THE FREAKY FANS AND PRICES AT PETCO

I am still not quite sure what happened yesterday. Why Bud Black decided to put in untested pitchers as opposed to guys like Adams and Gregerson in a game where San Francisco's "Freak" Tim Lincecum was dominating the Padre offense and the game was still within reach?

We ended up losing 8-4 after a mini, all too late, rally in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs yesterday.

In the stands there were mostly fans of the "freak" and the San Francisco Giants. And boy some of these people were complete assholes.

Baseball fans, like most Americans, seem to have short term memory and limited recall when it counts.

The San Francisco fans forgot that the day before their starting pitcher was taken out early in the game and the Padres pitching, combined with some really good defensive plays, allowed their team to score only one time- losing 3-1 in the Padres home opener.

They seem to have forgotten that their team went into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. If the Padres offense didn't implode in the last two weeks of last season we may have been the ones boasting about being "World Champions".

The Giants finished last year with a 92 -70 record while we finished 2 games behind with a 90-72 final win-loss tally. They forget that in the final series with the Giants we won 2 out 3 games but just came up short.

They seem to forget that a year before in 2009 the Giants finished third ending up being 7 games behind the LA Dodgers and in 2008 they finished 12 games behind the Dodgers as well.

So the Padres last year were not a team to sneeze at and yet these idiots come to a visiting park and act like they are the damn New York Yankees with multiple World Series titles under their collective belts. Before last year Giant fans at Petco were fairly tame but this year they seemed to be just as obnoxious, albeit with higher IQ's, then they Dodger fans Petco Park will see this weekend.

Having to deal with idiots makes going to a game a drag. Sure we want our teams to win but the day before I didn't see Padres fans taunting the San Francisco fans during and after the game. I just kept thinking about Wilson's giant beard and laughed to myself to keep from exploding on a few dick bags in the stands.

People need to grow up and remember what good sportsmanship means I think...and if not then they should be ejected from the damn park- especially if they are being rude and obnoxious in a park that is not their own.

Maybe that is why so many Padres fans stayed away yesterday- they knew that we would have a tough time with Lincecum and didn't want to hear the ravings of fans of a team that has a starting record worse than our own.

But beyond that I think it is a matter of economics.

People are being screwed left and right by politicians, in both parties, beholden to corporations. Politicians are currently looking for ways to make cuts to Medicaid and other programs that help the neediest in this country while not blinking an eye while big companies like GE make a $14 billion profit last year and paid not one single dime in taxes. So I think it is very hard for the average American worker and baseball fan to make multiple weekly trips to the ballpark especially if they are struggling to feed their family or, for some, to even make mortgage payments so they do not lose their homes.

It certainly is tough for me this season. I love baseball and the Padres. I love going to Petco Park but this year I just cannot afford a season ticket or to attend as many games as I did years ago when the price of groceries and gas keeps going up and wages are not.

It is not that I do not support my team- that is what we hear a lot when fans fail to show up at the park...the fans are complacent is the cry from writers and bloggers but I don't think that is the case at all.

The fact of the matter is I, as it is with many in San Diego, cannot afford to support the team's multi-million dollar salaries.

I know at Petco we have some of the most affordable ticket prices in Major league baseball but when you get inside, if you want a beverage or a snack, it is "highway robbery" as one guy sitting close to me the other day said.

A 24 ounce can of Budweiser, that retails at most liquor stores for well under $2, is now a whopping $9.75 at Petco Park. Math majors: what percentage of a mark-up is that?

That is an absolutely ridiculous price to pay for one can of beer. Unless you are really wealthy and have a platinum card, ten bucks is a lot of money for an average fan to dish out for a beer. And $4 for a bottle of $1.19 water at the nearby 7-11 store is just as bad.

But parks like Petco have no choice- it is on the backs of the average fan that revenue is made to pay the insane player salaries in all professional sports in America.

Just look at the major league team payrolls and the average salaries on this page from USA TODAY. They report that the average San Diego Padre salary is $ 1,479,649! Just to play a game of baseball. I have no problem with people getting rich and doing well but seriously folks, do you think a person who plays a sport, should be paid as much as they do when people that go to college for years with multiple degrees are lucky if they make six figures a year?


There are cut backs all over this country- jobs lost, car plants closing, people losing their homes due to foreclosure because of predatory lenders and yet Major League Baseball players and their agents have the audacity to demand millions of dollars a year to play baseball games while every day another person loses a job or their home in America today..

The average fan pays for these high salaries at the ticket booth, at most stadiums, but especially at the concession stands. The mark up is incredible.

Padres owner Jeff Moorad said to Hacksaw on XX1090 the other day that all profit goes back into maintaining the stadium and that he wants to get a high definition scoreboard.

That's fine and dandy but I would like to buy a bag of peanuts or Cracker Jacks without having to take out a second mortgage on my house.

I think that fans want to show up to the games- I have many friends that I invite to come along but they say they just can't afford it. They are die-hard Padres fans as well and do support the team, but times are rough and they have to choose between the grocery store or spending cash they cannot afford to part with at the ballpark.

And if it is a case where it is a dad bringing the wife and kids- by the time they get done buying the tickets and then getting the snacks that the kids want it costs at least $100 bucks or more for a three and a half hour visit to the stadium.

I think it is time that Padres players step up to the plate and realize that many, not as fortunate as they are, are struggling even to buy a $5 Park In The Park ticket and perhaps give back part of the exorbitant salaries to the Padres so maybe the ballpark here and in other cities can return to be an affordable fun place for people of all ages and economic status.

Take the greed out of baseball and make it affordable- at the ticket booth and at the concession stands and more people would come to more games.

Keep raising the salaries and the cost of beer, soda and food at the parks to help pay for these multi-million dollar salaries and they will continue to see empty seats. Right now, in 2011, most people cannot afford to spend boatloads of cash at the ballpark every day like they used to in year's past when salaries were reasonable and not over the top like they are now in baseball and all other major league sports.

And there is another group of people that are affected big time by this issue. All the folks that do the work at Petco Park. From the GSR's to the maintenance people, like last year, this year they have already been told that work hours will be cut if attendance is low. I have many friends that work at the park so I am getting this info first hand.

So while player salaries are on the rise these people that depend on that paycheck to just survive may lose pay and valuable hours at work if the average fan cannot afford multiple weekly trips to the ball park.

That is a shame because without all the ancillary folks that make Petco Park clean and function well the highly paid players would not have such a wonderful facility to play in.

So we who write blogs, and even professional sports writers, need to stop wagging the accusing finger at Padres fans for not showing up and start shaking it at the players and their agents who don't seem to give a damn about how their salaries affect prices at the stadiums and subsequently the lack of fans in the seats and the affect on the workers like make Petco Park the great ball park it is to visit.

Next game: Friday @Petco Park vs. The LA Dodgers at 7:05 pm

PLAY BALL!