Atlanta Braves created a great atmosphere for their home opener

Jake wasn’t the only one of our staff at the Atlanta Braves home opening contest.  There’s more reflections and observations I had as well.

The Atlanta Braves really did put on a show last night… and that was well before the News Heard ‘Round The Baseball World that happened today.

Jake already gave you a perspective from his point of view.  Mine comes from a bit of a different angle… that of an Old Guy who has some difficulty getting around at times.  So this is mostly about the entire visitor’s experience in getting in and out of SunTrust Park.

There is a bit of salemanship here that I do need to discuss.  This is the 2nd season in which I have been offered a chance to go to Atlanta as a guest of Chevrolet via a promotions/marketing firm that they employ.  It’s a chance I’m grateful for, as it’s almost certain I would not have been there otherwise.

In short, Chevrolet wants people to know about their new Silverado truck, and I wanted to not only be at the game, but to share what I hope to be some useful information for those in my circumstance.

So sure – if you feel like calling me a ‘sell-out’ for supporting this, that’s fine:  fact is that everything we do here at FanSided is exactly the same.

We sell advertising that brings product information to our readers and we hope to also provide our perspective on Braves baseball and how baseball news impacts this team we follow so earnestly.  We sincerely appreciate the time you give us in checking out these thoughts and we pledge to do our best in delivering the material to you… not always perfectly, but that’s the goal.

But this trip gave me some practical information that I’d like to share about visiting the ballpark, and therefore I’m happy to rep my benefactors since they enabled that to happen.

The Journey

Coming in from North Alabama, there truly isn’t a great route to Atlanta.  If time is important, I go North to pick up I-24 East at South Pittsburg, TN and then head to I-75 South in Chattanooga.

Other route possibilities include Birmingham or a locale-heavy trek through places like Scottsboro, Ft. Payne and Rome, GA.  There’s just no direct path.

(As an aside, this is one reason the MLB blackout rules are ludicrous… I’m 3-1/2 hours away!)

The traffic can get really heavy at times on this route, but that’s why I appreciated this Silverado:  a high seat for visibility with the most car-like ride in a truck I’ve ever experienced.  Very smooth:  easy to control, very easy to park (definitely an improvement over my wife’s truck).

Since I normally drive older vehicles, I haven’t seen a lot of such newer safety features as the clear backup camera image (excellent even at night!), side mirrors that alert you to cars in the blind spot, and proximity indicators that sense how close you are to objects all around the vehicle.  A definite advantage in the Atlanta metro-area traffic.

There were lots of additional amenities:  navigation, a huge touch screen with well-designed controls (!), Wi-Fi, power supplies for everything, remote start, keyless entry, push-button start, excellent dashboard organization, and so much more.

Heck, my wife found that the thing has heated seats and a heated steering wheel… because it was so cold these last couple of mornings!

One minor nit I had last year with the Suburban we were loaned was that convenience buttons on the back of the steering wheel were too accessible… easy to accidentally hit.  That’s been rectified:  they are present, but recessed enough to be out of the way from normal hand placement.  Great job, Chevy!

The Silverado is also extraordinarily quiet:  you can have normal-voice-level conversations at highway speeds.  That just doesn’t happen with pickups I’ve been around.

I’ll stop there, but for those in the market… this is an excellent choice.