Thankful Thursday

Let us give thanks.

• I am SO. THANKFUL. for a job. I'll be going in Saturday to fill out paperwork and resume working at Starbucks. No, it's not in sports, and I don't anticipate it being long-term. However as I am REALLY wanting to get into sports broadcast production but am having difficulty getting in the front door, I really needed to do something to bring in a paycheck. Plus, there's something that happens mentally when you sit at home and don't have a job, and it's not good. I had to get out of that and get busy.
• I am thankful for Men's Fraternity. MF is a weekly curriculum that focuses on helping men identify, learn about, develop, and maximize their God-given responsibilities. We started back up last week and its really been a blessing for me, and I hope that Sarah has benefitted from it too. If there is a church near you that is offering the program, I highly recommend looking into it.
• I am so thankful that the Braves were successful in returning to the playoffs after a 4-year hiatus. We didn't make it in pretty, but we're in and that's all that matters now. Obviously its a little extra sweet because of this being Bobby Cox' final year. The Braves are going to have it tough facing the Giants because both teams have great pitching and both teams struggle to score runs, but I am really hoping we can split the two games in SF to start the series. If we can do that, I like our chances of moving on.
• I am thankful for a new opportunity to serve as a "Trail Guide" in the NACofC Youth Group this year. Trail Guides is kind of like a mentoring program where I've been given 4 7th-grade young men to meet with each month and just be a positive influence in their lives. I met these young men this past Sunday and I can already tell I'll benefit from this as much, if not more than they will.
• I am thankful for our small group at church. Sarah and I were reading a humorous blogpost yesterday about small groups in general, and while we were laughing at some of the parts of the blogpost that applied directly to us, it yet again reminded us how thankful we are for ours.
• As always, I am constantly thankful for Sarah. She's really hung with me through the job issue and I know that she spends a lot of time helping me find job postings and helping me think of possible ways to get some editing training. She's the best!

Sorry I haven't been around much. Fan Friendly Fridays will return tomorrow.

"If you don't toot your own horn, who will?"

On May 28, 2010, I posted the following tweet: [@machaffin] is considering beginning a campaign to get the Marlins to dismiss Fredi Gonzalez so that he'd be available for the Braves to replace Cox.

And what happened yesterday? The Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez. Now while I didn't have anything to do with his dismissal, it does give me hope for next year.

I have a feeling that the top two candidates to replace Braves manager Bobby Cox are going to be Gonzalez and current hitting coach Terry Pendleton.

Consider yours truly part of the Gonzalez supporters. I have nothing against TP, I've met him and I think he's a great guy and could do a good job. But while he has interviewed multiple times for a managerial position and even withdrawn his name from consideration once, and has been a coach in the Braves organization for a long time in addition to his playing career, he lacks the most important part of a resume that Gonzalez has: experience.

Gonzalez took the Marlins manager job and turned out to be the winningest manager in team history, according to MLB.com. (see linked story above) Under his leadership, the Marlins went from finishing 5th in the NL East in 2007 to 2nd in 2009, albeit with a minimal payroll.

If the Braves decide to go with Pendleton, I won't hold it against them. But if he's still available next season, I think Gonzalez would be way to go.