Early last week, baseball fans and Atlanta residents were shocked to learn that after just two decades of calling Turner Field home, the Atlanta Braves are moving to suburban Cobb County in 2017.
Following the Braves’ move, the city of Atlanta — which owns Turner Field — will raze the stadium to make way for new development.
The stadium will be just older than 20 years when it’s demolished.
For comparison, Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, hits its century mark next year.
America used to be a country that built and purchased things to last. Cars, homes and personal electronics seemed to last longer than they do now. We didn’t need cell phone companies to set up a plan allowing you to upgrade to the latest gizmo after just one year, and baseball stadiums sure lasted longer than two decades.
Sure, there are a lot of factors behind the Braves’ move, and they admit that the stadium itself isn’t ready for the wrecking ball, but all too often, we toss things aside that aren’t ready for the trash.
We’re now a country that barely puts value on anything we own.
Apple and Google make their new phones and tablets as flashy as possible, giving customers the impression that regardless of what they own, they must buy the latest iteration. Now.
Moore’s Law states that computing technology doubles in just two years. During the Technological Age, Moore’s Law is now our reality. Americans casually toss aside a perfectly functioning iPhone because Apple tells them the new one is faster, more powerful and will even brush your teeth.
OK, so I made the part about brushing your teeth up, but you get the point. We always want something new, exciting and flashy that will make us look like the coolest person on the planet.
Take the Braves, for instance. It’s a good baseball team, averaging 93 wins per season during the past three years. However, its stadium is in a wasteland, the fans aren’t coming in droves as they did during the 1990s and baseball players are getting more expensive.
Now, they’re asking Cobb County — and, subsequently, its taxpayers — and the team to shell out $672 million to feel and look better.
There’s little difference between trading that iPhone 5 for an iPhone 5s and the Braves trading a 20-year-old stadium for a new one.
From the very wealthy to the struggling college students, we need to end our disposable culture. We lose our value as a result, and it’s not helping this country recover from the struggling economy.
As millions of Americans prepare to hit retail stores and spend oodles of money this holiday season on more junk we don’t need, let’s reflect a bit on what we have.
Whether it’s a palatial baseball field or a lowly, outdated iPhone, do we respect the value of something before we cast it aside as outdated or damaged?
We can change the disposable culture for the better and learn what our parents tried to instill: the value of a dollar and hard work.
I’m not saying we can’t occasionally get something new, but we have to respect it.
The Braves seem to share the values of far too many Americans: not treasuring something until it’s too late.
Hopefully the team will learn its lesson before the wrecking ball strikes Turner Field.
Joel Mendelson is a UF graduate student in political campaigning. His column runs on Mondays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 11/18/2013 under the headline "Too many don’t value what they have"
