This decade the Atlanta Braves have played 657 games. (648 regular
season, 9 postseason)
Of those, I’ve watched or listened to roughly 500 or so live. I
estimate I’ve watched another 100 or so on DVR or MLB.com’s archives. I’ve also
attended 29 games in person over that time. (that’s not an estimate, I’ve kept
track here)
That leaves about 28 (give or take a few) games I haven’t watched in
entirety
In 2013 I watched 166 of 166 games. In 2012 it was 157 of 163 (the 6 I
missed were all related to travelling to/from seeing them in person) 2010 and
2011 were each in the area of 10 games missed. The work I had- much of it from
home or at hours of my choice helped greatly. Having no kids and being sans
girlfriend for most of the summers during the 4 year span also didn’t hurt.
The Braves consumed my life. And I loved every minute of it. Nothing
makes me happier than watching a Braves game.
But it came at a price.
I willfully insulated myself from those around me. For 6 months of the
year the Braves were all that mattered. I regularly backed out of commitments
with those who cared about me so I could watch games. More than once I avoided
obligations so I could watch the replay of a game I knew they got blown out.
Addiction is the wrong word. Having out of whack priorities is a more
apt description. Although there are worse vices, I’m sure.
Why did I have to watch *every* game and not just as most I reasonably
could? A lot of it was my obsessive
compulsive love of sets. Having a complete collection was just better in my
head. But at least a small part was a self-righteous belief that somehow
watching more games than anyone else would somehow make me a better fan than
everyone else.
Last fall I got a new job. It’s perfect in every way- fun people, strong
company, good pay, great benefits- everything. There’s one catch. The hours are
3:30 to midnight. This isn’t in issue on the surface: I’m a night owl. In fact,
these hours work perfectly for my natural schedule. It’s just that I’ll be
missing a huge chunk of those Braves games I adore. At first I was
apprehensive, but now I think it’s wonderful impetus to realign my priorities.
I’m not going to be tied down by anything except the people I care about and working
my ass off to hopefully advance in the job I love. Baseball will still be a
huge part of my life, but it won’t be the only piece.
So what does this mean for @BravesAmerica? I won’t be tweeting nearly
as much during games, but I certainly won’t be disappearing. I’ll still be able
to watch about half of the games live. (I’ll be able to watch east coast day
games before heading in to work) My employer is amazingly flexible and allows
me to have an ipad up at all times. Whether I will have the games on while I work
remains to be seen. I fear that by trying to do two things at once- baseball
and work- I’ll succeed at neither. We shall see.
I will still provide my trademark irrelevant and irreverent commentary
on the Braves, with plenty of border line creepy Jason Heyward swooning. And I’m
hoping to better utilize this blog. I do a solid amount of research that goes
unseen or just crammed in to a few tweets. Hoping to expound on that here.
Whether I’m watching live or not, I’ll still be chopping at heart.
Best,
Dayton from Nebraska
