The Blow-It.com fraternity gets a little more prestigious this morning with the addition of Hall of Famer Tracy Ringolsby.
Ringolsby spent tens of minutes researching and writing this piece for Fox Sports.
His two most-entertaining arguments:
1. “The franchise has drawn 2 million only once — the inaugural season of 1998.”
No one showed up to see the stinkers Vince put on the field from 1998-2007! The outrage! Anyone that wouldn’t plunk down $150 to see Ryan Rupe and Jason Tyner clearly doesn’t appreciate baseball and doesn’t deserve a team.
2. “As Rays players reach free agency, they become members of the Tampa Bay alumni club. If the ticket-buying public doesn’t care, why should ownership?”
The Rays can’t afford to pay free agents because they don’t sell tickets! The only reason people don’t buy tickets is because they are ungrateful neophytes who don’t know how to spend their money! There is no other way to measure fan interest beside ticket sales! (What’s that? The Rays had great local TV ratings but attendance numbers were crushed by the economy — which was hit this market harder than others — and a bad stadium? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! To quote the great Homer Simpson: “Facts schmacts. Facts can be used to prove anything that is even remotely true.”)
Hey. Tracy. There is a whole world outside of baseball that, amazingly, actually affects the game.
By the way, sweet cowboy hat.
I know it doesn’t affect his general point, but another feather in the cap of ownership has been their ability to sign deals early with the guys they really want so that, by the time they become free agents, we have benefited from at least some arbitration years. See: Evan and Price. And I would like to praise the crowds in the second half of the 2010 season. We consistently commented amongst ourselves that, while the Trop was not nearly full, it was quite loud. The fans that came were good fans. I hope they keep it up while things shake out.
I couldn’t agree more. These things take time. First you need a nucleus of loyal (loud) fans. Then you grow from there. We have only been at this for 12 seasons.
Oh, and, yes, sweet cowboy hat.
Do we think that a facial accessory, like a pipe, or a hat, or a monocle, would get me closer to Cooperstown?
A maori tattoo a la Mike Tyson