Thursday, May 17, 2007
News / Sports Atlanta Braves traded for stock shares
Posted by Scott Freeman on Thu, May 17, 2007 at 7:55 PM
If there is an upside to the Atlanta Braves being sold as a stock/tax write-off, it's thank the heavens and stars above that Time Warner/AOL (or whatever that company is called now) no longer owns the team.
Under Time Warner's, er, leadership, the Braves went from the dominant team in the National League to a "winning mediocrity" not unlike the Atlanta Hawks of the '80s — good enough to make the playoffs, but not strong enough to stand a chance of winning.
If nothing else, look at the Whos? (a Who?, by the way, is a player so obscure that you have to go: Who's that?) the Braves have employed in recent years. The Braves have a Who? playing first base this year. And second base. And left field. And there are Whos? all through the pitching staff.
When Ted Turner owned the team, they didn't have Whos? They went out and got Fred McGriff to play first base. They signed the best pitcher in baseball, Greg Maddux, as a free agent. When's the last time the Braves were even in the hunt for a name free agent? Instead, they now lose their star players to the free-agent market (Maddux, Tom Glavine, Rafael Furcal and, upcoming, Andruw Jones).
And replace them with Whos?
That's thanks to Time Warner and the "budget constraints" it placed on the Braves. Getting to the playoffs was good enough. Winning the World Series? Nay.
Any time a professional sports franchise doesn't have a local owner, it's bad news. Simply because it isn't a part of the community and has little emotional investment in the team. There's talk of Liberty adding a local partner (Arthur Blank's name was mentioned) who would eventually buy the team and return it to Atlanta ownership.
But, for now, the Braves are owned by a Who? and while it's liberating to finally be free of Time-Warner, I will always lament the day Ted Turner got rooked by Time Warner and lost control of his empire.
Especially the part of it that was the Atlanta Braves.
Latest in Fresh Loaf
-
Children chastised for indulging in delicious detergent poppers
Candy-colored, sweet-smelling detergent pods introduce a new risk to kids
-
'American Idol' Recap: Winner winner Phillip Phillips! 1
Hope for America is restored, wardrobe designers play practical jokes on famous people.
-
First Slice 5/24/12: Neil Armstrong gives rare interview to Australian accountants 3
And scientists finally figure how to get ketchup out of the bottle
- More »
Comments (0)