The End of Summer

As you might imagine, I was pretty bummed when the Braves' season ended with a 3-2 defeat to San Francisco last night. Of course, it's always a little sad when any of your teams end their seasons, whether it be a loss in the Super Bowl or, in the case of the Islanders, elimination from NHL playoff contention that normally occurs some time in late January. For me, though, the end of the Braves season is the most painful. I'm not exactly sure why, though I think it must have something to do with baseball being the lone summer sport.

Growing up, winter sports were easy to follow. I was always home, with daily access to TV, the newspaper, and later the internet. Because I spent all of my summers at a rustic sleepaway camp in upstate NY, following America's pastime was always more of a challenge. Sometimes we'd travel off campus for an afternoon to go to the movies or go bowling, and I could sneak off to find a newspaper and take a look at the current standings. My grandfather used to clip Braves boxscores, press clippings and other baseball-related materials from his South Florida newspaper to help keep ne informed; they were always outdated by the time I received them, but I always gobbled them up anyway. Once each summer we got to watch the All Star Game on the TV in the dining hall, and I used to keep score and diligently note how each player was performing through the first half of the season.

After putting in so much work for years if my life, it's always hard for me to say goodbye to the Braves at the end of each campaign. While I'm enjoying the NFL so far, just starting to watch the NHL and looking forward to the NBA, the sports world is never the same without the Tomahawk Chop. R.I.P. 2010 Atlanta Braves. As with each of the previous 26 iterations that I have been alive to see, you will be missed.

NOTE: I typed this post from my Droid Incredible while waiting for my pupils to dilate in a Stanford Health Center exam room, so please excuse me if there are more typos than usual.