Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times: Move the Toronto Blue Jays to Venezuela

It's a lazy-ass column, and unless Cowley has some maniacal core of readership which would revolt if he were pulled off the beat, I'd put him to work for a month or so typing high school agate, see how he likes that.

Oh, and Toronto has, and can again, support a team very well when the team is good. As with Baltimore, Cleveland, KC, etc etc, the Wal-Mart/KMart-style of ownership (cry poor, chop salaries, finish 64-98 every goddamn year and collect revenue checks) in Toronto is getting the richly-deserved back of the hand and steel-toed boot up the ass from the paying customers when money gets tight.

No fanbase has any obligation to support ownership when they penny-pinch and continually put substandard teams on the field, making little or no attempt to improve. Fuck 'em.

 

Ricciardi sold the Jays' executives a bill of good. They loved to hear that as a Moneyball guy he didn't need a huge bankroll to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox. Then a few years later he changed his tune and decided he did. Nobody called him on his contradiction, they just gave him more money, some of which he spent wisely, some he burned.

I like the direction Alex Anthopolous is pursuing. They have been careful not to promise anything, the fans know it will be a tough few years. But by investing in player development and scouting they will be far more inclined to build internally than Ricciardi was. As someone mentioned about the Rays earlier, this can be a productive way to build a team in the Death Valley division that is the AL East.

I'll agree with JR that Rogers Centre can be a lousy place to watch a game when it's half full (wishful thinking these days) and the roof's closed. But when the roof is open on a summer afternoon or evening, it's still a pretty good venue.

 

The column, which i doubt got much play in the paper (if it wasn't a web only), was lame, but I like your idea on how to deal with it.

"Hey, even though you just spent two months away from your family in spring training and break a ton of news on the beat, we just can't take your one half-ass column. Now head to the prep agate desk. We're moving the clerk to the beat. Hope nothing happens."

 

I sort of hoped THE GREAT RECESSION would have led to contraction in some or multiple sports leagues. After all, these owners are capitalists, right? Let the market dictate. Instead, when they start losing money, they rarely adjust ticket prices downward, or player salaries, or operating budgets of any kind. They just cry poor and threaten to move (for latest example, see the Pacers).

 

The Pacers were getting killed before the recession, IIRC. It's been a long time since I've read a story about their arena deal, but I remember reading about it years ago and thinking "damn, that IS a bad deal."

 

The column was risibly bad. A real piece of shit not even half-cooked.

Yes, I'm sure MLB of all outfits would ge just gaga about playing in Caracas, a major drug hub that suspended cooperative efforts with U.S. drug enforcement agencies years ago.

 

Ron Washington might be interested.

 

Professional baseball might as well be dead in Toronto. Once Vernon Wells comes down to Earth, the Blue Jays will cease being in any way relevant to MLB news. And yes, they're even less relevant than the White Sox, who would benefit from leaving Williams, Guillen and the majority of the roster in Cleveland after this weekend's series.

 

The Blue Jays were also very much at top of the sports pages regularly during their heyday. They were always 1 and 1a with the Leafs, and they could be again if they had a contending team.

Baseball fever would return to Toronto very quickly if there was something to get excited about. The Jays' attendance was 2.4 million only two years ago - 18th in the majors, and almost double with the Florida Marlins drew.

Cowley's obviously a lazy know-nothing.

 

Not sure it was posted, but I see the Toronto Star's columnist has a rebuttal.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/797061--griffin-reports-of-baseball-s-death-in-toronto-greatly-exaggerated

Seems Rios isn't the only one with a displeasure of Toronto.

Griffin says Cowley "hates Toronto" and refused to stand for the national anthem and hasn't been back to Toronto since 2004.

 

The Simons had to give something up to get taxpayer support of the arena AND the downtown mall AND the new headquarters building.

The problem for the Pacers is that Indiana NBA fans don't cheer for laundry -- they'd actually like a roster of players who respect the game of basketball and play their asses off every night. There's no such thing as a casual basketball fan in Indiana, so you can't wow them with bullshit about the "experience."

As for Toronto, its attendance issues would be more glaring if most of baseball wasn't suffering the same problem. Fans without jobs and those getting tighter with their wallets means fewer people willing to pay outrageous prices for half-assed games. It's only been the last 25 years that all leagues formalized it as their birthright that every venue had to be sold out for every game, or else the fans were "bad." Most of pro sports' history has been a lot of teams playing to half-empty venues.

Also, the idea of the Pacers or anyone else holding a city hostage over a possible move is laughable. I'd love to see the Pacers try it. Who is going to use tax money to attract a lousy team in this day and age?