Jake's early Christmas present

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And this year, he's wearing an Atlanta Braves cap!

Gather round, friends, and order what you'd like. This round is on me. Do I have a Christmas present this year!!

I spent most of '06 down and depressed. My old friends, Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren, weren't doing many Braves telecasts this year for reasons explained in earlier blogs. Instead, it was torture having to listen to Fox announcer Bob Rathbun. I never thought anyone could make me purposefully skip a ball game, much less a Braves game. Well, Rathbun succeeded.

My post earlier in the week hinted at this very topic. I was contemplating spending 2007 without my beloved team, the one thing that has remained constant in my life since childhood. It was a bleak forecast, indeed.

And then came Dewayne Lawson's phone call and the story in today's paper. It may have been raining this morning, but the sun was shining at the Mabe house.

What's this? Rathbun and his partner Jeff Torborg (who I must say is a fine baseball guy and a decent color commentator) are out. Our old friend Joe Simpson from TBS will be doing the majority of the games next season with a newcomer, Jon Sciambi.

Thank you, Santa!

Simpson is a good guy and a longtime Braves announcer. He knows his stuff. I don't know Sciambi, but a blind man with a bad cold could do a better job than Rathbun. He won't be Skip, but trust me, I'm not complaining.

Joe will also be doing TBS games with Chip Caray. And our old friends Skip and Pete will be just a dial away on the radio and Skip will show up to do a dozen or so games on Turner with his boy Chip.

Call me crazy, but I feel like I've won the lottery.

I got my team back!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!