TC's Random Thoughts (Mostly Sports... and Taco Bell)
Written by Big Poppa TC, Friday June 12 2009
I’ve got some random thoughts.
There are too many empty seats in too many baseball stadiums.
To solve this, they need more regular themed discount days. We’ve all seen tons of empty seats at stadiums not just at Yankee games, but all over the country. A’s and Marlins games regularly dip into the mid-thousands in terms of attendance, and it’s not always the fault of the on-field product. Old stadiums are part of the problem, but the empty seats at newer stadiums show that that’s not always the problem. They need to have bigger walk-up discounts on the day of the game. But they need to have a caveat, like $1 day games with military ID or for doctors or for whatever, some segment of the population. Or if they have some type of memorabilia, a team cap or are wearing a jersey. They will very likely bring someone else who pays full price and make money off of concessions. Once they’ve agreed to play the game and paid all the associated sunk costs, any marginal cash inflow would be better than 30,000 empty seats. I know it’s not always as easy as this and teams already employ all manner of marketing schemes, but this could be a start. While many teams have one time discounts, I think teams should move to regular discounts. Like Military Mondays, it’s patriotic and easily remembered due to its alliteration. Or Two-Dollar Tuesdays, etc. These deals may have to be almost everyday but only for walk-up tickets, so there is still an advantage to pre-buying tickets (getting the seats you want).
I Couldn’t Care Less if Brett Favre Comes Back
He’s not winning the Superbowl and he’s not that much fun to watch anymore, unless you have the fantasy defense playing against him. Although if I was him, I would keep playing until someone stopped me or I didn’t want to anymore. I say good for him. If he hadn’t proved his worth (at least financially), teams wouldn’t sign him.
Very Few People Watch or Care About Major League Soccer
Promote the living *%$# out of David Beckham. Yah I know they pushed him pretty hard when he debuted in America. I know Americans don’t care about professional soccer. But they were pushing him as a superstar who came to America to play soccer. They should have pushed him as a soccer player who came to America to be a superstar. Sure they had him on Leno and on Snoop Dogg’s “Fatherhood”, but they should have him doing 3-episode guest star arcs on “Lost” and cameos in “Spider-Man 4”. He should have shirtless billboards in every city with an MLS team. Posh should guest-host the View for a month and released a single. David Beckham definitely needs to host Saturday Night Live. Soccer needs him to be courtside at the Lakers, soccer needs him to be minor Bond villain. Americans don’t care about soccer, but we care about Hollywood. Get us to care about Beckham apart from soccer. Then and only then we might care about him playing soccer. I also think he would do well guest starring on a popular tele-novella. Latin people may be somewhat easier to convert to MLS since they already like soccer.
The NBA Finals Game 4 Ending was Epic
This game is the reason we watch sports. If the Lakers end up winning the championship, you will remember Kobe elbowing Jameer Nelson for your entire life. A person’s sports life is made up of iconic moments and plays that define players, teams, seasons, and careers. These moments are magnified in big games and especially in championships. We remember Michael Jordan pushing off of Byron Russell, the Doug Flutie Hail Mary, the Catch, the Kirk Gibson limping homer. I think this play might become known as “The Elbow”, we’ll see.
The Red Sox Absolutely OWN the Yankees
In general I am exasperated by the ridiculous over-coverage this rivalry gets. I don’t really like one team more than the other, but for some reason I am very much enjoying the ownage by the Sox. The Yankees can’t hold leads, and Papelbon keeps coming up big. Not sure why, but I am completely enjoying the impotency of the Evil Empire versus the ‘Nation. But 8-0? Seriously? Steinbrenner must be ready to murder someone. Or to sell the farm in a trade. Every team on the planet should be itching to unload overpaid pitchers on the Yanks. One of my favorite things is how Carl Pavano is pitching reasonably for the Indians after he basically stole $40M from the Yankees.
‘Royal Pains’ is a Pretty Good TV Show
Everyone likes medical dramas. This one has a good excuse to have tons of good-looking, rich people on it. A winner.
I Really Enjoyed the Mike Brown-Urijah Faber Fight on Sunday
Faber fought the last three rounds of the Featherweight Championship with a BROKEN HAND. So instead of punching, which is normally one his better strengths, he just threw elbows the whole time (one might say he “Kobe’d” him). And he connected with a lot of them. Against a champion. You could tell it was killing him. He couldn’t grapple, couldn’t make a fist, and he kept fighting, didn’t give up. I think he even won a round. I kept thinking they would stop the fight between rounds. But Faber kept fighting. He lasted the entire five rounds of a championship fight with a broken hand. Very impressive.
The ‘Volcano’ Stuff at Taco Bell is Quite Tasty
It’s a bit overpriced, but fairly spicy and delicious.
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4 comments
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I'm not sure anything puts fans into Oakland Coliseum.
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Pacquiao was a huge hit in SF, so why not Faber or another big name to draw a few more, fans is the wrong word, but you know what I mean.
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I'm not sure anything could bring more fans to the steaming pile of cow dung that is the Oakland Coliseum. You couldn't pay me to go see a game there! Ok, you could pay me to go, but I wouldn't go even if the tix were free...
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Faber had a chance to finish Brown with a choke late in the fifth round, but couldn't hold on to it because of his hand. Let Brown roll through another challenger or two, then bring on Faber-Brown III. Maybe the A's can figure out some way to use Uriah Faber to get fans to come to the stadium, because a seven game winning streak sure couldn't.