{"id":45553,"date":"2017-12-11T20:32:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T00:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45553"},"modified":"2020-08-04T20:33:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T00:33:06","slug":"only-the-braves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45553","title":{"rendered":"Only the Braves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"border-image alignnone wp-image-45554 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/gwinnett_stripers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/gwinnett_stripers.jpg 510w, https:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/gwinnett_stripers-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Back during the summer, the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves announced they were <a href=\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=44673\">going to change their name, moving forward<\/a>.\u00a0 After sifting through the dank and salt for viable candidates, the final ballot was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/news\/gwinnett-braves-announce-name-the-team-finalists\/c-241972864?tid=185364810\">narrowed down<\/a> to the following six options:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Gwinnett Buttons<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Gwinnett Big Mouths<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Gwinnett Gobblers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Gwinnett Hush Puppies<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Gwinnett Lamb Chops<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Gwinnett Sweet Teas<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Obviously, none of these were particularly fantastic options, but I figured Buttons would\u2019ve won easily, since it was the least over-the-top campy name, and that there was the historical element behind it, as Button Gwinnett was whom the entire county was named after as well as a signer of the Declaration of Independence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Regardless, at the county level and those who were remotely interested in the distraction of a dumb story like this, there was much debate, but more pettiness when it came to the topic of renaming the Gwinnett Braves, that really could be summed up with the fact that all available options were pretty shitty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">So naturally, the winner of the contest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwinnettdailypost.com\/local\/gwinnett-stripers-announced-as-replacement-name-for-gwinnett-braves\/article_6dfd79cc-dbc5-11e7-b329-8f33f7dda969.html\">ended up being the <strong>Gwinnett Stripers<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">What\u2019s that you say?\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t an option?\u00a0 By golly, it wasn\u2019t!\u00a0 The Braves blindsided the fans yet again, with the bat of no-transparency, and went ahead and made choices without the people that sign their paychecks!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">My kneejerk reaction to this scenario was a natural wrestling analogy, that this was like Judgment Day 1998 where the vacant World Championship was up for grabs in a match between the Undertaker versus Kane, but ended up being won by Stone Cold Steve Austin, when he smashed Kane with a chair and hit the stunner on Undertaker and slapped the mat three times while they were both KO\u2019d and declared himself the winner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">It\u2019s kind of the same situation here, because the Braves slopped together six shitty finalists for the team\u2019s new name for the public to bicker and debate about, and when it came to announce a winner, they basically KO\u2019d all six options and declared a mystery choice out of nowhere as the actual winner without any input from the people whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">What really stands out to me in the payoff of this whole shit show is the arrogance of the team\u2019s general manager, and all the things he\u2019s been quoted saying during the release.\u00a0 From his justification to just change the name because \u201che couldn\u2019t grasp saying \u2018Big Mouths\u2019:\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Ultimately, we loved the concept of Big Mouths. We just couldn\u2019t grasp saying Big Mouths. We weren\u2019t concerned with the connotation of Big Mouths, it just didn\u2019t flow well. You try to say Big Mouths and it just doesn\u2019t flow.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">It reminds me of people who get mundane cars due to financial restraints but don\u2019t want to admit that they drive those particular cars, so if whenever asked what they drive, they always respond with accentuating details, trim level, or tryhard chassis codes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cSo, what do you drive?\u201d<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cI uh, drive a hachi-roku.\u201d<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cSo a Toyota Corolla?\u201d<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201c\u2026yes.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Along the way, the GM acknowledges all the ridicule and criticism the team received for their choice to do this in the first place, and seems to concede to the fact that it\u2019s going to happen no matter what.\u00a0 But I think the funniest part is when he tries to get all condescending about the financial repercussions of a name change, due to the sheer volume of organizational materials that need to be rebranded and updated due to a complete identity change:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable the number, in quantity of thing we have to replace and the cost,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the part that folks who were railing on us don\u2019t understand. It\u2019s truly a big financial commitment to make this happen. \u2026 You almost don\u2019t realize how much of it is out there to change until you start looking at it. The number is significant.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Or, you could just not bother changing the name in the first place, and not run into these financial commitments in the first place.\u00a0 But let\u2019s be real here, this whole thing probably took place, because all the money being thrown around to make all these changes is the perfect smokescreen for money to be lined into the pockets of those involved, because that\u2019s what professional sports are these days, glorified ATMs for those involved in their operations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">The thing is, in spite of the complete train wreck manner in which all this came to fruition, I actually don\u2019t hate the name Gwinnett Stripers.\u00a0 Not just because it\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwinnettdailypost.com\/local\/reaction-to-new-stripers-name-mixed-among-gwinnett-s-minor\/article_94f5335a-3d9f-5e66-97c9-bfb396e41fb8.html\">close and easy to mistake as \u201cStrippers,\u201d<\/a> although I didn\u2019t think of that until I saw reactions, but because it\u2019s not a terrible name, and certainly way better than the initial six finalists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">It\u2019s broad enough to fit in anywhere, and it\u2019s taking steps away from sounding like that preconceived notion of being a yokel redneck name that pigeon-holes it into the South and makes it sound as such.\u00a0 The colors aren\u2019t garish, the uniforms aren\u2019t trash, and it\u2019s refreshing to see an actual Braves affiliate make the daring leap to not just label themselves \u201cthe Braves\u201d and actually embrace what the minor league culture is supposed to be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Lora; font-size: 12pt;\">Sure, the Stripers will always be owned by the Braves, which is unlike most minor league baseball organizations, which will always be a reason why they\u2019ll always be somewhat vanilla and tempered down, but baby steps.\u00a0 It\u2019s still a step in the right direction, and despite the convoluted and expectedly crooked means in which the Stripers came to fruition, I think those of us who actually care about the Braves and\/or minor league baseball, can take solace in the fact that Gwinnett isn\u2019t going to be the Buttons, Big Mouths or Hush Puppies.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back during the summer, the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves announced they were going to change their name, moving forward.\u00a0 After sifting through the dank and salt for viable candidates, the final ballot was narrowed down to the following six options: Gwinnett Buttons Gwinnett Big Mouths Gwinnett Gobblers Gwinnett Hush Puppies Gwinnett Lamb Chops Gwinnett Sweet Teas &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45553\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Only the Braves<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,131,66,79,64,124,182],"class_list":["post-45553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-baseball","tag-branding","tag-braves","tag-cashmoney","tag-minor-leagues","tag-trolls","tag-tryharding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45555,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45553\/revisions\/45555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}