ATLANTA — After an unexpected, first-in-a-generation World Series win, why spend only one day reliving and celebrating the victory? Much like their run to the championship, the Braves threw a bash this past week that was anything but conventional.
The Braves spent their home opener and the six days that followed feting their stars and fans in a unique tribute the team termed “Champions Week.”
“I want them to enjoy everything about this,” manager Brian Snitker said of his players. “You’re never guaranteed that you’re going to be able to experience this again, so enjoy every second of it.”
Since Opening Day on Thursday, the Braves have held World Series-related giveaways, unveiled new championship banners and hosted a ceremony to give players their awe-inspiring rings. Typically, these events are all crammed into one momentous day, not overlapped across an entire week.
Sold-out crowds, anthem serenades from a homegrown tenor, a fighter-jet flyover, a parade, fireworks displays and a seemingly endless loop of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” were among the sights and sounds at Truist Park.
“It was packed,” Braves third baseman Austin Riley said after the season opener. “You get the chills, you get the adrenaline. It was nice to be back in front of our home fans.”
“We have a lot to celebrate,” added Greg Mize, Braves vice president of marketing and innovation. “The way the entire city, region rallied around us, we wanted to make sure that we could spread out the celebration so that as many people as possible could be part of it.”
The past few weeks have been hectic for team officials, who organized the weeklong celebration right after MLB’s release of a revised, post-lockout regular season schedule. When they saw the team would be home for a full week to start the season, they wanted to do something the league later said it had never seen done before. After all, this was the team’s first championship since 1995 and just the second since moving to Atlanta in 1966.
It…
Source : espn
