Back in late March, before this disappointing season ever got started, the Rockies declared 2012 to be “The Year of the Fan.” Much to their surprise, and to ours, there would be next to nothing for Rox fans to cheer about through the first half of the season. The general frustration expressed by our readers in the various comment threads here at the BSB is palpable.
Dude I'm the Bag Man, man (Photo: Robert LeClair)
Purpleshirts are profoundly disappointed – and for good reason.
- Our star shortstop got injured – again.
- The starting rotation is worst in the majors – again.
- The whole team has proven to be even more incompetent in the field than they are on the base paths.
- The pitching coach quit.
- The manager looks frustrated and exhausted, and he should quit.
- The GM sounds frustrated and exhausted, and he should also quit.
- The owner wrote an email to season-ticket holders, trying to sell them on ownership’s commitment to winning. He failed to persuade them. Dick should probably just sell the team instead.
And yet, Rockies fans can’t seem to resist flocking to Coors Field by the thousands. In fact, we rank 10th in total attendance this year, despite our team being more than 20 games under .500!
There are good reasons for that, too (which I’ll save for my next post).
An off-season shot of an empty Coors Field is enough to get anyone to attend a game
But back in March, I thought this might be the season for us fans to rise up and demand a more active role in guiding the development of each of our major league baseball organizations.
So, I wrote this post and a few others questioning current ownership practices and structures. It was to be a rallying cry that similarly disenfranchised baseball fans could mobilize around: cross-country conversations on community ownership in “the year of the fan.”
Alas, it turned out to be more like a fart in the wind.
And so what was initially dubbed “The 2012 Pro Baseball Partnership Tour” actually ended up being a more laid-back and slightly awe-struck experience of various ballparks and lovely locals. I didn’t interview as many different people as I intended to and certainly not enough about initiating fans’ unions or community ownership models.
Honestly, it felt a little forced each time I brought up those topics with total strangers at the ballpark. Only after the games, in the bars, was there time and space for such conversations. But even then, talk ultimately drifted back to the diamond itself.
Naturally, pub conversations unfolded as freely and easily with clinically depressed Cubs fans as they did with
Wright or not, fans in the Big Apple boo everyone - but mainly the umps
ex-convicts in Seattle. The die-hards in Denver and Oakland were only slightly more familiar with their home teams than the casual connoisseurs in San Francisco and Milwaukee were with theirs.
And nothing beat the big-city bitching coming from the nosebleed seats in Queens when Johan Santana didn’t get the call on his changeup,
“Auww, git outta heeeeuh!!!”
So, in another way, I guess this trip was about cross-country conversations in the year of the fan, after all.
Here’s one last look at the list of teams and fan bases we encountered, with a link to the story behind them…
Cubs – opening day pitchers duel at Wrigley Field
Brewers – first win of the season in their ballpark cathedral
Mariners – nice town, but even the home opener fell victim to the Seattle Freeze
Giants – a beautiful ballpark and overachieving misfits; their fans got it made
A’s – gonna lose a few games this year, but fans in Oakland might lose a lot more
Rockies – two terrific home games, back when the Rox looked like contenders
Orioles – sights and sounds from cozy Camden Yards
Nationals – natitudinal adjustments had to be made in D.C.
Mets – too tragic for words; only these unforgettable images can capture another unmemorable loss in Queens:
The fact that we didn’t even get in to the final game of our tour – the true Battle Along the Beltway: Orioles vs. Nationals – seemed only fitting. After going 9 for 9 on our stadium tour, we finally struck out.
And perhaps that’s a metaphor for the sad fate of every baseball fan across America who brazenly wants to democratize the (un-) enlightened despotism inherent in current ownership models.
We’re always left on the outside looking in. Locked outside of decision-making processes and not permitted to hold positions of power or influence. Our role is to consume whatever products ownership sees fit to shove down our throats, while we pay them to do it.
Dr. Ken Reed, the sports policy director at the League of Fans, seemed interested in the initial partnership project from the get-go and encouraged those of us willing to pursue these ideas to take the next step.
I think a good goal would be to have fan representation on some type of advisory board for Rockies’ ownership. The fans’ voice needs to be at the table when decisions about the franchise are being made. Since the taxpayers built Coors Field and gave ownership a sweetheart lease, Rockies fans and taxpayers are essentially partners in the organization and should be treated as such.
Baseball fans are being held hostage...by ourselves!
Sounds like good advice to me.
And while this might be the final chapter in the “Touching Base with the Fans” series, with any luck it might turn out to be more than just another burp in the breeze.
What say you, Rockies fans…how much more losing can we bear to watch? Should we not start up a Fan’s Advisory Board for Rockies’ ownership? Let your voice be heard in the comment thread below.
Touching Base with the Fans (TBWTF): For the first seven weeks of the season, Kevin Kroh traveled across the country — from big city stadiums, to small town sandlots — chattering with baseball fans all over the nation on everything from the cold, hard facts of the stat sheet, to the utopian fantasies of community ownership models. With his trusty audio recorder and baseball-loving girlfriend at his side, he tried posting some unique perspectives from around the horn, and did his best to bring it all back home to the Rockies, in this year’s “Pro Baseball Partnership Tour: cross-country conversations in the Year of the Fan.”
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5 comments
Judes Kroh
July 21, 2012 at 12:20 PM (UTC -6)
Kiss 2012 good-bye-
Lets hope 2013 brings a new Rockies: from top to bottom, inside out; ready to go all the way for “THE TEAM and FANS”,
Fritz.303
July 21, 2012 at 6:39 PM (UTC -6)
Denver, heckuva a baseball town! I wonder how much of the attendance is aided by destination attendance? I predict that September attendance will take a dive. Go Broncos.
Fritz
Paige
July 25, 2012 at 1:17 AM (UTC -6)
Year of the Fan is a bust and Dick Monfort still refuses to give us a new coaching staff. We’re heading towards the worst record in Rockies history.
Sign the petition to fire Jim Tracy here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/577/373/644/please-fire-jim-tracy/
JW
July 25, 2012 at 1:04 PM (UTC -6)
My take: Baseball has gone through key stages of development to become a highly efficient and profitable business which benefits owners and players alike. In the eyes of MLB, there are no fans, per se – there are only consumers who exhibit varying degrees of brand loyalty. The objective of the production unit/club might be defined as follows: put together a winning product in order to increase its value on the local market (though this does not mean that the club is inextricably tied to said local market). However, whereas some clubs rely on more heavily on assembling a winning product in order to increase market value, others (like the Cubs and pre-2004 Red Sox) have been successful in manufacturing brand loyalty solely through marketing (the Yankees have been successful on both fronts). Following the ’94 strike, it seems that players and owners have come to the tacit agreement that both sides have much more to gain by working together than they do by furthering their historically antagonistic relationship. From the owners’ point of view, players can demand a bigger piece of the pie as long as fans continue to tune in, turn up and spend cash on tickets and merchandise. Luckily for both sides, fandom is an inherently illogical pursuit steeped in sentimentality, nostalgia, and a love of the game. Furthermore, fans do not see themselves as a collective entity in any sense stretching beyond their allegiance to a particular team, which prevents them from reflecting on the nuts and bolts of the business and from taking concerted action to further their interests.
Steve
July 25, 2012 at 1:24 PM (UTC -6)
“Year of the Gullable Fan!”