Meet your 2015 Atlanta Braves......50th season in Atlanta!

The Atlanta Braves are opening the 2015 season in Miami against the Marlins.  Our family watched Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on New Years Eve and we drove by Marlins stadium while we were down there.

However, that's not the big story.  The big story is that the Braves have REVAMPED their team for the 2015 season.  Only 6 of the 25 opening day roster spots are the same from 2014 to 2015.  The Braves traded away Jason Heyward, Evan Gattis, Craig Kimbrel and both of the Upton boys.  I have been listening to many offseason sports talk radio calls and facebook posts where people have been complaining about these moves.  "Why?"  "Why trade your best players?"  "Are they just giving up?"

Baseball is a game that is run as a professional BUSINESS.  Watching the Godfather movies taught me one thing that pertains to the professional game of baseball.......it's not personal, it's business.

The Braves traded away the best players of their team.....but it was a team who underperformed in 2014 to a losing record.  They also have not won a playoff series in over a decade.  In the span of a few weeks they changed the dynamic of their team to a group of marginal, hard working, smart, contact hitting team with some speed.  These guys could either be a big waste of my time or they could be a fun story of hard working players who play the game right and play the underdog all year.

The Braves got a LOT better for the future......and they might be fun to watch while we wait.  Good pitching should keep us in most games.....good defense will help keep us in some games.....putting the ball in play ALWAYS leads to better things than swinging and missing.

OK....enough sports section stuff.....my goal for the 2015 season and in honor of the Braves 50th season in Atlanta I'm hoping to blog about my favorite sport and my two favorite teams.  When Ray Kinsella turned 43 years old he plowed under his corn and built baseball field because a voice told him to.  As I turn 43 years old today I want to spend this baseball season writing about what I love.....the Braves, the Red Sox and this game that is a big part of my life.

My birthday fell on opening day this year.  When Stacey asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said I would love to sit on the couch and watch some baseball all day.  So that's what I'm doing.  The Braves are opening against the Marlins.  I watched most of the Yankees opener against the Blue Jays (which the Blue Jays won by the way.....love seeing the Yankees lose).

Baseball is a game of imperfection.  Baseball is a game where you will never see everything and as soon as you've seen everything then you see something weird, wild, crazy and makes you go "wow...that's weird.  Let me demonstrate.....the Braves are opening against the Marlins and I want to see the new Braves play well.  I want to see Julio Teheran dominate.  I want to see us start off with a win.  Instead, what I'm seeing is that a very quick and INTENSE thunderstorm popped up in Miami in the third inning.  They started to close the retractable roof (which takes 15 minutes) and they had to DELAY the game in a domed stadium because of rain.  There is no tarp for the infield and watching their crew try to spread quik-dry is almost comical.

God I love this game......it always finds ways to show God's sense of humor and that life is about living for the moments you don't expect coming around the corner.  Go Braves and thank God for quik-dry.

Opening Night of 2015 baseball season

So today is Easter Sunday.  Today is also the opening of the 2015 MLB baseball season.  As I write this the Cardinals are playing the Cubs on ESPN.

It's fitting that God's game begins on the highest of holy days in my faith.  Jesus rose from the dead so that I could have new life in Him.  Baseball begins every spring so that I can have new life rooting for my teams and my year of watching the game that I love.  Life begins anew and brings hope of playing THE WHOLE YEAR into October.

The interesting thing about this year is that this really is a new life for my baseball teams.  As I watch the Cubs play the Cardinals I'm watching Jason Heyward is playing right field for the Cardinals (he is currently 3-3 hitting out of the two hole).  Tommy LaStella is playing second base for the Cubs (he just made a gritty play going back on a pop fly to save a run....an all out hustle play).  David Ross, a former Brave and Red Sox player is catching for the Cubs and is catching John Lester....former Red Sox ace.

So as I begin watching the game that I love I will be watching a couple of teams that I hardly know.  I have a new family that I need to get to know and a family that I hope will be fun to hang around this year.  This is one of the first reasons of why I love this game.  Baseball has the longest season with the most games of any of the major sports.  The reason I love the length of the baseball season is because these guys become like family....you live with them day in and day out.  When I grew up it was by checking the box scores.  As ESPN became a major part of my life it allowed me to visually keep up with daily highlights.  Now I can choose from dozens of websites, multiple games a week on various sports channels and any other countless ways to check on my teams.  You get close to your family and you hope each year for the family to keep things interesting for a whole year.

Lord, thank you for loving me enough to die for my sins.  Thank you for loving me enough to allow the game of baseball to be created on this earth.