It came down to the last night of the regular season.
A lead that seemed insurmountable for anyone to overcome quickly shrank away in the last month of the season. And so, the Atlanta Braves added another page to the history books of Atlanta sports disappointments.
The glory days of the 90s are far from us now. And let’s be real here, 15 straight divisional titles is great, but how great is it when that only adds up to one World Series title?
If I do the math correctly that’s 14 other disappointments.
There was a time this season when the Atlanta Braves were touted as one of the top three teams in baseball. Their only excuse for not being in first place was that they played in the same division as the Phillies.
Well now there is simply no excuse.
This was a choke, no other way to put it.
Going 10-20 at the end of the season, getting swept once by the Cardinals and twice by the Phillies, and dropping games to the Nationals and the Marlins late in the season, teams that had absolutely nothing to play for.
The two most reliable guys throughout the season, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel, had a combined ERA of 9.70 and had a total of 5 blown saves in the final 30 games of the season.
Now the Braves are sitting at home watching the playoffs when in the middle of the season everyone had the Braves going into the playoffs and possibly making a deep run.
Yet another disappointment for Atlanta sports. This is a city that has seen choke after choke over the years, and has even seen one of its teams walk out on them.
The Falcons finished the 2010 season with the best record in football and headed into the playoffs as the number 1 seed throughout, only to lay an egg in the second round.
Not to mention that this season the Falcons are struggling at 2-2. I guess my prediction of the Falcons making the Super Bowl was a little inaccurate on my part.
I suppose I jumped the gun when I believed that the addition of Julio Jones would make their offense more explosive and tough to handle.
Maybe it was the fact that they went out and did nothing to improve a secondary that is average at best. I guess it was just a mistake on my part.
Who else plays in Atlanta? The Hawks? I guess the Hawks had a pretty good year last season.
They didn’t necessarily choke in the playoffs, they simply got beat by the No. 1 seed Chicago Bulls.
That’s fine, but what I want to know is how do the Hawks intend on competing in the East without going out and making moves?
When the Heat added the Big Three and the Knicks added Stoudemire, why did the Hawks settle on resigning Joe Johnson and making him the highest paid player in the league?
Why is Josh Smith still on the team? How much longer can the coach put up with his attitude?
As I see other teams in the East making moves to improve their roster I see the Hawks sitting back, being content with their team that hasn’t made it passed the second round.
And the Braves, oh the Braves. The most popular and beloved of the three Atlanta teams. Why is it that every year the Braves disappoint their fans?
Last year it was three errors and a blown save at home, this year it was absolutely dying over the last month of the season and choking a once unreachable Wild Card lead away.
Not sure what is going on in Atlanta, but something has to change.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to trollason@yahoo.com.
