Rant now, Game post later

by Joe Gravellese
The comments expressed in this editorial are strictly those of the author and do not represent the views of the rest of the Spirit blog staff, and are most certainly not representative of the North Shore Spirit in any way, shape or form.

This one goes out to you, the patrons of Section I, row G or so, in the $7 seats. And people at Fraser in general.I've heard some pretty ridiculous ones over the course of my 2+ years of following this baseball franchise. Like telling us to not encourage the pitcher in the 7th inning of a tie game with 2 outs and the bases loaded. But that's okay, I guess.. but then not to tell me to sit down when we're 2 outs away from winning the CHAMPIONSHIP, you know, the thing they have at the end of the season. They have one in the big leagues, too. You might have heard of it.

But tonight might take the cake.

"Excuse me, sir, these boys are making noise. Do something about it."

Oh, I'm sorry, I made noise at a baseball game. In case people haven't figured this out, this is how it works. You go to a baseball game, you buy your ticket, in my case a SEASON ticket, and at my 107th game, thank you very much, and you get to cheer for your favorite team. In this case, my favorite team is the Spirit, so I encourage them and cheer for them and generally try to, you know, have a good time. That's how it works when one goes to a ball game. Take your money and spend it at the aquarium or buy a nice book at Barnes and Noble or go out to eat or take in a movie or save up your money and go see a play. Then you can have it how you like it. Don't go to a baseball game.

I recently went and saw Phantom of the Opera in Boston. When I was there, I didn't yell out during the play, or get up, or make any sort of noise except at times approved for applause. Because that would be disrespectful to fans and followers of musicals, because it's not what you're supposed to do at musicals. I don't insult them and tell them that their way of doing it is stupid. Likewise, cheering is what one does at a baseball game. If you don't cheer, fine, but we have the right to, as long as we don't cuss or anything like that. Just as it would be disrespectful to playgoers to stand up and hoot at Phantom, it's disrespectful to sports fans to go to a sporting event and tell people that they shouldn't cheer for their team.

And at the end of the game, you, the loser in the Baltimore Orioles hat, says "NOW you guys can make noise." Right, okay, that's how it works? You stay quiet and sit on your hands until the game ends and THEN you cheer when it's over? That's how it works for Baltimore, where I presume you're from? Okay, well Baltimore sounds like a SUCKY baseball town to me, then, and I wouldn't want to be from there. My experiences with baseball in this state are, you go and cheer for your damn team.

And it's not like I'm yelling profanities (YANKEES SUCK, anyone? Anyone familiar with that? Have people been threatened to be tossed out of the Fens for yelling Yankees Suck? Didn't think so..) or racist remarks or being overly obnoxious. I'm cheering at critical baseball situations with the game on the line.

And I usually make that response, and what I usually get is the, "You do realize this is the minor leagues, right?" in that condescending, I-know-everything tone.

Okay, no, asshole. You want to get technical with me, I can get technical with you. Minor League Baseball is a registered trademark of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, of which this and the other Indy leagues aren't a part of. It's the independent leagues. It's our team, our region's team, and we should cheer for them like they are. We're not here to develop prospects and have wacky stunts, we're here to win. And if you're here to enjoy the wacky stunts, that's fine. I don't complain to management when you scream into my ears when Slugger is throwing tee-shirts into the stands, or Jake the Diamond Dog (GASP) picks up a bat. (Gee, I've never seen a dog pick up wood before) when I'm trying to make some marks on my scorecard. Or when you take 3 and a half hours figuring out what you want in the concession line when I'm trying to fly in and out and get a soda so I can get back to watching the game. Or when your little kids screech. Because I take that as part of the territory. It's part of this game. But part of it is also people who actually CARE. And I do, and I'll show it. Because this is OUR team. They are out there hustling their butts off for less than 4500 dollars in a summer. That's worthy of praise. You've got Brian Macchi making a tumbling catch practically killing himself and still staying in the game. Players diving and sliding left and right. So we shouldn't appreciate that? But we should appreciate the overpaid BRATS in the MLB and scream like maniacs when they get a base hit? I'm watching the Sox-Cards now and it's NINE TO TWO and people are on their feet in a standing ovation on a 3-2 count. Because it's baseball. That's what you do at a baseball game.

So because MLB guys are more talented and get paid more they should be appreciated and our guys who are playing INDEPENDENT TEAMS TO WIN FOR OUR CITY, NOT FOR A MAJOR LEAGUE PARENT should not. Well, geez. Lawyers make $175 an hour while teachers make about 50,000 in a year. Should we not applaud teachers because they make less money? Christ.

And you know what? Your kind of people are the kinds of people who say, "I'm bored" and leave in the 5th inning, after Slugger's done throwing tee-shirts.

Well, maybe you'd actually have some fun with it if you tried to get this pompous ass attitude out of your system and tried to actually watch the game and care. You might actually like it.

Then if you actually have fun with it you might not get bored and you might stay.

And it's people like us who actually care who are more likely to spread the word to our friends about what a great time it is, and are more likely to fill up the stands.

And maybe if people actually give a darn, they will come. And if people actually come, maybe this team will actually stay in this loser hole of Lynn for more than 3 years like the 15,000 other teams that have come and gone through Fraser Field.

And maybe if a team stays more than 3 years, the city will actually feel the benefits of the economic and community impacts of the team, like the creation of jobs, the taxable revenue, the purchasing of local concessions, hotels, etc. along with proving a safe, secure and entertaining place for the youth of the region.

Then maybe the city of Lynn will be less of a shit-hole.

Listen, Lynn, it's not my team. I'm from Revere. I root for the baseball team and I shell out my money at the ballpark every night, but I'm not getting the economic benefits in my city. My city's fate doesn't have anything to do with the success or failure of the Spirit. It's on you guys.

But at this rate, it's not going to happen for you. Attendance is dwindling. People who go leave after 5 innings. And you can only laugh at Monkey Boy or catch a tee shirt from Slugger and stretch and sing at the 7th inning stretch so many times and consider that enough entertainment for the night. It used to be a huge part of it for me, and I understand that it's a big draw. But after going to 20 or so games, it gets old. So in order to have the people stay interested, people have to actually care.

But the Spirit management isn't encouraging people caring. I've had more staff members tell us to shut up or SIT DOWN DURING THE FINAL INNING OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP than I have support us and tell us that we're vital cogs in the organization, that we're the diehards who are always there and have lined Lopardo's pocket more than anyone else other than the corporate sponsors who don't even bother to send people to the game with their corporate tickets, or actually promote the Spirit at all (COUGH Lynn Item COUGH). And they never make legitimate effort to encourage fan participation and encourage caring about the team. The pre-game "injury reports" are wrong. The standings and out-of-town Can Am scores are never displayed or announced. And even at a basic level, things are done wrong. For example, at the beginning of the 2003 season, someone came over the P.A. and said "Let's go Spirit!.." to try to get the crowd going. It was cheesy, but it worked. It had to be done. It has to be done at this level. And it's important that things like that are brought back.

And the Spirit do even more to alienate their biggest fans. I was told by 2 year season ticket holder BJ Russell, who decided not to renew this year, that he "would have renewed had he received one single phone call from the Spirit over the off-season." So as a result, he decided not to renew. And maybe if the Spirit advertised effectively, more poeple would come to the games, and more people would care. I as a season ticket holder have called the Spirit office many times about inquiries and not once have I received a call back.

And as this continues to happen, interest will dwindle. And maybe this is the last year for North Shore Spirit baseball. I might have to turn to a team that knows how to run an organization, in the Rox or the Bridgeport Bluefish.

But I don't want that. I love the North Shore Spirit. I love Fraser Field. I love it all.

But the North Shore Spirit and the people of Lynn don't seem to care.

The shame, the shame.

The North Shore Spirit have come, and they may be on the way out, and the city of Lynn doesn't even know what they're missing and doesn't realize the opportunity it is passing up.

There's already been rumblings that the team is moving to some place like Peabody or Beverly, some place further up the North Shore. And that wouldn't impact me at all, because I'm not a Lynner. But it impacts YOU, Lynn. So, this team will move to an already more privileged and affluent suburb, further up the North Shore. And all of those benefits will go straight to people who don't really need them. It's Lynn who needs this, it's Lynn who needs to support things like the Spirit to drop the stigma that surrounds Lynn and get people like me from surrounding areas to come to the city and spend their money and allow the team and the city to grow and prosper. But it's not going to happen the way things are now. The team will pack up and go to the 'burbs, and Lynn will be none the better for it. Maybe some day, someone will be fool enough to try it again in Lynn, but quite honestly, I doubt it. And that's Lynn's loss, not my loss. I'll go to Peabody or Beverly to watch baseball. But I don't think it's Peabody or Beverly who needs the Spirit.

The city of Lynn- a city of losers, now and forever.

And I'll continue to think so until I'm proven wrong.

Nice win for the lads tonight, BTW. 5-4. I'll update later, or maybe tomorrow morning. .