Good Morning and happy Thursday!
I’ve remained a loyal supporter of my sports teams for many years- through thick, thick, thick and thin.
Alonso has been relentless in his daily reminders of the Atlanta Falcons blowing a 26-3 halftime lead in the 2016 Super Bowl. I have convinced myself (for better or for worse) that the New England Patriots did not beat us, Tom Brady did.
I vividly remember sitting in the 300 section of Mercedes Benz stadium during the 2018 SEC Championship while my wife poked fun at me as the Georgia Bulldogs gave up a commanding lead to the Crimson Tide of Alabama en route to yet another heartbreaker ~4 weeks later in the National Championship.
Discussing the UGA v. Alabama National Championship is something we will not dig into.
However, the Atlanta Braves broke all of my curses on Tuesday as they became World Series Champions. The Braves had a sub .500 winning percentage going into August 2021 (in other words, they were going to spend the off season selling off talent and trying to raise capital to draft the next Chipper Jones). Braves GM, Alex Anthopoulos, had something else in mind. He constructed one of the best 2nd half MLB rosters in the history of the game. He carefully reviewed, through objective analysis, players that were underrated in the free agent market. This led him to acquiring Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson and Eddie Rosario. Two of those acquired players became NLCS and World Series MVP’s.
So what? Like the Braves front office, our firm takes an objective approach to investing. When markets get choppy and everyone else is running for the sidelines, we look for attractive buying opportunities and dislocations in the market to deploy cash.
Now, for the fun part: What was going on in 1995, the last time the Braves won the World Series?
- Most Popular movie: Toy Story
- Oscar for Best Picture and Actor: Forrest Gump (and let me reiterate… I can’t escape the grips of Alabama…)
- Most popular TV shows: Friends and Seinfeld
- Dow Jones Average: Sub 5,000
- 30 Year Treasury Bond Yield: ~6.40%
- The US space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space station
This MLB season was truly one of a kind for the Atlanta Braves. Fan or not, it was truly a special time to watch a group of players come together when the whole world bet against them.
