We received this comment earlier, from a lovely chap named Don.
Don K——l says:
What kind of fans are there in Tampa. The ball park is half empty for the biggest game of the year!!
Schmitty says:
Don,I’m not certain where you’re from. Are you from Florida? Are you from the Tampa bay area? Have you driven around our general region and seen the amount of abandoned homes because they were foreclosed on? Have you tried to get a job in our region; a region where the jobless rate is higher than the average jobless rate for Florida and the entire US? If you’re going to speak in platitudes and question the type of fans that we are, then I challenge you to look up the economic statistics of Florida, and more specifically the Tampa Bay region. Perhaps then, you’ll have a better understanding of why we can’t consistently fill the Trop. If anything, the fact that our attendance numbers have dropped with the downturn of the economy speaks volumes. Look, if the citizens of this area, fans or not, do not have as much money to spend on “entertainment” (restaurants, movies, sporting events, etc) then I’d think it to be a fair assumption that they’re not going to be going to as many games, or to them as frequently.
To that end, who the fuck are you to question our fanaticism? We love our team here, and we support our team financially to the best of our abilities. Sometimes though, that means being picky with which games to attend. Certainly there is a faction of “sports fans” that roll in and out with the tide. But most assuredly that’s everywhere! How else can you explain the number of Yankees fans that wear their colors proudly but couldn’t regurgitate a statistic if their lives depended on it?
If all you have is that criticism, then I’ll kindly remind you to bugger off. If you’d like to critically and intelligently discuss baseball in general, and ALL of the factors surrounding our attendance numbers, without implicating us as being shitty & unsupportive fans, then by all means, feel free to respond to this, urm…response. I’ll be waiting.
Now I’ll say this, I’d prefer to focus on the Rays performance on the field at the moment. To that end, I’d prefer to save the critical discussion of the outside issues (stadium, attendance, etc) surrounding the Rays for another time, preferably when the season has come to a close. I feel like these issues are forced on us fans at very inopportune times; at times when we should be focused on the field. However Don, if you’re reading this, we’re on pins and needles for your response.