Ad hoc thoughts on the weekend in sports
June 16th, 2008 by Eric Snider in Sports• The Tampa Bay Rays went 3-6 on a road trip before returning home and taking a series (2-1) against the Florida Marlins over the weekend. I wondered how a losing road trip might hurt attendance when the Rays returned home.
Turns out, not so much. The Marlins series drew 79,393 fans to the Trop. That’s pretty respectable for a Major League baseball club, damn near remarkable for the Rays (there wasn’t even a post-game concert).
Has attendance at Rays games crossed over the tipping point? Let’s hope so. The Chicago Cubs — who’ve never played at the Trop — come in for a three-game set starting Tuesday, so that should help keep folks coming through the turnstiles. If the Rays can sweep out the best team in the majors, or win the series, the momentum picks up even further.
…The Ray are getting a lot more love from national media, but in today’s New York Times, in a complimentary story about the Tampa Bay club, the writer referred to pitcher “Scott Shields.” It’s James Shields.
• I don’t watch a lot of golf but tend to tune in during the major tournaments, just to see if it’s close and might end up in a playoff (which is what happened yesterday at the U.S. Open, when Tiger Woods hit a putt on the 18th hole to force a showdown today with 45-year-old Rocco Mediate. [Go Rocco.)
Watching golf on TV, I’ve noticed that certain members of the crowd —gallery, in golf-ese — tend toward strange behavior. The best example yesterday was on the 15th (I think) hole, when Woods hit his second (I think) shot and this guy in the gallery jumped up, shook his fist and went apoplectic cheering. It turned out that Woods shanked the shot and it ended up in the rough. This kind of odd fan response to shitty shots happens all the time.
Uh, wouldn’t it make more sense to wait for the results of the shot before cheering? Basketball’s my favorite spectator sport, and I’m trying to imagine myself, when Hedo Turkoglu launches a 3-pointer , leaping out of my seat in spasms of delight. What if he air-balls it?
Oh, and one more thing on golf spectators: Those guys who holler “Get in the hole!!” — even when a player hits off the tee on a par 5 — … I get the irony, sort of, but the act’s getting a little tired. I’m sure the other people in the gallery would really like to strangle these guys.
June 16th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I don’t watch a lot of golf but tend to tune in during the major tournaments, just to see if it’s close and might end up in a playoff (which is what happened yesterday at the U.S. Open, when Tiger Woods hit a putt on the 18th hole to force a showdown today with 45-year-old Rocco Mediate.