{"id":17928,"date":"2022-08-26T15:41:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T19:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/kalamazoo-growlers\/?p=17928"},"modified":"2022-08-30T10:56:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T14:56:13","slug":"a-letter-from-growlers-owner-brian-colopy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/kalamazoo-growlers\/a-letter-from-growlers-owner-brian-colopy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter From Growlers Owner Brian Colopy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kalamazoo Growlers Nation,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Where to begin?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coming off of two seasons entrenched in COVID-19, the 2022 season was beyond crucial for us. We needed to make it one to remember. And looking back, it certainly was that.<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignright wp-image-17929\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27237%27%20height%3D%27335%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20237%20335%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27237%27%20height%3D%27335%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2022\/08\/Brian-Shirt-Grandstand-250x333.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"237\" height=\"335\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you missed it, I could ramble off a series of stats, but the ones that matter the most are here:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most sellouts in team history<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">#2 in Northwoods League attendance for the 1st time in team history<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1st Great Lakes East 1st Half Champions in team history<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1st playoff home win in team history<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1st Northwoods League Championship in team history<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And when I look back to remember this year, one word that I\u2019ll think of is the word <\/span><b>GRATEFUL<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am so grateful for so many things and people that have made the Growlers what they are.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">From all the way back to 2013. All of the <\/span><b><i>doubters<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that said \u201cKalamazoo doesn\u2019t support baseball.\u201d \u201cThe stadium is in a terrible part of town.\u201d \u201cThe field floods.\u201d \u201cIt won\u2019t work.\u201d I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>fuel<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of the <\/span><b><i>host families<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that take players in from around the country and welcome them into your homes and into our community. Year after year. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>hospitality<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To our <\/span><b><i>part time staff<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who bring life and joy to our fans each and every game, rain or shine, packed house or not. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>energy<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To our <\/span><b><i>partners<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, we couldn\u2019t do this without you. You trust in our mission to use <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">fun<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to make a difference in our community is the only way we can do this thing called Growlers baseball. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>belief<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To all of the <\/span><b><i>players<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that give up their summers to become great, to perfect their craft, to become part of something bigger than themselves. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>determination<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To our <\/span><b><i>coaching staff<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Ben, Steve &amp; Nate, I cannot believe the amount of work, time and heart you put into our team and the work you did this year will pay dividends to our players for years to come. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>hard work<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To our <\/span><b><i>leader on the field<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Cody Piechocki. To see your growth each and every year is inspiring. There is no one else that deserved a Championship more than you. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>leadership<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To our <\/span><b><i>front office staff<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0 No one can convince me that there is a better group in the country than the team we have right now. I am grateful for your <\/span><b><i>dedication<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To our <\/span><b><i>fans<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the ones that have come year in and year out and the ones that came for their very first time. You are the driving force behind all of this. You make this possible. You make me grateful to call this city <\/span><b><i>home<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you Kalamazoo for supporting us, believing in us and making the Growlers what they are.\u00a0 Year 9 was one for the record books and we can\u2019t wait to see you for our 10 year celebration season next year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your grateful team owner,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brian Colopy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kalamazoo Growlers Nation, Where to begin? Coming off of two seasons entrenched in COVID-19, the 2022 season was beyond crucial  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":17929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,15,380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-permanentslider","category-team-news","category-the-hot-corner"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Letter From Growlers Owner Brian Colopy - Kalamazoo Growlers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/kalamazoo-growlers\/a-letter-from-growlers-owner-brian-colopy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Letter From Growlers Owner Brian Colopy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kalamazoo Growlers Nation, Where to begin? 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