"Evidently, Braves players were not happy Jones had gone on the radio
earlier in the day with the team's flagship station, 680 The Fan, and
predicted the Dodgers would win the NLDS in four games. So no player
volunteered to catch the pitch."
If you believe the national media, the ethos of the Braves runs parallel with that of Ebenezer Scrooge, and they've got plenty of "evidence" to retroactively apply the narrative to, citing the Jose Fernandez and Carlos Gomez incidents as prime examples of Atlanta's proclivity to suck the fun out of the game. That's a very reactionary stance but completely unsurprising given the source. However, it's good that the media is bringing attention to the situation, even if their intent was misguided, as it deserves to be analyzed from all sides. Let's start with the team.
This team demonstrated an acute ability to overcome adversity since before the start of the season, but that's very different than exceeding expectations, something they did not do. As the injuries piled up toward the end of the year, there had to be a sense of disbelief on the part of the players with regard to their misfortune. Couple that with the general nature of a team environment, not to mention the plethora of pundits that doubted the Braves ability to withstand the onslaught, and you've got a recipe for an "us against the world" mentality. The Fernandez and Gomez incidents, as well as the crazy mid-September series with the Nats, likely solidified those feelings further, and perhaps losing the race for the best record on the season's final day added a toxic, cynical element to it. We'll likely never know for sure.
So for Chipper Jones, the face of the franchise for two decades, a guy that is known and (I assume) respected by most within the clubhouse, to come out and pick against them on the city's most listened-to sports radio station had to feel like dissension in the ranks. To not get the vote of confidence from a high-profile figure in a very visible situation is probably extremely annoying and frustrating. To ostracize that person is symptomatic of the aforementioned mentality ruling the day.
Now, Chipper's perspective is much simpler to understand, but it should be prefaced with this: if there's anything we've come to find out about Chipper since his retirement, it's that he's not afraid to speak his mind in any medium, be it social media, local sports radio, or elsewhere. He's a somewhat controversial figure. Instead of drinking the Kool-Aid, he weighed variables many Braves followers were either ignorant of or weren't willing to consider. Oh, and it turns out he was exactly right.
As polarizing as Chipper can be, I find it hard to believe that he would go on 680 The Fan with the intention of alienating himself from the very team that he helped build. He calls it like he sees it, and like many others, he saw a Dodger team radically different from the one the Braves handled with ease back in the summer. Had he been wrong, the narrative would be "Braves win in spite of Chipper's prediction; Won't let him share in their reindeer games" or something like that.
So, what do we know? We know that each side is justified in their initial feeling - the Braves and their isolationist mentality, Chipper and his objectivity - and we know that each side is suffering from a bruised ego, likely adding fuel to the fire. But both sides are also foolishly wrong.
The team has no business shunning Chipper. Even if they don't like him taking to the radio to pronounce his skepticism, you don't rob him of the privilege of throwing out the first pitch of the playoffs at Turner Field. Why? Because he built that stadium the same way Babe Ruth built Yankee Stadium. That in and of itself is worthy of respect. To take that away from him is not only disrespectful toward Chipper, but also the franchise and to the game itself. He has earned the right to say what he wants with regards to this team. Whether or not what he says is worth listening to is another story, but that doesn't change the fact that he has put in the necessary work to be able to take that stage.
Why Chipper felt compelled to go on 680 and pick LA to win in four is something I will never understand. Sure, he was right. His unflinching honesty is refreshing in an era dominated by non-answers and coach-speak. But how important is to be right in this situation? Who benefits from this (correct) prediction? No one does. Chipper could not have anticipated this backlash; none of us could have. It's a rather immature reaction on behalf of an entire team of grown men. But why was he there in the first place? Was he trying to light a fire under their asses to help motivate them? Regardless of intent, outcomes are what they are, and while it's clear that the team is being silly in the way it reacted to this, it's worth wondering why the hell Chipper felt compelled to say any of it to begin with. Being right in this situation doesn't come with any accolades; he's not Nate freaking Silver during the 2012 election. A modicum of tact is called for when you're in the position Chipper is in. It's the Heisenberg principle - the observer is part of the system.
The very public airing of dirty laundry (or as I like to call it, "club business") is not something Atlanta fans are accustomed to. In my 22 years following this team, I struggle to recall a situation similar to this - the David Justice fiasco back in '95 is the only thing that comes immediately to mind. Spats such as this are part of the game - hell, they're part of life - but keeping them behind closed doors is of utmost importance. If no one is willing to catch a pitch from Chipper, Fredi needs to grab a glove and spare him the humiliation. And the last place Chipper needs to vent is to the idiots on Twitter who, when left to their own devices, will help to foster an environment in which this turns into a much bigger deal than it needs to be.
There are a few different takeaways from this situation I'd like to highlight. First, as is so often the case, the degrees of right and wrong for each side are difficult to measure from an outsider's perspective, and while that ambivalence may be perplexing to some, the truth is that both sides are more wrong than they are right. Second, someone in this organization needs to put a stop to this, whether it's Gonzalez, Wren, Schuerholz, Cox, McGuirk; someone, anyone. The longer this festers, the worse it will get. Finally, there's a good chance that this very public and entirely superfluous ordeal is symptomatic of a larger issue within the clubhouse environment. Without access to the team it's hard to even speculate as to what the issue may be, but something is there. Teams don't cut off their nose to spite their face on a whim. Conveniently, we've got all winter to diagnose it.
As polarizing as Chipper can be, I find it hard to believe that he would go on 680 The Fan with the intention of alienating himself from the very team that he helped build. He calls it like he sees it, and like many others, he saw a Dodger team radically different from the one the Braves handled with ease back in the summer. Had he been wrong, the narrative would be "Braves win in spite of Chipper's prediction; Won't let him share in their reindeer games" or something like that.
So, what do we know? We know that each side is justified in their initial feeling - the Braves and their isolationist mentality, Chipper and his objectivity - and we know that each side is suffering from a bruised ego, likely adding fuel to the fire. But both sides are also foolishly wrong.
The team has no business shunning Chipper. Even if they don't like him taking to the radio to pronounce his skepticism, you don't rob him of the privilege of throwing out the first pitch of the playoffs at Turner Field. Why? Because he built that stadium the same way Babe Ruth built Yankee Stadium. That in and of itself is worthy of respect. To take that away from him is not only disrespectful toward Chipper, but also the franchise and to the game itself. He has earned the right to say what he wants with regards to this team. Whether or not what he says is worth listening to is another story, but that doesn't change the fact that he has put in the necessary work to be able to take that stage.
Why Chipper felt compelled to go on 680 and pick LA to win in four is something I will never understand. Sure, he was right. His unflinching honesty is refreshing in an era dominated by non-answers and coach-speak. But how important is to be right in this situation? Who benefits from this (correct) prediction? No one does. Chipper could not have anticipated this backlash; none of us could have. It's a rather immature reaction on behalf of an entire team of grown men. But why was he there in the first place? Was he trying to light a fire under their asses to help motivate them? Regardless of intent, outcomes are what they are, and while it's clear that the team is being silly in the way it reacted to this, it's worth wondering why the hell Chipper felt compelled to say any of it to begin with. Being right in this situation doesn't come with any accolades; he's not Nate freaking Silver during the 2012 election. A modicum of tact is called for when you're in the position Chipper is in. It's the Heisenberg principle - the observer is part of the system.
The very public airing of dirty laundry (or as I like to call it, "club business") is not something Atlanta fans are accustomed to. In my 22 years following this team, I struggle to recall a situation similar to this - the David Justice fiasco back in '95 is the only thing that comes immediately to mind. Spats such as this are part of the game - hell, they're part of life - but keeping them behind closed doors is of utmost importance. If no one is willing to catch a pitch from Chipper, Fredi needs to grab a glove and spare him the humiliation. And the last place Chipper needs to vent is to the idiots on Twitter who, when left to their own devices, will help to foster an environment in which this turns into a much bigger deal than it needs to be.
There are a few different takeaways from this situation I'd like to highlight. First, as is so often the case, the degrees of right and wrong for each side are difficult to measure from an outsider's perspective, and while that ambivalence may be perplexing to some, the truth is that both sides are more wrong than they are right. Second, someone in this organization needs to put a stop to this, whether it's Gonzalez, Wren, Schuerholz, Cox, McGuirk; someone, anyone. The longer this festers, the worse it will get. Finally, there's a good chance that this very public and entirely superfluous ordeal is symptomatic of a larger issue within the clubhouse environment. Without access to the team it's hard to even speculate as to what the issue may be, but something is there. Teams don't cut off their nose to spite their face on a whim. Conveniently, we've got all winter to diagnose it.
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