We're proud Braves fans

Our boy, Brian McCann was the hero of the All-Star Game on Tuesday night. We turned off the TV after the 6th inning because it was already late, and he batted in the winning runs in the next inning. For the first time in over a decade, the National League won the All-Star game. Just in case we get there, the win on Tuesday will give the Braves home-field advantage if they play in the World Series.

We've gone to lots of Braves games this season already, and there are more on our calendar. We rarely pay full price for tickets, though. Keith's mom sent us some buy-one-get-one-free coupons. Later, a friend told us that college ID gets us half off the tickets we buy most often, and I certainly have one of those now. We still have difficulty avoiding "convenience" fees because we buy tickets on the same day of the game. (who thinks THAT'S a good idea?! if you buy your ticket at the gate on the day of the game, they add $3 on top of whatever the fee is supposed to be, so even half-price gets $3 added! I just think that's ridiculous!) Lately, though, we've invented a scheme that gets us the chance to see lots of baseball for the best price. We plan two days in the same weekend that we want to see games, and we buy all of our tickets on the day of the first game. That means we pay the convenience fee only once. After all of that, our game tickets together are almost as low as our parking fees.

In June, we saw an ad for free Braves tickets if we spend $100 at Home Depot. We needed to spend the money anyway, so we just sent in our receipt with the appropriate form. We found out this week that our free tickets are in the mail, so we should be getting them soon. By the time we pack our sandwiches, snacks, and drinks then have free tickets, we'll only have to pay for parking and gas to see good baseball.

Who knows, we might be witnessing the development of a post-season run all the way to the World Series!