A crazy man once said “Just win, baby.”
It’s short, simple, sweet, and to the point.
It also defines perfectly what any professional team’s mindset should be on a night-in, night-out basis.
But, that simple saying spoken, from the mouth of a deranged lunatic that once called JaMarcus Russell a great quarterback, seems to be just outside of the range of comprehension for the 2010 Atlanta Braves.
Now, don’t take this as a wild rant following a 11-1 shellacking at the hands of the Arizona D-Backs.
It’s not (although that certainly helped to push this out).
This is a product of a month-and-a-half’s worth of frustration and exasperation that this Braves fan has felt and cooped up for far too long.
It has been my understanding that a team is supposed to build on what it has learned.
To rid itself of fundamental lapses that have cost them in the past so as to create a setting both on the field and in their clubhouse conducive to a winning atmosphere.
Apparently, that memo hasn’t reached someone in the Atlanta Braves’ organization.
I mean, how else do you miss a fly ball by 50 feet in outfield when you were once a gold glove recipient?
How else do you look seas in the water following an impressive four-game streak in which your team valiantly overcame deficits when needed in desperate times and flat-out rolled at others?
How else do you find yourselves relying on the same 20-year-old kid in every single pinch?
And how else are you unable to find some sort of motivation during the final season of your skipper’s reign over what used to be the most enviable team in the National League?
For me, it comes down to a few simple things.
No spirit…no fundamentals…no toughness…and no comradery.
(Now, directly at the Braves.)
How do you explain a meteoric rise and fall of what has the potential to be (and has been shown to be) a very dynamic club?
How?
Nothing has frustrated me more than looking like an idiot for supporting various peoples’ causes.
For getting my hopes up.
And for standing up for a team that I called a Wild Card favorite before the season that has amounted to a 17-19 hot mess.
The season’s not done…we still have 126 more games to go through/watch/enjoy/whatever.
If it was a level line of “don’t give a [intercourse],” it’d be one thing.
But the utter lack of enthusiasm and direction following halfway-descent runs is deflating my hopes that I had set to a pretty high level.
I’m sticking by the team ’til the end…I love the Braves too much not to.
But I’m having a harder and harder time adjusting to the turned corners only to meet brick wall after brick wall.
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