Dignitaries greeted their arrival. Brian Jordan was there among several who played for the parent club --- Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and Javy Lopez got rousing ovations, drowning out the polite applause for Greg McMichael, Nick Esasky and Brad Clontz. Longtime Braves announcer Pete Van Wieren came out of retirement to emcee pregame festivities. As the new Gwinnett Braves prepared to take on the old Norfolk Tides, Jordan couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Coming up in my time, we never had this good a field," he said, smiling as his eyes panned the new surroundings. "I feel like they're spoiling the minor-league players. I might come out of retirement just to play here."

That sentiment was echoed by some of the 10,427 who overflowed the stadium.

"This is great," said Phil Weaver, who took his 9-year-old son Jeremiah to the game, both wearing Braves jerseys. "I watched this thing built from ground zero. I live three miles away, and it's cool to come on inside and see what it looks like."

Said Jeremiah, "It looks better than I thought. It was pretty cool when Chopper made a good entrance on his four-wheeler."

Chopper is the zany groundhog mascot who circulates through the stands. If his antics look like the lion mascot that works the home games of the Gladiators, the minor-league hockey team, they should. The same guy wears both costumes.

Chopper was just part of the home-opening celebration. A pair of skydivers from Aerial Adventures hopped out of a plane at 5,000 feet, free fell for 1,000 and opened their chutes to float in the rest of the way. Matthew Fitch, the first, delivered the first game ball. Doug Bowmer followed minutes later with the American flag flapping in his wake. Neither worried that he might miss his mark and perhaps end up in Duluth.

"I've been doing this since I was in the military," Fitch said.

It wouldn't have been a minor-league game without sponsor opportunities and promotions aplenty. The first strikeout had a sponsor. So did the first foul ball, although nobody apparently thought of a way to marry the first ground ball to a weed-killing product. But there's still time --- Friday's was the first of 71 home games.

Chopper launched furry stuffed animals into a kid's oversized britches for one promotion called the "Termite in the Pants contest," which turned out not nearly as bad as the crowd anticipated before breathing a collective sigh of relief.

As for the game: At 7:01 p.m., Charlie Morton delivered a first-pitch strike. At 7:05, Norfolk's Matt Wieters, who played at Georgia Tech, got the first hit down the first-base line and seconds later, the first injury, apparently pulling a leg muscle rounding first. Nolan Reimold drove in the first run at 7:08 p.m. Norfolk added two in the third for a 3-0 lead, and the crowd had little to get excited about until 8:34 p.m.

That's when Brandon Jones doubled in the first Gwinnett run in the bottom of the fifth. Two minutes later, Barbaro Canizares blasted the first Gwinnett home run, a score-tying two-run shot over the left-field fence.

Thirty-two minutes later, however, Reimold returned with a no-doubt, full-count grand slam to left to make it 7-3. Norfolk went on to win 7-4.

NEXT FOR G- Braves

* Who: vs. Tides

* When: 7 p.m. today

* Radio: 550 AM