This whole story of the rising season ticket costs seems a tad overwrought and orchestrated to create a story out of very little.We know it has to suck if your seats have been "rezoned" into a higher price bracket. But somehow, folks have developed this notion that the Blue Jays, because they finished seven games under .500, should suddenly run the team like a factory-seconds carpeting store that's going out of business. They believe this because they say that it would be the noble thing to do after the team sucked so bad last year.
We just can't buy into this. (Maybe in part because there doesn't really seem to be anything of real substance to the stories that we've read.)
Which is not to say that we don't think that there are some overpriced seats in the Dome, because there are. And increasing the price of those cheap seats down the line will probably not help to fill the lower bowl.
Maybe you want to portray the Rogers folks as a bunch of greedheads who don't care about the fans, and who are extracting their pound of flesh from all of the die-hards. And if so, that's your thing, and have at it.
But we would remind you that the current ownership oversaw a monumental slashing of prices for all of the seats in the 500 level (you know, the tickets that you buy before you sneak down) just a few years back. We paid $30 to sit in 500-level seats in our first visit to the Dome more than a decade ago, and those seats last season retailed for more than 200% less than what we paid.
It could be that we just accept these sorts of things. That prices go up, we always seem to have less money, and someone, somewhere (centre field?) gets richer.
If you want to piss and moan about this, then have at it. We're certain that this is going to be an unstoppable refrain on JaysTalk all season long.
As for your faithful blogger: I'll reserve my ire for the decisions that are made (or not made) about the on-field product.
Friday Rock Out - Biz Markie
I dunno. It was just in my head.
Parkes is going to surf over here and tear your goddamned head off.
ReplyDeleteI got nothin' for this weekend. Whatever I throw up (literally) as a post is likely to be quite shittacular, barring last minute inspiration.
It'll be like one of those CBC 'vignettes' they used to play between Saturday morning cartoon episodes. You watch (read) it because it's on (posted), but see it as more of an annoyance while waiting for the real deal (Tao) to start back up.
Who's excited!
It could be that we just accept these sorts of things. That prices go up, we always seem to have less money, and someone, somewhere (centre field?) gets richer.
ReplyDeleteOh dear.
And Parkes can fuck right off.
warning... mathematical pedantry ahead... feel free to ignore...
ReplyDeleteyou can't pay 200% less than what you paid. $30 is 200% MORE than $10, $10 is 66% less than €30. 200% less than $30 is minus $30... and if it gets to the stage that the jays are paying fans to attend, it's time to give up!
sorry, had to get it off my chest! yes i'm well aware of the fact that i have no life!
Right on, Tao! I tried to reason with the rabids at DJF over this issue, but they'll have nothing of it.
ReplyDeleteLet 'em bitch and moan. Who ever said "regime change" would go smoothly? Things that the new guard feel a need to happen will happen once the old guard is gone. It's not just a baseball thing.
Whether it's wise or not is what history books are for.
Rockit!
ReplyDeleteAs for the price increases, maybe Rogers is whipping up a new set of promos to justify their existence? (the price increases) Maybe a 'Blue Jays on Mars/Terraforming Appreciation Day' is in the works where the first 10000 fans get 'space food in a tube' (tubed applesauce) and a 30 page booklet, 'Terraforming and You, a Field Guide to Your Great Grandchildren's Future'.
Maybe another promo being cooked up is 'Mainframe Appreciation Weekend', when the Blue Jays bring in some 1960s vintage IBM Mainframes to crank out some groovy sabermetrics and maybe solve the DaVinci Code during the seventh inning stretch.
Another promotion possibly in the works could be 'Yoga Berra Haiku Day' The first 10000 fans with a Berra inspired Haiku are given paradoxical directions on where to claim their free 'Berra Dog' - where an oversize Dog itself (really its a sausage) wraps around a cylindrical piece of bread. You can still put condiments on it, if you like getting your hands dirty.
Ack, you could steal Tao's thunder by posting your thoughts on the reaction to Vernon Wells' contract from back in the day. It's all laid out on MLB trade rumors.
ReplyDeleteOr you could increase your readership dramatically by posting a ranking of athletes wives and gfs. You could explain why Adam Lind makes Spike Lee angry.
I have lots of ideers.
Love the Rock Out. This was a high school fave.
No mention by any bloggers that today is the first day team can sign free agents.
ReplyDeleteI guess that just goes to show you how unimportant this date is for Blue Jays fans, this season.
@btc
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the clarification. I kinda knew what I was saying didn't really make sense. But that's never stopped me before.
As for the comments about the DJF, I noticed afterwards that Stoeten has a pretty sane and rational post about this...so, you know. We don't need to cast aspersions in their direction.
Oh yeah, one other thing: FUCK TANK NATION.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with you on this one Tao. Ticket prices go up? Big deal - inflation dictates that prices will always go up, and very rarely down (that's what she said).
ReplyDeletePeter D, not that today isn't important it's that it's not very important to the Blue Jays. AA said he isn't going to be very active in the free agent market, so it's hard to get excited about something that most likely isn't going to happen.
Let's keep in mind that the biggest free agent signing by the Blue Jays last year was Kevin Millar - and that was on a minor league contract. Can it get less lackluster than that?
I think it's going to be exceedingly quiet around these parts until the winter meetings in early December. It's groundwork time right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm most excited by the Halladay trade rumours. Not that I want him to leave, but I'm over it and ready to see what they get.
ReplyDeleteI hope he goes to the Dodgers -- the only drawback being how much harder it will be to see his games from my area.
A Sunday Night baseball broadcast with Halladay starting for the Dodgers would be appointment TV for me.
Or how about getting the audio of Vin Scully calling a Doc start? Amazing, if you can ignore the "no longer a Blue Jay" aspect of it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'll probably beat the Halladay drum this weekend. I've got some thoughts.
A few comments:
ReplyDelete- If you have a Rogers digital box, you get the Sportsnet West channels, which show a lot of Dodgers games. Unfortunately you have to listen to Vin Scully's never ending conversation with himself. I know he's a hall of fame broadcaster, but come on, get him a partner already, and take a few pauses between thoughts.
- As a baseball fan, in addition to being a Jays fan, I find the second season (free agency) to be very entertaining, regardless of whether or not the Jays are active.
- I agree with what Tao said about Tank Nation. Having another wasted year solves nothing.
Better that than watching him on NESN or YES.
ReplyDeleteBUILDING!!!!1
ReplyDeleteMethinks thou dost protest too little.
ReplyDelete"BUILDING!!!!1"
ReplyDeleteI like it. Let's run with that. For like, the next nine months.
I hate to be the one that breaks this news, as I know many of you were expecting him to be the Jays big off-season signing:
ReplyDelete"According to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, left-hander John Halama hopes to sign a minor league contract with the Brewers next week."
Tao, it'd make for another fine t-shirt.
ReplyDeleteFunny. On this post you're saying your reserve your ire for the decisions that are made (or not made) about the on-field product.
ReplyDeleteYet, your previous post is one where you whine about a different off field decision you disagree about.
What's with the change of heart?
For a look at where the Jays stand in relation to overall ticket prices, check out: http://www.flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/info-ticketprices.html
ReplyDeleteSo, okay, maybe it's a little off, but tickets here are hardly expensive comparatively.
Anon @ 6:07: could be that the BBQ decision affects every season ticket holder while the ticket price "issue" affects almost nobody.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as I read the BBQ post, I detect more bemusement than outrage. So, I'm not sure it's a change of heart as much as just another day in the life of a beleaguered lifelong Jays fan.
It should go without saying, but unlike DJF, the Tao of Stieb boys are not advertising the Score or Ford or penis enlargement solutions (although I suspect they could use them) so you might want to dial back the scorn since this is a blog in the truest sense: the random thoughts and expressions of two dyed-in-the-wool Jays fans who write their asses off for the love of the game and their team.
ah, Priesty. Don't ever change.
ReplyDeleteHear, Hear!
ReplyDeleteSo DJF deserves harsh criticism because they make money of their blog? OK.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, Tao of Stieb is one of my favorite blogs. Keep up the good work!
I was just being an ass, and pointing out what I felt was a little hypocritical because both scenarios suck equally, albeit both for a very small segment of the Jays fanbase.
I know. I know. Not much news of late...