An Ode to "The Ted"

As many of you baseball nuts know by know, The Atlanta Braves, from a team standpoint, are horrible.

After gutting their team of major league talent throughout the offseason leading up to the 2015 season, the sense in-and-around Atlanta was "rebuild".

In even bigger news towards the end of the 2014 season, the Braves announced that they would be leaving Turner Field (AKA "The Ted") at the end of the 2016 season. The reason? The building of a brand new ballpark in Cobb County, Georgia. The problem with many Braves fans? (at first) The site that was chosen for development was 15 minutes North of Atlanta! I-75 is already bad enough at rush hour. Now the Braves expect you to drive 15 minutes more out of your way (on a good day) to see a game.

There's an even bigger problem in this scenario: many Braves fans, including myself and many other fans of the game, have fallen in love with Turner Field. It was to much dismay that Braves fans took this news back in the fall of 2014.

I remember where I was when I heard the fateful news of Turner field. Sitting in my level one Spanish class at UCF, not paying attention of course and scrolling through Twitter hoping to see what this "big announcement" was from the Braves.

My heart sunk just a tad as I read the tweets about Suntrust Park. Not with any hate towards the announcement. Don't get me wrong, this is going to be a state of the art stadium. One in which I will visit many times with high expectations in 2017. But boy am I going to miss The Ted. I'll never forget the first time I walked through to the field level seats and saw that green outfield grass for the first time. Simplicity: the one thing I love about the stadium.

2016 will be a somber season for many Atlanta Braves fans. Not only does the Braves current Major League roster rival a stingy AAA team, it will be the last season at beloved Turner Field. A site in which many Braves fans saw their first game at, myself included.

Unfortunately, the Braves are sending Turner Field off on a sour note. Granted, there isn't much history at "The Ted". The Braves have won just ONE playoff series since moving into the stadium for the 1997 season. But there's so much more history to the site of the stadium than anything.

Old Fulton County Stadium, now a parking lot for Turner Field, lies on this site. It is here that a piece of baseball history happened. Hank Aaron became the home run king after hitting #715 there. To this day there is still a monument out where the wall used to stand. It's a site I expect many Braves fans to take advantage of this upcoming season.

Let's not forget that Turner Field wasn't even made for the Braves to play in. Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics. Track and Field events were hosted there along with the opening and closing ceremonies. It was a stadium built primarily for the olympics and mixed use.

But it became so much more than that over the years.

                Playoffs happened here (a lot):




             Epic Comebacks happened here:





     Childhood heroes gave us one last memory:




            The Upton Brothers Saved the day:




The Atlanta Braves happened here. For 19 damn good years the Atlanta Braves happened here. Baseball in the South happened here. Chipper Jones grew up before our eyes here. Andruw Jones happened here. J-Hey and  J-UP roamed the outfield here. Release The Kimbrel happened here. Freddie Free happened here. Simba flashed some leather here. The Tomahawk Chop happened here. Comebacks happened here. Hope happened here. Heartbreak happened here. Chipper Jones happened here. #10 happened here. Chipper Jones happened here. CHIPPER JONES HAPPENED HERE. BRAVES COUNTRY PROUDLY CALLED TURNER FIELD HOME. The Ted saw it all. I urge you all to visit in the last year the Braves call it home.

The stories that place could tell. I would pay some money to hear those.

Turner Field Pre-Game by Ryan Hutchins is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


Thank You Turner Field for giving us memories that will last a lifetime. Here's to one last run at it in 2016. Cheers.

My First Blog Post!

Hi everyone! I'd like to personally thank you if you're taking the time to read this blog of mine that I've started for one of my classes. I'm really looking forward to building an audience along with gaining blogging and writing experience. This first introductory blog post is basically going to be about me, what you may see or hear on this blog along with a couple of other things. I know right now the title of this blog is called "Hutch on Sports", and while I'm going to be talking about sports A LOT on this weekly blog, I'd also like to dab in a couple of other interests of mine and experiences I partake in. Think Grantland but a college twist on everything. I think it's going to be a lot of fun! It can be anything I want it to be and that's exciting.

Over the next several paragraphs/bullets I'm going to list some interests of mine and a little more information about myself. First and foremost I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Ryan Hutchins for those of you who don't know. I'm a senior at the University of North Florida majoring in Communications with a concentration in Multimedia Journalism. I have dreams and aspirations of working for the mouse after college. That's right: Disney World. I'd love to work in their communications department in some way, shape or form. I've already had the opportunity and experience of working there once and let me tell you it was incredible. More on that a little later.

Disney makes me who I am. I fell in love with it at a young age. There's just something about Disney World and the magic it brings to families and friends alike that just resonates with me. I'm thankful for the many trips my family took me on when I was little and even as a young adult. Going to Disney as a young adult is something truly special. You appreciate and understand everything just a little more. I wish I could go into more detail, but there's so much more to tell you all!

Sports takes up a very big part of my life. I fell in love at a very young age with a game that I was so blessed to be able to play: Baseball. Baseball was my first true love. Everything about it I can connect and relate to. If you want to find the biggest Atlanta Braves fan outside of Atlanta, you may not have to look any further. I also can't forge my love for the greatest football team on the face of the Earth: The New York Jets. They may break my heart more than any girl ever will, but damn I love Sunday's when the Green and White are playing. Basketball has grown on me as well over the years. Watching Kevin Durant in high school and even college was truly breathtaking. Some athletes just have that poetry quality. What I'm talking about is how an athlete's "game" can be a true art form. We've never seen a player at KD's size that can shoot and move the way he does. He's truly a physical phenomenon. I've been lucky enough to see him three times in person. It's breathtaking to watch. Finally, I have an inner Canadian side. Go Canucks Go! Vancouver Canucks hockey has become a passion and following of mine. Growing up in Florida you aren't really exposed to hockey a lot. It's a sport I've grown to love. The fans, the goal horns, the atmosphere. I love it all. I love everything about sports and how it brings out the best in people. My sports posts will be unbiased just for the record and here's some proof coming from a die hard NYJ fan.

Peyton Manning might be the best statistical QB from an X's and O's standpoint to ever play the position. But you are a fool, A FOOL, if at the end of the day you say he's the best of all time. Looking at everything from stats, consistency, legacy and championships... Tom Brady will go down as the best QB of all time. It's been an honor watching him play the Jets twice a year all these years.

                                        But don't think my inner Jets fan isn't dead. I.E:

Some blog posts are just going to be out there. I'll just warn you. Some posts I might talk about Star Wars. I mean, how great is that franchise? Sure Episode I & II were sub-par, but the story behind everything. Just wow. Then you have the new trilogy? Boy that's going to be exciting to watch develop.

Last year I had the opportunity to live in Orlando and attend UCF. While things didn't turn out the way I had planned, I do not regret my decision to attend there for a second. I grew up, I was on my own, I got to live with some of the greatest people I know, I introduced Disney to a whole new group of friends, I got to make so many new friends and do so many new things. I got to work for Disney... how cool is that?

But there's one thing I fell in love with towards the end of my tenure there. That thing is the Florida State League.

Minor League baseball is awesome. The Florida State League is a part of MiLB (Minor League Baseball). It is played at the Advanced A level. I'll go into this more later. During the season, I'd like to blog about my experiences at each of the different ballparks and the atmosphere they encompass. Trust me, I'll be at a stadium opening day. Once again, I'll go into this more at a later date.

So there you have it. My first blog post. I hope you guys are interested enough to check it out each week. hopefully the initial spark was created during this first post! I'm really looking forward to this experience and interacting with my readers. So before this ends go ahead and follow me on Twitter and Instagram if you haven't already!

Twitter: @TheRHutchins33
Instagram: r_hutchins33

Stay tuned, my next blog post is coming soon!