The Blue Jays in 2010 are a very odd team so far. This was a
rebuilding year-- they traded away their best pitcher, Roy Halliday-- yet,
so far, they are hanging in there in the American League East, in third
place. They are five games back of Tampa Bay and the Yankees, but in any other
division, they would be first, or close to first.
They lead the league in home runs, and they have had four starting pitchers
throw no-hitters into the seventh inning. Four different pitchers.
They also have five players hitting below .200, including the hugely
expensive Lyle Overbay, and last year's breakout star Aaron Hill.
Unfortunately, Alex Gonzalez, who leads the team in home runs with 10,
doesn't seem likely to continue the pace. Vernon Wells is a nice guy
but, like Overbay, ridiculously overpaid given his achievements. I
don't expect much from the Blue Jays in 2010.
The hope for this team for the future is the five or six starting pitchers (Marcum,
Romero, Cecil, Morrow, Eveland-- and young Drabek in the minors), who look very
promising, along with Adam Lind and 20-year-old Cuban prospect Adeiny
Hechavarria.
Those starting pitchers, seriously, look like the core of a very strong
starting rotation in another two or three years.
Travis Snider has yet to show he can handle major league pitching.
Bautista and Fred Lewis are place-holders. I like John Buck so
far.
But the Blue Jays will never again be able to match the Yankees and Boston
in spending (as they did in 1992-93), so, this season, and all the rest, the Blue Jays will
likely finish 3rd.
It's a lot of money-- $72. For a ticket to a
Blue Jays game.
Nobody goes to Blue Jays games. When the Blue Jays
were very successful and packing them in--18 years ago, now-- tickets
were about $30 for the same seats. The stadium was full-- 50,000
people coming out every night to root for the Jays. If I remember
correctly, the Jays were the first team to break the 2 million mark in
annual attendance. Now that nobody wants to come, the tickets are $72
each.
Why don't they lower the price? One guess. Obviously, because
there is no competition. Who is is going to fill up a baseball stadium
by charging less than the Blue Jays? Nobody. That's how baseball
operates. In exchange for this special dispensation from the usual
rules of competition and free enterprise, you get.... what? Yes,
there is a reason why there is only one top-tier professional baseball
league-- because the government officially allows them to stifle
competition. In exchange for that, you get to buy the team a stadium,
pay $72 for a lousy seat, and buy cold chicken and fries for $14.95.
If
the stadium is empty, why not lower the prices? I believe they are
afraid that it will alter the public's perception of what they should pay
for a major league ticket. And once lowered, it will be difficult to
fool us again.
So
when nobody else wants to come to a Blue Jays game but you do, and you are
generously willing to pay the outrageous sum of $72 for a lousy seat (there
are no good seats anywhere in the Skydome, or in most stadiums), what
exactly do you get for your hard-earned dollars?
You don't get to see a replay of close plays. Nope. You
should have stayed at home if you want to see if a runner really beat the
throw to second base.
You get assailed with noise and flashing lights
emanating from every square inch of the stadium. Constantly. All
the time. After a while, you realize that the owners of these
professional teams are desperately aware of the fact that their product is
actually quite dull and uninteresting to most people most of the time so all the special
effects are required to prove to you that you are having an exciting
experience.
You get to buy crummy food for high prices, warm beer, ugly,
cheap souvenirs, a "program" with the worst sports writing in it
imaginable.
Within five minutes of the start of the game, half the stadium
decides to get up and buy something to eat or go to the bathroom, forcing
you to stand up to let them pass, five, six, seven times.
The seats are too small to ever feel comfortable.
The netting in front of home plate, to protect the fans from the rare event of a fluke foul tip hitting someone in
the head, is annoying and ugly. I bet it's possible to have a
reasonably safe normal backstop without that massive, ugly net.
Most people seem to spend most of the game waiting to see if they get
shown on the jumbotron video screen. When they do get on the screen,
they jump up and down with excitement, spilling their beer. Then they
go home happy, having paid $50 to see themselves on a giant TV screen.
I can't prove it but at times it seemed like they were playing crowd
noise through the speakers, as a way of hyping the alleged excitement of
what was going on on the field.Every player on the Blue Jays is presented
as some kind of god-like super-athlete of unspeakable accomplishments.
It's hard to believe that on May 9, this conglomeration of staggering
talents is third place, 5 games back of Tampa Bay.
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© Bill Van Dyk
2010 All Rights Reserved
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