ATLANTA – Atlanta Braves fans are amongst some of the most vocal fans on the internet these days. Many Braves fan sites have appeared and disappeared in the last five or six years. But a few have been constant, like Braves.net as well as Mervalous.com (presently FutureBraves.com). These two Braves fan sites, one devoted to the Atlanta Braves team, the other dedicated to the Braves’ minor league system, are joining forces this spring to bring Braves fans the largest, most complete Atlanta Braves fan site on the internet to date.
Two years ago, another Braves fan site, BravesBeat.com was a powerhouse site devoted to the Atlanta Braves. It was a mainstay on the web from 1999 until 2001 when it fell under the corporate stranglehold. But out of it, co-webmaster Michael Belmont, decided to go out on his own and create a website devoted solely to the Braves’ minor league system.
“I decided to dedicate Mervalous.com (and later FutureBraves.com) to the minor leagues because, until this point, the Braves minor league system was unchartered waters on the Internet”, Belmont now says. “I had hoped to provide a service for the fans and give a voice to some of the unheralded ‘Future Braves’.”
In 1998 after toiling around with the internet, Darren Rosner, decided to take a giant leap in to the internet and create his own site dedicated to his favorite team–the Atlanta Braves. Three years later, Braves.net really took off with the help of Kyle Hawkins. Hawkins had years of experience designing and running different gaming sites, and being a Braves fan just naturally made way for him to showcase his web talents and combine that with his love for the Braves.
“I envisioned creating a Braves website that would not only provide up-to-the minute news, and quality content, but also the means for interactivity between fans”, Hawkins says. “My goal was to build a strong and thriving community, and I think that we’ve accomplished that.”
Braves.net has never been the same and still stands today, just with quite a few more facelifts than it’s predecessors.
Rosner says that his devotion to the Braves is what fueled his decision to create a site devoted to his favorite team.
“The Braves have always been MY team, you know, the team that you just live and breathe, so to speak. So I thought, what better way to enjoy your favorite team than to share it with other Braves fans and come together and talk Braves baseball.”
Belmont, Rosner, and Hawkins decided that the new fan site needed a name that long time internet Braves fans and new fans could recognize. So it was settled; BravesBeat.com would rise up and live once again.
“It was a familiar name [BravesBeat.com] to most of my visitors and I wanted to try to bring credibility back to the site that was once so great,” says Belmont.
The new BravesBeat.com will combine the extensive Braves minor league coverage that Michael has compiled with his site, FutureBraves.com, with Braves.net’s talented corps of writers to form the most complete, comprehensive Atlanta Braves fan site anywhere. BravesBeat.com will continue to feature successful columnists like Michael Rapaport, Andrew Bare and the rest of Braves.net’s staff, along with the minor league player journals by Bubba Nelson, Brian Almeida, Zach Miner, and Brian Digby featured at FutureBraves.com as well as much, much more.
The BravesBeat.com staff is proud to welcome some other sister sites to the BravesBeat family. Andruw.com has joined the site and will continue to provide the most information anywhere on the internet in regards to the Braves’ star centerfielder. BravesJournal.com will be associating with BravesBeat.com, as well. Mac Thomason, Braves Journal’s weblog master, will provide commentary throughout the season for the site in his own BravesBeat Weblog.
With the launch of BravesBeat.com, the Braves internet community will have a whole new place to call home. The site is intended to be the place where you can find any and all the up-to-date information on the Braves, the Braves’ minor league system, and unique points of view from talented writers and webmasters whose love for the Braves truly shows in their work.
“All three of us are very much looking forward to this,” Rosner states. “It’s about time a Braves fan site has come along with all the information and place to a fan needs; BravesBeat.com will provide that.”…COMING THIS SPRING
Some of the details still need to be worked out, but the plan is that Braves Journal — whatever the name — will shift to Bravesbeat.com starting at the beginning of the new season. The content should remain exactly the same, and I’m going to keep the comments. The main differences should just be the look of the site (to match the rest of Braves Beat) and the url. (Whenever we make the change, bravesjournal.us should point to the new site.)
Wow. I’m a successful columnist? Could of fooled me. :)
In all seriousness, this will help all online Braves fans looking for info about their favorite teams. By bringing together the minor league and major league websites, Bravesbeat.com can become one of the pre-eminent team sites on the net.
Let’s hope so. Let’s also hope we don’t get sued!
Let it be said that I think I’ve been doing Braves stuff on the web slightly longer than Darren. My first Braves Journal entry (then called “Braves Update”) was April 4, 1998. I’d never heard of a weblog then (actually, I think I was imitating what Rob Neyer was doing at the time) but that’s what I was doing. One of these days I’m actually going to recode and import those old entries.
Traitor.
Traitor.
I feel like my little home town mom and pop bank has just been bought by Citibank.
“Bought”, ha!
Makes sense to me, Mac. Fewer pages in my “favorites” is good. Good luck on the whole “bought” thing.
Hey, if this is a good thing for Mac, then… woohoo!
I rely on this site to be my “no BS, what the people are saying” source, as opposed to the official “Yeah, we couldn’t be happier to get rid of that bum Millwood for that amazing catcher Ponchaerello… err, Estrada” press releases from “official” sources.
Can’t wait for our site to get off the ground, Mac. We won’t get sued. Merv, myself, Hawk and you will not make a DIME off this site. I can already tell you we’ve probably spent as much money so far on the site than I’ve spent in my 4 years running Braves.net.
Thanks, Ed… Darren, I don’t think that the Astros Daily guy was making money, and they sued him anyway. Let’s be careful. My lawyer is my sister, but I’m pretty sure she’d want to be paid.
I see tonite that braves heartbroke their fans like they were doing for last 12 years except 1995. Why do this happen although Braves employs a group of best players always? I think there are two areas that they need to focus on for improvement:
1- Bobby Cox: This coach becomes a symbol of bad lack for the Braves and it is time for him to go. His metaphysical chart also is not compatible with Braves. A new Coach is needed.
2- I studied on the influence off referees / umpires on the sports that are individuals and played as groups. They influence the game as both luck and intent aspects. Luck factor is the most important one and statistics show that a certain teams have a losing or winning records to a certain team based on a certain referee/umpire. In baseball, it is the plate umpire who has the most weight luckwise. Jeff Kellogg who was the plate umpire for game 5 had excellent records with the Cubs but not with the Braves. I think things are being set against the Braves every year. The management should be
focusing on the umpire appointments especially when it comes to playoffs.
Otherwise, Braves Fans will continue to suffer unless something very unusual happens.
Hey I really love the Braves and would just do ANYTHING for them…Much Love Goes out to you all.