There were some things that frustrated me this season, of course. Nothing’s ever perfect, and that’s OK. This isn’t meant to be a critical post of the IronPigs’ Management per se–I’ve got a “suggestion box” post in the pipeline for that. This is merely the flip side of the previous post about all the good stuff…
10. The Phillies
The Phils’ woes impacted the IronPigs in many ways. I’m not a Phillies fan first, as many are, but I do cheer for them to do well as it probably means that the former ‘Pigs on the roster are doing well. We’ll get to the roster part of it in a moment, but it always felt like the Phillies’ poor showing was casting a shadow over any chance the IronPigs had to have on-field success this season.
9. Haters
The season began with my piece about not hating on Domonic Brown. It turned into a treatise on booing, which I didn’t initially intend–only that hating on Dom wouldn’t really help anyone, including him. Nevertheless, there were many haters about this season: Those that hated their seats, Those that hated loud noise (like, yelling and clapping–although Reading wasn’t really happy with the bells, either, but that’s another story,) Those that hated the press box, Those that hated ballpark etiquette, Those that hated on the ushers, Those that hated Dom Brown. Golly. Enough already. This is supposed to be fun.
8. Parking
Parking seemed to be more of a problem this year. Some of the parking attendants were occasionally more cranky than they needed to be. Parking was tighter than in years past (the extra 100 tickets? Yeah, probably: DiPro brought it up preseason.) Other fans are getting cranky about the parking as well, which will come up again in the “suggestion box.”
7. Hector Luna
OK, he’s just a guy. I don’t know him. Maybe there’s other factors. I never liked him with the PawSox, though. And part of me thinks it’s funny to pick on a player–but probably it’s not. But… if that player doesn’t seem to be trying his best. Or, if he always waits until the last-minute to report after being sent down. Or if he immediately bolts the organization the first chance he gets, well… maybe I’m not as supportive as I am with some of the other guys.
6. Press Box Whiners (Twitter)
I mentioned this on Twitter, and others echoed my frustration. I follow some of the Phillies’ beat writers mostly in order to hear about the possibility of pending roster moves which would impact the IronPigs. My frustration is with the following issues:
-complaining about the length of the games,
-complaining about the fans,
-complaining about a rain delay when you’re in a temperature-controlled press box sitting on a padded chair while the fans are stuck on a concourse,
-making mistakes in reporting and not owning them,
-complaining about the free food,
-complaining about the park when you don’t have to pay for parking or walk up the ramps or suffer any other of the indignities or inconveniences fans do to attend the games…then insulting the fans and referring to them as “you people,”
So they all get un-followed save one–and I only barely tolerate him. Some of this crept into the IronPigs press box as well, but hasn’t seemed to totally carry over, which is good.
5. Advertising
It’s a fact of life, and it’s a major revenue stream for minor league baseball (and sports in general). I know this. It just feels like it’s getting to be too much. Advertising in the urinals? Big giant musical instruments in center field? A sponsor for eight or ten different things that might happen during a game? Advertising on the magical bathroom mirrors? It’s just getting to be overloaded and junky. It’s noticeably distracting from the quality of the game-day experience.
4. Season Ticket Holder Apathy
This goes two ways. I think ticket holders could do a better job showing up for games–or giving or selling their tickets. And, I think there are a few examples of how the IronPigs could be doing more for their most-loyal customers. Not just because we buy a ton of tickets, but because of the gobs and gobs of cash we spend at the park every night. As I mentioned, we’ll make a blog-post suggestion box coming up.
3. Departures, volume 1: The Players
As I mentioned in my last column, I’m happy for the players when they get to move on to further their careers. They play baseball for a living, so anything they can do to increase their earning power or move ahead is something that we ourselves would do in the same situation. It was sad to see Rich Thompson go, but GREAT that he got back to the bigs. I liked Dave Bush, but he had the opportunity to make more money in Korea or Japan, so God bless him. The excessive player turnover did hurt the team, though, and probably cost us a playoff spot. The poor road record could be attributed to this as well, probably. It’s the way it goes, though, and I’ll hope for better next year for us, and celebrate the success of the Thompsons, the Frandsens, the Kratz’s, the Browns…
2. Departures, volume 2: Staff
This didn’t impact the season too much–and I don’t think it’s a reflection on “poor working conditions” as others have opined–but it is noticeable. Just as with the players, I wish continued success to the IronPigs employees who move on to bigger and better things, including Justin Scariato, Scott Hodge, and Brandon Greene–as well as others of the game-day or permanent staff who may not be with us in 2013. We’ll miss them.
1. Departures, volume 3: Fans
I’m not calling anyone out here. Baseball is, at its core, entertainment. Sometimes real life gets in the way and other things need to be moved up on the priority list ahead of entertainment. It get it. It’s not something easily fixed, perhaps, and as with players and staff, others will step up. But missing some of the folks I got to know around the park is indeed one of my least favorite things about 2012.
oinK!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Clarification on the usher statement above:
It’s the haters I could do without, not the ushers:
Maybe a half-dozen times this past season I came in contact with a person who said that he/she is “never going back” to an IronPigs game, and it had to do with ushers. After listening to each person recount the tale of horribleness that propted his/her boycott, I came away with the following responses:
1. Dude, you were in someone else’s seat.
2. You know, the ushers aren’t supposed to let you in and out of the section while the ball is in play. It’s for safety, and they can get in trouble. Plus, if you’re a baseball fan, you should know this.
3. Dude, you were in someone else’s seat.
4. You know, the ushers do not set ballpark policy, nor do they determine who gets or doesn’t get a bobble head doll.
5. Dude, you were in someone else’s seat.
6. Just wait until between innings to go back to your seat. You can see the game from the concourse.
Look, if someone is in my seat when I arrive, I just ask them nicely to move. The discussion usually goes like this:
Me: Excuse me, I think you’re in my seat.
Them: Let me see your ticket
Me: No. My name’s on the seat.
OK, so here’s what happens at field level:
Person arrives to find another person in his/her seat. Full sprint to Fan Services to complain and threaten. Usher gets called on the carpet following the game.
You see, they are just doing their jobs, and it’s not always easy. They don’t get paid a lot, and they don’t make policy.
Nice post. I had a few random thoughts while reading through your list and started to reply but it started to sound more like I was venting so maybe I’ll hold them for your suggestion box.
Anyway, maybe the giant musical instrument in the outfield can become our version of the Durham Bull. When a homerun is hit, the musical instrument plays a song. Of course the song would probably be “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet” or “Things Go Better With Coke”. They’re running out of advertising space so maybe the next step will be billboards imprinted into the outfield grass or ads on the back of the uniforms like the guy in section 108 who wears the Bad News Bears jersey with Chico’s Bail Bonds on the back.. Better yet, how about our outfield skunk pulling a sign around the warning track that says “Febreeze Eliminates Odors”. I also heard that the ballgirls could return if they find someone to sponsor them. Sounds to me like there’s still room for more original advertising ideas.
Hmmm, “Tilted Kilt” Ball Girls? I think we’ve got it!
If you like advertising EVERYWHERE, check out a European professional ice hockey game in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc., sometime … Corporate logs on the sweaters, helmets, even socks are all par for the course — and the sponsors can and do change from year to year … Even the ice surface, itself, has corporate logos (I expect the NHL to go down that road one day – the players’ salaries are NOT getting any smaller) … Advertising, quite simply put, is absolutely “a necessary ‘evil.'” Europeans hate all the advertising logos everywhere with a passion but also understand there is no local sports team to cheer for without it, either … 🙂
Oh, yeah. It could always be worse. And as I said above, “I get it.” I guess it was one of my least favorite things because it’s getting harder to ignore (wait, it that the point?)
I noticed it most, I think, when looking at some photos of the players (usually Cheryl Pursell’s excellent work) and the background was just JAMMED with a hodgepodge of nonsense, to which the giant guitar was not a welcome addition. Now, I’ve nothing against Martin, either, as a local, reknown business. And it does add a local and unique flair. But, coupled with the 40,000 square feet of billboards around it, it didn’t show nicely in the photo. If I can find that photo, I’ll post it.
Full disclosure: Following the 2009 season, I approached the IronPigs with an advertising/promotion idea, and the response was, “we’ve got enough advertising already; we don’t want it to be too distracting.” I’ve no hard feelings about that, because I don’t know if I would have gone through with the idea anyway. Perhaps it’s in the back of my mind, but really, not the primary reason for inclusion on this list.
It’s not about “ignorning”, partly because, I believe, you would have to be blind t .. it’s part of the landscape, so then, it’s all about enjoying the landscape — or not — because it is what it is and that’s that
🙂
Reasons for me not showing up this season?? Mostly economics. Shelling out 648 bucks a season when you’re under contract adds up and when you’re at the ballpark, it’s the other things too like parking, food, etc. which is why when my contract is up in ’14 I’m done. I perhaps may get an 18 game plan but not sure. My least favorite thing is when I announced that I wasn’t coming and some folks wanted to buy my seat then when the time came where were they??? I know it’s only one seat but still. The other thing, burnout plain and simple. Most of you that know me know that I work crazy hours and after attending the amount of games I have since the inception it wears on you. Simply put as well, too much of a good thing is no good. I too am missing some of the regular fans which made it so fun in the “Magic Carpet Ride” of ’11 but I understand why, wer’re all in the same boat with our reasons. I get tired of the cranky ones that sit around and complain that you’re having too much fun, to them I say either stay home or move. Anyway, pretty much of it was personal which I won’t get into. I did find that I enjoyed it a little better when I came to fewer, and there were alot of fewer appearances, games. Perhaps and maybe it’s me is that the novelty has just worn off and I said before maybe fewer games is answer because I don’t want to give it up entirely. Anyway, enough about my aloof 2012 season. Have a good off-season and hopefully I’ll be back in 2013!!
Oink Oink
It’s all good, Jimmy T! The cost of season tickets is different from the “cost of going to the games,” huh? I had that discussion with Dan a bit ago; he’s now got a new roof “paid for” by the IronPigs (sandwiches, drinks, parking), I think!
I just figured you were allergic to winning. You know, now that the team was doing well, you figured your work there was done–
🙂
Take care, now, and we’ll see you in the spring, maybe. How ’bout a 36-game club level plan?
Or if I finally get to a SteelHawks game perhaps.
oinK!
Plus I feel that the Steelhawks and Rollergirls need my support more than the Pigs plus they APPRECIATE it. Club level would be great too!! Maybe a 36 game club plan is in the future but that’s a way’s off. Hey Steelhawk games are awesome and we sure do create ALOT of noise which they do appreciate.