GET TO DA CHOPPER

Nothing says "Minor League Baseball" like a good mascot. The Gwinnett Braves have that mascot:

Chopper the Groundhog. Why a groundhog? There's a southern version of Punxsutawney Phil that lives in Lilburn named General Beauregard Lee. Yep, this is Georgia all right. As for the name Chopper, substitute a vowel and you'll figure it out. As you can see, Chopper rides around on an ATV, bangs on a drum to lead the croud in claps and engages in typical mascot shenanigans often involving hassling umps and the opposing team coaches.

Here's a YooToob viddy of Chopper in action:



He is much funnier when doing skits. Chopper has excellent comedic timing. One involved a pink feather boa, a pretty girl and a hapless player in an opposing uniform. Another featured a metal trash can that bounced on top of the opposing team's dugout several times. A kid ended up in the trash can at one point which seemed a suitable place at the time. I don't know why I'm writing this paragraph like I'm doing a 3rd grade theme paper. It just seems to fit. Chopper has a goatee and I think that's cool.

Chopper's a cool mascot, but he's slack as hell about updating his blog. Maybe I should get in touch and offer to be a ghost writer?

Tommy Hanson G-Braves Schedule

Things I learned from the Gwinnett Braves game today:

1) Unlike Turner Field, you can't bring food into the stadium even though I specifically looked for a prohibition on that on their website and found nothing saying I couldn't do it.

2) Jason Heyward looks incredible. 20 years old and the guy looks better than anyone in the current Braves outfield right now. 3rd inning he got a solid hit to plate the eventual winning run, then stole second, then stole a run when he scored from 2nd on an infield hit that was almost the third out in the inning. He looks beautiful out in right field too. Just beautiful, man. Anyone worried about Frenchy, fugheddaboudit. Heyward's the deal.

3) if you take kids to the Gwinnett stadium, be aware that they have bouncy things for them to jump on in the outfirld for two bucks a pop or $15 for an all-day pass. Between this and the food thing, it is actually cheaper for me to bring my son to a proper Braves game even though both food and parking are cheaper in Gwinnett.

4) I am officially a Brian Barton fan and am sad that he will very likely not get another chance to make the Braves' roster. It just means he'll become an astronaut sooner I guess. His at-bat music pushed me over the edge from "yeah, Barton's an ok player" to "I am a Brian Barton fan".

5) The goofy Groundhog mascot I mocked a while back is freakin' hysterical. Best mascot I've ever seen for a Braves team that wasn't an actual Native American. Of course we've had some real crappy mascots here in the ATL, but Chopper is legitimately talented. Call him and Jason up ASAP.

I learned some other stuff but those are the important things. Oops, I forgot a very important thing. End of the season gift shop blowouts rock. I got the G-Braves' team set, a pack of minor league cards and all three programs from this year for less than the prce of an all-day bouncy pass. One last thing for people who read all the way down here on a Sunday night: Be the first to post the attendance for the game I went to today and I'll send you that Tommy Hanson schedule up there. This is the age of the interwebs, someone should be able to figure it out.