Guess Who I Ran into Last Night
I went to the Braves-Phillies game at Turner Field last night. As with all games at the Ted, it was a fun affair. It turns out that it was Gwinnett Braves night, and my seats were right around the corner from a suite reserved for the Gwinnett Braves.
As I waited in line for my $1 hot dog—hot dogs are $1 on Thursdays in September, but I’d prefer a price hike to keep the lines down—I had a direct view into the room full of Gwinnett County power brokers. I saw Commissioner Bert Nasuti. A friend of mine was egging me on to go introduce myself, but I didn’t want to ruin his night nor mine. If he won’t return my e-mail, I suspect he wouldn’t be to keen to have surprise face-to-face meeting. I was there to enjoy the game, and so was he. As I learned from living in Washington, DC, you don’t talk politics when your out to have fun.
After I gave up on the hot dog to go get a beer, I walked right by John Schuerholz. Again, I was encouraged to approach him, but I wasn’t in the mood. I suspect he doesn’t enjoy being accosted by random people at the ballpark.
The person/thing I most wanted to meet was Gwinnett Braves mascot General Gimme. I was hoping for a picture with him for the website. Unfortunately, our paths never crossed, or he was scared of my shadow.
J.C. Bradbury is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and has operated Sabernomics.com since March 2004.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Next time you see Schuerholz ask him why the team is making groups buy tickets to two games in order to see the one game they want to go to. It’s not good to alienate your fan base even more than you already have.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Chopper was walking through the stadium before the game started. maybe you should have tried a little harder to look for him instead of waiting on you dollar hot dog.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Haven’t you ever heard of beer or hot dog vendors? No lines in your seat.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:05 am
There are no wandering vendors on the club level. Or, at least there were none that I saw.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
You should’ve approached Schuerholz and givin him a piece of your mind….
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I wonder if Bert parked in a Handicap spot like he did for the Govenors Gwinnett Clean and Beautifull meeting last Thursday? I never knew he had disabilities other than lack of common sense.
What No Charles Bannister!
September 24th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I just cannot believe that Schuerholz actually put himself in a position to be seen by mere commoners like you. I thought that His Royal Majesty never deigned to be in a position where a mere fan could actually come up to him and talk to him.
The good news about seeing all the Gwinnett power brokers in one room is that given their astute negotiating skills, I’m sure that they talked the Braves into only charging them twice the normal price for the suite as opposed to the three times price the Braves originally demanded.