Defeat: It happens from time to time
by royhobbs on Aug 27, 2009 1:53 PM EDT
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This time last year, the Atlanta Braves were 16 games under .500, and hopes for the playoffs were pretty much gone after a really bad June and July, with the white flag of the season officially being the trade of superstar, Mark Teixeira. It was no more obvious that the season was a bust than it was here at 'ol Talking Chop, where people stopped showing up, readership dwindled, and the overall morale here was completely demolished.
And it's hard to blame Braves fans for such attitudes; after all this was a squad that had a zero power outfield, McCann, Chipper were both on the DL, and on the pitching front, Huddy was out, Glavine was out, Soriano and Moylan were both out, and the rotation was trotting out a fatigued Jair Jurrjens, and ironically of all people, Mike Hampton. This was as bad of a patchwork roster of players as it could possibly get, and it showed in the results.
The 2008 Atlanta Braves fell out of contention in late-July.
The 2009 Atlanta Braves fell out of contention . . . well, they actually haven't yet.
In fact, they're six games over .500, and they're mathematically alive in the playoff hunt. There are several teams worse off, who are still alive, and there are several teams better off who aren't in, either. The outfield is still a little spotty, but at least Jeff Francoeur isn't a part of it anymore. There's suddenly power at first-base, and people are starting to notice that Yunel Escobar is actually pretty good at this baseball thing. Chipper Jones is unfortunately mired in a bad slump, but there are lots of big leaguers would be feel blessed to have a .282 batting average, which good for them, is pedestrian for Chipper. But hey, McCann hasn't been cold-clocked at home plate or had his fingers mashed in by a bad swing, and he's still in the lineup today.
The starting rotation has had the luxury of consistently trotting out Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens and Kenshin Kawakami, almost the entire season. And Tommy Hanson hasn't missed a start since being called up, and has been dominating, to boot. In fact, out of the 126 games played this year, there were only nine games, in which one of the five aforementioned names did not start (Reyes 5, Medlen 4). Compare this to last year, where 11 pitchers started at least four times.
So despite the fact that the 2009 Atlanta Braves are a good baseball team, and hopes for the playoffs are still mathematically alive, with still an entire month of baseball (plus a few extra days in this month and early October), I have to ask - why are so many of you so gosh-darn miserable?
I'm beginning to wonder which scenario is worse - a desolate 2008 TC environment, where many vanish having begun to latch onto other teams, or gear their interests towards college and/or NFL football, or a 2009 TC environment, where it Jeckyll & Hydes with every win from joy to morbid, morose end-of-the-world pessimism with each loss.
Is it because of two consecutive losses to the Padres? Sure, they're a bad squad this year. But that's what innately beautiful about sports - every game is a new day, and ANYTHING is possible, on any given game.
Cases in point:
- In 2004, the 12-1 New England Patriots suffer a nationally televised Monday Night Football loss to the 2-11 Miami Dolphins. All I really remember is the odd orange jerseys the Dolphins were wearing that night, and that the Patriots still won their remaining two games of the season, and marched into the playoffs and won the Superbowl that year
- The record-setting 72-10 Chicago Bulls of 1996 suffered consecutive losses once in the regular season, to the then, lowly Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns. They responded with seven consecutive wins, set a record, and won the NBA championship.
- The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals limped into the playoffs with a 3-9 record their final 12 games of the season. We all remember what happened here.
Is it because the losses jeopardize the playoff hunt? I'm aware of the facts right now, too. There are a lot of factors involved in what it would take to get Atlanta into the playoffs this season. Aside from the fact that the Braves need to win as many games as they can from now until October 4th, the other contenders for both the NL East and Wild Card need to stop winning so much. Obviously, this is not in their best interests. But all of these factors, I think needs to be reminded, are out of our control.
I'll be happy if the Braves do manage to go .667 the rest of the way, whether or not they make the playoffs. I prefer to be in the camp of people that only needs to concern themselves with the Braves do, and see where the chips fall when the regular season is over. The 2007 Mets collapsed with 17 to go - everyone's still got twice that for something unfortunate to happen to their team's fortunes.
Obviously, I'm not trying to tell anyone how they should be feeling, because that's even more hypocritical of me to do than normal, but I just wanted to remind everyone that losses are a part of sports. It happens. In baseball, there's no such thing as a perfect season. Out of 162 possible 50/50 outcomes, odds are, there will be plenty of losses in there. I get it, I really do. I get frustrated, and pissed off with losses like the last two nights, too. I make bold and pessimistic remarks too, but I seldom share them here. But I don't say that the season is over yet, because it really, really isn't. There are still 36 games left for something sports-magical to happen.
Here's something I read last night, that I'd like to share with you guys. Some snippets from a British sportswriter, that I can agree with a lot of:
SOME will tell you that sport is all about winning. Have nothing to do with such people. Winning is not the only thing in sport. There is also, for example, losing. Losing is one of the most important things in sport, and people do it all the time, and in a thousand different ways. You can lose gloriously, dramatically, heroically, unluckily, abjectly, humiliatingly, defiantly, haplessly.
You can be hammered, trounced, beaten out of sight. You can be edged out, beaten by the narrowest of margins.
But it all adds up to the same common experience of sport: not winning.
Defeat is the sporting experience that dare not speak its name. Defeat is the thing that keeps us coming back: for when victory is certain, where is the joy? A mismatch brings no pleasure to the winner, and we call such victories hollow.
Victory is not much of a dish unless it is seasoned with the possibility of defeat. And even when teams or individuals dominate for a sustained period of time, we know that defeat will get them in the end.
Defeat is thrilling, defeat is intoxicating, defeat is the most exciting thing in sport, apart, that is, from winning. Defeat is an important — perhaps the most most important — part of the sporting life.
To say that winning is the only thing in sport is to say that Tabasco is the only thing in a Bloody Mary. The Tabasco gives you the zing and the bite, but it is not the Tabasco that intoxicates, and it is not the Tabasco that keeps you coming back for more. Without defeat there is no victory; without losers, there is no winner. We celebrate the winners: and we do so while repressing the thought that every winner floats high on buoyancy on the tears of the losers. We should be for ever grateful to every loser. Without losers there is no sport.
We are as hooked on defeat as we are on victory. Sport would not be sport without misery, without despair, without hopelessness. Victory is for wimps: it is in defeat that the true spirit of sport is to be found.
And because I try to keep things light around here, here are some crude photoshops of pictures of Yunel Escobar I found while looking for the Bobby Cox picture in the intro, incorporated into Street Fighter scenarios.
I can't speak for the rest of you, but I'm going to try my best to relax and enjoy the rest of the season, and see what happens in October. Go Braves.
This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.
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Well done. Be happy this Braves team is at least making August/September games meaningful!
Here’s the accompanying picture of Bobby Cox from that same game:
"Ohhhh Shit."-Bobby Cox, 3/28/09
Can we just automatically put any of your posts on the most rec’d list?
Seriously great post, I don’t know where you find this stuff, but it really does put things intor perspective.
I, along with many other Braves fans, am on board for the rollercoaster that is the rest of the season. I’m really just glad that I can still watch baseball…
That’s not to say I’m not totally stoked about Auburn football :-)
Rec'd
Very well done. IMO you said everything a true diehard fan would say. Because lets face it, why even become a fan if you won’t stick with a team through the highs and the lows; the wins and the losses; the amazing and the frustrating, etc.. Point is, IMO, there really is no point in being a fan unless you are a diehard who will stick with them until the end, no matter what that might be, and see just how good that end is, even though it may not turn out how you wanted it. I know personally I will stick with the Braves until they are out of contention and firmly believe we can get into the playoffs until the elimination number is 0 or we get it. Great post, and go Braves!
Yunel is the Queen of Hearts
Why...
can’t I recommend something more than once?
I’ve tried to convey what you are saying in a couple of comments the last couple of days. Thank you for doing it a million times better.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
In fact these two losses, while demoralizing to the fan base, maybe be just the motivation the team needs to picke themselves up, set their jaws with determination, and motivate them to go on a tear from hear on out through the rest of the season.
The fact that there is so much emotion behind each one of these losses shows that there is something to be playing for which is far and away different from last season, and even the season before that.
While the odds are long the possibility does still exist which is more that we have had to look forward to in September for several years. It wouldn’t be the first time that an improbable run to the post season happened for a MLB team. There have been many of them through the years. While I find myself with a bad taste in my mouth following the last two games I think Royhobbs has really hit the nail on the head here. It is certainly no guarantee but this situation is the thing that legends are made of. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Braves can go on a tear from hear on out serving to instill the confidence and expectation into this newer generation of Braves players that carried the team through that 14 year run of post season play.
I, for one, will choose to hold on to faith until there is no possiblity left and then I will celebrate the teams vast improvement from last year to this while excitedly looking forward to the 2010 season.
Well done RH for this post.
“…where it Jeckyll & Hydes with every win from joy to morbid, morose end-of-the-world pessimism with each loss.”
As someone who has pulled for this team since I was a kid, I was thought that this was just a symptom of being a Braves fan. Didn’t Skip and Pete essentially frame the mindset that most of us see this and other Braves teams?
In all seriousness, I was ambivalent at best about this team before Spring Training. “Big” deals fell through, pieces were still missing, etc. Yet we have to concede that it was because of tough decisions and some seemingly inspired front office transactions that we are even in the post-season discussion. We cannot turn into stereotypically delusional “big market” fans who expect instant success. After unloading the minors on ill-fated deals designed to get us to post-seasons that never materialized, we have a new wave of top prospects in the pipeline to fill gaps that we haven’t addressed or planned for yet.
A trip into October would be an amazing accomplishment for this team, but an 80-90 win season without the playoffs still surpass my expectations for this team and would give me a lot to look forward to going into March ’10. We still have things to look forward to from this group, and I think the organization is heading in a positive direction.
The ability to make the above statement in itself makes us different from Pirate fans.
Good post, great photoshop work.
Also, in reply...
to this:
I’m beginning to wonder which scenario is worse – a desolate 2008 TC environment, where many vanish having begun to latch onto other teams, or gear their interests towards college and/or NFL football, or a 2009 TC environment, where it Jeckyll & Hydes with every win from joy to morbid, morose end-of-the-world pessimism with each loss.
Absolutely no doubt, the 2009 environment is worse. It really bugs me when people don’t seem to grasp that a 162 game season just requires more…patience…than a 14 game college football season. You have to ride it out, you have to wait and see.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
+100
I agree that the 2009 environment is much worse. If you look back over the last two months some of the best and most prolific posters have all but stopped posting. Give me a 2008 Braves 1-run road loss with seven intelligent people in the game thread, hammered bigjoe typing obscenities, Smoltz’s Beard an myself talking about random crap over the super euphoria/negativity of 2009.
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
Hey there eskimo man...
nice to hear from you!
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
sd,
Good to see you still fighting the good fight of positivity, no matter the outcome of one ballgame! I lurk around these parts on occasion, but I rarely post anymore, perhaps I shall return after the season when it is impossible for people to be negative Nancy’s all the time. Go Braves!
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
I fully expect from you
A large and detailed FanPost that takes you the neighborhood of three workday’s worth of downtime, many words, and a whole lot of pictures of the epic baseball journey you took during June of this season. Your deadline is before the start of Spring Training 2010.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
You can be sure about this.
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
No, despite reports to the contrary, I am alive and well. Good news is that The 11 is now The 8, I am laying low for now plotting my next move. Smoltz’s Beard was the easy one to get rid of, I just got him really drunk on Mad Dog 20/20 and left him in the slums of Baltimore.
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
Last night i had a master plan to bait royhobbs with a hat trade, but there wasn’t enough people at Turner Field for it to go unnoticed, so i had to let him walk away.
"Ohhhh Shit."-Bobby Cox, 3/28/09
Foiled again!!
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
I've never seen a full listing...
of the 11. Don’t suppose I’m in there, but I’ve been here a heck of a long time if that counts for anything with anyone.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
You’ll always be in my top 11! :)
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
YOU TOO!
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
Don't forget Scottie Pippen
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
I see no problem
With more of both. Bigger glasses.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
On second thought
Yunel does look a little like B.J. Armstrong. Hmm, maybe there’s something to this…
all we need to do is trade DIaz and Laroche and maybe like one fringe prospect and we can get Pujols… Then we give the Charlotte Bobcats $2M and Raef Larents expiring contract for Jordan… Then we extend Jurjjens to give us cap flexibility and ttrade KK and a bag of balls and a career backup (like Matt Cassel or somehting) for Brady
so now our lineup looks like this
I wont go any further but that was fun… after that rosterbation, Im gonna take a nap
Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?
by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST
I love loosing
After every loss I remind myself that I’m still a Braves fan, and I get the same feeling I do at the end of Field of Dreams, that sense of tragic virtue. Kind of grandiose, but I only say this because it’s true (and somewhat relevant). I hit the rec button so hard I endangered the well-being of my mouse.
Mat Gamel is way too cool for double consonants.
That was I lie
one never “looses”, but “loses”
Mat Gamel is way too cool for double consonants.
by VivaLosBravos on Aug 27, 2009 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions
So was that
“a” lie, not “I” lie.
Mat Gamel is way too cool for double consonants.
by VivaLosBravos on Aug 27, 2009 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions
i totally agree with this post, while many believe the braves are done, losing two games to the last place padres is hopefully exactly what they need to get their butts in gear. We need to go out and win tonight to start a new streak from here on out. Plus, if u think about it, the Rockies, marlins and giants are bound to start losing, i truly do not believe they can keep winning like this for the rest of the year and hopefully with the struggles the braves are having the past few games they can start kicking butt at just the right time when they start losing…….Go Braves remember the rockies went on a tear a few years back in september to make the playoffs, anything is posiible
Did anyone come into 2009 expecting to win it all?
If we finish with the kind of record we are on pace for, I will be very happy. After last season, we knew it would be uphill.
There are alot of positive signs. And as always royhobbs, excellent post with solid perspective.
by Sid Bream's Moustache on Aug 27, 2009 4:16 PM EDT reply actions
Well, yes....
but I always expect to win it all. Well, maybe not exactly expect, but I always have very high hopes. But I am usually always content if things go reasonably well, which is definitely the case this season.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
i know i did not expect to win it all, but it is always nice to wish for something like that. It is just frustrating when it seems like we finally get on a roll, then a injury hits or we have a few bad games and the other teams ahead of us seem to always win. I can’t wait till we finally get McLouth back and we will finally have a full lineup, then we can go from there put on a nice big run, make it interesting
by CaptainLou02 on Aug 27, 2009 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions
What he said.
Now I know what a regular Marlins game experience is like. Well, with rain, that is. It was just a few hundred (?) of us at the Ted until the end last night. And yes, I put my head in my hands more than once a few times during the game. Painful to watch…but not the end of the world. I kept my head up walking to the car (and luckily didn’t trip over anybody passed out on the sidewalk), knowing there would be something upbeat and never-say-die from royhobbs today. Thanks for the smile!
Cosigned
If nothing else, this season has been immensely entertaining and mostly fun to watch. We’ve got a good squad and seemed well-positioned for the future.
Excellently written
More valid points than I even want to count. We’re such a long way from last years’ 72-90 debacle. We’re even a long way from the 83-79 two years ago. I think if you asked most of us in March or April if we’d be happy with 6 games over .500 and in the playoff hunt at this point in the year, most of us, realistically, would have said yes. Obviously, our team has improved as the year goes on. As fans, we can’t help but look at games like the April bullpen implosion against the Phillies, Raffy’s two recent walkoff jobs and even the extra inning game against the hapless Padres and think “Gosh, these things should NOT have happened, what if…” I’ve done it myself. I don’t have to say that if luck goes our way in those four outstanding examples of defeat that we’re 70-60, but we’re not. We’re still in the thick of it, in all honesty maybe a season before we should have been. We’re only going to get better and, even if the Braves win 85-87 games this year and just miss the playoffs, it’s a lot better than winning 72. We still very much have a shot at this thing, and victory may yet be ours.
"...Braves tie! ...Braves tie! ...Braves tie!"
by The Keith Lockhart Era on Aug 27, 2009 6:23 PM EDT reply actions
Hobbs my man, well done
On a side note, life has played its cruel little “let’s screw with jch’s plans” game once again, and I will be in Atlanta next weekend. If you’re interested in getting together for a game or a beer or something, lemme know.
"I'm going to become rich and famous after I invent a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet"
Ha, most definitely
I’ve got nerdy friends from around the East coast coming in for Nerdfest (DragonCon), and they claim to want me to take them to a game, but I have zero faith in that, so yeah, I’ll definitely be in touch closer to when you’ll be here.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
I'll email you then with a schedule
"I'm going to become rich and famous after I invent a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet"
Rec’d.
That’s some good advice you found. Would you happen to have the website where you found it?
And that middle picture of Yunel is awesome.
Sure
I copied and pasted all of the parts I thought were good; most everything else in the article is in relation to European football, and some Wimbledon references, otherwise. A good read, nonetheless.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Brilliant.
I could add no words that would make this post any better. I simply thank you for sharing, good sir. (Man, I really need to stop watching The Tudors before I end up speaking like this permanently)!
"A player who conjugates a verb in the first person singular cannot be part of the squad, he has to conjugate the verb in the first person plural. We. We want to conquer. We are going to conquer. Using the word 'I' when you're in a group makes things complicated." ~ Wanderley Luxemburgo, 1999
I’m speechless in adoration of this post. It was needed so much!
THANK YOU!
"Actually, Justin was right."
by bigjoe on May 15, 2009 9:04 AM PDT
by justincredubil02 on Aug 28, 2009 1:15 PM EDT reply actions
Definitely worth a REC for bringing PERSPECTIVE front and center.
Nice post royhobbs.
In last night’s game thread, when we were doing well and still some wanted to rain on our parade, I posted this:
I know our chances for the post season are not great …
…and I know we’ve played the first two games of this series like shit….
…but can we at least for tonight – while we’re still ahead and still scoring….
try and ENJOY this together without having to throw the wet towel of reality on every turn of events?
The game threads are a unique animal. When we do great, the expected responses are there. When we play like we did the first 2 games, the NNs (as stated above) definitely show up, usually late in the game and in time to get their jabs in before it’s over. I’ve noticed more and more they are ignored, which is a good thing.
I’ve only been here since April…so the 7 person, “intelligent” game threads that are reminisced about so much here were something I missed.
Maybe you’ll get them back again.
It was a simpler time back then. I apologize if you feel like I was taking a shot at you directly, that was not my intention. You, your commentary, and the pictures you create would have been welcomed into the old “intelligent” game threads.
Perhaps the game day threads have changed in the last couple of months but for the first half of the season it was pretty bad in my opinion. Sure when we did well people would cheer, they would cheer for 2 minutes, but when Kelly would boot a ball or strike out there would be a 15 minute conversation about why he sucks and 10 fanpost the next day saying the same thing, which is unacceptable in my opinion. Or when certain relief pitchers would come in 20 people would post about how they thought he was going to blow the game before he threw is first pitch, too negative for me. Give the guy a chance!
royhobbs is right, defeat does happen. Hell, horrible teams happen, it is impossible to be good all of the time. I believe that we have been spoiled by being Braves fans because they were good for so long. I love the Braves. I never count them out of a game because in baseball you cannot run out the clock or foul the shooter, you have to bring your best until the last pitch of the game, you have to get 27 outs, there is no way around it. When they do lose I refuse to be all doom and gloom because there is another game tomorrow. That is a beautiful thing about baseball, you don’t have to wait a week for the next game. And to me, bad/mediocre baseball is better than no baseball at all. Personally, the saddest day of the whole year is the day after the last game of the world series, regardless if the Braves were in the series or not.
All I am saying is that it is sad that certain posters have been chased away this season. Those people were my friends, they are huge baseball fans, the love the Braves, and they added entertainment/insight to this website.
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
mvandonsel, thanks for taking the time to clarify – you didn’t have to. I never felt like it was your intention to take a shot at me, sorry if I came across that way.
Since being here, I’ve read a lot about how much the “old” version of the game threads are missed and how some never participate anymore because of it. I hate I missed out on those days, I can only imagine how fun it must have been.
Sniff, sniff...that was beautiful mvan...
No, I’m not crying. There’s something in my eye.
I think it’s…dillweed
Hey now, are you calling me names?
People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
Other than eskimo...
absolutely (maybe) not!
That was an (apparently poor) attempt at reminiscing about the “old” days…
“Ace of Spades”…
shooting tiny hoops with the townies…
I was actually going to say it was that sauce from Carrabba’s, but I couldn’t remember what it was, aaaaaaand I was too lazy to search for it.
:\
Wasn't that the....
pomadora sauce?
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Beef Brasato
But who’s keeping track. It was only slow cooked to perfection in a red wine sauce.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
and don't forget....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG4rYCZhpEw
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Yes!
“i got sawdust runnin’ through mah veins”
although i probably don’t sound much different than that…..
"Ohhhh Shit."-Bobby Cox, 3/28/09
I know...
…I feel a little guilty making fun of his accent….
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
roy’s right. Last night’s win was made all the sweeter by the fact that we had lost the first two games. Like Yogi Berra said, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Winning two out of three the rest of the way is no guarantee that the Braves will be in the playoffs, and not winning two out of three doesn’t automatically mean they won’t. All they can do is go out for every game and try to win it.
And I love the Photoshops.
Good post. Unfortunately, I have switched back to 2nd shift for awhile, and I’m not able to get on here as much, mainly during the games. I agree that the pessimism is overly done. Even if we don’t make the playoffs, which in all honesty I don’t think will happen, this is the most exciting time to be a Braves fan. After all, every game counts. Would I rather be in Philly’s shoes and be way ahead in the division and have the playoffs all but locked down, sure. But this type of season keeps you on the edge of you seat. Every loss feels like a kick in the groin, while every win feels like the 95 WS all over again. You only feel most alive when you almost die, so to speak. I see the playoffs pulling away from us, but DAMN IT, GO BRAVOS!!!! This is our team, show support, if you are able. Don’t run when the tide is turned against us.
Just my $0.02
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