Jones just called out the FANS

[OrioleParkatWrigley]

How about, as a group, we pick an upcoming game and meetup outside the stadium and buy some tickets? You can't afford to go, i'll buy a ticket or two for someone that really wants to go but can't make ends meet. If you really want to make it out there but can t financially, I can spare a few bucks.

Instead of complaining in thread after thread, on radio show after radio show....let's do something about it.

Weekday series vs tb coming up. Could be a perfect time to do this. If we get a few people that say they'd buy a ticket for someone else, another die hard fan, we could have a little impact and help the people that are feeling 'attacked' by getting them out there.

I love this idea. I'm stuck in Chicago but would certainly donate a few bucks via Paypal if it helped someone local get to the game.

[baltimoreO's22]

As to excuses, tell the bank when the foreclosure comes, tell the repo man when he comes for your car, or the electric/cable/phone company's send you the cut off notices, that you had to go see the Orioles play. See how far that gets you.

You don't have $10-15 that you can save up for a week or so and go to an O's game? No one is saying to buy season tickets, but instead of grabbing fast food for lunch one day, pack a lunch and take the $9 you would spend there and put it towards that fund. If you do that a few times then you have enough to go. I have done this a few times when I've found a game I wanted to go to. If you don't wanna get out and support the O's than frankly just say you don't wanna spend a night at the yard.

[baltfan]

Good for him. I took my two kids yesterday specifically because I was embarrassed at the crowds.

And no this isnt the first time we have gone

[Say O!]

It can't be the ballpark, because everyone universally recognizes OP@CY as one of the best.

14 years of losing hasn't helped, but even with the winning, it's about marketable stars....or the O's lack thereof.

Frank, Brooks, Cal, Eddie....

The O's don't have a guy like that. *Maybe* Adam Jones can't keep elevating his game. *Maybe* Bundy or Machado will turn out to be a superstar.

When the O's started off hot in 2005....it was Sammy Sosa, Raffy Palmeiro and Miggy Tejada that fans went to see.

Fans want to watch winners, but more importantly, they want to see STARS.

[Can_of_corn]

I expect the endless stream of excuses from Floridians, but I thought we were better than that.

Some of us are Floridians, and it is a bit of a drive...

[pccp82]

It can't be the ballpark, because everyone universally recognizes OP@CY as one of the best.

14 years of losing hasn't helped, but even with the winning, it's about marketable stars....or the O's lack thereof.

Frank, Brooks, Cal, Eddie....

The O's don't have a guy like that. *Maybe* Adam Jones can't keep elevating his game. *Maybe* Bundy or Machado will turn out to be a superstar.

When the O's started off hot in 2005....it was Sammy Sosa, Raffy Palmeiro and Miggy Tejada that fans went to see.

Fans want to watch winners, but more importantly, they want to see STARS.

I think the no-name players are a turn on. scrappy.

[weams]

Some of us are Floridians, and it is a bit of a drive...

Fly up. I got your ticket for next Thursday.

[Orioles0615]

How about, as a group, we pick an upcoming game and meetup outside the stadium and buy some tickets? You can't afford to go, i'll buy a ticket or two for someone that really wants to go but can't make ends meet. If you really want to make it out there but can t financially, I can spare a few bucks.

Instead of complaining in thread after thread, on radio show after radio show....let's do something about it.

Weekday series vs tb coming up. Could be a perfect time to do this. If we get a few people that say they'd buy a ticket for someone else, another die hard fan, we could have a little impact and help the people that are feeling 'attacked' by getting them out there.

Has the OH ever done group outings?

[srh523]

There will ne some huge crowds this month for the Cal and Brooks games for the skanks and sox game and I would suspect the TB games.

[Dark Helmet]

You don't have $10-15 that you can save up for a week or so and go to an O's game? No one is saying to buy season tickets' date=' but instead of grabbing fast food for lunch one day, pack a lunch and take the $9 you would spend there and put it towards that fund. If you do that a few times then you have enough to go. I have done this a few times when I've found a game I wanted to go to. If you don't wanna get out and support the O's than frankly just say you don't wanna spend a night at the yard.[/quote']

Who the hell do you think you are, to know what I do and what I want to do? Not that its your business, but were a family of four, so tix would be more than 10-15 bucks. I have gone days without lunch in life, much less get fast food everyday. Any extra money we save we put aside for emergencies. You don't know my me, so how dare you try and tell me what's best for my family and I. And i can tell you that isn't spending any money we manage to save, blowing it to watch a game.

[weams]

How about, as a group, we pick an upcoming game and meetup outside the stadium and buy some tickets? You can't afford to go, i'll buy a ticket or two for someone that really wants to go but can't make ends meet. If you really want to make it out there but can t financially, I can spare a few bucks.

Instead of complaining in thread after thread, on radio show after radio show....let's do something about it.

Weekday series vs tb coming up. Could be a perfect time to do this. If we get a few people that say they'd buy a ticket for someone else, another die hard fan, we could have a little impact and help the people that are feeling 'attacked' by getting them out there.

Has the OH ever done group outings?

I'd have a couple tickets that I would buy for the needy as well.

I might even get us a group rate if you all want to do this.

[centralpaosfan]

This argument was predictable. People who went to games when they stunk have a need to feel superior to the fans who stayed away but are showing up now.

Personally I have two options. Continue putting whatever extra money I have left over into my two young boys college accounts and spend quality time with them. The other option- take the extra money and buy Oriole tickets and leave my kids at home while I go have fun at the yard which would make me an a-hole. However I wouldn't be a "casual" fan and that would be awesome......not.

[centralpaosfan]

You can certainly tell which posters have families and which don't in this thread.

[orayole]

I'll go when he buys me tickets.

[stomperspc]

I go to A LOT of games – like in the neighborhood of 50-60 of the 67 home games the O’s have played so far and a couple of the Nationals away games. I do it because I like it and I can. I have a job that pays well and allows me enough time off to attend games. I don’t have many other competing priorities and live a couple of miles from the stadium. It’s the perfect storm really that allows me to attend so many games and I totally understand that MOST others have much different situations that impede their ability to go to even a fraction of those games.

Having said that, my gut feeling is that the poor attendance is not just the result of financial and other (school, Grand Prix, ect.) factors. I get that season ticket sales drive attendance and at this point that is locked in, so I wouldn’t expect attendance to go from the “normal” range to 35K+ over night. However, I do think there is a fair amount of people that do have the means to attend a few more games now who still aren’t. I don’t see a real point in speculating on the motives why these people are staying away because I don’t really know why (although like everyone else I have my theories). I think that if the “I love the O’s and will come back when they start winning crowd” did back up that stance, that the games this past week would be closer to the 15K mark than 10K. I’m not sure if that would really make anyone feel better though.

I get the impression that this is what frustrates Jones. I would imagine that none of us really expect for the O’s to sell out every night, but if people were really waiting for a winner to come back, then you would probably expect attendance to be slightly up from the level it is at now, even taking all of the other factors into consideration.

I guess my point is that it is not a black & white situation. I also think it is a bit of a nonissue. The media likes harping on this stuff because it is easy, manufactured drama that they can talk about. What does it really matter though? If 40k+ fans showed up for each game this past week, what would that prove? That Baltimore has a bunch of fans who only show up when the team is winning? How is that any better?

I’d echo what others said in this thread – don’t dwell on the negative attendance issues and just enjoy the season. The only thing that really matters is that the O’s are winning and we should all enjoy that.