We all know them, those teams that just don’t make sense. The sports equivalent of trying to put a square peg into a round hole. I’ve decided in my infinite wisdom (Ed. Note - HAHAHAHA!) to examine a few of these frustrated franchises and explore where they could better plant their roots.
Our first installment is:
The Florida Marlins
I know I know, they have a new stadium coming and a new name coming with it. But guess what, attendance figures don’t lie. Now I know what some people (including some people who happen to write for this very blog) are going to say, “but.. but… but… the Marlins have solid middle of the road TV ratings.” Well guess what, TV ratings don’t buy Hot dogs and Soda for the kiddies for 8 bucks a pop or a beer for $14.99. During one point in their illustrious history the marlins managed to draw about 400 people to a game against the Nationals, so few people that a fan was thrown out for arguing with an umpire! Living in South Florida for a significant part of my life I can tell you one thing with certainty, the only sports team with fins that people in south Florida care about play football and that is not going to change anytime soon.
For whatever reason South Florida has not embraced Major League Baseball and it is time for the two sides to say that they gave it a good go but have decided to move on. But where, where do we send the now homeless Marlins? They need to go somewhere that has a solid fan base and a big market. That is why I humbly suggest that the Marlins move to Indianapolis.
They will have to change their name because let’s be honest, the Indianapolis Marlins just sounds silly. So let’s call them the Indianapolis Wildcats. The region is more than big enough to support a major league team and the triple-A team the Indianapolis Indians have excellent attendance numbers. If they can get 549,552 people to come to see a minor league team play in a year then they certainly can get enough people into the seats to support a major league team.
So ladies and gentlemen that is my opening salvo in the Marlins should move discussion. What do you think? Leave a comment and I’ll respond to your thoughts, or I won’t, you’re not the boss of me.
And who, may I ask, do you root for? We know Slate is a Marlins fan and I assume he make his argument.
ReplyDeleteBut who do you root for?
I'm a Yankees fan.
ReplyDeleteSo what we have is a Yankees fan jumping on a Marlins fan. That is like Bill Gates telling a guy at Burger King he is losing at life.
ReplyDeleteYou make good points, but I don't think you should be the one talking on this topic since compared to your franchise, teams like mine (GO Tribe!) look like they should be contracted.
I'm not jumping on a fan per se, but the franchise he supports. Just because I'm a Yankees fan doesn't make my points any less true and you seem to agree with them.
ReplyDeleteI just don't think that a yankee fan should tell anyone how to do business. They are not the norm and should not expect anything from other teams to be run like they do.
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points but it's not OK, in my view, for you to speak about this. I'm a soon-to-be graduate from college yet I don't go around telling my brother who is a high school dropout how to run his life because it's not right.
Plus, Slate has a strong defense.
They should move the Yankees
ReplyDeleteJeff who I support as a fan has nothing to do with this. If I were only limited to commenting on teams that are better then the Yankees then I would have to close up shop now and find something else to do with my free time. I could follow the Royals or the Brewers or any number of crappy teams and my points would still be the same. The fact that I'm a Yankees fan didn't enter into my mind when I was writing about the Marlins, it shouldn't enter into your mind when you read my article. For instance Peter Gammons is a Red Sox fan but you still read his stuff because he makes good points, even when he isn't talking about the Sox. I'm not saying the Marlins should be run like the Yankees I'm saying they should move. Big difference.
ReplyDelete