Baseball and America — two great tastes that go great together…usually.
Just not when a team like the Atlanta Braves is burning the American flag in full view of an Opening Day crowd of 47,000 at Turner Field.
While the accompanying image taken by Braves fan Julie Paulk — and distributed on Crave sports site NESN — looks bad, it really isn’t as alarming as it seems.
Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall told 11Alive News in Atlanta that the team was trying out some new fireworks launching from the top of their giant HD Jumbotron during pre-game ceremonies Tuesday night when some of those exploding pyrotechnics accidently clipped and started burning Old Glory.
Marshall said the flag was flame retardant and the fire went out on its own — but several fans in the stands started tweeting about the flag with holes in it for the rest of the game.
The Braves apologized afterward, saying they’d replace the flag and wouldn’t be firing off those particular fireworks from that location again.
