Jones just called out the FANS

[allquixotic]

Adam doesn't get it.

• 12:35pm.
  
• On a weekday (other than Friday).
  
• Companies providing less vacation time than they have in the past to "cut costs". Trust me, I'm a victim of it.
  
• During football (pre-)season (the Ravens maniacs are not even hearing the word "Orioles" when spoken). Diverts attention away from the O's.
  
• Light rail restricted to a shuttle bus that's overcrowded and much slower than just riding the train.
  
• Light rail fare increased from $3.20 to $3.50.
  
• Grand Prix clogs up the roadways, closing many roads in and out of town, which drives up the cost of going in both money (gas) and time. Diverts attention away from the O's.
  
• Back to school week, so parents are trying to calm down their kids and get them into thinking about school, not "YAY BASEBALL!!!!". Diverts attention away from the O's.
  
• Down economy, many people struggling to make ends meet. Diverts attention away from the O's.
  

It's not just one thing. It's not just five things. It's a huge combination of factors that basically make the triumphant O's the equivalent of yelling at the top of your lungs into the largest fan (the kind with blades, not the kind with a fat belly) you can imagine, blowing a huge torrent of 90mph wind in your face. Yes, we're all glad the O's are winning, and we're watching them on TV, but there's a lot of both positive and negative "stuff" going on around the city right now that just completely overshadows the O's. It's just bad timing. If they'd have won before the depression of 2008, you'd be seeing a VERY different outcome in the bleachers.

It's easy to sit there with $80 million dollars in your back pocket and whine about people not coming out to the stands. Whine, whine like a spoiled brat. Where do you think all that money is coming from, Adam? Us. The people who struggle to put food on the table and spend months saving up small scraps of a paycheck to afford a car repair or, God forbid, something nice like a cheap Android tablet. Yet somehow we manage to come out and bleed our wallets dry just to see you stand up there a hit a ball with a piece of wood.

Acting entitled and indignant that people don't drop everything they're doing, starve, and spend their entire day fighting traffic just to come see you play is not going to win you more fans, Adam Jones.

[The Wedge]

Aaaand almost on cue, we get people trying to quantify others fandom because of this.

[crissfan172]

Not that I really feel the need to defend myself, but....

3 hours away. No money. No car.

[FanSince88]

Adam seems to be adopting a bit of a brash "Ray Lewis" like personality, which is something the O's sorely need. Good to have some swagger and call ppl out every once in a while. I think after 14 straight losing yrs and no respect from themedia the O's have the right to get a little mad.

[allquixotic]

Adam seems to be adopting a bit of a brash "Ray Lewis" like personality, which is something the O's sorely need. Good to have some swagger and call ppl out every once in a while. I think after 14 straight losing yrs and no respect from themedia the O's have the right to get a little mad.

This. I don't disagree with this at all. Adam definitely does have the right to get a little mad and to call people out. But at the same time, if he's going to strike a low blow like that and downplay all of our concerns and call them "excuses", he's going to have to expect people to fire back, and take it like a man. If you're going to dish it out, be prepared, VERY prepared to take it. Especially when you dish it out to millions of people and you're just one man.

If he were attacking the media for not paying attention to the O's, that would be justified. There is absolutely no excuse for the media to ignore the O's and hype up the lost season of the hopeless Red Sox. There is simply no justification for that other than pure greed and the desire to cater to the more populous market. But that's not what Adam Jones attacked today, is it? He didn't think it was important to call out the media. He thought that he would spend his time on Twitter attacking the fans. That's why I feel PERFECTLY entitled to fire back with guns blazing.

[Floater]

I don't think he is specifically speaking about just today's game. He is talking about the whole series. It's not that hard to get to a game if you're in the area. No excuses. Tmr I leave for NYC to catch a game. But yes, the average fans won't show up to the yard until the last 2 weeks or so. Sad but expected.

[weams]

BobMC?

[BirdFlipper]

Acting entitled and indignant that people don't drop everything they're doing, starve, and spend their entire day fighting traffic just to come see you play is not going to win you more fans, Adam Jones.

This may be a bit over the top.

You're right in the fact that back to school week and the grand prix traffic are factors. But the attendance problem has not been limited to the four game series with the White Sox. I don't think it's unreasonable for Jones (or any of us) to hope that in a metropolitan area this size, the team could draw more than 10K-12K to watch a club in a pennant race.

[Fiver]

Dedicated fans don't think of excuses and will find ways to make it to OPACY.

See, THIS is the attitude that drives me crazy, and that I just can't stand. Because I AM a dedicated fan, who lives in relatively close (about a 60-65 minute drive from home, but work in Reisterstown), but only attends a few games a year. Because even dedicated fans have reasons to not go to the park - small children, jobs, any one of a million things can keep you away. But the biggest one is simply that LIFE gets in the way. Those 'excuses' don't make me less dedicated than you. At least not less dedicated to baseball.

[SpringBarb]

Not really sure why Opening Day 2009 stands out so much to Jonesy. I was there. It was fabulous. But I've been to other games as exciting (OD this year was pretty darn awesome) when the "O" stood out.

Bummed I couldn't make it out this series, but I just finished moving. I couldn't even WATCH last week's games due to lack of cable!

[FanSince88]

I think Jones' attitude could have been a lot worse. He's not "attacking" the fans IMO, he's just giving us a nudge, like "hey guys, we happen to be in a playoff hunt, you might want to show up."

It ain't like the guy's flipping OPACY crowds the bird or anything. I don't see anything wrong with nudging the fan base a little bit. These guys want to play for crowds and I don't blame them. They see it happen every fall across the street.

Had he used profanity or taken a cheap shot (something like "forget about the wife and kids and come to the yard"), that would have been an attack. Expressing some comparatively mild disappointment at the small size of the crowds this week on Twitter is not an attack.

[Fiver]

Not really sure why Opening Day 2009 stands out so much to Jonesy. I was there. It was fabulous. But I've been to other games as exciting (OD this year was pretty darn awesome) when the "O" stood out.

Bummed I couldn't make it out this series, but I just finished moving. I couldn't even WATCH last week's games due to lack of cable!

I was wondering the same thing, seems at the very least there would be a couple opening days he'd remember. Probably because that was against the Yankees though, if I recall.

[barnanimal]

For what it's worth, there are only a few $67+ seats left on orioles.com for the 9/6 game. I expect it will be officially sold out soon.

I think beginning with that game, we will see near capacity crowds the rest of the season, providing we can hold on in the standings for just one more week.

I think people will come back quicker than they left, and while I have no logic to support it, I think it will happen overnight

[olehippi]

I'm sure that many thousands of former Orioles fans are now enjoying the Washington Nationals who built a shiny new stadium, and a winning baseball team, just 38 miles down the road.

The good news is that Orioles attendance will likely top 2 million this year, something that hasn't happened since 2007.

[RavNMadMan]

I understanding Jones' stance on this to a degree. The problem is some of us can't afford to go to many baseball games at present. I've been to TWO games this year and I simply can't afford to go again right now.