Post #3 by Don » May 8th, 2011, 10:57 am
I hear your remarks and feel almost identical, but a fair number do not take the accounts of major issues across the landscape.
1. It pains me as well that entertainment has surpassed almost all things in life fiscally. I revere the days past of going to a game, eating a hot dog and spending less than $10 dollars to still see the guys face's clearly at home plate without the need for binoculars. Sports and all things entertainment use to be within everyone's grasp. I clearly remember sitting next to Archie Manning as a child and my father looked no different from him, who was at the time a Captain in the US Navy. I had spoken with so many old timers and you simply see they are living life like a majority of this nation. Brooks, Jim, Artie, Gino, Johnny, Bruce and so many others do not live in million dollar homes and drive 100k cars. But times have changed....
The sad fact of life is that the owners, the management, etc... do not bare the brunt of the costs and it falls squarely on the shoulder of fans via ticket sales, vendor sales, TV Marketing, merchandise sales, etc... It has almost come to the point where a fair number of people cannot even afford the opportunity to attend games.
I know that the family reaches out to churches and community centers throughout the city with very deep discounted packages. My company sponsor's roughly 10 games a year to certain areas of the city, Baltimore County, AA with free ticket packages and many others do the same.
It still has to make on cringe on a $8 hot dog and $6 cotton candy and doing this on a family of four becomes cumbersome to anyone. The simple day at the park as become a small fortune and I definitely agree with you on that point.
2. The product on the field is two fold. While the overall landscape has parody, this division is the Upper East Side versus Brooklyn or Beverly Hills versus Chino. It has become the land of have and have not because there are little triggers in the current CBA that curb payrolls, etc... It is easy to win a series, but almost impossible to beat open wallets consistently over 182 games a year. It just pains me to say that the Blue Jays, Rays, and Orioles are behind the 8 ball before the season even starts.
I do not know if Peter Angelos has the resources to consistently spend 125-135 million a season to establish a consistent winning ball club. I simply do not know, but it is something that you can hold fault with because he is not an active voice imposing spending caps in CBA negotiations, at least not on public record.
The other aspect of the team is building from within, but you need some stability over multiple seasons to build the organization from the ground up correctly. It really takes 10 years of constantly spending on draft picks, scouting international talent, etc.... to provide enough prospects to build a young, strong nucleus of ball players. This has to be done with the same people in the positions of power that have the same philosophy in building a ball club. If they cannot do this, the free agent route is the one to take.
I would have loved to see Pauly (Paul Konerko), Tex, the Moose, and countless others take Orioles offers in free agency. These guys overspent and they still would not go because these guys did not want to take on the hard task to beat the Yankees and Soxs each year, they would rather play with them or only face them in the playoffs. They only guys that would come were those that were on the rebound in one way, shape, or form. I hold the Orioles to some account because they did not do the one thing that I constantly say to a free agent.
"If you win in New York, it is simply another notch in that organization. If you win in Baltimore, you are a folk hero for the rest of your life in this town. If you are a part of a team that returns this area to winning tradition, you not only win this region, you would win all of baseball and they would say that you are a giant slayer. It would become something that is revered throughout the history of baseball."
As far as drafting players, this is a educated crap shoot. I was extreamly worried that Timmy was a ticking time bomb that would not last 10 years pitching in baseball without some problem either with injury or decreased velocity. I was not a fan of Bill Rowell either. I tend to think the new philosophy in that draft the Orioles would have selected Daniel Bard because they are stressing talent over costs. I know 100% they wanted Drew Stubbs in that draft and he went one pick before them. Sometimes it is life, but they best prospect I have ever seen never pitched one inning of professional baseball, so you can only use the "Should have selected Tim Lincecum in high sight" after the fact and remember that 6 teams picked another pitcher over him and the Orioles were not the only ones concerned about him.
I get you and it more frustration than anything. Some of your anger should clearly be directed to the Owners and Management, but place a nice chunk of your anger to the industry at large. These are the clear finger pointers for a majority of the problems facing not only baseball, but entertainment in general.
