Trip to Atlanta- Pictures Later

This weekend I helped my sister move her worldly belongings from her apartment to that supply depot at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I did not know my sister had that much stuff as we filled up all of her section, and snuck some DVDs into the Egyptian Artifacts of Unimaginable Power section. I am confident that nothing horrible will happen to the DVDs, like say Ra the Sun God melting them all.

After working up a sweat lifting crates and probably invoking the wrath of a 5,000 year old mummy or something, we visited our grandparents. It was good to see them again. I've seen them less and less frequently over the years as I have had more things to do and they've been able to do less and less. Even at ages 84 and 85, they're still kicking. Perhaps not as strong as they used to, but humans weren't designed for over 80 years of wear and tear.

The next morning we took the relatively short trip from Knoxville to Atlanta. I have always loved the Atlanta Braves, to the point of jingoistic loyalty and blind regional hatred to their rivals. It sounds bad, but really, has Philadelphia produced anything worthwhile since Will Smith? No, because they are trying to keep the Braves out of the postseason. Maybe if the Phillies disbanded, there would be another movie star from that town. it's worth a shot.

But I digress.

Once we get to the stadium, I am rife with excitement of cheering with 30,000 other like minded individuals as the superior Braves will no doubt annihilate the Nationals. Except they didn't.

I could go on with agonizing details of the Braves ignoble play, but I'm trying desperately to block it out of my mind. Instead I'll let Chipper Jones summarize it:

Those Little Leaguers from Columbus who won the World Series could have beat us

But even threw the Little League play, I remained persistent. All the Braves needed was a touchdown and a field goal and they'd be back in the lead. Then the seventh inning stretch came. Finally, something I could rely on to be good in a game filled with incompetence.

"Ladies and gentleman" said the announcer "please rise to honor America..."

With the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, I thought. I've gone into a great deal of detail about how patriotic and freedom loving that song is.

"In singing..." yes, go on.

"God Bless America." WHAT?! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

At that point I had had it. You can play like little leaguers on the hottest day of the year when it's 85 in the shaded part of the stands and I'll have a nice time. But if you do that AND remove Take Me Out to the Ballgame, then you have crossed the line.

I could take it no more. My family and I left right then and there. Pictures of the event will come later.