They’re still my team, but boy oh boy were the 2013 Braves a joyless and unfun bunch. On the heels of the “policeman of the unwritten rules” stuff last month comes this from the New York Post. Seems that the reason Chipper Jones ceremonial first pitch last week was thrown out to the Braves mascot rather than an active player is because no active player would do it.

Why? Because Chipper declined to be a blindless homer when asked to handicap the series:

Evidently, Braves players were not happy Jones had gone on the radio earlier in the day with the team’s flagship station, 680 The Fan, and predicted the Dodgers would win the NLDS in four games. So no player volunteered to catch the pitch. Former manager Bobby Cox threw out the ceremonial Game 2 first pitch to Tim Hudson.

For a bunch that claims to adhere to the strictest professionalism in the game you look pretty unprofessional childishly shunning a franchise icon because, like just about everyone else on the planet, he recognized that the Dodgers were pretty good.

And I guess now Chipper will get no extra credit for being right either. Oh well.

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