The Reverse Curse

What is it with the Braves? I just finished watching their 10-5 lost to the Astros. Within a week, I think it's inevitable they will be knocked out of the first round of the playoffs...again.

I love the Braves. I remember going to games as a kid when the lineup was packed with Lonnie Smith, Dion Jammes, Gerald Perry, and Dale Murphy - and they were losing 100 games a year. But I was a kid - I didn't know they sucked and I fell in love with them. Then came 1991. 14 years and as many division titles later, the only time I can complain about my team remains the dreaded month of October. Damnit.

It's hard to get really bent out that, since the streak began, we also pocketed the championship in 1995, 5 NL titles, 2 MVP awards (Pendelton in 91, Chipper in 99 - probably Andruw this year), and we all know about all the Cys collected by Mr. Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. The Braves have the best record among any team since 1991, as well...but as fast as you say "Jim Leyritz," they get knocked out of the playoffs. Well, it breaks my heart every year.

Maybe Braves fans are spoiled, but I do believe most Braves fans aren't fair-weather. Sure, we're used to winning - it would be hard not to be. But we still throw our support behind every Braves team, and it hurts when they fall short. I imagine we're starting to feel like Boston Red Sox fans. The Red Sox fan loved their team through thick and thin, but always saw them fall tragically short. Of course, those fans haven't had as many of the great seasons as we have. They had to suffer through a lot losing seasons - something the Braves haven't had since I was 9. And even as they got better, the one team that foiled their aspirations was also their arch-nemesis - the $*@(! Yankees. Our curse is of a different variety. Our team finds a different way to win every single season. Glavine gone? Who cares. Maddux and Sheffield dip out? No biggie. We win with guys named Langerhans, Spooneybarger, and Neagle. If they're wearing the venerated tomohawk, they own the NL East - plain and simple. But finding all those ways to win just equates to a new way to lose since 1995. It's like AJC sportswriter Mark Bradley said - the Braves run is a legacy of "goodness," but not quite greatness.

But also like the Red Sox fan, I ain't giving up. I love my team, I love the chop, and I'll never stop showing up at the Ted or listening to Skip and Pete. This is my team, and I'm not even going to give up on them in this series. Recent history, to be sure, discourages me. We also didn't look too good this afternoon. But I'm die hard, bitches. Go Braves.