Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Oh Look, Everyone Cares About Jays Games All Of A Sudden

The city-wide outcry over the G20 summit cockblocking the Roy Halladay Reunion Tour would be amusing, if it weren't so terribly misguided and somewhat pathetic.

I must remind myself that most of the whining and bitching is coming from sports fans and/or those in the sports industry, who by and large aren't the most logical group of people out there.

But it's profoundly irritating and downright insulting to someone like me, a legitimate die-hard Jays fan since I was a toddler, to hear griping from these people.

It's a simple inequality: The G20 Summit > Late June Baseball Games.

We're talking about the leaders of the free world convening to discuss issues that will impact the future of the planet. We're talking about an event that will surpass the Vancouver Olympics in scope. There will be protests. There will be heavy security. There will be massive areas of the downtown Toronto area cordoned off. Not exactly the most ideal circumstances under which to host a series of likely meaningless baseball games.

This childish reaction is to be expected from the largely fairweather fanbase in the GTA; where in the living fuck have you people been the rest of this season, when the Jays were and are struggling to hit 10,000 fans a game? Heck, where were you when Halladay was actually pitching for the Jays? Attendance has been an absolute joke this season, and this pretty much underscores the fact that most Jays fans are only interested in a couple of sexy, trendy series matchups and don't actually care about the team, even when it's winning more games than expected.

For what it's worth, there's only a 60% chance that the Doc would even make a start in Toronto, and based on current rotation projections it's unlikely his turn would be up that weekend. Either way, relax. Halladay will pitch again in Toronto someday; this won't be the last chance for fans to get another glimpse of the best pitcher to ever don the uniform.

The only people with a legitimate reason to complain are the other contenders in the National League, more specifically in the NL East, because the Phillies essentially have been handed three extra home games, which is not an insignificant number.

From their perspective, playing the series in another city would be the best-case scenario, but a neutral site doesn't do much for the Jays organization or for those who've already bought tickets and made plans for that weekend. Paul Beeston & Co. struck a deal with a Phillies organization with which they have a long-standing good relationship, and are prepared to deal with the consequences, whether they're warranted or not.

In the end they made the only decision that would have made sense for the team and for the City of Toronto, and if you don't like it, then you're missing the point.

And if your reaction to this news is to further boycott going to games, then perhaps you shouldn't be a fan at all.

No comments: