How To Be an Atlanta Braves Fan In 2016

We Atlanta Braves fans are a spoiled bunch.

We can’t help it. Many older Braves fans are used to losing, but I’m 33 and folks around my age or younger don’t really know how to handle not winning all of the time.

We grew up baseball elitists. We know who the REAL team of the 90’s was and it wasn’t those pinstriped beardless northern boys. It was the Atlanta Braves. And, it carried on past the 90’s. From 1991-2005 (minus ‘94) the Atlanta Braves won their division every year. Sure, there’s only one World Championship in there, but hey… 14 straight.

For 14 years we walked around with our chests poked out because we knew that we were going to win. On any given August night, even the most dedicated Braves fans who never missed a game wasn’t too worried about missing one game because they knew the team was probably going to win. I remember being in middle school, staying up late to watch games with my dad, much to the chagrin of my mom, and falling asleep when the game was either tied or we were down by one and thinking, “No big deal. They’ll win.” And, I’d wake up in the morning, turn on SportsCenter, and the Braves won.

Then, in 2006, things began to sort of dip. Bobby Cox started forgetting things and Andruw Jones forgot how to hit a baseball. We’d be one game back from the Mets in a division race and Cox would pinch Greg Norton in the bottom of the 9th or start Corky Miller over Brian McCann. And don’t get me started on Cox not starting Matt Diaz. It was a gradual recession. We didn’t quite know what being terrible really felt like yet.

So, for a few years after 2006, the Atlanta Braves weren’t that bad. They were pretty good for the most part. They might not have won the division every year, but they had some good runs, made some Wild Card appearances, and then Frank Wren drained our farm system and now we’re rebuilding. And then, in order to rebuild, the new regime had little choice but to trade some fan favorites for the greater good.

And now it’s 2016 and the Atlanta Braves are really terrible. Some teams have managed to rebuild while not being terrible. We’re not that team right now. Whether the onus is on Fredi Gonzalez or upper management or the players on the field is irrelevant in regards to this article. What is relevant is me helping you adjust to being a Braves fan in 2016.

The Atlanta Braves weren’t very good in 2015 either. But, the 2015 Braves and the 2016 Braves are very different. The 2015 Braves started off hot and were actually only 5 games back, up until the Kelly Johnson/Juan Uribe trade which put the clubhouse into a downward spiral of despair.

Next: Some tips on being a fan this year.