Last night’s attendance was awful. Only 17,692 showed up at the Trop to watch a meaningful game against a hated rival. It was the smallest crowd for a Rays-Sox game in over two years. Is it the economy? Is it the fact that the Rays have shown little life all season? Is it because the Rays traded a key piece for prospects in middle of a pennant race?
We don’t know, but apparently John Romano has a new rule for the Rayshead Army…
New rule: You have to have a ticket stub before you can whine about trading a pitcher with a 5.92 ERA….I’ve got no business telling anyone how to spend their money — particularly in this economy — but it seems at least a little hypocritical to complain about the Rays making payroll decisions when the community is not doing much to hold up its end of the bargain.
We are getting so effin’ sick and tired of hearing this “rule” from fans and commentators.
Listen. There is a difference between those that don’t and those that can’t.
We live over 1,000 miles away. We did not attend last night’s game? Are we not allowed to complain about the timing of the Scott Kazmir trade? What about somebody that has school in the morning or a homework assignment or an exam to study for? What about somebody that was working? Or somebody that lives in North Tampa and has to get up at 6am for a job. Can those people not complain?
And what about the fans that went to 20 games earlier in the year and saw a team that was within shouting distance of the playoffs trade one of their most effective pitchers of the last few weeks for spare parts and decided the team had given up? Maybe the team didn’t give up, but the timing of the trade sure gave that appearance to a lot of people. Why should those fans show up last night?
And what is the rule for other teams? When the Marlins draw 12 people next week, are we not allowed to make fun of them because we did not buy a ticket?
And what about the fans that watched the game on TV even though they couldn’t attend the game? Don’t the Rays receive revenue from the broadcast rights? Are those fans not allowed to complain?
You can’t all of the sudden decide what fans can complain about and what is off limits by whether or not they attended one game in September.
And somehow it is now our fault the Rays traded one of their most effective pitchers of the past month?
Please explain to us how trading Kazmir during a playoff run works better with the budget than trading him after the season.
In the meantime, we have a real good idea what you can do with your new “rule.”
