Originally written April 18, 2009

When it was announced that the AAA-affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, the Richmond Braves were going to be relocated, and moved to Gwinnett County, which is about 30 minutes north of the City of Atlanta, my first thought was disappointment - two things I like; Braves baseball and my old home state of Virginia, combined into one product, which was now being taken away from me!

The sad irony is, I had a better chance of going to go see the Richmond Braves up in Richmond, as opposed to chances to see the Gwinnett Braves, due to convenience of travel. It was always more appealing to use an R-Braves game as an excuse to fly up to Virginia and visit my sister, or hang out with friends I have up there, and catch some of the minor-league talent that the Braves had waiting in the wings.

But with Gwinnett, it means the inconvenience of first having to drive about an hour from my house, drive past Turner Field, and an all likelihood, get slammed in the horrific Gwinnett County traffic en route to Lawrenceville. I didn't really like the exchange, and I always assumed the higher minor league affiliates were often purposefully put a little ways away, so that the youngsters could better understand the lifestyle of the road.

Regardless of the circumstances, I'll admit that the formation of the 2009 roster of the newly "G-"Braves and the appeal of visiting a new park warmed me to the idea a little bit, and if there was anything I couldn't pass up, it was an opportunity to go see a park's grand opening. The G-Braves of 2009 have a pitching staff full of borderline Major Leaguers, some with actual ML experience, as well as one of the top prospects in all of baseball in Tommy Hanson. Gwinnett sure picked a good year to generate some interest in its inaugural product.

As predicted, the traffic just getting to Lawrenceville from Midtown Atlanta was nothing short of abysmal, and I was growing ever frustrated and upset waiting in my car behind long lines of other cars. My initial thoughts were that I regretted making the trip, and that Gwinnett County couldn't possibly have planned any more poorly for this kind of scenario.

Parking at the Gwinnett Stadium was horrific as well, and I ended up having to park in a lot that was previously listed as a tow-zone, but due to the sheer volume of vehicles, the county police had no choice but to lift the restrictions, lest they have hundreds of extra vehicles circling around, and beginning to park illegally.

By the time I entered Gwinnett Stadium, it was the third inning, and the Norfolk Tides had already scored the first run of the game, and the sun was beginning to set. Before I could even take a few steps, they had scored more runs. Not a good start for the good guys, off the bat, apparently.

The food lines were ludicrously long, and extremely slow. The cooking staff couldn't cook fast enough to keep up with the onslaught demand of all the hungry patrons. One fault of the Gwinnett Stadium is that they do not allow outside food or plastic bottled beverages like Turner Field does, otherwise, I would not have had to resort to concessions.

As for the rest of the park, it's actually quite nice. Sure, the sod in the patron areas have yet to fully root or green, but in time, it'll be a beautiful outfield park area. I walked around several times, since I didn't actually have a physical seat, but just outfield grass admission, but that did not deter me from stopping to watch the action from the many well-thought out angles in which the game can be watched flawlessly. For a minor league park, Gwinnett Stadium is actually leaps and bounds flashier than others. Especially the previous Diamond in Richmond, their previous home.

I'm willing to bet that once the novelty wears off with the G-Braves, a lot of these problems, most notable the parking and food lines will rectify themselves, but in the mean time, the newness of the park combined with the sheer inconvenience of getting there is more than enough to keep me away from being a regular patron, even if they are always playing when the big squad is out of town. Especially duirng the weekdays, and the only thing that will bring me back is hopefully a weekend start by Tommy Hanson before he gets called up to the big show.