Saturday, February 04, 2006

FanFest Comes and Goes

I stopped by the Braves Winter FanFest for a couple hours today. It was a decent day, kinda cold and windy, but not too bad. I stopped by the ‘Fest mainly for a clubhouse tour, and a stroll on the field, but I only got one out of two. They were apparently not set up for the clubhouse tours, which was a bit disappointing.

I’m not a big autograph hound so I wasn’t really going to get any signatures, and good thing because the lines were monstrous. The line to get Smoltz’ signature wound about a third of the way around the back of the stadium, at least three hundred yards or so.



The picture below was the line to get Renteria’s autograph. Not a bad sign for the new Brave.



One of the best events were the Q&A’s with Braves players and coaches. I saw John Thompson and Joey Devine answering questions as I walked in. Later on John Smoltz and Roger McDowell took to the stage to answer questions. I realized as I was standing there that I should have brought a pen and some paper so that I could write down some of the more interesting things they were saying and relay them to you here, but I forgot, damn. I’m sure the AJC will do a good job of relaying the important quotes. The fans were asking a bunch of questions about how hard the players thought it would be to keep up with the Mets after all of their off-season acquisitions. I also recall that one of the last questions Smoltz answered during his Q&A session received the most applause. He was answering a question about when he first got serious about baseball as a kid. He ended it by saying that ‘[parents these days push their kids too hard in little leagues, and that they should just let them have fun and be kids. High school is the time to get serious about sports.]’



5 Comments:

At 9:32 AM, Blogger Steven said...

I wasn't able to make it down yesterday, so thanks for the update and pictures. Did you get any autographs for yourself?

I've heard the Braves Caravan is supposed to be at Hamilton Place Mall Tuesday morning; I may try to catch that.

 
At 12:03 PM, Blogger gondeee said...

I did not get any sig's. Every line for autographs was at least an hour long. Even the Pete Orr / Todd Pratt line. And you had to give a 'mandatory' $20 donation to get a wristband to get in line to get the sig. I'm just not that enamored by a player's signature in this type of venue. I think most of the thrill of a signature is the story that goes with it. And to say that 'I stood in a line in the bowels of the Ted in the cold for an hour for five seconds of face time for a scribble that you have to be told it Jim Beauchamp's signature,' is just not my idea of a good autograph story.

 
At 8:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

RF Jeff Francoeur is a good player for The Braves.

 
At 8:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

so is Brian McCane (the catcher for the Braves.)

 
At 3:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where's the picture of that fat guy chasing his kid around the bases... You've got to post that (and where's my Scooby Doo picture!!!)

Crosby

 

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