Well, all things considered, that weekend wasn't exactly the bust it could have been.
Frankly, I assumed that they would just postpone the Sunday game. It would end up being one of those annoying games that were only made up if it counted in the standings. That led to an interesting potential scenario in my head. The Sox end the season one half game behind the Yankees, they both have a sixish game lead in the wild card, and the Sox lead the season series with NY. That means that the Sox would have been in the playoffs, but needed to play that last game to decide the division. I wondered how hard they would try to win that game. Would the A's try? Would it have been AAA vs AAA? Sadly, we'll never know.
But, the Sox did the smarter thing, and moved all the games up to get out of the way. I can't imagine how annoying that was to fans with tickets...but there's only so much that can be done when Mother Nature's in a bad mood. I think the Sox handled the situation wonderfully. I especially like the fact that they were so easygoing with their admission policies. Once the first game went into a long rain delay, they were running up the back of game 2. Ticket holders were there, ready to go inside. So, the Sox let them in. Why not? There was plenty of room. I'm sure there are some people out there who will say the Sox only did it to sell more beer. But, I'm willing to assume they did it to be fan friendly. I never heard what happened between games. I don't know if they bothered to clear the stands or not. I know the second game started pretty quickly.
And, then, at the end of the second game, the Sox did it again. They opened the gates, and let anyone willing to support the team come and do so. Yes, yes, those fans could buy beer too. But, it was still a gesture. And, it was the perfect one at that. Did the other teams playing in front of friends and family because of hurricane Irene do the same for their fans?
The Red Sox management seems unable to win when it comes to rain delays. It's dry...they should have played. It's so wet they knew they would call it...they only delayed it to sell more hot dogs. How did they play in that? But, I think this weekend they played their hand the absolute best they could. Plus, the Sox swept the doubleheader.
If anyone took any hurricane Pix from 36, send them along!
There was no stand clearing between games. They didn't even care if people were sitting in the wrong seats. It was all very 'thank you for coming to support us, enjoy the park the best you can.' Even if they were just trying to sell more beers (which I don't think they were), they did a good thing. Sox management can be pretty awesome at times
ReplyDeleteWhen Tom Werner was looking to buy the team, he saw an opportunity. Here was a team worth a lot of money, even though the ownership group basically spit on the fans. He figured if he was nice to fans, it would make the team a lot more valuable so he could flip it. Since his whole business plan was to be nice, I always assume that fan-friendly things are exactly that. Great job by the team to take their lemons and make lemonade.
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