At a Hawks game, I saw a man propose to his girlfriend over the video board. Another game, I saw the famous Sky Hawk doing his routine of jumping onto the trampoline and dunking the ball in fantastic ways, only to dislocate his shoulder after jumping too far. When the Thrashers were still here, every game some bald guy would come on over the video board and chug a beer. Another guy wore a viking outfit and held two battle-axes in his hands. People would also beat on the metal wall at the top and make annoying noises no matter what would be going on in the game.
One thing that I saw as a constant whenever I attended some games for all three teams, was more fan support for the other team. Atlanta is notorious for having low fan support and it's obvious when the stadium or arena is half full of the other teams' color.
I attended two of the three games that the Yankees played at Turner Field this year, including the one where Alex Rodriguez hit the grand slam off of Braves reliever Cory Gearrin to tie the game. I would have sworn I was in the Bronx with how loud and proud Turner Field got for the Yankees. Turner Field...loud...for the YANKEES? Those two aren't supposed to match up.
Also, when the Boston Celtics came to town to play the Hawks in last year's NBA playoffs, Celtics' green covered Philips Arena. Every time the Celtics scored, that place would erupt. That's not the only team it happens with, the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, heck even the Denver Nuggets draw a crowd. While seeing this happen on a regular basis, it made me upset to think we, as Atlanta, couldn't offer our teams a home-field advantage. That all changed Friday evening, when I saw something never seen before in Atlanta.
As everyone by now knows, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons batted in the eighth inning with one out and sent a pop-fly into the outfield and the umpire called it an infield fly as it fell in between two Cardinals players and would have loaded the bases for Atlanta. In my mind it was a bogus call that factored into the Braves loss. The reaction that occurred next was amazing. Atlanta fans littered Turner Field with cans, cups, bottles, bins, and anything else that could reach the field. This showed one thing to a national television audience and to me. The fans cared.
I'm not saying every time there is a bad call now we need to throw our garbage onto the field or the court. And yes some fans took it over board by still throwing crud onto the field twenty minutes later. The initial reaction is what mattered, fans were angry, they were upset. Their team had been cheated, and it bothered them. They ended up not getting their way, of course, but a point was proven. They support their team. Bravo Atlanta, Bravo.
Turner Field is littered with trash as fans react to a disputed call by umpire Sam Holbrook that factored into the Braves loss to the Cardinals.
Photo Courtesy of news.yahoo.com
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