking. Right…that makes a fucking ton of sense. We’re a complete fucking failure as a franchise because we averaged 97.5 wins during those 8 season! Our 23-30 record in the postseason during that time was strictly because of The Man Upstairs’ inability to think long term! Blah, blah, blah, etc.

I guess I should be one to talk.
There's nights that I can't even walk.
There's days I couldn't give a fuck.
And in between is where I'm stuck.

by Smoltz's Beard on Jul 22, 2008 9:50 AM EDT 0 recs

I love your answers!

I’m not a quick enough thinker; I just kick them in the shin or curse them with a cavity.

by Lizziebeth on Jul 22, 2008 11:41 AM EDT 0 recs

Update

Response to my comment: “How many people alive today can say they’ve seen the Cubs win the World Series?”

“More than the number of people that can say they’ve seen the Braves win a respectable division.”

My reply:
Central Div WS teams since 1991: 4 Appearances, 2 World Champions (Cards, Reds)
East Div WS teams since 1991 (excluding the Braves): 4 Appearances, 2 World Champions (Marlins x2)

Add in the Braves and you have: 9 Appearances, 3 World Champions from the NL East

I should also note this is a rivalry argument in good fun. If we were to get in a discussion about college rivalries, there would be blood and drinking of milkshakes.

"Have you ever had your heart broken?"
"Yeah, when we lost the pennant in '87."

by jug on Jul 22, 2008 12:03 PM EDT 0 recs

I DRINK IT UP

I guess I should be one to talk.
There's nights that I can't even walk.
There's days I couldn't give a fuck.
And in between is where I'm stuck.

by Smoltz's Beard on Jul 22, 2008 12:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

+1

Reds won in 1990 though.

Add this comment with his Braves exiting in the first round and you know he hasn’t watched baseball for more than 5 years. 1993 was called the last great division race for a reason. The Giants won 103 freaking games that year, but we had a ridiculous 104.

by VictorW on Jul 22, 2008 12:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

hmm...

yes, that is a typo. It should have read since 1990.

Also, I hope it was implied that by NL East I was also referring to the NL West, prior to the creation of the NL Central in 1994.

Maybe the stadium can catch fire again and so will the team!

Great story about 1993, in case anybody hasn’t read it: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=93pennant

"Have you ever had your heart broken?"
"Yeah, when we lost the pennant in '87."

by jug on Jul 22, 2008 12:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

People are silly

Why is it always teams that haven’t won WS in decades or centuries who say “Well you only won 1 WS during your 14 titles?”

14 years of excellence validates the WS title as something more than just luck. If anything, the Braves got unlucky since they only won 1 during the stretch. I love the Cards (lived in Mizzou for about 8 years), but they got lucky in 2006. Does anyone actually think the 2006 Cards were one of the top teams that year? They just kind of stumbled in and got hot at the right now while the Mets and Tigers folded. The Marlins have had 2 WS wins in the last 20 years, but would you have rather watched them for the last 20 years instead of the Braves?

by VictorW on Jul 22, 2008 12:39 PM EDT 1 recs

Bingo.

And I think that by saying some people are “silly” you are putting it in a nice way. I could think of a couple other words instead…

I guess I should be one to talk.
There's nights that I can't even walk.
There's days I couldn't give a fuck.
And in between is where I'm stuck.

by Smoltz's Beard on Jul 22, 2008 12:51 PM EDT up 0 recs

astros fans are the worst, but easy to retort because theyve never won a WS.
I think they’re still a little sore about all those times we knocked them out of the playoffs.
they love to talk about that walk off in the 18 inning game tho.

by bravesguy95 on Jul 22, 2008 2:59 PM EDT 0 recs