7th Inning Stretch at the Blue Jays Game in 2023

On May 20, 2023, Blue Jays fans sing OK Blue Jays and Take Me Out to the Ball Game during the seventh inning stretch at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

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Random thoughts on Blue Jays opening might

Went to the Blue Jays season opener last night at Skydome, a game Toronto won 12-5 over the Detroit Tigers. Here's a few random thoughts.

* Surprise, surprise, concession prices are jacked-up for 2009. A hot dog and a coke cost me $9.50. The dog looked smaller than previously too. The breakdown? 591ml bottled pop: $4.50, and hot dog $5. Yes, $5!! Wish I'd had time to pack a sandwich. Tonight, and every Tuesday, the Jays are having "recession-buster" prices with hot dogs at $1. You know, I bet they still make money at $1. The mob would kill for that kind of mark-up.

* Every Blue Jay gets to pick the song that gets played over the PA when they come to bat. Usually it's a bump you up rock song. Third baseman Scott Rolen's song this year? Coldplay's Viva La Vida. A song I love by the way, but has Scott listened to the lyrics? A very odd choice for an at-plate song. Is he trying to send us a message?

* What a night for Adam Lind. Six RBIs, including a moster 420-foot home run to straight-away centre field. That was a nice shot.

* Why does opening might always bring out the drunken idiots? Tossing paper airplanes onto the field is one thing -- stupid, but harmless. But I counted at least two, and maybe three, baseballs thrown onto the field DURING play, almost leading to confusion over which was the in-play ball. The Jays dammed near forefitted the game, a game we were leading by 7 runs in the 8th, because of these idiots. I hope they got identified and banned from the stadium.

* Why do so many Torontonians always come out for opening night, and then not go to another game all year? There was 49k and change there last night. Tonight there will be maybe 15k, and that's even before the no-beer thing. What's the deal, Toronto? Maybe if they turned off the lights and showed a boring 20 minute video montage before EVERY game it would help?

* On paper, I like the Jays batters, and I like the Jays defensively. We have solid position players in nearly every slot, and a lot of offensive capability if everyone plays to their capabilities. It's only one game, but if last night is any indication we're in good shape offensively. Particularly with the younger players stepping up.

* The weakness this year for the Jays is pitching, particularly the starting rotation. I feel fine about the bull pen. Roy Halladay, of course, is a rock, and despite a shaky 7th last night (and it is the first game of the season) gave us six solid innings. But with the departure of AJ Burnett, and with Shaune Marcum and Dustin McGowan gone for the year to injury, after Halladay the rotation is unproven and untested. If some of these guys like David Purcey and Scott Richmond can have break-out years like MacGowan and Marcum did not that long away, then we can make some noise. If not, we'll need a lot of offence and a lot of help from the bullpen.

* Of course, even if the Jays put a run together, they're cursed to play in the most competitive division in baseball, the AL East. It's pretty long odds to the wild card. But. hey. At least for today, we're tied for 1st.

Go Jays!

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It's YouTube's fault! And other odd conclusions on drunken fighting from the Blue Jays

I'm a Blue Jays fan (their embarrassing sweep by the Athletics notwithstanding), I’ve seen three games thus far this young season and I intend to see many, many more before the fall. And I understand the problems Jays CEO Paul Godfrey is taking about here:

The chairman and chief executive officer of the major league club was reviewing the public-relations wreckage of two fight-filled nights in the stands - and tightening a zero-tolerance policy for illicit booze and brawling…

But on two occasions at the Rogers Centre in this young season, what may have started as a party in the stands degenerated into an ugly, scrappy disturbance. Each time about 100 rowdies were ejected.

"The entertainment is supposed to be on the field, not the stands," he said.

Indeed. I was at the home opener, I usually sit in the 500 level, and I saw some of this behaviour. I was also at Tuesday’s game, and saw the brawls as well, although they were on the other side of the stadium. On my side, while I had a bunch of inebriated college-types they confined themselves to really annoying taunts they thought were pretty clever. Can’t say I agreed, but no biggie.

It’s the booze though, says Godfrey. Probably. Tuesday’s game was part of the team’s Twoonie-Tuesdays promotion, where tickets in the upper bowl go for $2. Godfrey says the Jays are going to stop serving the booze in the upper bowl, and may scrap the $2 Tuesdays all together. They say they’re also going to crack down on stopping fans from bringing booze into the stadium.

The crackdown on booze smuggling makes sense, although one wonders why they weren’t doing that already? I’ll note though, despite Godfrey’s badmouthing of the fans in the cheapseats, the only time in my 50+ Jays game over three years I’ve seen fans with outside booze at a game, it was two suit-wearing Bay Street douchebags in $50 seats in the 100 level, not in the 500.

Banning alcohol sales isn’t the answer. And I say that as someone that doesn’t even drink at the ballpark. I don’t like beer, and it doesn’t seem like a wine sipping activity. But the link to the booze sales, $2 Tuesdays and rowdiness is somewhat tenuous to me. First of all, the tickets may the $2, the beers are not. Regular price on those tickets is about $10. So, you’re saving $8. That MIGHT be enough for one small beer, I haven’t checked lately. If someone can afford to get drunk on $10 beers, the ticket price isn’t a barrier for them.

The fact is, they’re probably coming drunk. So, in addition to cracking-down on booze smuggling, make like an airline and don’t admit intoxicated fans to the stadium in the first place. Most of the annoying taunters in my section Tuesday came pre-inebriated. I’m sure the rowdy fighters did too. And when it comes to alcohol sales, limit sales to one beer at a time, insist on ID and don’t sell to the underage, even if they are attractive young ladies.

Then there’s this gem from Godfrey:

The sudden surge in drunkenness and fighting in the cheap seats at Toronto Blue Jays games may be a YouTube phenomenon, with rowdy, attention-starved fans filming themselves and posting the videos on the Internet site, Paul Godfrey says.

…"Some people go, film their experiences and then call out to friends and unknowns alike to come down and join their party."

Really, its YouTube’s fault? I wonder if YouTube will be replacing video games as the source of all of society’s ills. It’s an interesting theory Paul, but drunken idiots fought at sporting events before online video sharing, that hasn’t changed.

Anyway, forget all this attention to drunken rowdy fans. Why in the hell do the Jays play great against top teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, and then tank against teams like the Athletics? That’s the question we should be wondering about.

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BQ goes poof!

SES asks Quebecers how they'd vote if the BQ didn't exist. Other fascinating polls Nik now has in the field:

How would you vote if there was no Liberal Party? (Sponsored by Jack L.)

How would you vote if Jack Layton wasn't so pretentiously hypocritical? (Sponsored by everyone)

How would you vote if Senator Palpatine replaced Stephen Harper as Conservative Party Leader? (sponsored by Tom F.)

I look forward to the critically important results.

In the meantime its off to Skydome tonight to see the Jays play the Red Sox (booooo!) and Japanese pitching sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka. Should be a good one, it's always fun when the Red Sox or the Yankees come to town. Hopefully the Jays can play through these injuries though, Glaus and Ryan are key guys.

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