It sure sounds like our office's annual summer employee function will be at a White Sox game this year. In a fortuitous twist, it looks like that game happens to be during a series when the Twins are in town. As a member of the committee, I am sure I don't know how that happened...
This should be our last day without baseball until the all-star break.
Speaking of games, who wants tomorrow's game log?
Some days it rains.
You should put up the list, but I'll take Tuesday's again (which I know doesn't help you for tomorrow).
2019 Game Logs:
Sunday: Twayn
Monday: hungry joe
Tuesday: freealonzo
Wednesday: sean
Thursday: Can of Corn
Friday:
Saturday: nibbish
I'll tackle the All-Star Game again. Should be more entertaining since we'll have more Twins sent than in recent years.
Thursday: Can of Corn (I will take tomorrow too ... unless someone else is chomping at the bit)
I'm hoping to do some game recaps this year, somewhat in the style of the "rewind" feature. It won't happen until at least the middle of next week, though, due to various commitments. And, of course, it will depend on how much time I have and how much time they take. So it's in the plan, but plans don't always come to fruition.
I’ll take Sundays again if that’s okay.
It's yours.
I'll grab Saturday again.
Imagine that this was in reply to sean.
Hate to crap all over baseball right when season is starting but there’s a lot of truth in this article
https://deadspin.com/how-much-longer-will-baseball-stadiums-be-for-baseball-1833463105
I’d love to go to more games. I’m in a place in my life where I can go when I want, getting there via public transport, bike, or car is easy and cheap, ballpark is still beautiful, etc.
But man those prices. I don’t know how a family of 4 goes to more than 1 or 2 games a year. Gotta wonder if there is a breaking point.
I'm not entirely sure it would be all that bad a thing for professional sports (all of em) to basically collapse from this kind of greed. It would probably result in more popularity of niche sports that the average shlub can be actively involved in.
But anyway, yeah, we don't go to pro baseball games anymore. I can get a ticket for less than $20 at Miller Park, but its way up in the ass-sweat part of the stands and parking still costs effin $25. Much more fun to go to a Madison Mallards game for $6/ticket and free parking. (and better beer options).
We don't. We go to 1 game a year. I would love to take my kids to more.
I firmly believe kids 12 and under should be free with paid adult tickets. We want to grow the sport, and putting kids in the stands is the A#1 way to do that.
Unfortunately, right now owners make nearly all of their money in ways other than butts in the seats. Literally no one could show up to any game this year and owners would make money hand over fist. But it's short-sighted obviously. Some day there will be a bubble popped and they'll need that demand from young folks to watch/stream games.
This is why I don't understand ticket prices being so exorbitant.
This is the first year I won't be part of a season ticket group. Nobody else wanted to go with me.
Prices go up and down based on what people are willing to pay. That's just basic economics. At least the Twins are willing to drop some concession prices.
Basic economics if you decide to focus on only the 40,000 that can afford to pay.
Well, somebody is paying. That's all they care about, right? Even if baseball teams can afford to have empty ballparks, they won't allow that to happen because it would ruin the atmosphere for TV.
They whine about not grabbing the youth market, then they do everything they possibly can to ensure that the next generation doesn't have even a passing interest in the game while tweaking rules to shave an extra 15 seconds off ballgames.
I have to say, that plan of action will probably prove to have a downside someday.
I mean, MLB attendance has continued to drop, so clearly they are allowing it to happen - obviously not to the empty ballpark level, but certainly they aren't prioritizing the butts in the seats.
4% drop from 2017 to 2018
Almost a 12.5% drop in attendance from the high in 2007 to 2018.
That's more than 4,000 fewer people per ballgame. Let's please not pretend we've got the best of all possible worlds going on here.
It always cracks me up when people shrug and think baseball owners are perfectly efficient economists.
Do you know what qualifications the Pohlads have? They were born with the last name of Pohlad. That's it.
If anyone is interested in the details, David Brauer is doing his annual Target Field price tracker on Twitter. The annual $0.50 increases on already over-priced food and drink starts adding up, just look at the $6 popcorn and $7 pretzel w/cheese (when not purchased from the budget stand).
I saw some of the Allianz Field beer prices recently and they were also disappointingly ridiculous. Really wish more teams followed the Atlanta Falcons lead with pricing.
This will probably be the third year in a row I don’t take my boys to Target field, just not enough in it for me or them to justify the cost.
I will add that at least the Twins allow you to bring in outside food, unlike most (all?) other local venues.
Busch Stadium -- Cardinals games
Policy very similar to Target Field. I always bring my own peanuts.
TCF doesn't allow food. I'm pretty sure Target Center doesn't either.
Those Allianz field prices were very disappointing.
There's usually a vendor on the sidewalk out front of Busch selling peanuts at a good price; gotta have peanuts for the game.
Angels are pretty similar as well, though I think they only allow water for beverages. They also have a nebulous rule about only bringing in enough food for yourself, meaning no bringing in an entire barrel of peanuts to feed the whole section. Costco size is ok, though, so we usually bring a big bag of peanuts in when we go.
I suspect if you compared the ticket prices and concessions of all MN professional sports teams, the Twins would come out as the best value by far (I haven't been to a Lynx game yet, so I don't know how reasonable they are).
I have a 20 game plan, so it's obviously not stopping me from going (of course, my plan is for the cheapest seats yet I pretty much always sit in much, much better seats). I've never bought a beer at a game, so that saves me some money, and we'll bring a water bottle. The Valet only comes on weekend day games, and he'll usually split an entree (hamburger or chicken tenders), so that's where the food budget goes.
While we're talking about sports prices:
I got a baseball related one today:
Today at 2:30 in your Minnesota House of Representatives, a bill introduced by some staunch pro-labor/pro-union members* is being heard in that chamber's Labor Committee: HF 2543 - Minor league baseball players exempted from wage and overtime requirements.
Feel free to watch online (here).
*I'll admit, I'm confused ...
Does MN even have any minor league teams, other than Independents?
Minnesota does have so many minor league teams.
And townball!
Our town is getting a team this year. I'm excited to go to games on nice summer evenings.
Adam Rosales signed a minor league contract with the Twins and will play in Rochester.
I don't think this is quite forbidden zone, so I won't hide it behind a button. Apparently DeVos is recommending our gov't stop funding Special Olympics. Just the thought of this makes me completely sick to my stomach. If you can't support a wonderful program like this, you must have a cold, cold heart. Mark Parrish stuck his neck out on twitter about this, which makes me proud as a fellow Husky.
On another lighter note, my favorite college hockey team is eating at our joint tonight on their way to Regionals.
We have a client who just joined and for the first time in years has a sense of purpose and joy.
Just read a bit deeper into her budget proposal. I am even sicker to my sickened stomach. Special Ed funding reduced by 26%. Is there no shame?
Also, only 10% of Special Olympic funding comes from the feds. That organization does an awesome job fundraising and not asking for too much from gov't.
Roster has been finalized:
11 pitchers!