TGIFFF

AP Photo

Twitter has a hashtag for every time our #5 does something awesome - #FFF. Can you guess what that stands for? ;) As for this picture, I love how white his arms are. Good boy -- skin cancer's no joke. Cover up. :D


Here's some more randomness for your weekend...


JJ talks gaming. "Even my girl get mad at me because sometimes I get locked in..." Too cute. :)




Marteen postgame after the 10,000th win:




And I still don't know how some people think I'm media -- I'm just a fan! -- but here are some press releases that came into my inbox that might interest you.


The Rally Foundation has announced this year's dates for BMac's celebrity softball game (in November) and the Benefit Bash the evening before.



Info on the 2011 National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony:

Secaucus, N.J. and Cooperstown, N.Y., July 20, 2011 – Twelve-time All-Star Roberto Alomar, 287-game winner Bert Blyleven and former Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies general manager Pat Gillick will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York on Sunday, July 24 in a ceremony airing live exclusively on MLB Network.

Coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET with a pre-ceremony show live from MLB Network’s studios, hosted by Greg Amsinger and Baseball Writers’ Association of America members and Hall of Fame voters Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci. The pre-ceremony show will include interviews by Bob Costas with Alomar, Blyleven and Gillick, live interviews with guests on-site, and highlights from the Hall of Fame Parade of Legends.

Live coverage of the ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET, including each inductee’s acceptance speech, an appearance by Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig, and introductions of an expected 49 returning Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron, George Brett and Sandy Koufax. MLB Network will make footage of the ceremony available live via satellite on July 24. Additional details on the satellite feed will be sent to media from MLB Network.

Leading into its live coverage on July 24, MLB Network will air the 2011 Hall of Fame Awards Presentation at 11:30 a.m. ET. The presentation, which will be held on Saturday, June 23 in Cooperstown, will honor longtime Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins announcer Dave Van Horne, who will receive the Ford C. Frick Award for major contributions to baseball broadcasting; Philadelphia Daily News national baseball columnist Bill Conlin, who will receive the J.G. Taylor Spink Award; and veteran baseball executive Roland Hemond, who will receive the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.

MLB Network’s live coverage of the Induction Ceremony will be simulcast online on MLB.com and BaseballHall.org. The ceremony will also be available on MLB Network in Puerto Rico, as well as simulcast throughout Canada on Rogers Sportsnet.

Autograph opportunity with Phil Niekro. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Niekro at an event a few years ago and when I asked him to sign a ball for my dad, he asked what my dad's name is... then signed the ball, "Hey Billy!" Hilarious. :)

Local Sam’s Club® Hosts Atlanta Braves Legend Phil Niekro
MLB Hall of Famer to sign free autographs on July 27 at the McDonough Sam’s Club Member Appreciation event

McDonough, GA (July 05, 2011) – Sam’s Club and General Mills have announced that they will host a Member Appreciation event at the McDonough Sam’s Club on Wednesday, July 27, from 6-8 p.m. Atlanta Braves legend and MLB Hall of Famer Phil Niekro will meet with fans and sign free autographs.

The McDonough Sam’s Club associates serve the community with top of the line service all year long. As part of the day’s customer celebration, fans can meet Niekro at the 1765 Jonesboro Road location.

Niekro pitched for the Braves franchise during 20 seasons of his 24-year career. He was nicknamed “Kuncksie” because his unique ability to master the knuckleball pitch. In the Atlanta area, he is well known for his loyalty to the team and his charitable contributions to many Atlanta charities.

“We encourage fans to join us for a fun and exciting day,” said Brandon Smith, Sam’s Club manager of the McDonough location. “This event is our way of thanking the community for their continued patronage of our club. We are excited and look forward to seeing all the smiling faces of McDonough and surrounding communities, as we welcome MLB Hall of Famer Phil Niekro to our community.”

Sam’s Club members and guests are welcomed and encouraged to visit the McDonough location at anytime throughout the day.

WHO: Phil Niekro, Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer

WHAT: Autograph Appearance with Phil Niekro

WHEN: Wednesday, July 27, 6-8 p.m.

WHERE: Sam’s Club –McDonough, 1765 Jonesboro Road, McDonough, GA 30253

Braves Alumni Weekend set for August 12-15 to benefit the Atlanta Braves Foundation

Braves Alumni Weekend is set for Friday, August 12 - Monday, August 15, and alumni including Steve Avery, Sid Bream, Tom Glavine, Marquis Grissom, David Justice, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Otis Nixon, Greg Olson, John Smoltz and many more will take part in the weekend of festivities that will begin with Bobby Cox's induction into the Braves Hall of Fame and # Retirement Ceremony on Friday, August 12th. On Saturday, the Braves will celebrate the 20th Anniversary Reunion of the 1991 "World to First" Team and host a Braves Legends Baseball Game. On Friday and Sunday, Braves alumni will greet fans and sign autographs at stations around the ballpark, and on Monday, Braves alumni will tee up in the sixth annual Atlanta Braves Foundation Golf Classic at East Lake Golf Club.

Confirmed Alumni Weekend Participants (as of 7/12/11)

Steve Avery, Mike Bell, Mike Bielecki, Sid Bream, Rick Camp, Brad Clontz, Johnny Estrada, Marvin Freeman, Ron Gant, Tom Glavine, Marquis Grissom, Chris Hammond, Jay Howell, Brian Hunter, Brian Jordan, David Justice, Mark Lemke, Charlie Liebrandt, Greg McMichael, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Jim Nash, Phil Niekro, CJ Nitkowski, Otis Nixon, Greg Olson, Marty Perez, Craig Skok, Pete Smith, John Smoltz, and Jeff Treadway

Mid-season follow-up from Gas South...

(Atlanta – July 18, 2011) – At the All-Star break, a donation pledge from Gas South to two local community service agencies stands at $36,800 based on the 736 strikeouts recorded by the Braves’ pitching staff during the first half of the 2011 season.

Last month the local natural gas marketer announced it would again ‘Bring the Heat’ – pledging to make a donation of $50 for every strikeout recorded by an Atlanta Braves pitcher during the season, with proceeds to be divided between the Salvation Army’s Project SHARE and the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta at the season’s end. Braves pitching ace Tommy Hanson was leading the rotation with 109 strikeouts on the season going into the break.

“The Atlanta Braves pitching rotation is one of the best and has recorded the second highest number of strikeouts in major league baseball so far this season,” said Kevin Greiner, CEO of Gas South, the official natural gas provider of the Atlanta Braves. “Gas South is not only thrilled to see our hometown team doing so well, but that their success will mean so much to thousands of local families who are helped by Project SHARE and the United Way each year.”

Happy Friday, everyone! ❤

"That's a bad question, next?"

We don't usually see a media Q&A that stays on air this long, and even though I wasn't planning on spending any extra time on Brooksy's end-of-season miscues, I loved the way MattE defends his teammate to the media in this post-game interview from 10/10/10...



And to lighten things up, I'm staying with my hilariously cute cousin Emily tonight while her mom's staying with our Grammy, and this is our conversation on who everyone is in/around the video...

Me: That's MattE - with the Jeremy Camp at-bat song.
Em: Ohhh, he's cute.
Me: Right? and I never hear anything bad about him. You know...
Em: NICE. So who's he talking about?
Me: Brooks Conrad.
Em: Wait, is he Red Beard* or Pretty Eyes?
Me: Um, this one. [had FB open in a different tab, showed her this pic, which she was just looking at last night]
Em: Oh, Dip Man!
Me: [cracks up] ...I'm putting that on the blog.

Nicknaming everyone is a familial trait. :D

*h/t - Thanks for the pic, Alison. She also loves Beachy and Lowe thanks to some other shots on your blog. ;)

Jenna went to the Celebrity Alumni Softball game!

Here is her picture album, and here are her stories. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

The beginning of the game was really fun. It was cool to see so many old players, especially people I loved like Steve Avery, Sid Bream, and Dale Murphy. Greg McMichael still looks exactly the same as he did when he pitched. I wasn't all that interested in the celebs that were playing. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time. The teams were Sid's Sliders (captained by Bream) and Murph's MVPs (captained by Murphy). Sid's Sliders (the red jerseys) seemed to have more talent on their team. Brian Jordan was way into the game and played the entire middle infield. :) They also had a couple celebrities that were pretty good, like Chris Fryar from the Zac Brown Band and Daniel Cudmore from Twilight. Sid Bream hit the first home run, which was pretty awesome. After a few innings, the red team was up 9-2.

So it was all going well at the beginning. Our Katy Temple provided random commentary and interviews throughout the game and would occasionally talk to "Commissioner Schuerholtz." Murphy and Bream had on mics as well, which was just random sometimes because you could only hear half a conversation. After a while, Bream and Murphy started talking about a trade. There's lots of discussion with them, OKT, and the commissioner. Then suddenly Schuerholtz announces there will be a trade - straight up between Bream and Murphy. So Bream is now the captain of the MVPs and Murphy is the captain of the Sliders. Yeah, I don't know!

At the beginning of the game, they were told not to slide because they weren't supposed to mess up the field. Larry Wachs slid into second, so Schuerholtz took 5 runs away from the red team making it 4-2. Then Larry argued, especially because TWO white team players slid in the next half inning with no penalty, so Schuerholtz took another point away. That's kind of when I started getting annoyed. Rules are rules and should apply to everyone. (Yes, I realize it's a celebrity softball game, but it wasn't fair!) It just became a circus after that. A couple times it felt like neither team had a full team on the field. There were more antics and side conversations than play.

The highlight was Otis Nixon's HR. He wasn't even there at the beginning of the game (at least I don't remember him being announced, but he came out and shot one over the left field wall. Dale Murphy signed the ball afterward, and Nixon said he was going to auction it for charity. It was really cute.

The game ended 5-5 after 6 innings, but really it was 11-5 Sliders.

Back from vacation

And so much to catch up on!

1: Come on out to Turner Field on Saturday! I plan to be in the terrace level (200s) behind home plate, hopefully in the shade, if you'd like to stop by and say hi to my friends and I. (I'm in the middle of this pic; my hair is a tiny bit longer now.)

2: Did you know MattE Diaz is awesome? The AJC has a reminder, in case you forgot. ;)

3: SI.com said, "Brian McCann, David Wright, Ryan Braun, Curtis Granderson and some other Team USA players had the right attitude, and that's nice to see. But Japan proved yet again that it can play the game a lot better. If part of the idea of the WBC was to promote Major League Baseball, I'm not sure that part worked." I really loved seeing Baby and Chipper represent our country.

4: Frenchy is looking forward to '09. I think we all are! In this pic, my roommate said, "He looks like he's trying to take a crap!" :D

5: Leah IMed me with this: "Saw this on DOB's blog in the comments about the Braves LIVE broadcasts. Apparently, OKT won't be on it this year. Jerome will be doing the interviews in the locker room and a new guy will be doing the show portion with Ron Gant and Brian Jordan." ~ Link ~ BOO, I love OKT and do NOT love Jerome! Ugh.

6: Tommy Glavine reminds me of my dad a bit in this pic. You can also read a little bit about how he feels about taking such a low salary here at Newsday.com.

7: Even though the USA lost out in the semifinals of the WBC, I love some of the pics that came out... especially this one of Baby and DeRo:

8: Two great pics from the 3.16.09 Sporting News Magazine:

9: If you are interested, I uploaded a handful of pics from my vacation. We went to Destin, FL and took a half-day road trip to Panama City Beach. The weather was lovely and my shoulder is currently peeling for the second time. It's great. :D

Hope to see you Saturday!

Bye, Royce Ring!

He's gone to the Cardinals. I know he wasn't the hottest Brave, but he was one of my favorites to watch during BP. He patroled CF like he was hoping Bobby would put him in one day, ha ha.

In other...media?... Frenchy's I Am The Solution PSA is up. Awww, big baseball player on a big comfy couch, surrounded by puppies!! It also has Brian Jordan (looking a little angry, but I still love him!) and Big Boi from Outkast, as well as a bunch of other local celebrities.

Braves 2008 Wrap-up: Broadcasters

Everyone writes about the coaches and the front office, but we spend more time with the broadcasters than anyone else! Sort of. You know what I mean. :)

Braves Live

Ron Gant -- Excellent commentator, intelligent, awesome, and it's fun to see how he can barely keep his TV smile on when he's been around Jerome too long. (Sorry Ronnie, but your aggravation is amusing to me.) Keeper!

Brian Jordan -- BJ comes off as a player who was retired before he wanted to retire, if you catch my drift. He fills the seat well when Ronnie has the night off, and the video of him lip-synching the Braves Live theme song was one of the highlights of the season. Ronnie's better behind the desk, but BJ's so cute! Also a keeper.

Jerome Jurenovich -- My feelings on Jerome have been aired all season. He's annoying, and I would love to see him replaced by...someone. Anyone. (The bad part is, he hosts "Thrashers Live" as well and that's in my house six months a year because my roommate loves hockey, so I never get a break from him!)

Our Katy Temple -- Love! Best female broadcaster on TV, in my opinion. She knows her stuff, the guys like to talk with her, and she sure loves to talk with them! I love how her whole being just lights up around a few of the players. It's almost like one of us fans getting to do the interviews. Keep her around, FSN!

SportSouth/FSN

Jon Sciambi -- BOOG! I love Boog. Boog made this season fun, and he loosened up Joe quite a bit.

Joe Simpson -- Hitting his stride with a fun guy like Boog by his side. He was always too dry before, but his delivery works well with Boog's little giggles in the background.

Syndrome -- Obviously a must for next season. Our current mascot kinda sucks -- why can't it be Syndrome?

Peachtree TV

Chip Caray -- I don't love Chip.

Skip Caray -- Much has been said about Skip. I'm sorry he left us this season, and I sure hope he's enjoying some baseball in heaven.


Radio

Pete Van Wieren -- I'll bawl when The Professor goes the way of Skip. He's a real delight to listen to.

Mark Lemke -- Knowledgeable, but the tone of his voice gets to me a little -- kinda like Tony Gwynn.

One week to go...

Just came home from vacation, and Charlie's pitching in relief? Baby and Frenchy are friends again? The Braves are winning one-run games?? Maybe my family should have taken this trip in May! :D

So here are some good things I'm still getting caught up on...


Spotlight: Braves go golfing
(Baby tossing his club is the best!)


Has anyone seen Buck Commander? I reeeeally don't want to see guys shooting animals for fun, but... is it a good show? I still always read it as "Butt Commander", which is totally inappropriate and totally cracks me up every time. :D


Run, Frenchy, Run!!


More Frenchy running; Baby is quite amused.


A slightly older video: Buddy's kick save is really cool!



Braves best Mets


And, it's picture time! Some readers were great and sent some pics over -- the first is by Laura and the rest are Carol's. Thanks for sharing, ladies! :)

A random fan...


(Had she been in right field instead of left... heh heh. No, kidding.)


Clint & Will in BP...



Clint's using Charlie's glove! Awww.


Josh sliding!



Having so much fun!



OKT does *not* look pregnant to me, as has been speculated:

Have a great week!

Josh Anderson's first home run!

Last night was FULL of great stuff. FULL. I mean, it was great! I've recorded an even dozen videos to share -- hope you enjoy!!

First things first... Josh!

His first major-league homer!



(and the official video)


His post-game interview:




He's just a doll. I hope he's our CF next year. (Actually, I hoped he'd be it for this season, coming out of Spring Training, but the Gloworm was just too good!)

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The next most amusing thing from the game...

Baby's diving catch.




"Gentlemen, please fill your divots..."



See that Santa? And see how Mrs. Claus is rubbing his belly? I kind of want to do that to a certain member of the team. :D

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Speaking of catchers...

I love how clingy Clint is. I don't know who to be jealous of in this video...




And he even supports Will:




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From the pre- and post game shows...

Brian Jordan "sings" the theme from "Braves Live":




Please enjoy these interviews with James Parr's Eyebrows, a 12-year-old boy, and Jeff Ridgway (who looks significantly better without a hat).




And Ruben is a super-cutie! Look at him winking at OKT!




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Finally, the miscellaneous...

Baby greets Krotchie and gives him a bat. Nice!




And Emo KJ!




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They just said on today's broadcast that Jo-Jo's wife had their baby this morning -- a little girl named Payton Brooklyn. Congratulations!