VISIT THE OFFICIAL NORTH SHORE NAVIGATORS BLOG
HTTP://NSNAVS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Thursday, September 20, 2007

"Unsustainable Spirit"

The article ran in the Globe North today about the Spirit.
The url for that is http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/minors/articles/2007/09/20/unsustainable_spirit/

There was also an audio slideshow.
I' in class right now......but I watched it and got a little teary eyed. That slide show was magnificently done and the article was well-written.

Gotta go now.....enjy reading,watching,and listening.....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

IMO, The Spirit did make it. A report that they were breaking even or close to it, to me says they were on their way. Lopardo should read his only open letter he posted on the website today. He should catch the Spirit and float the team until they make it. They were close. Don't be fooled by him, he has the money. It's just his business sense is not allowing him to extend this team like he should. He's pulling his own plug. I mean is lease was $1. The Rox's lease is far more than that, I can assure you!

I bet that, now that the improvements are there at the park, to make it a very nice place to watch a ball game, some savvy group could come in and take advantage of what'd there and make a go of it. I would guess an average of 2,900 fans per game would suit them just fine.

Anonymous said...

...I like the random picture of the hot dogs...XD...but yeah, that was just a little bit depressing.

Cathy McDonough

Anonymous said...

Roxrulz.....
They (spirit) lost $ the first 4 of 5 years... not breaking even as you allege.
Their lease WAS $1 /yr., sure to go up SUBSTANTIALLY this year, and for the next 3-5 years.
He (Lopardo) HAS (not should) floated the team for 2 yrs. + while losing $$.
"He's puling his own plug"
right.... should he be waiting for someone else to be doing it?.
Pro ball has been tried 4 times, and failed in Lynn over the years; why would ANYONE want to try again?.
You seem, to me, to be completely out of touch with the facts as presented; better you should stay in the city of Chump-peons and never mind what's goin' on up here.
Nick Lopardo has done ALL this w/o any help from a group like Goldklang, w/o a Shaw's center next door, w/o adequate parking and w/o tremendous civic support; all these are present in B'ton.
For you to elude that Lopardo hasn't done EVERY SINGLE THING he could is naive and illuminates your misunderstanding of the situation in Lynn.
Get your facts straight PRIOR to runnin' off at the mouth would Ya'?.

Anonymous said...

The ability of sports fans to decide how someone else should spend his money is eternal!

We do want to understand why this franchise didn't survive--to understand whether any franchise can. The fact that no franchise has been eternal doesn't, by itself, prove anything to me. (I hear the same argument in Nashua--We had three franchises between the WW2 Dodgers and the Pride; some of you saw the Hawks at Fraser.) The argument that the Mad Dogs failed because they were underfunded is disproved by the Spirit. So--what is it?

--Spike

PS--Cathy, you got the job not just for working for cheap. You are pleasant and SUPER-OBSERVANT (like the day I commented on that loud "instant Spirit fan" and you described him, his lady, and his clothing)--a perfect bag-checker (if there must be bag-checkers).

DaveCo said...

Good point Spike....but i think we know why the Spirit left......not enugh support from city government and bad marketing.

Both converged and caused this.

And I also hope to see you in Nashua next year.....I'll be sure to make at least one trip up there. =]

Anonymous said...

They didn't really 'fail' though -- they had good attendance, but they obviously had massive overhead. Organizationally, they failed, but I think the attendance figures showed that the Mad Dogs fiasco was a result of crappy ownership

-Joe (I can't log in on this computer for some reason)

Anonymous said...

Haha, thanks Spike and yeah, we'll see you in Nashua, I'll make sure of it, I know I've said it before, but I'm gonna get a car(if its the last thing I do!) and I'm taking Dave, Joe, Vikki, Amanda, Eric and whoever the hell else wants to come to some road games! I've got all winter to find a car and I already picked up another job to pay for it! (not to mention my tip :D)

Cathy McDonough